Raleigh 919 Legends make their TBT debut in hopes of starting on the right foot
TBT welcomes Raleigh 919 Legends to TBT by giving them the eighth seed. It’s not ideal, but we did see two eight seeds win last year. This team features groups of college alums, with three from Delaware State, two from Samford, two from Nebraska, and, of course, some other colleges and universities.
The path to the million starts on Friday, and we’ll see how far they can go.
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Current Roster:
- Addison Spruill (UNCW)
- Alex Johnson (NC State)
- Alexander Hunter (Furman)
- Anton Gill (Nebraska)
- Brandon Oliver (Delaware State)
- Chukwudubem (Duby) Okeke (Winthrop & Nebraska)
- Eric Adams Jr. (Samford)
- Evan Taylor (Samford & Nebraska)
- Jeremiah Pope (Rider & Shaw)
- Marques Oliver (Delaware State)
- Omar Jabbi
- Scott Sill II (Delaware State)
- Travion Leonard (Barry)
Coaching Staff:
- Joseph Garris (Head Coach, GM)
- DJ Johnson (Head Coach)
- Marques Johnson (Asst. Coach)
- Randy Jackson (Asst. Coach)
Region: James Madison
All-time Record: 0-0
First Matchup: vs. Happy Valley Hoopers (July 18 at 3 p.m. EST)
Team MVP: Addison Spruill
Spruill put together a solid campaign in Venezuela this year, averaging 15.1 PPG and adding 3.5 rebounds and assists a game. Raleigh 919 legends have several scoring options, but if they’re looking for consistency, Spruill is their best bet.
Make-or-break Player: Marques Oliver
Oliver hasn’t played professional basketball since 2018-2019, per Proballers, but in his final season, he was incredible, averaging 19.9 PPG and 11.6 RPG. He also averaged 3 blocks per game in the Icelandic professional league. It’s obviously been a while, but if he can even come close to those stats, then he could be a real X-Factor for this team.
2018-2019 was quite a bit ago, and a lot has obviously changed since then. We’ll see which version we get of Marques Oliver, and hopefully for Raleigh 919 Legends, it’s the prime version of him.
Team Outlook
Raleigh 919 Legends will face the one seed, Happy Valley Hoopers, in round one. On paper, it’s a huge mismatch, and things look bleak in full transparency, but we’ve seen crazier in this tournament. All it takes is a few shots to fall for them, and a couple to not fall for Happy Valley.
As mentioned earlier, this team has a little alumni pride. Hopefully, that chemistry will translate on the court and give them the best chance at success. It’s a bit of a drive from Raleigh to James Madison, but hopefully the support will be there.