Chase Harler Joins ‘Best Virginia’ for TBT
Central Grad Averaged 15 Points in First Pro Year
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WHEELING -- Former West Virginia men's basketball player and Wheeling Central alum Chase Harler will once again be on the court this summer. Best Virginia, West Virginia's alumni team, has added the former Maroon Knight all-stater to its roster for The Basketball Tournament which is set to tipoff in July.
"I was in talks with John (Flowers) for the last month or two and trying to figure out if there was going to be extra roster space, who was going going to play and luckily it worked in my favor," Harler said. "But, obviously, it was an easy yes. I'm really excited to kind of be a part of something like that and be around all those guys again."
TBT started in 2014, and it's a single elimination tournament where the winning team will collect $1 million this year.
Games will be broadcasted on ESPN.
Harler, who just finished his first pro season overseas in Lithuania, is looking forward to not only playing with some of his former WVU teammates, but some players he watched growing up.
"That's really cool," Harler said. "But, once I got to West Virginia, those guys come back every summer. Just being around them before was cool, but actually getting to play with them is even cooler."
Harler averaged 5.4 points per game his junior year at WVU where he made 17 starts.
During his senior campaign, he netted 4.4 points per outing and had 2 starts.
In his first year as a pro, he averaged 15 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game for Palangos Kursiai.
Along with Harler, John Flowers, Kevin Jones, Tarik Phillip, Juwan Stanten, Nathan Adrian, Sagaba Konte, Teyvon Meyers, Jaysean Page and Jonathan Holton will suit up for the Best Virginia.
Flowers also serves as the team's general manager.
Former Mountaineer and current WVU Tech coach James Long will be the head coach for Best Virginia while Morgantown High School coach Dave Tallman and Former WVU All-American Da'Sean Butler will be assistant coaches.
Butler was also just hired as an assistant coach for the Wheeling University men's basketball team in February.
TBT is split into five regions and will have 64 teams. Best Virginia is in the West Virginia region and Harler will be playing inside a familiar arena.
The Charleston Coliseum will be the region's site for games from July 17-21.
Harler played in four state tournaments at the Charleston Coliesum with Wheeling Central with the Maroon Knights winning the Class A championship his sophomore year during the 2013-14 season.
The Maroon Knights returned to the championship game his junior and senior year, but fell short of the hardware in both years.
While he didn't see much playing time, Harler also played in the Charleston Coliseum during his freshman year at WVU. The Mountaineers defeated Western Carolina, 90-37 where Harler played 10 minutes.
"It's going to be cool," Harler said. "I went there for the state championship when Central was down there and they re-did some things. I played there for four years at the Civic Center. I have some good memories and have some bad memories. But for the most part, I think it's going to be sweet to see how many WVU fans are going to be in the building."
And there will certainly be West Virginia fans in the building as Harler is looking forward to once again represent the Mountaineers and the community that means so much to him.
"I just think it's super cool that, I've seen it first hand how much the alumni and how many guys come back. They live in Morgantown for the summer when they're doing their offseason training and get out in the community. I'm really looking forward to it, but it really just shows how tight-knit of a community the Mountaineers and especially the alumni are. That speaks for itself and that's pretty cool."