Colorado University Athletics
Team Colorado Back For Another Shot at TBT Payday
July 23, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Alumni C Club, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Back for a fifth straight shot at the $2 million prize, members of Team Colorado are conducting a "mini-camp" in Boulder this week ahead of their Friday opener in the The Basketball Tournament, the winner-take-all affair that features 64 teams from around the country.
Team Colorado, consisting of CU alums, will open play Friday in the Wichita Regional in a 7 p.m. game (ESPN3) against Purple & Black, a team of Kansas State alums.
This year's Colorado squad is a blend of veterans — a handful of players have been on all five Team Colorado squads — and newcomers, including head coach Nate Tomlinson and general manager Josh Repine, as well as former CU players Tory Miller-Stewart, Dominique Collier and Xavier Johnson.Â
But while some of the faces are new, the storyline is the same: Team Colorado would like to rewrite the run they made in 2016, then add one more win to their total. That is the year Colorado advanced to the tournament final and held a second-half lead in the championship game before finally succumbing to Overseas Elite — the team that has won four straight titles and $7 million in prize money.
"Defense and staying solid," said Dominique Coleman, a former Buffs standout who has played on all five Team Colorado squads. "That's what it takes to win this thing. If you play defense and stay solid — don't get too high, get too low — you're good. The year we were in it down to the end, we played hard, we had each others' backs. We just kept playing hard every game."
Tomlinson, a former Buffs standout who played on CU's Pac-12 tournament championship team in 2012, was recently named as the Buffs' Director of Player Development. This is his first year with the alumni team.
"From the games I've seen I think it's about playing together," Tomlinson said. "The team that is most connected, the team that plays harder, generally wins these type of games. Everyone's got scorers. But the team that's most connected defensively usually wins. We have a lot of guys that have played together, played in this tournament together. They know what it's about."
After their run to the title game in 2016, the Buffs returned and advanced to the final 16 in 2017 before losing in the second round last year.
"It comes down to the little things, and I think we understand that now," Coleman said. "We had some lapses the last couple of years and it cost us. Now I think we're back in the role of hunters. We have to fight. If we're hungry and play like we can, we can make a run."
The Buffs do have plenty of capable scorers. Marcus Hall, who made the all-tournament team in 2016 after shooting nearly 50 percent from 3-point range and averaging more than 28 points per game, returns to the lineup. Former Buffs Richard Roby and Chris Copeland are also capable of turning in consistent double-digit efforts.
One thing the Buffs don't have is significant post size. Miller-Stewart, Copeland, Johnson, Calvin Williams and Marcus Relphorde will roam the baseline, but they are all in the 6-foot-7 to 6-8 range.Â
As Tomlinson noted, "We don't have any big guys but we have a lot of skillful players who know how to put the ball on the rim. It's just about getting these guys, in the short amount of time I have with them, understanding how to be most effective and putting them in positions where they can be aggressive for themselves and also create for others. We have a lot of guys who can play off ball screens and a lot of good shooters as well. We're going to space the floor out and look to drive and attack. We want to play as fast-paced as we can."
Coleman said a team that can get three straight defensive stops at three points in every game will advance.
"Every team has somebody who can score," Coleman said. "Look at Jimmer (former BYU star Jimmer Fredette). He had something like 900 points last summer but they didn't win the championship. Overseas Elite bought in and played their butts off. The ultimate goal is to win the prize. They had a bunch of guys scoring 16 points and playing defense. You might score a ton of points but if you don't win, you don't get to cash the check. I'll take the 16 points and $2 million."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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