{"id":81315,"date":"2019-08-08T14:27:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T19:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=81315"},"modified":"2019-08-08T14:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T19:27:27","slug":"close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Close-knit Ohio State alumni squad overcomes obstacles to win first TBT championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Neel Madhavan<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

A week prior to the start of The Basketball Tournament, Carmen\u2019s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, wasn\u2019t even sure whether or not they would play in the tournament this year. The team only had six players confirmed to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really looking at it saying: \u2018I don\u2019t know if this is going to be our year,\u2019\u201d said guard Aaron Craft. \u201cI think the guys just seemed ready. Obviously, we\u2019re extremely excited that we pulled it together in that last week. But it was tough that last week. We thought we were going to have to play zone for three games in a row for three days. Found a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the team is the TBT champion and $2 million richer, defeating the Golden Eagles, a Marquette alumni team, 66-60 on Tuesday night at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no other group of guys I\u2019d rather do this with, like Evan [Turner] said after the game, we\u2019re family,\u201d said guard Jon Diebler. \u201cWinning the tournament is amazing, winning the money is amazing, but to compete again in an actual game with these guys, because during the year we all go our separate ways, it\u2019s a thing that we\u2019ll cherish forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Carmen’s Crew’s Jon Diebler rises for a three-point shot against the Golden Eagles’ Jerel McNeal on Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena. (Neel Madhavan\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Belief that they could win first started 3 years ago.<\/p>\n

Using social media, power forward Evan Ravenel took the reins and helped spearhead the effort to recruit and organize the Ohio State players when they first tried to form the team in 2016 but didn\u2019t have much luck at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m the most active guy social media,\u201d Ravenel said. \u201cThe guys were like, \u2018Eh.\u2019 Half in and half out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The summer is typically time off and the chance for professional basketball players, domestically and internationally, to rest and recover after a long season, so a 2-3 week commitment in the middle of that time off is significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want just to be out here to do this,\u201d Craft said. \u201cWe could do that not being away from our families, and I think we all have an understanding that we\u2019re all sacrificing things. Our summers are all very, very short, and if we\u2019re going to do this, we want to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, after watching the tournament games on television that year, they felt confident that they were good enough to win the whole thing. As a result, they entered for the first time in 2017.<\/p>\n

Now that the tournament is over and the summer is starting to wind down, the professional basketball season is starting to pick back up. As a result, some of the team has a quick turnaround with guys heading back overseas as soon as Monday, with Craft playing in Italy and guard David Lighty off to France.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, tournament MVP William Buford, who hit the two game-winning free throws for Carmen\u2019s Crew, is still looking for a new contract for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shot like 70 percent the whole tournament,\u201d said assistant coach and current Atlanta Hawks guard Evan Turner. \u201cHe was unreal. If you watched [Oklahoma City Thunder guard] CP3 [Chris Paul] on the sideline, you could see how impressed he was. Will is a pro.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Carmen’s Crew’s LaQuinton Ross drives into the lane against the Golden Eagles’ Mo Charlo Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena. (Neel Madhavan\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More and more college alumni teams are participating in the tournament every year and this year was the first time in TBT\u2019s short history that the championship game was between two alumni teams.<\/p>\n

Having played two, three and sometimes four years together in college creates a special bond amongst alumni players. Even though they may go their separate ways and do their own thing during the season, they often come back together during the summer.<\/p>\n

In Carmen\u2019s Crew\u2019s case, that familiarity with one another serves as an advantage for the team in the tournament, according to Ravenel, and can be a catalyst for a championship run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all pretty much live in Columbus, Ohio in summertime,\u201d Ravenel said. \u201cWe work out at the same gym together. So, we\u2019re lifting in the morning, shooting in the afternoon, playing mid-afternoon and at night we are drinking, hanging out, playing cards together. We\u2019re always together, we are all best friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Carmen’s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, poses with the TBT trophy after defeating the Golden Eagles 66-60 on Tuesday Aug. 6 at Wintrust Arena. (Neel Madhavan\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Neel Madhavan Medill Reports A week prior to the start of The Basketball Tournament, Carmen\u2019s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, wasn\u2019t even sure whether or not they would play in the tournament this year. The team only had six players confirmed to participate. \u201cWe were really looking at it saying: \u2018I don\u2019t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":81319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4779],"tags":[4785,61,4585,4786,805,4787,4783,4784],"class_list":["post-81315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2019","tag-alumni","tag-chicago","tag-college-basketball","tag-marquette","tag-ohio-state","tag-professional-basketball","tag-tbt","tag-the-basketball-tournament"],"yoast_head":"\nClose-knit Ohio State alumni squad overcomes obstacles to win first TBT championship - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Close-knit Ohio State alumni squad overcomes obstacles to win first TBT championship - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Neel Madhavan Medill Reports A week prior to the start of The Basketball Tournament, Carmen\u2019s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, wasn\u2019t even sure whether or not they would play in the tournament this year. The team only had six players confirmed to participate. \u201cWe were really looking at it saying: \u2018I don\u2019t know […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-08T19:27:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/TeamPoseTBT.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"neelmadhavan2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"neelmadhavan2019\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/\",\"name\":\"Close-knit Ohio State alumni squad overcomes obstacles to win first TBT championship - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/TeamPoseTBT.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-08T19:27:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2e6c78dd922092cc92c277a08c23c142\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/close-knit-ohio-state-alumni-squad-overcomes-obstacles-to-win-first-tbt-championship\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/TeamPoseTBT.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/TeamPoseTBT.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Carmen's Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, poses with the TBT trophy after defeating the Golden Eagles 66-60 on Tuesday Aug. 6 at Wintrust Arena. 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