Former Penn State basketball assistant Ross Condon named Happy Valley Hoopers TBT coach
Penn State basketball’s alumni The Basketball Tournament team has a coach. Ross Condon, former assistant to Patrick Chambers, has been announced Wednesday as Happy Valley Hoopers coach.
Condon was a former walk-on at Villanova on teams that reached the Sweet 16 in 2005 and the Elite Eight in 2006. Parlaying that experience into an assistant coaching position with Chambers at Boston University, Condon came to Penn State and served in multiple roles that included director of operations and two stints as an assistant coach.
Now, he’ll return to the sidelines as head coach for July’s The Basketball Tournament. And, in the aftermath of an unrealized NCAA Tournament bid in the derailed 2019-20 campaign for the Nittany Lions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Condon is eager to help guide the group.
“I’m beyond excited to get this group of Lions back together,” Condon said, reached Wednesday afternoon. “These players helped build the program to where last year’s team could earn an NCAA Tournament bid that, unfortunately, they never got to have.
“They never heard their 2020 team called on Selection Sunday due to COVID. So, it’s really cool that the TBT gives all of us another chance to compete for a trophy.”
Scouting Penn State basketball’s TBT alumni team
At present, the Happy Valley Hoopers have nine alumni Penn State players listed on the roster. The team’s general manager is John Harrar, who participated with Purdue’s alumni TBT team in last year’s tournament.
Others slated for participation are Jamari Wheeler, Josh Reaves, Mike Watkins, Myles Dread, Sam Sessoms, Shep Garner, Taylor Nussbaum, and Trent Buttrick. Six players – Dread, Wheeler, Buttrick, Harrar, Nussbaum and Watkins – were members of Penn State’s unrealized 2020 NCAA Tournament team. Reaves and Garner were apart of Penn State’s NIT-winning group in 2018, and Sessoms spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Nittany Lions.
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Though the roster has yet to be finalized ahead of the event, which begins July 19 at one of seven regional sites, and wraps up in Philadelphia for the championship round on August 2-3, Condon offered his optimism for his team.
“The most exciting things with this group is their familiarity with each other,” he said. “They’ve won so many big games and were ranked Top 10 in the country together. And they have all continued to improve in their professional careers.
“Also, I like their versatility – which is very important in tournament play, especially without too much prep time. And, I know they are all ready to compete.”
The Nittany Lion alumni team is expected to begin its TBT journey at the West Virginia regional site, slated to run from July 25-30.
