Following Wednesday's news that Xavier will be a host site for The Basketball Tournament next summer and the return of Trevon Bluiett, J.P. Macura and Mark Lyons as players on Xavier's alumni TBT team, Zip 'Em Up, Bluiett, Lyons and coach Rick Carter, a former Xavier assistant, held a Zoom press conference on Thursday to discuss returning to Cintas Center and this weekend's Crosstown Shootout.
"We're just excited to get the group back together," said Carter. "Anytime you get to play in a comfortable environment, especially like Cintas Center, we know how the fans turn out especially when we were there before as players and coaches. So we're just excited to be back in the city of Cincinnati, having Xavier host it and us getting back together to be able to compete for a million dollars."
Xavier named 2022 TBT host site: Macura, Bluiett, Lyons commit to return for Zip 'Em Up
Bluiett and Lyons both joined the Zoom from Turkey. Bluiett's playing for a professional team in Istanbul and Lyons is on a pro team three hours away from Bluiett.
Macura was unable to join the press conference due to a practice conflict with his professional team in Italy.
"Just to be back at Cintas, you know, being around the best fans in the country," said Bluiett. "I haven't played in front of those guys in about four or five years so it'll probably be a good feeling to get back and you know, play with a group of guys that I'm close with."
With the Crosstown Shootout about 48 hours away, Bluiett and Lyons reflected on their time as part of an annual game that captivates the entire city.
"The Crosstown Shootout, to me, is like probably top-five rivals in college basketball," Lyons said. "Like if you go to a game and you just see the atmosphere, you see the fans sitting outside, the college students sitting outside for days waiting for tickets.
"And when you in that arena, whoever's home, it doesn't matter ... it's an all-out war out there."
Bluiett agreed.
"I went 3-1 in my career against Cincinnati," said Bluiett. "Each of those games, those were great. Those were hyped up. That's probably the one game every year that I mark on my calendar and I still remember to this day."
It might be hard for Bluiett and Lyons to watch the Shootout live on Saturday night.
"It's an eight-hour difference from the east coast time over here," said Bluiett. "So I might be in my PJs in bed, honestly."
But Bluiett and Lyons both said they've been able to see this year's team play a few times.
"They can go, you know, they got a lot of guys that play ... they're deep, coach (Travis) Steele's been leading them in the right direction," said Bluiett. "I really like them. They got a swagger about them."
Lyons continued, "I feel like this team this year, they're taking on a real Xavier identity. They're playing tough. They're playing together. They're playing defense, you know. They like each other. That's a Xavier tradition."
When TBT kicks off next July, former Xavier players will get to do something they probably thought would never happen again – play in a place and in front of fans that provided them with some of the most memorable moments of their careers.
Zip 'Em Up is putting together a list of potential players, but roster announcements likely won't arrive for some time, but Bluiett and Lyons said there's already been a lot of interest from former players to join the team.
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