First Round Preview of The Basketball Tournament's West Virginia Region
The time for The Basketball Tournament has come with the first set of first-round matchups coming this weekend. July 24 marks the start of the West Virginia region's first round.
The round kicks off with the West Virginia cinderella, Bucketneers (2), an Eastern Tennessee State (ETSU) alumni team, taking on Fully Loaded (7), an AAU alumni team of the same namesake. Fully Loaded has a large challenge in front of them in the ETSU alumni, a team that has an extremely team-oriented game and some solid TBT experience on the team with Courtney Pigram and Nick Ward, a Michigan State alumnus. Although the Bucketneers are experienced, Fully Loaded may have some beginner's luck on their side as they make their TBT debut this year, along with a solid defensive and rebounding presence in Old Dominion alumnus Aaron Carver.
The second game of the first round is composed of two alumni teams in WoCo Showtime (Wofford, 3) and War Ready (Auburn, 6). The Auburn Alumni team comes back to The Tournament for their third year as an Auburn Alumni team (formerly a Tampa-based team, Tampa 20/20). While War Ready is extremely popular among Auburn fans, they have had trouble bringing significant Auburn alumni talent in the past, though standouts such as Mustapha Heron and Quantez Robertson have made the Auburn talent stand out this year. War Ready has a challenge in front of them with this Wofford Alumni squad, having two of the NCAA all-time leaders in three points made in Fletcher McGee (number 1 all-time, 509 made) and Andrew Rousey (number 19 all-time, 404 made), a Marquette alumnus. This is most certainly a game to watch out for.
Certainly poised to be a game of The Tournament contender, the matchup between the Marshall Alumni squad, Herd That (4), and James Madison Alumni squad, Founding Fathers (5), will be hard-pressed to disappoint fans. The JMU alumni squad almost played spoiler last year, narrowly losing to the one-seeded Sideline Cancer 80-77. Featured on the roster is Kamiah Smalls, who recently played three games in the WNBA this year, and The Marshall Alumni squad, however, always shows up to play, with Lithuanian League standout Jon Elmore and Western Kentucky alumnus Justin Johnson leading their charge. Expect a high-paced shooting matchup, but do not count out the paint presence of either team.
Best Virginia (1), composed of WVU alumni takes on a newcomer to The Tournament, Virginia Dream (8). Best Virginia is making its third appearance in TBT and looks to make it to Dayton after getting bounced by Team 23 in the regional semifinals. The team has some notable members in Jaysean Paige, Ohio State Alumnus Kaleb Wesson and Mountaineer legend Jevon Carter acting as assistant coach. They bring a very WVU-predicated game, focusing on defense and sticking to a role. Although Virginia Dream is an eight seed, Portuguese second-tier league standout BJ Gladden Jr. and Radford's all-time leading rebounder Ed Polite headline the team.
The winner of the West Virginia region heads to Dayton, Ohio for the TBT finals.
See your Mountaineer alumni play! Tickets are still available for the West Virginia region. It will be played from July 24-27 at the Charleston Civic Center.
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