Making their TBT debut, Boston vs Cancer has their backs against the wall, but they have the heart to overcome it.
Boston vs Cancer enters the TBT fresh, without a single player who suited up in last year’s TBT, a bit of a rarity, even for a new team. How did the seeding committee reward them? By placing them against The Ville, the hometown town, and one of the best in the entire tournament.
When you have a mission that’s bigger than yourself, all that goes out the window, and that’s what Boston vs. Cancer exemplifies. They have a ton of recent college talent, and perhaps those fresh legs will be enough to make a surprise run. This should not be an eight seed, but they’ll have to deal with the cards they’ve been dealt.
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Current Roster:
- Bensley Joseph (Boston College)
- Jaeden Zackery (Boston College, Clemson)
- KeAndre Penceal (Fisher College)
- Mason Madsen (Boston College)
- Michael Rodriguez (Southern Illinois)
- Mikel Buyers (Marshall)
- Octavio Britto (Keene State College)
- Ousmane Drame (Quinnipiac)
- Sid Wilson (UConn, SIUE)
- Tyler Whitney-Sidney (Lehigh University)
Coaching Staff:
- Brian Tobin (GM)
- Erik Groszyk (GM)
- Anthony Leonelli (Head Coach)
- Steven Enright (Asst. Coach)
- Christopher Bartley (Asst. Coach)
- Greg Vanpelt (Asst. Coach)
Region: Louisville
All-time Record: 0-0
First Matchup: vs. The Ville (July 19 at 12:30 p.m. EST)
Team MVP: Bensley Joseph
Joseph is coming off a terrific season at Providence, leading his team in scoring at 13.2 PPG. He scored 25+ four times in Big East play, including 27 points on 7-10 three-point shooting against a tournament team in Xavier. He’s a winner, being part of that Final 4 Miami team, and he started 54 games over the last two years.
You could honestly share the team MVP title with him and Jaeden Zackary, but in TBT, your best player is almost always going to be your leading scorer, and that’s what Bensley can do best. If he can hit his shots and use his shiftiness to get in the paint, it could make life difficult for The Ville’s older guards. As long as he can limit his turnovers, he’ll be the team’s best hope to pull off an upset.
Make-or-break Player: Ousmane Drame
Drame is well past his college days, but in his time at Quinnipiac ten years ago, there were few rebounders better than him. He finished top ten in the country in rebounds per game in back-to-back seasons, including over three offensive rebounds a game in all four seasons.
At 31, he’s not the rebounder he was then, but he can still get his own, averaging 7.6 a game in Poland this year. The best way an underdog can win a game is by having more possessions than the opponent, and that’s where Drame fits in. If he can grab a few offensive rebounds and keep the possession alive, and limit second chances on defense, then Boston vs Cancer can establish some control in this game and pull off the upset.
It won’t be easy, as The Ville’s bigs are NBA-level talent, but Drame has a nose for the ball and will be huge for their success.
Team Outlook
As mentioned earlier, Boston vs Cancer will face The Ville in Round 1. This will be an extremely hostile environment, as Louisville showed last year that the fans will be there and be loud. One person who won’t mind this is Jaeden Zackary, who, as a four-year ACC member, has plenty of experience playing in this arena. Zackary has 134 ACC starts under his belt, and his on-court leadership will help to cool the nerves early for his team.
KeAndre Penceal and Tyler Whitney-Sidney are also coming off double-digit scoring seasons for their schools. They could be X Factors if they get hot. They also have three-point specialist Mason Madsen, and while they wish they had his brother Gabe as well, Mason can get hot, as we saw in the first two games of the season when he made ten threes in that span.
As mentioned earlier, this team isn’t an 8 seed, and the seeding committee really dropped the ball on this. Hopefully for Boston vs Cancer, they can knock off the heavy favorites and make a run, all while supporting a mission everyone can get behind: beating Cancer.