AMHERST – Freddie Riley never got to utilize the Champions Center while he was at UMass. The school broke ground on the basketball program’s dedicated practice facility the year he graduated in 2013 and completed it in 2015.

“Not jealous. I mean, honestly, yeah. I am a little jealous,” Riley said. “But at the same time, I realized that the guys on the team now, eras after us, they are able to enjoy stuff like this because of our era, because of the success that we had.”

Riley played in Amherst from 2009-13 but will pull on a maroon jersey once again with The Commonwealth, a UMass alumni team participating in The Basketball Tournament, a $1 million single elimination tournament underway right now. The Commonwealth will play at 9 p.m. Monday in Syracuse.

He’ll join forces with Minutemen from his era and ones shortly after it in search of the big prize. The roster includes current overseas pros like Chaz Williams, Donte Clark, C.J. Anderson and Maxie Esho and recent products like single-game scoring record holder Luwane Pipkins and sharpshooter Carl Pierre.

“All of us are willing to put egos to the side so we can win a million dollars. Yeah, definitely ultimate goal,” Riley said. “It's fun to be back on campus, and practice and laugh with each other but the ultimate goal is to win money, so we can take care of our families and put our families in a better position.”

With UMass’ recent success and so many players in their athletic primes, it’s a wonder the Minutemen didn’t get together sooner.

“I’m kind of mad we didn’t have it last year and the year before,” Pipkins said. “Hopefully we get the chance to show what UMass really was back then.”

The foundation of the Massachusetts Collective, a donor-driven NIL collective, helped facilitate the team’s formation, as it is founded and operated by the collective. That gives the squad an institutional and financial backbone that not all organizations have entering TBT. Coach Mike Mannix, currently at Wilbraham & Monson, also realized his previous TBT program, Team YGC with connections to Marcus Smart, wasn’t going to field a squad.

He called Patrick MacWilliams, Five College Movers owner and Massachusetts Collective founder, to pitch a UMass alumni squad.

“It was pretty easy from there because he was so enthusiastic about it and so committed to it that it put everything in motion really quick,” Mannix said. “It seemed like the right year in terms of the timing of it. Our roster seemed right.”

Bringing the group together was almost easier. Everyone on the roster either immediately said yes or expressed interest.

“Before I came here I was watching UMass basketball, so to actually be able to play with these guys, veterans, real vets, guys I looked up to, it’s awesome,” Pipkins said.

Not every player played at UMass, but they’re all connected. The Commonwealth needed to make injury replacements for Jabari Hinds and Cady Lalanne and brought in Ethan Wright (Colorado) and Anthony Lee (Temple/Ohio State). Wright grew up in Newton, while Lee is from Washington D.C. and grew up with the UMass contingent from there.

“There were mutual UMass connections, they all know so many people throughout the basketball world,” said MacWilliams, the team’s GM. 

The team will practice together four times in Amherst and a fifth in Syracuse. They are leaning on their history together and a shared language developed over years on the hardwood. Many overlapped with one another, and every player on the team played with at least one other member.

Getting to work pic.twitter.com/Ew2ASaiJKW

— Kyle Grabowski (@kylegrbwsk) July 20, 2023

“We know how to play with each other. We watched each other play,” Pipkins said. “At the end of the day we all want the same goal for each other, and that’s to win.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>