MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The first round of The Basketball Tournament (TBT) next month will feature a Capital Classic rivalry game.
Best Virginia, a WVU men’s basketball alumni team, will play Herd That, a Marshall alumni team, on July 5 in Columbus, Ohio.
TBT is a 24-team, single elimination tournament with a winner-take-all prize of $1 million. It begins July 4 and all games will be televised by ESPN. No fans will be in attendance this year.
“I think it’s going to be a great match-up,” said John Flowers, a former WVU forward and Best Virginia’s general manager. “I remember how the Capital Classic was always a great game to be a part of in college. It’s going to be a lot of fun getting it going again.”
Best Virginia earned the overall No. 10 seed in the tournament, while Herd That was given the No. 23 seed.
The winner will advance to play No. 7 The Money Team on July 9.
The Money Team is sponsored by former welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather and features former WVU standout forward Devin Williams, who played with Best Virginia last season.
“It certainly adds some interesting angles,” Flowers said. “I kind of felt going in that’s what they were going to do. If I was in charge of TBT, I’d probably do the same thing. I’d want all the talking points I could have.”
Best Virginia made its TBT debut last season, falling to Overseas Elite in the second round.
That was a 64-team tournament, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced this season’s field to be shortened to 24 teams.
All the games will be played in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus and teams will be tested for the coronavirus before traveling to Ohio.
Players will be tested again upon arrival and then a third time before the first round begins. Flowers said Best Virginia will travel to Columbus on June 30.
If any player tests positive for COVID-19, the entire team is eliminated from the tournament.
“I think one of the most stressful things this year will be going through all of those tests,” Flowers said.
As for the match-up with Herd That, ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said it will be a battle of contrasting styles of play.
“Let me tell you, Herd That, these dudes are not only going to take shots, they’re going to make shots,” Greenberg said during the TBT bracket unveiling show. “They’re going to play at a ridiculous break-neck pace. They’re going to shoot a lot of threes and lay-ups.
“They will play without fear. They will play ridiculously fast and they’ll try to impose their system on the game.”
As for Best Virginia, “The question (for Herd That) is they’re playing against maybe the best defensive team in TBT,” Greenberg said. “As you know, those West Virginia guys, that’s a different breed in the way they defend.”
Along with Flowers, Best Virginia’s roster includes former standouts Da’Sean Butler, Kevin Jones, Juwan Staten, Jaysean Paige, Logan Routt, Teyvon Myers, Daxter Miles Jr., Nate Adrian, Tarik Phillip and Jon Holton.
Herd That features former Marshall standout Jon Elmore, who connected on 356 3-pointers and scored 2,638 career points with the Thundering Herd.
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