Jared Sullinger coached Carmen’s Crew through its last championship in The Basketball Tournament in 2019, but this time, the two-time All-American at Ohio State traded his coaching title to play for the OSU alumni team.
The ultimate payoff for that decision came when he hit the game-winning shot to deliver the Buckeyes’ alumni squad its first TBT title since that 2019 team and the $1 million cash prize that went with it.
“It feels amazing,” Sullinger told the media afterward. “Obviously, it's a little different from 2019. I didn’t sweat (then). I didn’t do much. This one, I got to ice up. But it's a good celebration.”
With Sullinger on the court, Leon Rodgers was the man who picked up the mantle of being the team’s head coach. And Sullinger beamed about the contributions of Rodgers perhaps more than anything else in his postgame press conference.
Sullinger helped build and organize then starred on the team, racking up a game-high 18 points in the championship game, but Rodgers helped develop the team’s chemistry and prepare its players for their run. As Sullinger lay on the floor following his final shot, that’s what crossed his mind.
“I didn't see it. I was on the ground. And then next thing you know, all I saw was red shirts saying, ‘Yeah, you did it!’ I'm like, ‘What did I do?’” Sullinger said. “It was great, man. Honestly, leading up to this, like (Rodgers) said, he's done a great job. He held us to a standard that in the summertime, we were never held to. Being professional, being on time, doing things together. In reality, he kind of put a preseason for some of these guys leading up to going to Europe. So these guys are going to be primed and ready to play. You got to give Leon Rodgers a lot of credit.
“I know y'all see us, we got the name, we got this, but we would not be prepared, we would not be winning this tournament if it wasn't for his hard work, his extra stuff, his sacrifice that he's put into this game.”
CARENS CREW ARE ONCE AGAIN YOUR @thetournament CHAMPS pic.twitter.com/SDj9BDtHqz
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) August 4, 2024
Sullinger took home tournament MVP honors for his on-court efforts. It wasn’t until the week of the first game that Sullinger committed to playing in this year’s TBT, but a disappointing loss for Carmen’s Crew in the regional finals of the 2023 tourney while the forward coached motivated him to play for this year’s squad. The furthest NCAA Tournament run of Sullinger’s at Ohio State fell short in the Final Four and he never won a title during his five-year NBA career, so he’s happy to now have some hardware as a player.
“I didn't (expect to be here), honestly,” Sullinger said. “I play overseas, continuing my playing career. But going through it, I always said this could be a learning experience for me for coaching. We lost to Friday Beers last year. And Jamel (Morris) looked at me and said, ‘I want to see you play.’ I was like, ‘All right, I’ll play.’ ... I finally got my championship I've been fighting for with three different teams.”
A large contingent traveled to Philadelphia to watch him play.
“I had my three kids, my wife, my mother-in-law, my mother, my brother, both of my nephews, both of my sisters-in-law,” Sullinger said. “I never had that many people at a game before since 2017 when I played for the Toronto Raptors. It's just a blessing that sometimes when you're a kid in college, you take it for granted. And then once it's gone, you miss it so much.”
The way Rodgers brought the team together for its title run was with a tough coaching style. In a single-elimination tournament, taking each opponent seriously was vital for success. That was, of course, no different for the championship game against Forever Coogs.
“I basically had to scare them every day,” Rodgers said. “We're playing the best team in the world every time. They weren't shooting well, but there's such a small sample size when you play with TBT, that they can still be shooters. We look up European film and all of that. So we know a couple of guys could get going. There's no secret, Greg (Lee) was the main focus. We held him to 10.”
Rodgers added that Carmen’s Crew had to play a larger lineup than it wanted to as the championship game turned into more of a defensive battle. The Ohio State alums and company shot 41.2% from the field and 27.8% from 3, but managed to out-muscle Forever Coogs with six extra made free throws and a 36-30 edge in rebounding. Andre Wesson, Desonta Bradford and Kaleb Wesson joined Sullinger in double figures in the championship game. Morris, Erick Neal, Scott Thomas and Jeff Gibbs were also key contributors for Carmen’s Crew throughout the tournament.
“We were attacking the basket,” said Rodgers, a former Northern Illinois forward who played for Carmen’s Crew when it won the 2019 TBT. “We were one of the biggest teams in the tournament and that’s what we were gonna do. Some timeouts I almost drew a blank because a lot of our stuff was focused to go to (Sullinger), Kaleb (Wesson), Jeff Gibbs where I think we were getting what I think would be called a foul, especially at the other end. It’s being called (that way) because we were the bigger team, which is to be expected. And I told these guys, ‘You’ve got to play through it.’”
For Rodgers and Sullinger, who are both Columbus natives, winning the TBT together for a second time – each in opposite roles from five years ago – was another highlight of a friendship that goes back more than a decade.
“(Sullinger) has been my brother since he was 15, 16 years old,” Rodgers said. “So this is always fun working with him, coaching with him. He’s trying to pack me in his bag to go to China.”
Asked if Carmen’s Crew plans to defend its title in 2025, Sullinger gave a simple three-word answer.
“We’ll be back,” Sullinger said. “We’ll be back.”
