The Basketball Tournament: Ex-CSU basketball players join forces for $1M TBT - Coloradoan

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When Jason Smith got the call, he couldn't wait to get back on the basketball court with other former Colorado State players.

Surely his 12 years of experience in the NBA — not to mention his 7-foot frame, would be a welcome addition to the team of former Rams that Derrick Stevens was putting together for The Basketball Tournament — a 64-team, single-elimination, $1 million winner-take-all event.

"I was excited. I wanted to get back out on the court," Smith said Monday during a Ram Up team practice at Moby Arena. "But with me being 36 years old, 12 years in the NBA took a toll on my body. … I tried to, but my body said 'no.' "

So instead of playing, Smith is serving as an assistant coach for the team Stevens assembled for the tournament that begins this weekend with games at eight regional sites. The Ram Up team, which includes former CSU players Andy Ogide, Emmanuel Omogbo, Prentiss Nixon, Kris Martin, J.D. Paige, Che Bob and Kaipo Sabas, begins play at 1 p.m. Monday (ESPN3) against the L.A. Cheaters at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Stevens, a guard on the CSU team that won the 2003 Mountain West Tournament for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, filled out the remaining spots on the Ram Up roster with Ibrahim Sylla, who played at Northern Colorado; Alex Holcombe, who played at four schools, including Dallas Baptist in college; and former Liberty player John Dawson.

Stevens, 42, has coached in the NBA G-League and in a professional league in China and is serving as the team's general manager. Former CSU center Nico Carvacho, who is recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL, is also serving as an assistant coach this year but hopes to play for the alumni team in future years.

The Ram Up team will wrap up its six days of practices in Fort Collins with a public intrasquad scrimmage and 3-point shooting and dunk contests at 6 p.m. Thursday at Moby Arena. Tickets are $10 apiece and available online.

Smith, a Kersey native, was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year at CSU in 2004-05 and first-team all-conference selection the next two seasons. He skipped his senior year to jump to the NBA and was the No. 20 pick overall, selected in the first round by the Miami Heat. He played 12 seasons with six NBA teams before retiring in 2019.

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"This is my alma mater," Smith said. "I love Colorado State. I was born and raised in Colorado, and I always love giving back to the basketball program as much as I can. Plus, me being here kind of gives opportunities for these guys to ask questions about the professional level, ask questions about what it takes to be a professional. I can kind of give them advice on what they can do better."

Smith, who works as an NBA TV analyst on NBC Washington broadcasts, left a family vacation on the Jersey shore early to lend a hand to the first team of former CSU players to participate in a tournament that has been won previously by alumni teams representing Notre Dame, Ohio State, Marquette and Syracuse. A team of former University of Colorado players reached the title game in 2016.

"We've talked about doing this for years, but we just haven't had the talent coming out," Smith said. "Now, with Niko (Medved) in charge of the program – he hadn't even had a recruiting class in yet, and he got a 20-win season – it kind of opened our eyes."

Winners of each of the eight regionals advance to an eight-team championship bracket July 28-Aug. 2 in Dayton, Ohio.

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"It's kind of a big deal as far as it's on ESPN, and it's run really well and things like that," said Ogide, a 6-8 forward who has played professionally overseas, mostly in Europe, for the past 11 years. "I always wanted to play in it and was hoping to get a CSU team together, but Derrick beat me to it."

Players don't really know what to expect in their first TBT together. But they plan to keep the team going for future tournaments.

"Obviously, we're trying to win, but we're going to keep building off of this," said Omogbo, a 6-8 forward who played professionally in both Cyprus and Israel last season and on Nigeria's national team in a recent tournament. "This is our first year; you don't get everything in one day.

"We'll get this summer in, get next summer in, bring in more guys and hopefully we could do something big in there."