Buffaloes alumni to compete in The Basketball Tournament

This summer, a basketball team comprised of former Colorado Buffaloes will once again compete in The Basketball Tournament. Team Colorado, as they’re named, will be competing in their third iteration of this open-entry, single-elimination tournament for a $2,000,000 grand prize.

Team Colorado nearly won the grand prize last year, but despite valiant efforts from former Buffs point guard Marcus Hall (2003-08), they fell just short in the championship game. Hall will look to finish what they started, and considering the star-studded roster additions, Team Colorado will be one of the heavy favorites when The Tournament starts on July 15 in Las Vegas.

Should Team Colorado advance from the West Region (July 15-16), they will play in the Super 16 and Round of 8 (July 20-23) in Brooklyn, and the semifinals and championship (August 1-3) in Baltimore.

Without further ado, here’s the roster for Team Colorado:

• Dominique Coleman*, Guard
• Chris Copeland**, Forward
• Austin Dufault*, Forward
• Marcus Hall*, Guard
• David Harrison**, Center
• Michael Morandais, Guard
• Marcus Relphorde*, Forward
• Richard Roby*, Forward
• Josh Scott, Center
• Shannon Sharpe*, Guard
• Xavier Talton, Guard
• Calvin Williams*, Forward
• James Wright, Guard
• Beau Gamble, General Manager
• Dwight Thorne, Coach
• Chauncey Billups, Booster

*Returning TBT player

**Former NBA player

This team is STACKED. It’s great for any TBT team to have all-conference selections and D-Leaguers, much less former NBA players, and Team Colorado has two. You have to give credit to Team Colorado general manager Beau Gamble for building such a loaded team, but coach Dwight Thorne is going to have a tough time deciding who to play.

There’s no certainty about when players will be available or how much they wish to play — these guys will all have professional tryouts over the summer — but we can try to guess what the rotation will look like. Here’s what my lineup would be:

PG - Marcus Hall

SG - Dominique Coleman

SF - Richard Roby

PF - Chris Copeland

C - Josh Scott

That starting lineup has shooting at every position, playmaking ability from everyone besides Scott, and they have would fantastic defense and rebounding for a small-ball lineup. I’d be tempted to put David Harrison over Dominique Coleman and slide everyone down a position, but Harrison is 34-years-old and might not want to be playing extended minutes.

The bench would something like this, with players listed in descending order of playing time:

Marcus Relphorde

David Harrison

Austin Dufault

Xavier Talton

Shannon Sharpe

...

The bench unit doesn’t have the most scoring ability or the best shooting, but they have size and they have tenacity. Marcus Relphorde is crazy person with the ball, and while he commits a few turnovers too many, this energy can be harnessed and utilized off the bench. Harrison may be a bit older, but can you imagine an opposing bench player coming into one of these games and realizing he has to defend a 7-foot former NBA player? Damn, this is going to be fun.