Return of hoops: Ex-Cat Luther back on the court for TBT

Upon checking into the Columbus Hyatt Regency on Tuesday, former Arizona forward Ryan Luther was given a coronavirus test, the promise of meals delivered to his room and a key he was only to use once for 24 hours.

He was not good to go. In order to play for Herd That in this year’s protocol-laden The Basketball Tournament, Luther had to stay quarantined inside his room until the first test result came back.

And, even after that test proved negative on Wednesday, Luther was only allowed to walk around the hotel and inside an adjoining conference center, where he could only go to a designated makeshift practice court or a team room — and only with teammates of his own who had also tested negative.

These were just some of the necessary protocols that TBT founder and CEO Jon Mugar came up with in consultation with medical experts at Johns Hopkins and Ohio Health, once he realized his $1 million winner-take-all event could not be held before fans at four different sites as it usually is.

And even then, nobody knows for sure what will happen once TBT play starts Saturday, with Herd That scheduled to debut on Sunday at 11 a.m.

“Definitely one thing was pounded into my head from Day One was that there’s no guarantee for any of this,” Mugar said. “It’s extremely challenging.”

Which meant, basically, Luther had checked into a prison of sorts at the Hyatt. A basketball prison.

But considering life in the COVID-19 era, maybe there is no better place because. Because if Luther and his teammates pass all their tests, they’ll be playing actual five-on-five basketball on ESPN on Sunday.

Imagine that.

“I definitely did think about it,” Luther said. “Considering the last live basketball game was March 12, I definitely did realize this would be kind of unique, to be the only live sport in America on TV. And a lot of us have gotten back early from overseas and have been sitting at home for a couple of months, so everyone was kind of anxious to get back in the gym and get playing again.”

Luther’s story was typical of professional basketball players all over the globe. On the evening of March 11, just as Arizona was playing its final game in the Pac-12 Tournament, Luther had 19 points and six rebounds for Latvian club BK Ventspils in a FIBA Europe Cup quarterfinal game.

The next day, news spread to Europe that Utah’s Rudy Gobert had tested positive and that the NBA suspended its season. The Latvian-Estonian League followed suit by suspending its play, then two days later canceled its entire season.

Luther hopped on a plane that weekend and returned home to Pittsburgh.

“It was kind of an abrupt ending to my first season but it went well there,” Luther said.

Having left Arizona after spending a grad transfer season with the Wildcats in 2018-19, the former Pitt forward averaged 18.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and shot 48.4% from 3-point range in Europe Cup games, his first professional season warranting a move up in competition.

So last week, Luther signed with Darussafaka, a Turkish club based in Istanbul.

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For whenever the 2020-21 season might begin, that is. For now, and for who knows how long, Luther has been mostly stuck at home in Pittsburgh.

The chance to escape this month for the TBT came in the spring when Luther heard from Jon Elmore, a former Marshall point guard who knew of Luther through a former teammate. Elmore’s brother, Ot, is serving as general manager of Herd That, a Charleston, West Virginia-based team that consists of half former Marshall players, and Jon Elmore called to see if Luther was interested.

“He knew I was pretty close (in Pittsburgh) so he asked if I wanted to play with them,” Luther said. “I just thought it would be a fun thing to do.”

Once Luther agreed, the first step was filling out forms and, of course, taking a coronavirus test. Luther took his first one at home and then reported to Charleston to work out with other Herd That players before taking another test.

“We were just working out for a week together, just kind of getting a feel for playing with each other, so it’s been good,” Luther said. “It’s been high-level competition and practice so we’re hoping that can help us in the tournament.”

Success in the TBT demands that sort of preparation. The tournament features mostly former college players who are now overseas or in the G League and, according to William Hill, Herd That has 100-1 odds of winning the TBT, and the team was not one of the eight given a first-round bye.

The favorites are perennial TBT power Overseas Elite, which won four TBT titles with Kyle Fogg before the former Wildcat guard left the team last season, and last year’s champ, Carmen’s Crew, a team of mostly Ohio State players.

Of the two other former Arizona players in this season’s TBT, Mark Lyons will also debut Sunday for Heartfire, a team coached by former Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy, while Nick Johnson and The Money Team will have a bye and won’t play until Thursday.

Just getting into the field at all was a victory of sorts. Mugar said a record 120 teams applied for just 24 spots in what is normally a 64-team field, and the teams were chosen based on talent, past success and intangibles such as chemistry and character.

Those were particularly important this year, considering all the protocols everyone has to stick to.

“A big part of it is reliability,” Mugar said. “A lot of it was with our impression of them from in the past. With a format like this you really need compliance with everybody.”

Because if there is no compliance this year, there is no basketball. After Luther passed his first test upon arriving in Columbus, he was also subject to three more – on days three, four and five before getting to play on Sunday, which will be his sixth day inside the bubble.

If Luther or any of his teammates test positive after being cleared to practice with teammates or playing in games, the entire team is tossed from the tournament. By Thursday, two days before the games were set to begin, a third team was removed from the field for having a positive COVID-19 test.

All that testing is giving yet another meaning to the words “single elimination” that the TBT has become famous for, promising $1 million for the winning team — and zero for all other teams.

But, this year, everyone can win. In one sense, at least.

“Just putting on a basketball game is going to feel like the best accomplishment ever,” Mugar said. “There hasn’t been basketball since March 12, so just having somebody step up to the free-throw line and shoot a free throw will be enough to celebrate.”