Peyton Siva

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Peyton Siva, Russ Smith, Chane Behanan, Kyle Kuric and the other members of The Ville basketball squad will not be the only folks competing in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) at Freedom Hall next week.

You will be competing, too.

If local fans want to add another bold-faced exclamation point to their status as most passionate, unrelenting basketball fans in America, this is their chance.

This is the 10th season of competition for the TBT, a 64-team tournament of former college stars with a winner-take-all prize of $1 million.

ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla has worked multiple TBTs. He told me that one venue has generated the five largest crowds in the history of the event.

That venue is Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. Fraschilla said Wichita has attracted five crowds of 6,000 or more, including, a record 7,184 on July 25, 2019, to watch the former Wichita State squad named the After Shocks. The record shows that the second-largest gathering was 6,500 in 2021.

Over the next week, Louisville needs a bump to beat that.

Here is my bump:

Louisville can beat that.

Louisville should beat that.

Mark Lieberman, coach of The Ville, told me Tuesday that he believes that "about 5,000 tickets," have been sold for his team's opener against War Ready, a group of mostly former Auburn players. The teams will play at 7 p.m. next Tuesday in Freedom Hall. With a win, the Cards will return for their second game on Thursday, July 27.

"I think we can get there," Lieberman said. "I like where we're at."

"It's funny, but a lot of people always come up to me and say, 'Good luck in the TBT. We'll be there. We'll be watching,'" said Peyton Siva, the former Card likely to be the team's starting point guard.

"It just shows, and not to get off topic, but I talked to a lot of these guys (on the current U of L team) and I tell them, 'Look man, I've been gone for 10 years and you don't realize how much this city loves basketball.

"This is a TBT Tournament with guys 30-plus, or older than 25, who have been out of college for many years. But the fans are just hungry for basketball.

"They just want to support. They want to be around good basketball."

This will be double-edged competition. As usual, Wichita is the host site for two regionals in 2023, with play starting there first on Wednesday night.

Xavier will host a regional in Cincinnati. Dayton, Syracuse and West Virginia are also hosts. Do not forget Lubbock, Texas, where local organizers are also apparently gunning for the attendance record, too.

But this is a competition that Louisville should win. The team has the endorsement of many former Cards, like Darrell Griffith, Milt Wagner and current U of L coach Kenny Payne.

At the team's first full squad practice Tuesday in the Planet Fitness Kueber Center on the U of L campus, Lieberman said his initial starting lineup featured Siva, Russ Smith, Kyle Kuric, Chane Behanan and Chinanu Onuaku.

All of them are former Cards. Three — Siva, Smith and Behanan — started for the Louisville team that won the now vacated NCAA championship over Michigan at the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta. Luke Hancock, the Most Outstanding Player of that team, is one of Lieberman's assistants.

Kuric, of course, helped close Louisville's historic run in Freedom Hall by scoring 22 points in the second half of the Cards' 78-68 win over top-ranked Syracuse. Onuaku played for the Cards in 2015 and 2016 before departing early for professional basketball. He only played in the KFC Yum! Center.

"I've just heard about (Freedom Hall) and the history that it has and stuff like that," Onuaku said,. "I was only in the Yum! Center and we had that thing rocking. Hopefully it's like that."

Will it be like that?

Will Louisville set the TBT record in their first game or maybe their second (if they win the first) or third (if they win the first two)?

"There's a buzz definitely around the city," Behanan said.

"We (Louisville) didn't have a great season last year. This will hopefully be a start of something to get excited for. I been here all summer with these guys (Payne's current U of L team) and they look great. They got better caliber players.

"I think it should be a great crowd, just being the fact of who's in town."

And the chance to set the TBT attendance record.

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