Always A Brave Returns for TBT 2018

Bradley alumni team receives an at-large bid and No. 5 seed for this summer's $2 million, winner-take-all tournament

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Men's Basketball 6/6/2018 11:20:00 AM

The Bradley University alumni men's basketball team Always A Brave has been accepted as an at-large entry for the 2018 edition of The Basketball Tournament and the 12-man squad of former Braves will make their third attempt at TBT's $2 million, winner-take-all prize when the Midwest Regional opens July 20 in Columbus, OH.

This summer's Always A Brave squad features 12 players, all of whom once suited up for Bradley Basketball as collegians, including six who were members of the 2016 AAB squad that won the TBT Midwest Region to advance to the championship round, as well as four TBT newcomers. The team will report to Peoria July 9 for a 10-day "training camp" in advance of the 2018 TBT Midwest Regional, which will be played July 20-22 in Columbus, OH at Capital University's Capital Center. The Super 16 will be July 26-29 in Atlanta at Georgia State University and the Championship semifinals and final will be Aug. 2-3 in Baltimore at Morgan State University.

Always A Brave received the No. 5 seed for the Midwest Regional and will open the tournament against No. 12 seed Primetime Players for an 8:15 a.m. ET tip July 21 at the Capital Center. The other matchup in AAB's four-team pod is No. 4 seed Bix X and No. 13 seed Chattanooga Trenches. The team that goes 2-0 in the pod will advance to the TBT Super 16. The Bix X squad is new to TBT and the team primarily consists of players from Big 10 Conference schools, but also includes two players from Clemson's 2018 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 squad, Gabe Devoe and Mark Donnal. Former Illinois center Nnanna Egwu is listed as one of Big X's 11 players.

2018 Always A Brave Roster

No.	Name	Years at BU	Pos.	Ht.	Current
21	Zach Andrews	2005-07	C	6-8	Bangkok Tigers (Thailand) - 11th pro season
9	Auston Barnes	2013-15	F	6-8	Sodertalje (Sweden) - 3rd pro season
5	Tony Bennett	2004-06	G	6-0	Lives in Chicago - Played 10 pro seasons from 2006-17
55	Will Franklin	2005-07	G	6-0	Lives in Houston - Played 7 pro seasons from 2007-17
44	Jimmy Gavin	2012-13	G	6-3	Spartak SP (Russia) - 2nd pro season
25	Walt Lemon, Jr.	2010-14	G	6-3	Fort Wayne Mad Ants (NBA G League) - 4th pro season
13	Patrick O'Bryant	2004-06	C	7-0	Nevada Desert Dogs (NAPB) - 12th pro season
20	Daniel Ruffin	2003-08	G	5-10	Lives in Peoria - Played 4 pro seasons from 2008-14
22	Matt Salley	2006-08	C	6-8	Lives in Charlotte, NC - Played 6 pro seasons from 2011-17
15	Marcellus Sommerville	2003-06	F	6-7	Entente Orleans 45 (France) - 12th pro season
10	J.J. Tauai	2003-07	G	6-3	Lives in Springfield, MO - Played 1 pro season in 2008-09
1	Donte Thomas	2014-18	F	6-7	Bradley (NCAA) - Preparing for 1st pro season
	Head Coach: A.J. Guyton Assistant Coach: Chuck Buescher GM: Bobby Parker

Always A Brave Team Notes

The 12 players on the Always A Brave roster for TBT 2018 have combined to play professionally around the world for 72 individual seasons.
The 2018 version of Always A Brave features two players with NBA experience: Patrick O'Bryant was a 2006 NBA Lottery pick who played four seasons (2006-10) in the NBA, while Walt Lemon enjoyed consecutive 10-day contracts with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018.
All 12 players, as well as assistant coach Chuck Buescher, played at least one season at Bradley. Jimmy Gavin, who was a walk on for the Braves in 2012-13, is the only player who did not finish his collegiate career at Bradley. Gavin transferred to NCAA Division II Wisconsin-Parkside for two seasons, then finished his collegiate career in 2015-16 as a graduate student at Winthrop, where he averaged 18.7 ppg to earn first-team All-Big South Conference honors.
Always A Brave features seven members of Bradley's 2006 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 squad. In addition to returning AAB veterans Tony Bennett, Will Franklin, O'Bryant, Daniel Ruffin and Marcellus Sommerville, this year's team has added 2006 Sweet 16 players Zach Andrews and J.J. Tauai. Andrews has played in the previous three TBT's for Team 23, including a run to the 2015 championship game. Tauai is a detective for the Springfield, MO, police department and is making his TBT debut.
Coming off his 12th pro season, Sommerville has starred in TBT each of the last two summers. A member of the 2016 TBT All-Tournament Team after leading Always A Brave to the championship semifinals, Sommerville is AAB's career scoring leader, totaling 156 points (19.5 ppg) during the team's eight games the last two seasons.
Forward Donte Thomas will make his TBT debut this summer having graduated from Bradley University in May after playing four years for the Braves from 2014-18. Thomas earned All-MVC second team honors in 2018 after averaging 11.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during his senior season and plans to continue his career professionally in 2018-19.

Bonus Note

Brian Bedo, Bradley Basketball's television play-by-play announcer and the athletic department's Charley Steiner Intern during the 2005-06 Sweet 16 season, will serve on the TBT Midwest Region broadcast team for the second year in a row. ESPN once again will broadcast TBT games on its array of cable and streaming networks.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Donte Thomas: F; 6' 7"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#1 Donte Thomas
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

Always A Brave Returns for TBT 2018

Bradley alumni team receives an at-large bid and No. 5 seed for this summer's $2 million, winner-take-all tournament

Players Mentioned

#1 Donte Thomas

Players Mentioned

#1 Donte Thomas