No. 1 seed Kansas basketball alumni team set to make their 2023 TBT debut

The Kansas basketball alumni team known as Mass Street will begin their quest today to bring home the championship and $1 million prize in this year’s The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

The squad of former Jayhawks are one of four No. 1 seeds in this year’s tournament, which is no surprise given the talent on this team.

The Mass Street roster is loaded with some of KU’s all-time greatest players such as Mario Chalmers, Thomas Robinson, Keith Langford, and more. The team is also coached by NBA veterans Marcus and Markieff Morris.

Expect Chalmers and Tyshawn Taylor to start in the backcourt, Langford at the wing, and Robinson down low. The fifth starter might be a toss-up between Brandon Rush and Dedric Lawson.

That still leaves talented players like Kevin Young, Lagerald Vick, Mario Little, Jamari Traylor, and Mitch Lightfoot coming off the bench.

The team appears to have a good balance of guard play and big men, while also having a deep bench. Simply put, the former Jayhawks have as good a chance as any team to make a deep run in this tournament.

To do so, Mass Street will first need to get past a team desperate for a win.

The Jayhawk squad’s first-round matchup takes place tonight against “We are D3” in Wichita. The team, coached by Mike Rejniak (a recruiting specialist at Springfield College in Massachusetts), is 0-4 all time in TBT play but have come close to knocking off higher seeds each of the past three years.

You can bet they are eager to get in that win column and finally pull off the major upset.

The team returns two players from their 2022 squad in Daniel Rosenbaum and Jordan Robinson. Rosenbaum most recently played for Maccabi Ramat Gan in the Israeli National League where he averaged 8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Robinson played for Beselidhja in Albania this past year and averaged 26.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

The team also added a 2,000-point collegiate scorer this offseason in guard Ty Nichols who played for Keene State College.

Kansas is by far the more talented and experienced team and should win this game. But as the underdog and a team who has yet to win a game in this tournament, expect D3 to make it a fight to the end.

Can Mass Street carry on the championship legacy they came to know while in Lawrence? We’ll soon find out.

The game tips off inside Charles Koch Arena at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN+. Fans in the area can also purchase tickets for as low as $15 to cheer on the team in person.