Syracuse, N.Y. – Eric Devendorf and Kevin Belbey have battled in The Basketball Tournament trenches.
For six summers, the two Boeheim’s Army stalwarts have puzzled over rosters, attempted to coerce tired, sometimes injured players to join their annual quest for the winner-take-all pot of $1 million. Then they’ve arrived at various arenas and tried to transform those lofty ambitions into cold, hard cash.
Boeheim’s Army has compiled a healthy 15-6 record over that period. But it has never cashed the big check. It has never won TBT.
Both Devendorf, the player, and Belbey, the general manager, believe that will change this summer. Boeheim’s Army begins TBT play the weekend of July 24 in Peoria, Illinois.
“I think that it’s the most balanced team we’ve ever had,” Belbey said. “We have a really great group. A mix of veterans and youth, height and skill. We’ve had guys for the most part come into this tournament and lose. And I think that’s a really good thing for us this summer. Because we’re sick and tired of losing.”
“Once you see the full roster,” Devendorf said, “you’re gonna be like ‘Wow, if they don’t win it, I’m going to be disappointed.’”
The official roster right now consists of Devendorf, Malachi Richardson, Tyler Lydon, Chris McCullough, C.J. Fair, Paschal Chukwu, Andrew White, Tyrese Rice and Kiefer Sykes. All but Rice and Sykes are former Syracuse University players. Rice, who starred at Boston College and has had an exemplary overseas career, will play point guard. Sykes, a Green Bay graduate with extensive overseas experience, offers another option at the lead guard spot.
Boeheim’s Army will add at least two more players. Devendorf described those guys as “super elite.” (Don’t be surprised if they’re not former Syracuse guys.)
Constructing a roster to compete with the savvy toughness that characterizes habitual TBT winners presents an annual challenge. But after years of studying and experimenting with ingredients, Boeheim’s Army believes it has perfected the recipe.
Belbey and Devendorf invoked words and phrases like “toughness” and “understanding roles” and “competing for the 50-50 balls.” They believe, they said, that the players they’ve assembled this summer understand the importance of sacrificing self for the sole purpose of winning a championship.
“Everybody just wants to win,” Devendorf said. “No guys are out there looking to score 20 points. That’s not what this tournament is for. We got guys who are going to play hard, who know their roles. We’ve got a good mixture of guys that can shoot, that can drive. And I think we got better in the toughness category this year. Guys just want to get after it.”
Belbey invoked the image of Fair, blood streaking down his face in Maui, to illustrate the toughness factor. Belbey likes the maturity level of his players, the focus of the roster.
“This group of guys, they love the game of basketball,” he said. “They love competing. I think it’s a very competitive group, the most competitive group we’ve ever had.”
Syracuse center Paschal Chukwu (13) during a game against Wake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
Chukwu, the 7-foot-2 center, offers rim protection for a team that has alternated between man defense and 2-3 zone. Traditional big men rarely participate in TBT, but Belbey said teams should prepare for any possible scenario. Chukwu is currently in Switzerland working out passport and visa procedures that will allow him to return to the United States and play in TBT.
“He changes a lot,” Devendorf said. “We wanted to have a rim protector, just a physical presence in the middle because we’ve been missing that the last few years.”
Devendorf seems most excited about the Boeheim’s Army point guard situation. He’s known Rice since their high school days, when Devendorf played at Oak Hill Academy and Rice at Richmond’s L.C. Bird High School. Boeheim’s Army has lacked a true table-setter, a pure point guard who could orchestrate the offense.
Devendorf described Rice as that guy.
“I just always had respect for his game and how he approaches the game – a no-nonsense guy who wants to win,” Devendorf said. “We all know when you have a guy like that as a point guard it changes your whole team dynamic. He’s the quarterback of the team. When you have a Tom Brady, it changes the whole dynamic of the team. And I think we got our Tom Brady this year in Tyrese.”
Devendorf has hinted on social media that this might be his last TBT. He’s 34. He hasn’t played organized basketball in years, though each summer at TBT he emerges as Boeheim’s Army’s best scorer.
Belbey said Devendorf – among the most accomplished shooting guards in TBT history – told him he didn’t care if he started. He didn’t care how many minutes he played. After years of failing to achieve the sole prize at TBT, he wants only to win.
“This year, I’m not the best player on the team,” Devendorf said. “Obviously, in my head I think I am, but we have guys who I could defer to, like, ‘Alright, go and get a bucket.’ I think in the past I didn’t really trust guys as much to do that, so maybe I was forcing the issue a little bit. Not the case this year. We got guys who have been in those situations, who have needed to make that shot. And it takes the pressure off everyone.”
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