Those four players and six more — former Flyers Vee Sanford, Jordan Sibert, Josh Cunningham, Trey Landers and former Buckeyes Kosta Koufos and C.J. Walker — will play for the Red Scare in The Basketball Tournament at UD Arena late next month.
The TBT games at UD Arena will give the seven former Flyers on the roster a chance to experience their old home court again in front of the same fans who cheered for them during their college careers.
“I’m super excited,” said Mikesell, who will play for the Red Scare for the third straight year. “I’m super pumped. You can just feel the energy again. It’s just an opportunity to get to play with old teammates again. We spent so much time, so much of our blood sweat and tears together and we really sacrificed together. To be a part of a team again and to represent the university, it means a lot.”
Photos: The Basketball Tournament holds press conference at UD Arena https://t.co/VeGfs13SQ3
— David Jablonski (@DavidPJablonski) June 22, 2022
Smith, who played for Dayton from 2013-17 and spent last season in Serbia, announced in May he would play for the team for the first time five years after his college career ended.
“Being able to come home from overseas and actually play some good competitive basketball with the chance for some people change their lives, that just excites everyone.”
The Red Scare will be one of 64 teams competing for the $1 million prize. They are the No. 3 seed in the eight-team Dayton Region and will play No. 6 seed CitiTeam at 3 p.m. July 24.
CitiTeam played in the first TBT in 2014 and returns this summer with former McDonald’s All-American Josh Selby, who played one season at Kansas, on the roster. Former George Washington forward Isaiah Armwood will also play for CitiTeam.
The top seed in the Dayton Region is The Money Team, which features former BYU star Jimmer Fredette and three familiar names from the Atlantic 10 Conference: Peyton Aldridge (Davidson) and Cyril Langevine and Xavier Munford (Rhode Island).
The Money Team will play No. 8 Athletics Miami at 1 p.m. July 24 in the first of four first-round games at UD Arena. After the Red Scare’s game, the third game features the Purdue alumni team, No. 4 Men of Mackey, playing No. 5 Mid-American Unity at 7 p.m. The Marquette alumni team, No. 2 Golden Eagles, plays No. 8 Ohio 1804, an Ohio Bobcats team, in the final game of the first round at 9 p.m.
If the Red Scare advances, it will play the Golden Eagles or Ohio 1804 in the second round at 9 p.m. July 26. The championship game of the Dayton Region will take place at 8 p.m. July 27.
In all, 13 TBT games will be played at UD Arena from July 24 to the championship game on Aug. 2.
This is the second year the TBT has held games at UD Arena but the first year the Red Scare will play in Dayton.
“The support here is so great,” Smith said. “They come for all basketball events, whether it’s the Flyers or high school events throughout the year. They have the First Four here. It just goes to show the commitment the community has to basketball.”
The Red Scare is 6-3 in three TBT appearances. It reached the third round in 2019, the semifinals in 2020 and the second round last year. This might be the deepest and most well-rounded roster.
“We needed a point guard,” said Davis, who played in Kosovo last year and is the only player who has been on every Red Scare roster. “Now we’ve got Scoochie.”
TBT SCHEDULE AT UD ARENA
July 24
No. 1 seed Money Team vs. No. 8 Athletics Miami, 1 p.m.
NOTE: Money Team roster includes former BYU star Jimmer Fredette and eight-year NBA veteran Trevor Booker.
No. 3 Red Scare vs. No. 6 CitiTeam, 3 p.m.
No. 4 Men of Mackey (Purdue) vs. No. 5 Mid-American Unity, 7 p.m.
NOTE: Former Purdue star Robbie Hummel will play for Men of Mackey.
No. 2 Golden Eagles (Marquette) vs. No. 8 Ohio 1804, 9 p.m.
July 26
Money Team/Athletics Miami vs. Men of Mackey/Mid-American Unity, 7 p.m.
Red Scare/CitiTeam vs. Golden Eagles/Ohio 1804, 9 p.m.
July 27
Regional championship, 8 p.m.
July 28
Quarterfinal No. 1, 7 p.m.
33-point Contest, 9 p.m.
July 29
Quarterfinal No. 2, 7 p.m.
Quarterfinal No. 3, 9 p.m.
NOTE: Fourth quarterfinal will be held at Wichita Regional
July 30
Semifinal No. 1, 4 p.m.
Semifinal No. 2, 6 p.m.
Aug. 2
Championship game, 9 p.m.
RED SCARE ROSTER
Vee Sanford, 6-4 guard (2012-14): He ranks 83rd in school history with 735 points. This will be his first appearance with the Red Scare since 2019.
Jordan Sibert, 6-4 guard (2013-15): Sibert ranks 46th in Dayton history with 1,030 points.
Scoochie Smith, 6-2 guard (2013-17): He ranks 28th with 1,289 points and ninth with 485 assists.
Darrell Davis, 6-4 guard (2014-18): He ranks 51st with 1,008 points. He played for Dayton from 2014-18. He’s the only member of the team who has played on each of the first three Red Scare teams.
Josh Cunningham, 6-8 forward (2015-19): He ranks 55th in school history in scoring.
Ryan Mikesell, 6-7 forward (2015-20): The St. Henry grad ranks 70th with 847 points.
Trey Landers, 6-5 guard (2016-20): The Wayne grad ranks 57th with 946 points. Like Mikesell, this will the third time he has played for the Red Scare.
Joe Thomasson, 6-4 guard: The Thurgood Marshall graduate played at Wright State from 2014-16 and scored 617 points. He averaged 11.6 points per game last season in Spain.
Kosta Koufos, 7-0 center: He is the third former Buckeye to play for the Red Scare. Trevor Thompson and C.J. Walker played for the team last year, and Thompson also played for the team in 2020.
C.J. Walker, 6-1 guard: He scored 967 points in a career that included two years at Florida State (2016-18) and two at Ohio State (2019-21). He played in Germany last season.
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