Mamadi and Kihei were the two biggies. Heard Akil mentioned but I donât think that was ever an expectation. Thereâs obviously other guys playing around the world that mightâve been interested, but itâs a tough ask for those that are still playing or would just have ended seasons to come back and commit to a tournament like this.
This is the type of thing that needs full buy in from players and the university and also helps to have continuity from year to year. Take emotion out of it, UVA had none of that so just a bad idea.
A big draw of tbt at jpj is to come back to cville and see âeveryoneâ. Without any familiarity, it makes it easy to say no, iâm busy. If they were tight with some of the new staff, it would be an easy excuse to come back and hang.
During the season (now), people may feel like they need a breakâŚlooking forward to seeing family, being homeâŚnow u ask them to come to cville to play in tbtâŚit sounds like work.
The continuity is big I think. Getting over the hump of starting a team. Once you do that, I think it acts as a proof of concept and is easier to fill in a roster. Hosting too is just extra work and money so itâs difficult to get the department and arena to be super excited about it especially if it might not make any money.
So no, not UVA-specific other than the Hoos have never had a team before.
Would love for Tony to step up and lead this. No conflict with the transistion to Odom and would guarantee a strong roster of his former players. Come on Tony!!
âUncertaintyâ about the UVA alumni team? I thought there was certainty that itâs already not happning. Close enough anyway that TBT would want to treat it as such and sign up a replacement asap if they havenât already.
