City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Basketball Tournament, a 64-team, $1-million hoops, single-elimination tournament kicks off on Wednesday as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer. The first TBT was hosted at Jefferson University (then Philly U) back in 2014 and will return to Philadelphia this summer with its semifinal and championship rounds at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center on Aug. 2 and 3.

As usual there are plenty of Philadelphia basketball ties to teams in the tournament, which are made up of many former college basketball stars and current professional players. There are two teams made up mostly of Philadelphia-area alumni and a few others with plenty of area representatives either on the roster or coaching. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the teams/players CoBL-Area hoops fans might want to tune in for as the TBT gets underway:

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Click here for the entire tournament bracket
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Broad Street Birds 

There have been other iterations of Temple alumni teams in the The Basketball Tournament field over the years but this is the Broad Street Birds’ TBT debut. They’ll open as the No. 5 seed in one of the Wichita regions against Beale Street Ballers (Memphis) on Thursday.The winner plays the winner of B1 Ballers and Aftershocks (Wichita State).

Head coach Tony Paris has plenty of Philadelphia and South Jersey hoops ties. Assistant coach Trey Lowe was a standout at Temple before a car injury derided his career and was on La Salle’s bench as an assistant under his former head coach Fran Dunphy this past season. Former Owls manager Shea Avellino will also be an assistant. 

The team’s roster is made up mostly of those who spent their careers at Temple, highlighted by Shizz Alston Jr., a Haverford School alum who led the Owls to their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019 when he was a first team All-AAC and All-Big 5 selection. Alston was in the same recruiting class as Lowe, so that’s a fun side story.

The Birds also have Temple’s entire 2016 recruiting class — Quinton Rose, Alani Moore and Damion Moore — and 2017 recruiting class — Nate Pierre-Louis, J.P. Moorman, Justyn Hamilton and De’Vondre Perry — on the roster. Scootie Randall (‘13) and Daniel Dingle (‘17) are two more former Owls on the roster.

A few South Jersey products round out the rest of the roster. Lenape alum Jason Thompson, who was a standout at Rider and went on to play eight seasons in the NBA, is also on the roster along with former Princeton star Myles Stephens and Stockton star Josh Blamon.

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Team Big 5

Team Big 5 is back for its second foray into The Basketball Tournament after picking up a first-round win and falling to the eventual tournament runner-up last summer. The squad opens as a No. 8 seed in the Syracuse bracket against Blue Collar U, a team of University of Buffalo alumni, on Monday and would face either The Rhody Way (Rhode Island) or The Commonwealth (UMass) in the second round. 

West Catholic grad Rob Holloman is the team’s GM and new Temple Director of Player of Personnel Khalif Wyatt will be the team’s head coach again, leading a group filled with local high school and Big 5 alums, including Wyatt's former Owls teammate Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson and former Big 5 and SOL rival CJ Aiken, who played at St. Joe’s after a standout career at PW. 

Ramon Galloway, who played his first two seasons of high school ball at Freire Charter and starred on the Explorers’ 2013 Sweet 16 team is another big name Big 5 fans might recognize. Devon Goodman (Germantown Academy/Penn) and Clifton Moore (Hatboro-Horsham/La Salle & Providence) are two more names who played their high school and college ball in the area. Philadelphia native Markus Kennedy, who started his career at Villanova and finished at SMU, is also on the roster along with Sage Tolbert (Temple) and Matt Lopez (La Salle).

Boys’ Latin alum Maurice Watson (Boston/Creighton), Constitution alum Ahmad Gilbert (Minnesota/Rider), Abraham Lincoln alum Tyree Corbett (Coppin State/Denver) and Abington alum Anthony Durham (Rider) don’t have Big 5 ties but all played their high school hoops in the area.

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Happy Valley Hoopers

It’s no surprise that Penn State’s alumni team has plenty of Philadelphia-area connections given the program’s penchant for adding talent from the area. John Harrar, a Strath Haven product, organized the team, which is in its first year. Ross Condon, a former walk-on at Villanova and assistant coach for the Nittany Lions, is the head coach of the group. Chester Charter Scholars Academy head boys coach Daniel Spangler, who coached Harrar at Strath Haven, is an assistant for the squad. 

Former Roman Catholic and Penn State standout Shep Garner, who spent this past season as the Director of Video Operations for his former college coach Pat Chambers at FGCU, will suit up with the Hoopers. Julian Moore (Germantown Academy), Sam Sessoms (Shipley) and Mike Watkins (MCS/Shipley) are a few more local and Penn State alums playing for the Hoopers.

The Happy Valley Hoopers are the No. 6 seed in the Syracuse bracket and will face No. 3 The Nerd Team in the first round on Monday with either Boeheim’s Army or Team Gibson waiting in the second round.

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Mass Street

The Kansas alumni team, another making its TBT debut, has Philly ties. Longtime NBA players Marcus and Markieff Morris, the former Prep Charter stars who spent three seasons in Lawrence, will be the team's head coaches. They both played for FOE at the Rumph Classic last season but will be on the sidelines for TBT. Their former high school teammate Rodney Green, who starred at La Salle and went into the Big 5 Hall of Fame this past winter, is on the Mass Street squad, however. Others on the team like Brandon Rush, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor were stars during their time at Kansas. Mass Street is the No. 1 seed in one of the Wichita regions and will face No. 8 We Are D3 on Wednesday.

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Boeheim’s Army

The Philadelphia-area had a pretty strong pipeline to Syracuse during some of Jim Boeheim’s top teams in the 2010s. The Syracuse alumni team, which has a 22-7 all-time record in the tournament, has a few Philly guys as well. Northeast Catholic and Academy New Church alum Rakeem Christmas was a star for the Orange in his final year on campus. He’ll team with Lower Merion alum B.J. Johnson, who finished the final two seasons of his career at La Salle after two years in Syracuse. Boeheim’s Army, is the No. 2 seed in the Syracuse region, where it will face Team Gibson in the first round.

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Other fun notes…

Daron “Fatts” Russell, a star at Imhotep before playing at Rhode Island and Maryland, will play for The Rhody Way (Rhode Island). … Former Temple standout Anthony Lee will play for The Commonwealth (UMass), which will be coached by former Drexel Coordinator of Basketball Operations Mike Mannix. … Plymouth Whitemarsh alum Ronald Moore, a standout at Siena, will play for Team DRC. … Auburn alum Horace Spencer, an area native who spent one season at William Tennent, will play for War Ready (Auburn). …  Duane Causwell, who played college basketball at Temple and 11 years in the NBA is the head coach of Purple Hearts. …  Gettysburg men’s basketball coach B.J. Dunne is an assistant for the Friday Beers team.