Penn State Hoops Alumni Officially Announce ‘The Basketball Tournament’ Team
Their time at Penn State may be over, but a group of Penn State men’s basketball alumni are reuniting for a summer tournament called “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT). John Harrar had previously announced that Penn State was going to field a team in the summer tournament, but now it is official.
The team is called the Happy Valley Hoopers and consists of Harrar, Tony Carr, Josh Reaves, Shep Garner, Mike Watkins, Jamari Wheeler, Curtis Jones, Nazeer Bostick, and Trent Buttrick. Most of the team was on the 2019-20 team that would’ve made the NCAA Tournament had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, which is an exciting reunion for fans.
— TBT (@thetournament) January 12, 2023
BREAKING
The initial roster for @HappyValley_TBT is LOADEDpic.twitter.com/brG6zODAef
For people who have not heard of TBT before, it’s a summer basketball tournament very similar to that of the NCAA Tournament. The main difference is the ending, as the fourth quarter ends when one team reaches a target score. This is called the Elam Ending.
Alumni teams from universities across the country have made a mark on TBT, including universities like Wichita State, Marquette, and Dayton. There are also charities that field teams, such as the Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, organization Sideline Cancer.
Harrar was very excited about the opportunity to have a Penn State TBT team. Ever since he was on the Purdue alumni team last season, he knew he wanted to have one filled with Nittany Lions.
“The big thing that hit home was how these guys get together every year and enjoy themselves and have fun,” Harrar said. “Yeah, with TBT we get to play basketball, but we also get to see guys we played with when we were younger and hopefully other guys we haven’t played with but went to the same school as us.”
If you want to follow Happy Valley Hoopers and their journey to a TBT title, you can follow them on Twitter @HappyValley_TBT.
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