CORRECTION: A former version of this blog post misstated the winning score of North Carolina's win over Illinois in 2005. The actual score was 75-70. The article has been updated to reflect these changes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Nine years ago, former North Carolina basketball player Rashad McCants donned his No. 32 UNC jersey for the last time in a 75-70 victory over Illinois in the 2005 national championship game.
And on June 6, the former Tar Heel will return to the court wearing the No. 32 on his back — this time at Philadelphia University, in the first round of The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
“The original part of the idea was what would happen if you opened up March Madness to anyone that wanted to play,” Jonathan Mugar, TBT's founder, said. “The idea of a completely open tournament for a lot of money just hit me at one point.”
According to the press release, the field of 32 teams was selected from 152 applicants who entered between March 1 and May 1.
McCants, who played five seasons in the NBA, will be representing Big Apple Basketball in the tournament.
Twenty-four of the teams were selected based on the number of fans they gained on the TBT website while the other eight were selected by the tournament officials, according to the TBT website.
Mugar said social media was a key factor in teams drawing fans and former UNC point guard Bobby Frasor helped TBT gain exposure over Twitter.
“It was Bobby Frasor pretty early on who sent out a tweet about TBT, and he tweeted at a few of the three guys he used to play with, like Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson,” he said.
“That’s a very hopeful thing for us, and that was awesome when he did that. That type of connectivity people have to one another through social media and that they have true fans makes this idea possible.”
McCants is the only Tar Heel playing in TBT, but he is accompanied by many other former collegiate and professional basketball players, including much of the cast from Villanova’s 2009 Final Four team.
Mugar said he believes TBT’s do-or-die format is what draws players of McCants’ caliber.
“I think certain players really love high-stakes basketball and love the idea of playing among some of the best players in the world with the highest stakes imaginable,” Mugar said.
“The idea of a tournament isn’t new, but playing with these types of stakes is something I think draws a lot of players like McCants.”
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