Get Caught up with the Members of Best Virginia
The West Virginia University men's basketball alumni team, Best Virginia, begins their run for the winner take all million dollar cash prize in The Basketball Tournament Saturday versus WOCO Showtime (Wofford) at 2:00 pm at the Charleston Coliseum (WV).
West Virginia will be led by head coach James Long, a former West Virginia guard, spent four seasons under the tutelage of Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins, appearing in 23 games before becoming video coordinator for the Mountaineers for two years.
Long accepted the coach coaching position at West Virginia Tech in July of 2019. In his first season, he led the Golden Bears to a 23-8 overall record, a River States Conference Championship, and was named Rivers States Conference Coach of the Year.
Long and the Golden Bears earned another Rivers States Conference Championship and made it to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament this past season.
Sitting next to Long is Da'Sean Butler, who recently decided to retire from basketball and joined Chris Richardson and his staff at Wheeling University in February. Butler was part of that magical Big East Tournament Championship, followed by a Final Four run in 2010. He averaged double figures all four years at West Virginia with a career average of 14.3 points per game and is only the third player in Mountaineer history to reach over 2,000 points in their career (2,095), joining Jerry West (2,309) and Hot Rod Hundley (2,180).
Morgantown High School boys basketball head coach Dave Tallman also joined the coaching staff. Tallman led the Mohigans to a 2016 state title and made a run to the state championship this past season.
2021 BEST VIRGINIA ROSTER
John Flowers
Flowers finished his Mountaineers career averaging 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, including a career-best 9.2 ppg his senior season. During his four years in Morgantown, he reached the NCAA tournament, including a run to the 2010 Final Four.
The Waldorf, MD, native has played worldwide and has averaged 15.0 points per game in his professional career.
Additionally, Flowers has brought together alumni games, traveling around West Virginia playing exhibition games that provide Mountaineer fans to see some of their favorites compete one more time and has transitioned it to form Best Virginia over the last few years.
Jamel Morris
Morris played for former Mountaineer Joe Mazulla at Fairmont State and averaged 16.4 points during his college career (Fairmont State and Glenville State. He played in two different leagues overseas last year, spanning over 54 games, and averaged 14.7 points and 2.4 assists per game.
Kevin Jones
The Mount Vernon, NY, native averaged 7.5 rebounds and 13.1 points during his four-year career in Morgantown. In Mountaineer program history, he ranks fourth all-time in career rebounds with 1,048 behind Jerry West (1,240), Lloyd Sharar (1,178), and Warren Baker (1,070). Additionally, Jones is the all-time offensive rebounding leader with 450.
As a sophomore, Jones was also a key contributor to capturing the program's first Big East Championship (Jones made the Big East All-Tournament team) in 2010 and continued the momentum with the program's first Final Four appearance in 41 years averaging 33.0 minutes, 13.5, and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Two years later, Jones averaged a double-double with 19.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game as a senior. And despite being the third player in Big East Conference history to have led the conference in scoring and rebounding, he was not named Big East Player of the Year.
Nonetheless, Jones earned First-Team Big East honors and second-team John Wooden All-America team, along with second-team selections from the ISBWA, NABC, and Associated Press.
Tarik Phillip
Following his Mountaineer career, Phillip spent a year in the G-League for the Memphis Hustle. He averaged 14.1 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game before taking his talents overseas, averaging 10.5 ppg in his international career.
Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Phillip came to Morgantown via the community college route. He spent three years as one of the pivotal pieces of Press Virginia, coming off the bench and providing an offensive and defensive spark, averaging 7.7 ppg and 1.5 spg.
Nathan Adrian
Adrian earned an opportunity to play professional basketball overseas following Best Virginia's first appearance in the summer tournament. He signed with JSA Bordeaux for the 2019-20 season and averaged 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Currently, Adrian is averaging 16.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg for MBC Mykolaiv in the Ukrainian Superleague.
In four years at West Virginia, Adrian averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg and was a fixture at the top of head coach Bob Huggins' Press Virginia full-court pressure defense, making two trips to the Sweet 16.
During his senior season, the Morgantown, WV native 9.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg, and 1.3 steals per game, earning All-Big 12 Third Team and made the All-Big 12 Defensive Team.
Alex Ruoff
During his time as a Mountaineer, Ruoff averaged 11.2 points per game, and his 261 three-pointers made throughout his career that still stands as a program record.
The former Mountaineer guard earned Big East All-Conference Honorable Mention (2009) his senior season after averaging 15.7 ppg. Additionally, he scored a career-high 38 points behind a career-high nine threes against Radford.
Ruoff burst onto the season as a sophomore and was an intricate part of the NIT championship run, averaging 10.0 ppg. Then, he helped guide West Virginia to the 2008 Sweet 16, averaging 18.3 ppg, while shooting 50% from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament.
Best Virginia will compete in Beckly July 7th and Wheeling July 9th before hosting the first round regional of the TBT at the Charleston Coliseum July 17-21.
Sagaba Konate
Konate is the all-time leading shot blocker for the West Virginia basketball program with 191 career blocks. He tied D'or Fisher for a game-high nine blocked shots and came in second behind Fisher, ending his sophomore campaign with 116.
During his two-and-a-half-year career, Konate averaged 8.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.4 rebounds per game.
Jonathan Holton
Holton was a staple in West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins’ “Press Virginia” style of basketball. On inbounds pass and at the top of the press, Holton harassed and trapped opponents up the floor help leading the Mountaineers as the top team in forced turnovers for his two-year career in Morgantown.
Holton appeared in 66 games averaging 8.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game during his time in the old gold and blue.
Teyvon Myers
Myers spent two years in Morgantown (2015-17) during the Press Virginia era, averaging 4.3 points and 1.0 assists per game, including a career-high 16 points in a win over Texas (January 14, 2017).
The Brooklyn, NY native has carved out a successful career playing professional basketball overseas averaging, 14.0 ppg, 3.0 apg.
Juwan Staten
During his three years in a Mountaineer uniform, Staten averaged 13.4 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game. Following his collegiate career, Staten played professionally in Belgium, Finland, France, Estonia, and Hungary and a stint in the NBA's G-League.
He spent last season as a graduate assistant at WVU.
Logan Routt
In his first professional season, Routt led the Slovanian Basketball Club, Zlatorog Lasko, in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double double 15.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on 61.4% shooting from the field last year.
The Cameron, WV native walked on to the WVU program in 2015 before earning a scholarship a year later and eventually unselfishly giving that same spot up and returning to walkon status. He averaged 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game during his time in Morgantown.
Tickets for TBT are available at thebasketballtournament.com
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