Charleston prepares to play host to TBT Regional with headliners Best Virginia and Herd That
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (BVM) — Though a state capitol, Charleston, W.Va., is not usually considered a major media market as its estimated population of just over 46,000 certainly doesn’t make it on the shortlist of cities people want to see in their lifetime. That doesn’t change the pride that the capitol’s citizens hold for its significance to the state and the region and these same people are the ones who will be looking to bring energy and excitement to the nationally-televised sporting event, The Basketball Tournament, when the city hosts a regional round beginning Saturday.
“The energy, as you might expect, is pretty high for this event,” President and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau Tim Brady said. “The excitement in the city is just building by the day.”
The games, which will feature two West Virginia based teams in West Virginia University’s alumni team Best Virginia and the Marshall University alumni team Herd That, will take place from July 17-21 at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, a 13,500 seat venue in the heart of the city.
“In West Virginia we don’t have don’t have professional sports teams so fans of sports gravitate toward one of the two universities, either West Virginia or Marshall,” Brady said. “So having those two alumni teams co-hosting this regional for TBT taps into both of those incredibly strong and passionate fanbases. … You’ll see some rowdy and passionate folks when Best Virginia and Herd That are on the floor for sure.”
In total, the Charleston Regional will host 16 teams including a number of collegiate alumni teams such as Auburn’s War Ready, East Tennessee State University’s Bucketneers, James Madison University’s Founding Fathers and Wofford’s WoCo Showtime along with the two West Virginia based alumni squads. The tournament begins with back-to-back games featuring the two “host” teams as No. 3 seed Herd That will host No. 14 Team DRC on July 17 at 12 p.m. EST followed immediately by No. 2 Best Virginia going against the No. 15 WoCo Showtime.
Though the Charleston-based fans will likely be hoping both its home teams clash in the regional round, it would take two wins apiece by Best Virginia and Herd That for the two to meet in the regional finals on July 21, a difficult task considering the No. 1 seed, Sideline Cancer, finished as the runner-up of the entire tournament last year.
“This is a great basketball town, people know basketball and love basketball and I think you’re going to see that coming through the TV screen when you’re watching the TBT games out of Charleston,” Brady said. “[Having the two hosts play each other] will be off the charts. That’s as simple as I can put it. … There are a whole lot of us who really want to see those two lock up later in the week in the tournament.”
Best Virginia is captained by former Mountaineers star John Flowers who averaged 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds during his senior season in 2011. Alongside Flowers, former Mountaineers Alex Ruoff (2005-09), Kevin Jones (2008-12), Juwan Staten (2012-15), Nathan Adrian (2013-17), Jaysean Paige (2014-16), Jonathan Holton (2014-16), Tarik Phillip (2014-17), Teyvon Myers (2015-17), Sagaba Konate (2016-19), Chase Harler (2016-20) and Logan Routt (2015-20). The team will also be coached by a former Mountaineer James Long (2014-17), a Charleston natvie who will surely see his squad benefit from his hometown support.
“Of the two host teams, I’m going to go out on a limb and I’m a little biased because I’m an alum too, but I think Best Virginia will have a slightly larger and more vocal fanbase,” Brady said.
Herd That, perhaps one of the most fun teams from last year’s tournament, returns fan favorite Ot Elmore and his brother Jon Elmore as well as their father Gay who will serve as the team’s head coach. In addition to the Elmore duo, Herd That will also trot out former Marshall players Stevie Browning (2015-17), Rondale Watson (2017-19) and James Kelly (2015-16) in addition to Middle Tennessee State’s JaCorey Williams, Florida Atlantic’s Ronald Delph, Wyoming’s Derek Cooke and Washington’s Darin Johnson.
“You can’t discount the Herd fans,” Brady said. “The Elmore brothers, especially Ot, became cult figures during last year’s TBT, media darlings and Ot’s back and he’ll have a lot of people in the crowd just because of who he is and a lot of vocal support.”
Brady feels that, although the two host teams will have the more overwhelming support, both No. 1 seed Sideline Cancer and No. 13 seed HBCUnited will have a lot of fans on their side as well.
“Sideline Cancer I think will have a lot of fans in the building, they’ve built a lot of popularity over the years and they are obviously a very good team based on their track record in this tournament so I think they’ll have a lot of folks cheering for them in the stands,” Brady said. “The other darkhorse is HBCUnited, a team made up of guys from historically black colleges and universities one of which we have right outside of Charleston in West Virginia State University so I think they’re going to have a lot of folks for them as well.”
Brady, who said the ticket sales have been strong and have not been impacted by COVID hesitancy, has a good feeling about the host team’s chances. In fact, he thinks one of the two will make their way to the Championship Week following the regional round.
“It’s not a very tough limb to go out on, but I think one of the two teams is playing in Dayton in two weeks in the national championship tournament and I’m going with Best Virginia,” Brady said. “I’ve been watching those guys on that team for many years as a fan and an alum and I think Best Virginia will be playing in Dayton when all is said and done.”
The 2021 iteration of TBT, its eighth season in existence, will feature 69 players with NBA experience, 28 college alumni teams and international professionals playing in top leagues across the world. The 64-team, single-elimination tournament will start with regional matchups beginning today with eight teams from the four regionals advancing to Championship Week in Dayton from July 31-Aug. 3. The week will conclude with the TBT championship game with two teams squaring off for the $1 million grand prize on Aug. 3 at 9pm EDT on ESPN.
See you tomorrow, West Virginia 👀 pic.twitter.com/VWuEoU7Xsa
— TBT (@thetournament) July 16, 2021
