Ex-'Nova player Redding's team chasing $1 million prize

Most of the former college point guards zoomed around the Philadelphia University court during The Basketball Tournament over the weekend, but Reggie Redding, who played small forward at Villanova, took a slower approach to the position.

Five years after graduating from Villanova, the former St. Joseph's Prep star is playing for the Liberty Ballers, a Philadelphia-based team in a tournament that will award $1 million to its winner. The Basketball Tournament started with 97 teams competing across the country. Now 17, including the Liberty Ballers, will compete in the Super Regional in Chicago starting Friday.

The teams are mostly made up of former college players, many of whom have played basketball overseas. Seven of the nine players on the Liberty Ballers' roster played high school or college ball, or both, in the Philadelphia area. That includes Redding, former Wildcats Antonio Pena and James Bell, and former Temple guard Ryan Brooks.

Through two games, Redding has used a calm and methodical approach to direct a balanced Liberty Ballers offense.

"Honestly, that's the way I play," said Redding, 27. "I don't play a fast-tempo game, I go slow, and kind of at my own speed. I guess that's why it looks like that. If I tried to go faster I couldn't."

In June, Redding signed a two-year contract with Darussafaka S.K. of the Turkish Basketball League after impressive showings in the Euroleague and German Bundesliga.

When Redding started with the Liberty Ballers this summer, coach Chuck Moore, who played at Plymouth Whitemarsh before going on to Seton Hall and Vanderbilt, started to mold the 6-foot-6 small forward into his point guard.

On Sunday, Redding's 17 points and seven assists were both team highs in an 85-73 win over DMV's Finest. And with the Liberty Ballers' next game against Boeheim's Army, a team of Syracuse alumni that employs a 2-3 zone, Redding's ability to penetrate and kick it out will be needed.

"Reggie can do everything on the court," Pena said. "I don't think he knows all that he can do yet."

The pair of wins in Philadelphia was part of a larger goal for Redding and his teammates.

"I think, over the years, we've started to lose that pride, that Philly toughness we had here," Redding said. "And now we have to find a way to get it back."

Now it's on to Chicago, and Redding is looking to lead a group of Philadelphia-bred players that much closer to $1 million.