Best Virginia Looks to Win Their First Ever TBT Regional

Best Virginia has potential to make history on Wednesday night when they take on No. 2 Bucketneers, an ETSU-based alumni team, in the TBT Charleston regional finals.

The Mountaineer alumni team defeated No. 8 Virginia Dream and No. 4 Herd That to reach the regional finals game while the Bucketneers defeated No. 7 Fully Loaded and No. 6 War Ready.

Best Virginia had issues shooting in the first round but got it together behind John Flowers, Jamel Morris and Jermaine Haley against Marshall’s team on Tuesday. Best Virginia did allow 20 offensive rebounds to the Herd, which they’ll need to fix to set themselves up for a win on Wednesday night.

“We’re doing a lot of different things that make it tough to rebound, Best Virginia head coach James Long said. “They’re going to figure it out, we have a great group they’ll do better [on Wednesday].”

For ETSU’s team, they’re a talented group that took No. 1 Sideline Cancer to the limit last year in Charleston. It took a miraculous 3-pointer by Marcus Keene to eliminate the Bucketneers. The Bucketneers have notable non-ETSU alumni like Nick Ward (Michigan State), Jordan Bowden (Tennessee) and Bo Hodges (Butler).

Through two games this week, Kevin Jones is leading the way in scoring with 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. Jones scored 18 points in the first round against Virginia Dream. Haley (14.0), Flowers (13.5) and Morris (13.0) follow in scoring for Best Virginia.

No. 1 Best Virginia and No. 2 Bucketneers will tip-off at 7 p.m. on ESPN3 in Charleston, W.Va. with the winner heading to Dayton, Ohio for the final rounds of the TBT Tournament. The winner of the entire tournament receives a cash prize of $1 million.