MORGANTOWN — It is the fantasy sports question that is no longer a fantasy, courtesy of Best Virginia and The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
How would a WVU alumni team with the Mountaineers’ all-time leader in 3-pointers, blocked shots and offensive rebounds fare in a national tournament?
It becomes a reality at 2 p.m. Saturday (on ESPN) at the Charleston Coliseum, where No. 2 seed Best Virginia takes on No. 15 seed WOCO Showtime, an alumni team comprised mostly of former Wofford players, including Fletcher Magee, the NCAA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers with 509.
“It’s been a process for us in taking a collection of so many great players who are now all playing professionally to putting them together and creating chemistry,” Best Virginia head coach James Long said. “You still have to define roles and put guys in a place where they can succeed. Even though they’re all professionals, they’re still committed to coming in here and working hard to get better.”
Those professionals include WVU’s all-time 3-point shooter in Alex Ruoff, top offensive rebounder in Kevin Jones and most-dominating shot blocker in Sagaba Konate.
Because of their time of enrollments at WVU, there was never the opportunity for all of them to play together at once.
That’s about to change.
“To me, that’s the interesting part in bringing in guys from different eras and creating one team,” Ruoff said. “Most of us have worked out together over the years (at WVU’s practice facility), and maybe we’ve played against each other overseas, but now having the opportunity to all be on the same team is a lot of fun to watch for me.”
TBT’s winner-take-all cash prize of $1 million creates the common goal to win.
To earn it, Best Virginia must win three games in its Charleston regional and then would have to win three more games in Dayton, Ohio to capture the prize in the single-elimination format.
“Yeah, it’s like the old NCAA tournament,” Best Virginia forward Nathan Adrian said. “It’s not always the best teams that win the NCAA, usually it’s not. It’s about getting the right things to happen, make a few shots and maybe have a few things go your way. I think we’ve got a fighter’s chance. I don’t think we’d all be putting in the work if we didn’t believe we had a shot.”
Along the way, some interesting storylines could develop, including a possible showdown in the third round with Herd That, Marshall’s alumni team that is the No. 3 seed in Charleston.
Herd That advanced to the Super 16 in the 2020 TBT, a tournament Best Virginia missed due to positive COVID-19 tests.
A year later, Best Virginia is out to make another run.
The team is much more than just the three WVU record holders.
It is a mixture of the Mountaineers’ run to the 2010 Final Four with forward John Flowers and assistant coach Da’Sean Butler.
The “Press” Virginia era is well-represented with guards Juwan Staten, Tarik Phillip and Teyvon Myers, as well as forward Jonathan Holton.
“If we get down, we’ll obviously have to look to press,” Long said. “The good thing is, I won’t really have to draw anything up. They can just go into it. I mean, what can I teach them about the press that they already don’t know?”
More recent WVU players Chase Harler and Logan Routt have added some young blood to the roster.
Best Virginia won two exhibition games leading up to the TBT. Staten led the team with 26 points in a game in Wheeling, while Adrian led the team with 21 points in Beckley.
“We’ve progressed each time,” Long said. “I think we’ve got better from what we did in Beckley to what we did in Wheeling. I think our message is getting clear to what we want to accomplish.”
TWEET @bigjax3211
