Penn State's Happy Valley Hoopers set for regional final showdown at Pitt
Happy Valley Hoopers coach Ross Condon wanted this year’s The Basketball Tournament appearance to deliver at least one win. The collection of former Penn State men’s basketball players and staffers, in this, their second year in the annual offseason TBT, have exceeded those expectations.
They’ve won two, with a chance to advance to the semifinals with a win on Wednesday evening to cap the Pittsburgh regional in the 64-team, $1 million, winner-take-all bracket. Having topped the DuBois Dream in the opener, followed by the top-seed Stars of Storrs on Monday, the former Nittany Lions will need to get past Pitt’s Zoo Crew to do so.
While the pairing puts together two of TBT’s most prolific offenses this year, the path that delivered the Happy Valley Hoopers to this point is one Condon intends to keep his squad on.
“We’re keeping the focus on more on us this year,” he told BWI, avoiding an overindulgence in film study for his team’s two previous opponents. “We have a little bit of an older team. These guys know their strengths and we’re making sure each of them do that so collectively we can be our best.”
So far, so good
To this point, the collection of former Nittany Lions that spanned the Patrick Chambers, Jim Ferry, Micah Shrewsberry, and now Mike Rhoades teams has done as much with gusto.
Averaging 91 points over two games, the Hoopers are third in TBT for points scored. They’ve hit 48.6 percent of their shots (sixth among teams with two games played). And, maybe most important to their success, they’ve knocked down a tournament-high 14 3-pointers per game.
“I think the advantage of so many of these guys playing together, offensively you’ve really seen the ball move with unselfishness and it has allowed us to get great shots,” said Condon.
On the other end of the floor, Condon continued, the Hoopers have leaned into the connectivity established for many well before the start of this year’s TBT.
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“Defensively it’s a lot of the same, the familiarity and trust they have in each other to make the right decision has allowed us to get stops when we’ve needed to,” said Condon. “Holding UConn to nine points in the second quarter was really impressive with the amount of scorers they had.”
Next steps for Penn State’s Happy Valley Hoopers
Set for a 7 p.m. tip on Wednesday (streaming via TBT Live), the Happy Valley Hoopers will look to continue their run toward the $1 million prize. With a win, they will face Butler’s alumni team, No. 6-seed Eberlein Drive, in the fourth round next week.
Praising the leadership of former Nittany Lion center John Harrar for putting together the team and working to establish a consistent presence in TBT for Penn State men’s basketball alums, Condon added that his return to action this year, having missed last year’s outing to injury, has also been helpful.
“Having our GM John Harrar on the court this year, it was his vision to put this together and having him be able to play has been a huge boost,” said Condon.
Harrar has established a GoFundMe open to Penn State fans who wish to support the team’s costs accrued for this year’s TBT. They’ve raised nearly $5,000 toward an $8,000 goal thus far.
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