KU alumni basketball team might get assist from current Jayhawks coach Bill Self in TBT
NBA veteran Marcus Morris is apparently taking his coaching duties seriously as the Kansas Jayhawks alumni team — officially known as Mass Street — continues its plans to compete in the $1 million winner-take-all TBT, which for KU starts July 19 at Koch Arena in Wichita.
The 10th annual TBT is a single-elimination tourney featuring 64 teams.
“I think Marcus has already hit Coach (Bill) Self up for a playbook,” former KU standout Tyshawn Taylor said Friday in a Zoom call with fellow Mass Street combo guard Keith Langford. “I think he (KU coach Self) and Marcus have been sharing texts already.
“You’ll see a couple of KU plays in there for sure. We’ve definitely got ‘Chop’ for the Elam ending (which the tourney uses). We’ve got some stuff. Marcus has been pulling some plays and calling me about, ‘Have you seen such and such play?’ ... ‘What’s he do well,’ or, ‘’Where should I put him?’ Things like that.”
Marcus’ brother Markieff, another former Jayhawks forward and NBA veteran, will serve as co-coach with Marcus during Mass Street’s opening game against We Are D3 at 8 p.m. on July 19 at Koch Arena. If KU wins and Missouri’s alumni team (Show Me Squad) prevails in its opener against Vegas Rebellion (6 p.m. July 19), Mass Street and Show Me Squad would tangle at 3 p.m. July 22 at Koch Arena.
“We’re taking it serious,” Taylor said. “We want to make everybody comfortable. We want to get the best out of everybody. We want everybody to want to do this again.”
The Mass Street roster thus far officially consists of Langford, Taylor, Marcus Garrett, Thomas Robinson, Lagerald Vick, Mario Little, Dedric Lawson and Jamari Traylor. More names are expected to be announced soon. The squad is planning on gathering in Lawrence for some practices ahead of the tournament.
“Practice is definitely important,” Taylor said. “I’ve played on different teams (including KU’s 2019 entry in the TBT, which lost in the first round). We’ve shown up a day before and just played and it didn’t work out. We’ve practiced days before and made big runs.
“We’ve all played at Kansas when not many of us played together ever, or even against each other ever,” Taylor added. “So we need to get a feel for one another — what Keith likes to do, where he likes to play on the court, what Marcus (Garrett) likes to do, or what T-Rob is good at now, just getting that feel for each other.”
As coaches, the Morris brothers will have the final say in distributing minutes.
“The coaches are going to dictate who plays,” Taylor said. “They’re going to sub us in and out, but we know that we are going to play. We built the roster of guys that are going to play.
“Some guys are going to have moments and you’ve got to keep them in, and some guys are going to have moments where you’ve got to take a break real quick. I think we are all high-level guys that understand we will come in and play the right way, compete and make the most of this. We’re not trying to come in for one game and leave.
“Basically we want to play some games together and enjoy the whole experience of the TBT. I think we’ve got a great team. I’m excited about the roster we’ve been able to muster up. The best part about our team is ... a couple of guys are coming right off of their seasons (overseas, such as Lawson, Robinson, Traylor and Little).”
Taylor said the KU team wants to “win. We want to make this as competitive as possible and we want to definitely compete at the highest level that we all can. Like I said, I’ve played in this tournament a few times. I’ve watched it every year. I know the level of competition that’s going to be involved in it in every bracket, every region.
“I’m excited to watch a bunch of games. I’m excited about the whole vibe. I’ve seen some names of guys that I haven’t seen or heard heard from in a while I’m excited to watch, but our goal is to win. What I’ve learned from the experience is how competitive it actually is. I think some type of guys show up and think it is going to just kind of be like a pickup game, or an environment where guys are just not going to compete, and that’s just false. It’s high-level-talent guys out there.”
The Wichita Super Regional championship game will be played Sunday, July 23. The winner of the Wichita Super Regional will advance to the quarterfinals, also to be played at Koch Arena, on Tuesday, July 25.
Mass Street’s opening game is slated to be aired on ESPN+, as is the team’s second game, if Mass Street beats We are D3.
For more information about this year’s TBT or Mass Street, visit TheTournament.com.
