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The Basketball Tournament 2020: Men of Mackey Announces First 6 Members

We have waited for this day for a long time.

By BoilerTMill
Purdue v Cincinnati Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Purdue finally has its won team in The Basketball Tournament. Sure, the immortal Willie Deane has played in the past, but we finally have a team our own with The Men of Mackey. This morning the official Men of Mackey Twitter account started announcing the roster of recent Purdue players that would be taking part.

Here are the first six team members:

Rapheal Davis was one of the strongest team leaders in his time at Purdue and helped restore the program at the top of the Big Ten. A known defensive specialist, he was also a 1,000 point scorer during his career. Ray D. is a great addition.

Big Shot P.J. Thompson is one of my favorite recent Boilers. He shot better than 40% from three in his career and was always a calm, steady presence in the backcourt. He is such a consummate Boilermaker he returned this past season as a graduate assistant coach after playing professionally for a year in Denmark.

A Pan-Am Games Gold Medalist in 3 on 3 basketball, Jon Octeus was only at Purdue for a single season, but it was a memorable tenure. He provided Purdue with an athletic presence at point guard, and of course had a cold-blooded murder of Collin Hartman on his record. Let’s hope the Bloomington Police Department stays away from The Basketball Tournament, because he is probably still wanted for murder. The good news is that it is a 64 team tournament, so further IU players won’t be there.

Next up we have a big man.

Karma owes us a deep, deep run with Isaac Haas after what happened in 2018. His size is pretty much unmatched in an event like this. He invites the double team in the low post, opening things up for shooters outside.

Welcome aboard, Grady Eifert! You need a glue guy on a team like this. A guy that doesn’t care if he gets shots. A guy that rebounds, defends, and does all the dirty work. That’s Eifert, who climbed from “little used walk-on” to “starter on a near Final Four team and two-time Big Ten Champion”.

Purdue has a sniper with Ryan Cline on board! Cline left Purdue as one of the best shooters in school history and famously shot down Tennessee in the Sweet 16. He is an excellent addition.

To view the team and sign up as a supporter visit their page at The Basketball Tournament.

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