Ohio State alumni team Carmen’s Crew starts title defense today
By Ryan Stano
Carmen’s Crew will play House of ‘Paign today at 4 pm as they start their title defense in The Basketball Tournament.
Today could be the last day that you see Aaron Craft play a basketball game. The former Ohio State point guard announced that once this iteration of The Basketball Tournament is over, he will be retiring from basketball to pursue medical school.
That is of course assuming that Carmen’s Crew is upset today by Illinois alumni team House of ‘Paign. Carmen’s Crew is stacked with Buckeye alumni, including Craft, William Buford, David Lighty, Deshaun Thomas, Lenzelle Smith Jr., Jon Diebler, and Dallas Lauderdale.
Buford was the league MVP last year after he helped Carmen’s Crew win the $1 million take-all prize a season ago. He is the best pure scorer on this team, but newcomer Deshaun Thomas is also really good at putting the ball in the basket.
Thomas will try to fit into a team that won a year ago by adding his shooting and scoring. As a Buckeye, Thomas averaged 14.4 points in his career and shot 55% from the field while adding 34% from deep. His shooting could be a major asset to this team.
Their opponent today is House of ‘Paign, which is an Illinois alumni team. Perhaps the most recognizable name to Buckeye fans is Nnanna Egwu. The 6’11 center will no doubt be the focal point of this team’s offense and will be a force for Lauderdale to shut down.
Chemistry is the biggest advantage that Carmen’s Crew has over most of the other teams in this tournament. These guys all played together in school and have played in the last few tournaments together. They play together extremely well and know how to best utilize each other’s skills.
If they win this game, Carmen’s Crew could end up playing a couple of other Buckeye alums as long as Big X wins their game. Andrew Dakich and C.J. Jackson are on that team and will be facing a Dayton Alumni team that also has former Buckeye Trevor Thompson on it at 2 pm.
Next. Kyle McCord discusses Elite 11 and Ohio State commitment. dark
All of these games can be found on ESPN, so tune in to the game if you can. We will be following both games on social media, so if you can’t watch the game you can follow our Twitter feed. It’s a great thing for any Ohio State fan to watch!