Blue Collar U (Buffalo Alumni) are competing for 1 million tomorrow night (Tuesday) on ESPN (and SlingTV Free)
Why is this relevant?
It is the team that defeated Arizona as the 13 seed then the next season won ~30 games and defeated Arizona St in the Big Dance. This team made the Final 4 of TBT last season. This core validated itself. Anyone still salty is a joke.
Hope to see them win it all. 3 out of 4 Alumni Teams made the Final 4 this year (Wichita State Alumni and Dayton Alumni were the other 2). So it's not just Ringers making Super Teams or Overseas Elite (With Kyle Fogg).
Most Arizona Alum probably are all contracted to play somewhere, but this Tournament is majorly on the Rise and more Alum teams are popping up. Good Alum teams. Not just 34 year old nostalgia plays. Teams that make the Big Dance as 14 15 16 seeds and have no pro basketball futures, but stick together are going to have advantages in this format. I would really like to see any Arizona players that don't land in Summer League get together for TBT. Whether it's someone older who can't catch on in Summer Leagues like Gabe York or Rawle, Kadeem Allen, Zo Trier types or anyone else with ties to the University. There are enough players that could do it if they felt backed by Wildcat Nation.
Around 75k-100k for 6 games over 3 weeks (maybe 4-5 if they decide to practice for a week or 2 leading up to it) is a good chunk of change to stay loose in the offseason. I didn't see 1 notable injury the entire tournament for anyone who is about to reply to this saying it's not worth the risk.
I could be salty, but just one Arizona player from that team they beat, has made more NBA money than every person from Buffalo in history put together. But carry on Mr Expert.
1 Million Dollars to the Blue Collar U Buffalo Alumns. Not a bad payday for 4 weeks of work while staying loose in the offseason.
If the Administration didn't ostracize the Legacy of Arizona Basketball, there would definitely be more interest put into assembling a Zona Zoo Wildcat Nation team for this for the sheer recognition alone. Players like Mike Bibby, Derrick Williams, Ryan Luther, Mark Lyons and others with Arizona ties have all played in this tournament. Kyle Fogg is the winningest player of this tournament. There's absolutely no excuse for players from the Mid 2010's-on to step up and represent other than the Admin creating divisiveness on purpose.
The training, recruiting, practice, travel and process take much longer than 4 weeks. Their payout is less than a typical salary for an average American job, so don't pretend like they have bragging rights over athletes that are making real money.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/34338436/blue-collar-u-downs-americana-autism-takes-home-1-million-basketball-tournament-title
$15,000 to $100,000 for winning a "once in a lifetime" tournament is only a big deal because ESPN is desperate for ratings during the sports offseason and they want attention. Nobody cares and any of these players would realistically trade this title for a 3-day NBA contract in a heartbeat.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on August 03, 2022, 07:04:52 AM
The training, recruiting, practice, travel and process take much longer than 4 weeks. Their payout is less than a typical salary for an average American job, so don't pretend like they have bragging rights over athletes that are making real money.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/34338436/blue-collar-u-downs-americana-autism-takes-home-1-million-basketball-tournament-title
$15,000 to $100,000 for winning a "once in a lifetime" tournament is only a big deal because ESPN is desperate for ratings during the sports offseason and they want attention. Nobody cares and any of these players would realistically trade this title for a 3-day NBA contract in a heartbeat.
I hope someone who was eliminated in the Semi finals of the SWAC Tournament never sees this type of disrespectful comment.
A bunch of the players on Buffalo play abroad. Most players in the tournament have contracts somewhere. They play because it's good money for a very short period of time and it is the same training they would be expected to be doing for free otherwise in between waiting for the next season to start. Alumni teams like Buffalo's is an instance of a team that was much better than a lot of crybabies on this board thought they were and they proved it now being 10-1 in this tournament. Not all teams have cores like that. Xavier's Zip Em Up happens to have the core that won the Sweet 16. Every year there is more and more alumni team presence over mercenaries.
Also - don't blame Arizona players for being so well coached that they have very large contracts and commitments abroad or in the States. Sean Miller coached up a ton of high quality players that made the NBA or have big roles/standout's abroad. So no - I don't expect Parker Cartwright Jackson to feel a need to race back to play in TBT when he is averaging 20ppg abroad at a legitimate level, but Kyle Fogg is the winningest player - so don't act like everyone is "too good/nose up" either.
The bigger point is how the players and assistants feel about representing the University. The players that would fit in this setting were all from the Sean Miller Era. So clearly there is a conflict of interest and being blind to that is pretty unacceptable IMHO. I don't blame players who all met under Miller or were coached by Miller over the last decade to feel a ton of pride representing the school that Ghouled their Coach out in the way it did.
TBT is still growing. It was at 2 million for the prize until Covid, but with the hype and inevitable adoption of the Elam coming, this tournament is only going to continue getting bigger and bigger which makes it foolish to ignore. The wave is coming, ride it or get smashed by it.
It's pretty obvious that the players had no allegiance or chemistry under Miller...or there would already be an Arizona team in the mix.
I'm optimistic that a group will form in the future, as a new representation of the university is established.
Epic fail once again, pert. Maybe if Miller was a better coach and performed at the highest level, he would still be employed by Arizona. Cheating, lack of institutional control, tarnishing the Arizona legacy and having a pathetic sideline demeanor got him bounced. Miller has a new team you can follow, if you choose too.
...and for the record, I LOVED Miller as a coach. He was a good speaker, he interacted with the alumni and most importantly, he would do anything to win. Unfortunately, he would be willing to sacrifice relationships with players and fellow coaches to get the W's (which is the reason that this worthless semi-pro tournament has never involved recent Arizona alumnus).