The Basketball Tournament returns all across the United States this weekend, and with it comes the fifth edition of Best Virginia, the alumni team comprising of former WVU Mountaineers.
Seeded third in the Pittsburgh Regional, Best Virginia will take on the sixth seeded Brotherly Love Pro Am Foundation on Saturday for the second game at the Petersen Events Center. The game tips off at 3 p.m. and is available on TBT Live.
Third is the second lowest region seed Best Virginia has received at TBT, with the worst being from the team’s founding 2019 season, when it was seeded fourth. Since returning in 2021, Best Virginia seeded in its region’s top two every season until now.
Best Virginia is looking for revenge this year after falling victim to an upset in last year’s TBT. As the top seed of the West Virginia regional in Wheeling, the former Mountaineers barely made it past the eighth seeded Dubois Dream, 70-68. They then fell to Herd That, the four seed and eventual region winner, 74-61.
Aside from last season’s disappointment, though, Best Virginia’s lacking presence as a favorite is mainly due to the team looking different than it has in the past. These changes are neither good or bad on paper, but they are definitely new.
In 2024, Best Virginia loses four-year TBT veteran and superstar Kevin Jones on the floor as he transitions to a coaching role, two players are not at all associated with WVU, and perhaps most importantly, James Long will no longer be at the helm as head coach, as the new University of Charleston head coach will be replaced by Chase Harler.
Harler has been around Best Virginia for four years now as a player, assistant GM, and now GM and head coach. He played four years at WVU from 2016 through 2020 and played briefly overseas before taking a step back professionally. Harler’s name has been in the mix for returning to the university in a coaching role for the past couple of seasons, and at Best Virginia, he will officially have his chance to show what he can do.
As for Best Virginia’s opponent, the Brotherly Love Pro Am Foundation, the Philadelphia-based organization enters TBT with a new look as well. Previously known as Team Brotherly Love, the foundation burst onto the TBT scene in 2019 to win the Syracuse Regional as a three seed.
Brotherly Love came back for round two the following season after being bounced from the quarterfinals but struggled in the COVID-19 format, once again making the quarterfinals due to the forced walk-over of five seed Eberlein Drive but falling 83-76 to the fourth seeded Golden Eagles.
In 2021, Brotherly Love made it back to TBT one last time before taking a two-year hiatus. Having not participated in TBT since, Brotherly Love’s most recent TBT memory is a brutal 78-46 loss to Playing for Jimmy V in the first round of the Illinois Regional.
Now, as the Brotherly Love Pro Am Foundation and Best Virginia go head to head, both teams will be using their history and experience at TBT to push for a second region title and first TBT Championship.
Photo from The Basketball Tournament
