Please keep encouraging votes. If we get to 2,000 by July 8, we will have the option to add a 12th player, The Ringer, if we advance to the Super 16. A bit of a long post, but here's the latest news on Always A Brave:
Always A Brave Adds A.J. Guyton to Staff
PEORIA, IL – Peoria basketball icon A.J. Guyton will join the Bradley University alumni team, Always A Brave, as a coach for the 2016 The Basketball Tournament.
Although the only team member without a direct connection to the Bradley Basketball program, Guyton does boast connections to several Always A Brave team members, including his half-brother, guard Daniel Ruffin and fellow coach Chuck Buescher, who was Guyton’s high school head coach. Guyton will fill the Always A Brave coaching position being vacated by Rick Karius, who is leaving Bradley this summer and will be unable to continue to serve as the alumni team coach.
A star at Peoria High School in the mid-1990’s, Guyton went on to an All-American career at Indiana University, graduating in 2000 as the fourth-leading scorer in Hoosiers history with 2,100 career points. The four-time Indiana team MVP and 2000 Big Ten Conference Player of the Year was selected in the second round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls and started a nine-year professional playing career with three seasons in the NBA.
Since retiring as a player, Guyton has re-ignited his presence in the Central Illinois basketball world at all levels. Notably, he is a two-time minor league coach of the year, leading the Bloomington Flex to championships in 2012 and 2013, as well as perfect, 18-0 record in 2014. He currently serves as the associate commissioner and director of basketball operations of the Midwest Professional Basketball Association and is involved in several local summer basketball camps.
Fan voting throughout the spring qualified Always A Brave for the 2016 TBT, a $2 million, winner-take-all, 5-on-5 basketball tournament preparing for its third year. The 64-team tournament will tip off with action in the West and South Regions July 9. The Bradley alumni team has been placed in the Midwest Region, which will begin play July 16 in Chicago at St. Xavier University. Although the Midwest Region bracket and schedule will not be announced until late next week, single-day tickets ($20) currently are on sale online at thetournament.com.
The Always A Brave Bradley alumni team will gather on campus the week leading up to the start of the Midwest Regional and will participate in the Hilltop Hoopin’ Summer Slam fan festival and alumni game July 11 at Bradley University.
The fan festival portion of the event will begin at 4 p.m. and admission will be free with food vendors on site, as well as family-friendly games and activities involving the entire Bradley Department of Athletics.
Admission for the men’s basketball alumni game inside Renaissance Coliseum will be $5 with proceeds benefitting the newly-created A.J. Robertson Fund for Excellence. Alumni game tickets will go on sale Monday in the Bradley Athletics Ticket Office at Renaissance Coliseum and will continue through July 11. Hilltop Hoopin’ Summer Slam will transition indoors at 7 p.m. for the alumni game, which will be open to all former Bradley Basketball players, but also will showcase the Always A Brave group in featured segment.
Always A Brave Bradley Alumni Team
Tony Bennett, 2004-06
Jeremy Crouch, 2004-08
Will Franklin, 2005-07
Phillip Gilbert, 2000-04
Walt Lemon, 2010-14 (pending NBA Summer League status)
Sam Maniscalco, 2007-11
Patrick O’Bryant, 2004-06
Daniel Ruffin, 2003-08
Matt Salley, 2006-08
Marcellus Sommerville, 2003-06
Andrew Warren, 2006-11
Coaches: Chuck Buescher and A.J. Guyton
