Every year since 2014, The Basketball Tournament has given a chance for amateur, former professional and overseas basketball players from around the world a chance at winning a $1 million prize, along with its famous ending format based on points rather than a ticking clock.
This year, the tournament is coming to Albuquerque, with The Pit hosting one of eight regionals. One first round matchup features “The Enchantment,” a team of University of New Mexico alumni in its second year in the tournament, facing a new “Panamaniacs” team of New Mexico State University alumni.
And that game, on July 18, will feature a local flavor: Northern New Mexico women’s basketball coach J.R. Giddens will return to suit up for the Enchantment. And former men’s assistant coach Billy Keys is a coach for the Panamaniacs team.
“I’m surprised (Giddens) ain’t texted me yet to start talking smack about the game,” Keys said about an hour after the reveal. (Possibly because Giddens was working at the press conference for the bracket reveal.)
“It’s going to be great for our alumni to get back together and continue that rivalry,” Keys said.
“Billy’s my brother,” Giddens said. “It’s going to be an amazing experience to coach and play versus him. I just hope we come out victorious, because I know he’s going to let me hear it for a full year.”
Brandon Mason, a college teammate of Keys’s and creator of the new Albuquerque Basketball Club and Prep School, is the general manager for both teams.
“When he reached out to me and asked me to be a part of it,” Keys said, “It was a no-brainer.”
Keys will keep his role on the sideline. “I’m too old to play,” he said. The same is not true for the 37-year-old Giddens, who showed last year that he can still throw down a slam dunk.
In last year’s tournament, Giddens led the Enchantment with 17 points and eight rebounds in a first-round one-point loss.
Giddens said he finished most of the recruiting for the year early in the summer, and can spend time now preparing for the tournament.
Northern men’s coach Ryan Cordova said that former women’s basketball coach Mario Caetano — who recently was promoted to head coach at Adams State — had coached in the tournament before.
“It’s a great opportunity just to get that national exposure,” Cordova said. “It’s going to be an exciting, exciting time for New Mexico basketball.”
“We look forward,” Gidden said, “to putting on a good show.”