Best Virginia-Herd That to Meet for In-State Matchup in TBT

As the second round of the TBT Charleston regional is set to play out on Tuesday, No. 1 Best Virginia and No. 4 Herd That are ready to add another installment to their in-state rivalry.

“Just being from here, it’s really good for the state,” Best Virginia head coach James Long said. “We just have to handle our business.”

For the past two TBT tournaments, West Virginia and Marshall’s basketball alumni teams have hosted one of the regionals in Charleston, W.Va. with the hopes that the two would meet. The fans from both universities were loud, passionate and supportive so much in 2021 that TBT wanted to run it back in 2022. Last July, both Best Virginia and Herd That lost to Team 23, so the in-state matchup failed to happen.

On Sunday, Herd That defeated No. 5 Founding Fathers 77-71 while Best Virginia won their first-round matchup 75-45. Now the two will face off in what will be the biggest rivalry game in TBT history.

Best Virginia forward John Flowers used his advertisement skills to hype up the matchup even more.

“The Herd don’t have any alumni. Ot Elmore retired like five years ago. We’re going to kill them,” Flowers said.

During his time at WVU, Flowers won 3-out-of-4 matchups against Marshall, with the Herd stealing the win in Charleston back in 2011. Marshall’s 75-71 win over Kevin Jones and Flowers is their only win in the series history since 2007.

Herd That’s Elmore brothers, Jon and Ot, went up against West Virginia in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers cruised to a 94-71 win.

Now another chapter in the WVU-Marshall basketball rivalry will be added tonight as the alumni run it back once more. Best Virginia and Herd That are set to tip-off at 8 p.m. on ESPN3.