Winner-take all hoops tournament makes stop in Philly

Some ballplayers introduced themselves yesterday to their new teammates. Other teams had been practicing in recent days, trying to take the whole thing as seriously as time allowed.

Some showed up at the Herb Magee Court at Philadelphia University with six guys. Others went as deep as a pro team, and were full of pro players.

The whole concept is as old as basketball. Get a team together, get on the court. As long as you keep winning, you keep playing.

The big hook here: The team left standing at the end divvies up $1 million.

The group that finishes second? It gets nothing. It's winner take all of it, after 97 teams began play around the country.

On Friday, The Basketball Tournament returned to Philadelphia for its second year, here for three days before play moves on to Chicago, with the finals at Fordham's Rose Hill Gym on Aug. 2.

Recognizable names and faces came through all day. Team names gave clues of where guys played their college ball: 20th & Olney, playing Saturday night, features most of the recent La Salle stars, trying to re-create their Sweet 16 run. The North Broad Street Bullies, who also play Saturday, features Khalif Wyatt and other former Owls. Another group, TYGTAL, included past Temple greats Mardy Collins and Mark Tyndale. (Another easily decipherable name, and a tournament favorite: Boeheim's Army, led by Hakim Warrick and friends.)

Some matchups offered Davids vs. Goliaths. The core of one team, Team Pup N' Suds, was some old Middlebury College teammates. Their opponent, Team City of Gods, featured three former NBA players still playing top-level European ball.

"It's going to be a long night," one of the Team Pup 'N Suds-ers said walking on the court.

"Don't get blown out," one of the Team City of Gods guys told a Team Pup 'N Suds guy as things got going.

They didn't. The only team named for a Disney Channel original movie lost, 88-69, but it wasn't a runout, still a nine-point game pretty late in the second half. The first three was by a Middlebury guy now playing in Luxembourg. It was immediately matched at the other end by Dermarr Johnson, once the Parade national high school player of the year who played seven years in the NBA and now stars in Italy.

Team City of Gods' point guard, former Drexel star Phil Goss, has made money playing in Europe since he graduated in 2005, mostly in Italy, most recently in Venice. The level of talent on his overseas teams, Goss said, usually isn't as good as Team City of Gods. In addition to Johnson, the team featured former George Washington star Pops Mensah-Bonsu and former Georgetown star Michael Sweetney, who both did their time in the NBA.

The inaugural 2014 summer tournament featured all of the early play in Philly before moving to Boston for the final rounds. A Notre Dame alumni group that included featured guys Ryan Ayers and Rob Kurz took what was then a $500,000 top prize. The purse doubled this year as early rounds were added in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. More sponsors joined in, and ESPN signed up to show the late rounds.

"It could be for $10,000," Dermarr Johnson said after his team got through. "We want to beat the best."

One team was put together by Eddie Jefferson, a local guy who started by signing up the guys he's played with for a dozen years at the Lloyd Hall courts at Boathouse Row and at the Hank Gathers Recreation Center. They lost to a team that featured former Georgetown stars Chris Wright and Austin Freeman, plus Gil Brown, a former Pittsburgh star.

"They came out and ran plays," Jefferson said. "They ran sets and screens. They were more prepared than we were."

Goss said he was really hoping his Team City of Gods squad would meet The Blue and Gold Club since he knows all the younger Drexel alums. It's not happening. A team with a lot of guys who played together in college has no advantage if they can't hit a jumper. A New York team with 11 guys from 11 schools torched the Blue and Gold from the start. It didn't matter that the crowd was dressed heavily in blue and gold and occasionally chanted for defense. Former Dragons post player Dartaye Ruffin had 19 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn't enough for a team that made just 5 of 26 threes.

"Truthfully, I've never heard of any of these guys that we played," said The Blue and Gold Club coach Jake Lerner, a former Drexel reserve. "But they played together and they're good."

And for at least another day, they're alive for $1 million.