The Shine hopes to start off their TBT experience with a win, but will have to do so in a hostile environment.
The Shine, a team representing the city of Houston, look to replicate two other Houston teams’ performance this year. In the NCAA, the Houston Cougars made the title game, and the Forever Coogs, a TBT team representing Houston alumni, made the finals last year. It’ll be a tough road ahead, though, playing in Kansas City.
Shawndre Jones is the only player on this team with TBT experience, making it to the finals and starting in every game for Forever Coogs. For everyone else, they come in fresh and with hopes of winning 1 million dollars.
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Current Roster:
- Brett Reed (Saint Martins University)
- Derrick Griffin (Texas Southern University)
- DeShawndre Washington (New Mexico State)
- Eden Ewing (Purdue & Texas Southern)
- Fred Thomas (Mississippi State)
- Jay Jay Chandler (Texas A&M & South Alabama)
- Justin Harmon (Illinois)
- Karro Jones (UNLV)
- Marquez Letcher-Ellis (Rice)
- PJ Alawoya (McNeese State)
- Shawndre Jones (Richmond)
Coaching Staff:
- Malcolm Howard (Head Coach)
Region: Kansas City
All-time Record: 0-0
First Matchup: vs. Purple Reign (July 19 at 2 p.m. EST)
Team MVP: Deshawndre Washington
Washington is an absolute bucket getter. In 22 games played in the Mexico League, he averaged 23.8 points per game. He then joined the UAE pro league and picked up right where he left off, averaging 22.5 PPG for the team. At 6’7, he has great size for a guard, and can score at all three levels with ease.
Elite scoring guards tend to have a lot of success in this tournament, and he can be the next great one if his team advances.
Make-or-break Player: Jay Jay Chandler
Like Washington, Chandler is coming off a great season with his professional team. In the Hungarian league, he averaged 21.3 PPG to go with 5 rebounds. If he can replicate this performance in Round 1, it should take a lot of pressure off this team.
Where he’ll have to be great is defensively. Purple Reign has a lot of talented scoring guards as well, and if they get hot, The Shine will have no chance in this game. If he can limit one of their guards, the game will open up and he can do what he does best.
Team Outlook
The Shine will face off against Purple Reign, the Kansas State alumni team. Manhattan, Kansas is under a two hour drive, so expect a very one sided crowd. If The Shine pull off the upset, they’ll most likely face JHX Hoops, the Kansas alumni team. Lawrence is less than an hour drive from Kansas City.
Making your debut and not having a favorable environment is less than ideal, but these guys are professionals and have experienced this hundreds of times in their careers. They’re hoping the leadership of Shawndre Jones, who has played in this tournament before, can help them.
The one thing that’ll benefit them greatly is their size. Every player on the team but Jones is over 6’4, and over half the team is 6’7 or taller. If they use that to their advantage, that could be the difference maker. It’s a tough journey for The Shine, but TBT is crazy, and anything can happen on any given night.