It never took much for Evan Battey to flash his engaging smile.
Saturday’s festivities at the CU Events Center — partly a reunion, partly the start of a short but demanding training camp — made it easy to share a few grins.
All sorts of familiar faces have returned to campus as Team Colorado, the alumni squad comprised of former CU men’s basketball players, began workouts ahead of its first game in the $1 million winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament.
“Seeing these dudes, some of us haven’t been together since the COVID year,” said Battey, who spent his first professional season this past year playing in Bulgaria. “Itap a good feeling to be all back. We still have a job at hand. These donors pay a lot of money for us to play. But itap the same type of pride we have to carry as when we were playing for Colorado. We have to play for the name on the front of the jersey, and thatap what we’re going to do. I’m glad to be back here with the guys and we’re excited to get out here.”
The ESPN-backed TBT has grown in popularity since the CU alumni team enjoyed an impressive run in the winner-take-all-format nearly a decade ago. In 2016, the former Buffs nearly brought home the jackpot before squandering the lead in a gut-wrenching second half.
However, when Team Colorado tips off on Wednesday against Team Mackey, a squad of mostly Purdue graduates, in a first-round date in Dayton (1 p.m. MT), it will mark the club’s first appearance in TBT since 2019. Due mostly to the fallout of COVID pandemic challenges, organizers of Team Colorado were not confident in recent years of constructing a team competitive enough to make a run in the 64-team bracket.
With a roster retooled from its original core members to a younger rotation of more recent former Buffs, Team Colorado is confident the patience will pay off.
“I’m glad everyone is finally here and we’re done with the planning part of it,” said CU director of player development Zach Ruebesam, who is serving as Team Colorado’s head coach. “Having the guys back on campus, itap why we do TBT, honestly. Seeing everybody so happy to be back in Boulder is part of the reason why we do it.
“I’m going to sound like coach (Tad) Boyle right now, itap all about defense and rebounding. If we defend and rebound, we’re always going to have a chance.”
Team Colorado’s roster is weighted heavily with players in the early stages of their professional careers overseas, including Battey, D’Shawn Schwartz and Dallas Walton (Schwartz played in Turkey last year and will play in France next season; Walton spent time in Romania and Poland last year). Jeriah Horne played in the NBA G League this past year while Tyler Bey, also with G League experience, enjoyed a big season in Israel.
Still others like Tre’Shaun Fletcher, who retired as a player a few years ago to start his own personal training business, are using the three-day training camp to help get them back in playing shape.
“They called and asked if I would play and I knew it would be fun,” Fletcher said. “Itap good to be back around the guys and back on campus. Itap crazy how fast everything goes. I’ve been doing stuff, running and doing training after my sessions. I’m getting prepared as best as I can. We’ve just got to get the first game. The quicker we can find a rhythm and getting used to playing with each other, we’ll see what we can do.”
