Exciting draw for 'House of Paign' alumni team in TBT - 247Sports

The TBT announced its 24-team, single-elimination bracket on Tuesday and Illini fans have plenty of reason to be excited with the field.

Action kicks off in Columbus, Ohio with the opening round on July 4-5 and the Illinois program has an alumni team in the mix for the $1 million prize. House of Paign is the 16-seed in the field and they drew the 17-seed War Tampa.

The winner gets a date with top-seeded Carmen’s Crew, who is the Ohio State alumni team and the defending champs. House of Paign would certainly like a shot at some former Buckeyes like William Buford (2019 TBT MVP), Aaron Craft (2019 TBT all-tournament selection), David Lighty and Jon Diebler.

Carmen’s Crew also features former Illini point guard Demetri McCamey, who was part of last year’s championship run. McCamey is the seventh all-time leading scorer in Illinois history with more than 1,700 career points and he’s second all-time with 733 career assists.

While McCamey won’t be suiting up in the orange and blue, House of Paign is headlined by Malcolm Hill — the third-leading scorer in program history with more than 1,800 career points. Hill averaged 20.2 points per game with the Astana Tigers (Kazakhstan) this past season, which ranked second in the VTB United league.

Hill will be joined by former teammates Leron Black, Nnanna Egwu and Michael Finke.

“Malcolm is kind of your jack-of-all-trades and can do a little bit of everything. We saw him basically play positions one through five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 when he was at Illinois. Versatility there,” House of Paign head coach/GM Mike LaTulip told Illini Inquirer last month. “Nnanna, it goes without saying what he brings to the table defensively just from a team aspect and there’s no better locker room guy. And Leron… Leron will play on the moon if you tell him that’s where the tournament is at.”

Andres Feliz was a big addition as well. He averaged 11 points, five rebounds and 2.9 assists per game as a senior at Illinois last season. Fans will be giddy to see one of Brad Underwood’s favorites back on the court.

“I think anyone with two eyes loves the way that Andres plays. Even if you only have one eye,” LaTulip said. “His toughness, his playmaking ability. His ability to initiate the break is an element that is added to this team and helps us play even quicker and get people on their heels a little bit. And how well he rebounds at his size. That’s a huge asset to have.”

While Feliz was just in an Illini uniform a few months ago, House of Paign will also feature 41-year-old Illinois great Cory Bradford. Thanks to him and War Tampa’s Fletcher McGee, there will be a couple three-point record holders on the floor in the opening round.

Bradford holds the NCAA record for the most consecutive games (88) with a made three-pointer. He also hit 327 career threes, which is the most in Illinois history. McGee, who starred at Wofford from 2015-19, is the NCAA’s all-time record holder with 509 career three-pointers. He knocked down 158 treys as a senior, which is the second-most in a single season behind Steph Curry (162 in 2007-08).

War Tampa will also be led by Bryce Brown, who was Auburn’s leading scorer in 2018-19 during their run to the Final Four. House of Paign has a participant from the 2019 Final Four as well in Matt Mooney from Texas Tech. Mooney scored a game-high 22 points against Michigan State to advance to the title game that year.

And if you like scoring, recent House of Paign addition Mike Daum is one to watch. The 6-foot-9 big man averaged 25.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game at South Dakota State in 2018-19. He is the seventh all-time leading scorer in NCAA history.

Former Illini standout Rayvonte Rice was lined up to compete with House of Paign too, but he signed a deal with Ironi Nes Ziona to return to the Israeli BSL. That's a significant loss. Still, LaTulip likes his team’s chances.

“The pieces make sense and we really can make a deep run,” he said. “Personally, and maybe I’m a little bit biased, I think we can win the whole thing.”

The TBT championship will be held on July 14 on ESPN in a winner-take-all showdown.

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Exciting draw for 'House of Paign' alumni team in TBT - 247Sports
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