ast June, after months of buildup, its banked-on debut was put on hold.
This St. Bonaventure alumni contingent had a team name — Brown & White — coaching staff and a roster that was ready to roll. Team founder Derek Howard, an Olean native and 2010 Bona graduate, had been all but assured of his squad’s initial place in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) bracket.
But when the increasingly popular 5-on-5 summer hoops event was forced to trim the field from its typical 64 teams to 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brown and White, as a new entrant, was left out, leaving this intriguing “fantasy” lineup at the altar and fans to shift their support to Sideline Cancer, the team with whom Bona commit Dion Wright joined and helped to the championship game.
A year later, however, the Brown & White is finally getting its shot.
BACK AT 64 teams, the TBT — the single-elimination tournament with a winner-take-all $1 million grand prize — revealed the 2021 bracket in a selection show format earlier this week. And this time, after again being told that its application was a lock (the TBT chooses teams based primarily on talent and fan following, both of which Bona has plenty) the Brown and White were among the field.
The Bona alumni team is one of 16 squads in the Columbus (Ohio) Regional, which will host the early rounds from July 23-27. Seeded 13th, it will take on fourth-seeded TBT mainstay Team Hines, for which former Bona standout Matt Mobley plays, in the first round on Friday, July 23, at 4 p.m. on ESPN3.
With a victory, Brown & White would take on the winner of No. 5 The Money Team and No. 12 The Region on Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m. In an event that has become largely centered on collegiate alumni teams, the Columbus field also includes annual powerhouse (and No. 1 seed) Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State), Blue Collar U. (Buffalo), Zip ‘Em Up (Xavier) and Red Scare (Dayton).
THE ANNOUNCEMENT that Bona will officially, and finally, be making its TBT debut was another exciting development for the program’s diehards, who were already looking forward to having a potential preseason Top 25 team next winter. And it was the culmination of a great deal of work put in by Howard, who also serves as general manager, and a simple question collectively asked three years ago:
How cool would it be if St. Bonaventure had a team in the TBT?
“Bona fans, excited to see you guys,” said Wright, who was the first Bonnie to commit to this year’s team back in April, “(and) get to hoop in front of our passionate fans again and hear those ‘let’s go Bona’ chants. See you guys there.”
Wright (2016) is among seven former Bona standouts, all of whom have gone on to notable overseas careers, who will be part of the inaugural Brown & White lineup. That group also includes guards Marcus Posley (2016) and Chris Johnson (2013) and forwards Demitrius Conger (2013), Da’Quan Cook (2012), Denzel Gregg (2017) and LaDarien Griffin (2019). To fill out the roster, which could still see up to two more additions, B&W added “honorary Bonnies” Davion Berry, the 2014 Big Sky Player of the Year from Weber State, and former Cincinnati standout Cane Broome.
The nine-player roster will be coached by former Bona assistant and current West Georgia (Division II) head coach Dave Moore, who reupped after initially committing to the position last spring. He’ll be assisted by former Bona captain Idris Taqqee (2018) and student-manager Steve Marcus, now a head coach in NBL Canada.
“It’s a great opportunity to see our guys again, get to coach them as professional basketball players,” Moore said in an interview with Pickin’ Splinters. “I was watching the TBT on ESPN a few years ago and started thinking about the team of SBU guys we could put together for this thing and have a great chance to win it. Derek Howard reached out to me about being part of the Brown & White and I jumped at the chance.”
For Bona fans, it’s a roster as tantalizing for the storylines as the talent.
THIS MARKS an opportunity to see Conger, Gregg and Griffin — three of the best-dunking Bonnies — on the floor together at the same time. It’s a chance for Posley and Wright, two fan favorites and captains of the 2016 team, to rewrite their ending after being snubbed from the NCAA Tournament and losing at home to Wagner in the NIT.
It’s an opportunity to see some of the best players of the last decade in a “brown and white” uniform once again.
The hope is that, now formally part of the field, this becomes an annual event, something to help feed the faithful’s appetite during the summer months, a bridge from one anticipated season to the next. The aim is that, broadcast throughout by ESPN, it might also be something that helps bring even more exposure to a burgeoning Bona program.
And with a roster that includes the former scoring star Posley, All-Atlantic 10-caliber players Wright, Conger and Griffin and a former league POY, Brown & White has one other goal:
Why not win the whole thing and the $1 million that comes with it?
Two teams will advance from each of the TBT’s four regionals to compete in the national quarterfinals, semis and championship from July 31-August 3. The location for championship weekend?
Dayton’s UD Arena, where Bona teams have had a penchant for winning big games.
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
