"Alumni" Basketball Tournament?

[Sean Miller Fan]

Apparently, there is this thing called "The Tournament" which is an open-entry basketball tournament open to anyone over age 18. The winning team gets $1 million and many players have decided to create "alumni teams." ND's alumni team won last year's 500K prize. Syracuse has an alumni team this year. Even LaSalle does. Not sure of others as I didnt spend much time going team by team.

Some former Pitt players are on teams but I dont believe Pitt has an alumni team. Maybe in the future, they will. It would be beyond cool to watch a Pitt alumni team of:

PG - Fields
SG - Gibbs
SF - Young
PF - Troutman
C - Gray

I dont think NBA players can play but there are some NFL players playing.

For arguments sake, what would be your 10 man Pitt alumni roster, right now if you had to win a tournament? You cant include NBA players.

I'd go with that first 5 assuming all are in basketball shape.

My 2nd 5 would be:

PG - Ramon (Krauser hasnt played in awhile)
SG - G. Brown
SF - Patterson
PF - Zanna
C - McGhee

http://www.thetournament.com/about

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

Looking at that notre dame roster, I can understand why they won.

 

[DT_PITT]

Looking at that notre dame roster, I can understand why they won.

Yes -- that ND team does look impressive.

If only they had a "true" center.

 

[DT_PITT]

Looking at that notre dame roster, I can understand why they won.

The Syracuse Team looks very good.

Sam Young is on "Big Apple Basketball."

 

[Pittnerski]

Why don't we have a team? Definitely need one next year and I'll volunteer right now to be #1 fan

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Why don't we have a team? Definitely need one next year and I'll volunteer right now to be #1 fan

I'd love to see it. Whoever created this tournament is a genius. I'd like to see it morph more into a true alumni tournament. Would be really cool to see these teams every summer during the slow sports period. I know the semis and finals are on TV (well I didnt know until TV) but if done right, I could see this thing getting a lot more TV time.

Its funny because we have the argument on here about what kind of basketball style of play do people enjoy. Some say they prefer to watch "AAU style." Well, this will certainly be AAU style with no coaches (that I know of), no TO's, very little "media" TO's, but very high level athletes who just couldn't crack it in the NBA.

 

[Zaratoughda]

I don't think Aaron Gray would be in a position to play anymore.

But otherwise... yeah... this is a great idea.

But, what they SHOULD do.... is make it so every team gets to play like 4 or 5 games... and then go into the single elimination tournament.

 

[levance2]

I'd love to see it. Whoever created this tournament is a genius. I'd like to see it morph more into a true alumni tournament. Would be really cool to see these teams every summer during the slow sports period. I know the semis and finals are on TV (well I didnt know until TV) but if done right, I could see this thing getting a lot more TV time.

I foresee some legal issues coming very quickly.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I foresee some legal issues coming very quickly.

Well, callling a team "Notre Dame Fighting Alumni" is probably illegal since the team is not affiliated in any way with ND other than their players played and graduated from there, but its highly unlikely ND will sue them. Perhaps the NCAA would have some issue with it but this could all be fixed just by changing the team name.

Again, Boeheim could probably sue "Boeheim's Army," but he obviously wont and probably loves the idea. LaSalle's team is called "10th & Olney." As long as the name stays neutral and there is no rule stating that all players have to be from the same college, I think they are good.

 

[levance2]

You don't think the NCAA might take exception with a basketball team named "Notre Dame Alumni" being paid to play and win basketball games? I'm not saying the whole thing is going to collapse, but there's no way this is going to be marketed as alumni teams from big schools with so little attention to these details. If the pot is really $1M, I can't fathom why these steps haven't already been taken proactively.

This is a bush league event. Call a Pitt team the South Oakland Panthers and use a different logo and you're fine. My point is that if nobody has even given that trivial amount of effort into covering their asses, the management of this event is relatively non-existent.

 

[NTOP]

Well, callling a team "Notre Dame Fighting Alumni" is probably illegal since the team is not affiliated in any way with ND other than their players played and graduated from there, but its highly unlikely ND will sue them. Perhaps the NCAA would have some issue with it but this could all be fixed just by changing the team name.

Again, Boeheim could probably sue "Boeheim's Army," but he obviously wont and probably loves the idea. LaSalle's team is called "10th & Olney." As long as the name stays neutral and there is no rule stating that all players have to be from the same college, I think they are good.

LaSalle is at 20th & Olney.....maybe a playground at 10th?? FWIW, that neighborhood was home base for the Ukrainian Nationals, who dominated American soccer for decades. They had hundreds of immigrant families there....I'm guessing mid-1950s to mid-1960's or later.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Update: Lamar Patterson is going to play on "Reach 1 Teach 1." Here's their roster:

Tyrell Biggs (Pitt)
Truck Bryant (WVU)
Kevin Jones (WVU)
Devin McCourty (New England Patriots)
Kevin Parrom (Arizona)
Dustin Salisberry (Temple)
JR Inman (Rutgers)
Trevor Williams (Iona)
Joseph Efese (Central Connecticut State)
4 non-D1 players

 

[whirlybird optio]

Update: Lamar Patterson is going to play on "Reach 1 Teach 1." Here's their roster:

Tyrell Biggs (Pitt)
Truck Bryant (WVU)
Kevin Jones (WVU)
Devin McCourty (New England Patriots)
Kevin Parrom (Arizona)
Dustin Salisberry (Temple)
JR Inman (Rutgers)
Trevor Williams (Iona)
Joseph Efese (Central Connecticut State)
4 non-D1 players

Doesn't Brad Wanamaker have to be on the 1st team Pitt alumni, didn't he just win MVP in a pretty good league in Europe?

 

[Zaratoughda]

Doesn't Brad Wanamaker have to be on the 1st team Pitt alumni, didn't he just win MVP in a pretty good league in Europe?

He didn't win the regular season MVP award in that league but was first team all-league and finals MVP.

Yeah, we could sure use Brad on any alumni team... might in fact be our best player.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Doesn't Brad Wanamaker have to be on the 1st team Pitt alumni, didn't he just win MVP in a pretty good league in Europe?

Yea, I totally forgot about him. He's having a good career in Europe while unfortunately, Ashton has had no choice but to pretty much retire as he wasn't able to hang on over there. So, Wanamaker at the 2, Gibbs coming off the bench.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Yea, I totally forgot about him. He's having a good career in Europe while unfortunately, Ashton has had no choice but to pretty much retire as he wasn't able to hang on over there. So, Wanamaker at the 2, Gibbs coming off the bench.

I think ya gotta go with players that can play now and I don't think Gibbs can play anymore.

In Wikipedia they say that Brad plays PG/SG so you could list him at either position.

Yeah, haven't seen a list of former players recently and where they are playing now so this one is hard to say.