The 2024-2025 Mountain West Player of the Year Donovan Dent will make his return to the Land of Enchantment this summer to play for The Enchantment.
Dent may not be rocking cherry and silver, but he will represent the state of New Mexico as team captain alongside former alumni.
TBT (The Basketball Tournament) announced that New Mexico’s The Enchantment will be coached by former Los Angeles Lakers star and three-time NBA champion Byron Scott. The team will be made up primarily of former Lobo players, but also players from New Mexico State and those with ties to New Mexico in general.
TBT is a tournament made up of two separate brackets, one composed of eight alumni teams that will compete on select college campuses and eight non-alumni teams that will compete in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Each winner of the two brackets will compete for a championship and a $2 million prize on the alumni team’s home court on Sunday, Aug.2. Should The Enchantment make the tournament's championship game, The Pit could be the designated location.
The Enchantment will open their three-round series against last year’s TBT champions, the AfterShocks (Wichita State), at Koch Arena. Game one will be played on July 20 at 6:00 p.m. and game two will be played on July 23 at 7:00 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will be played on July 24, at 7:00 p.m.
“It is great to have the defending champions back to defend their crown,” TBT CEO Jon Mugar said. “They have an extraordinary opportunity to win another $2 million in front of their home crowd, some of the best basketball fans in America. It is an incredible home court advantage against a very tough New Mexico team. If (The Enchantment) make it to the championship, I don’t see them losing in The Pit.”
The winner of the series will move on to the second round, which is a single-game elimination format, to play the winner of a series between Kansas and Kansas State alumni teams on July 27 at 7:00 p.m.
While The Enchantment’s full roster has yet to be announced, the team’s front office and coaching staff includes President Brandon Mason, General Manager Kenny Thomas, Vice President for Operations Kurt Roth, and assistant coaches Preston Laird, Estevan Sandoval, Dairese Gary and Chris Perez.
Edge Garcia is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @ByEdgeGarcia
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