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Indiana Alumni Team ‘Assembly Ball’ Announces Final Roster For The Basketball Tournament

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Indiana Alumni Team ‘Assembly Ball’ Announces Final Roster For The Basketball Tournament

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Assembly Ball, Indiana basketball’s alumni team, announced its final roster on Tuesday before it begins The Basketball Tournament on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The Basketball Tournament is a 64-team, single-elimination tournament that offers a $1 million prize to the winner.

No. 1 seed Assembly Ball will play The Cru, a Valparaiso Alumni team on Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. If Assembly Ball advances to the second round, they will face the winner of Men of Mackey, a Purdue Alumni team, and Fort Wayne Champs on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1. The Butler Regional championship game is July 23 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

The winner of the Butler Regional will play the winner of the Pittsburgh Regional in the quarterfinals on July 29 or 30, with the official game date, time, and location to be determined. The semifinals and $1 million winner-take-all championship game will be Aug. 2 and Aug. 4 in Philadelphia, Pa. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. 

Here’s the full Assembly Ball roster.

The team will be coached by Adam Ross, who coached former Hoosier Will Sheehey at Sagemont High School in Florida. Assistant coaches include Isaac Green, who’s currently a video and player development analyst for the Indiana men’s basketball program, and Jared Callanan, who played at Iowa Wesleyan College.

Christian Watford, who played at Indiana from 2009-13, will serve as the team’s GM, along with AJ Mahar, who played at Bryant University.

According to a TBT news release, Miller Kopp, currently playing with the Oklahoma City Thunder at Las Vegas Summer League, will join Assembly Ball following the conclusion of the event. The Thunder have games scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, and they could play games through Monday if they advance to the championship game.

While over half of Assembly Ball’s roster is made up of former Hoosiers, it also features six players from different college programs.

Two players were teammates under coach Jim Larrañaga at Miami, Julian Gamble and Rion Brown. Gamble is a 6-foot-10 forward who started 52 games across his four-year career with the Hurricanes and averaged a career-high 6.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game as a senior in 2012-13. He has played professional basketball in Europe since 2013, winning the Italian League championship in 2021 and leading the German League in blocks in 2018.

Brown, a 6-foot-6 guard, made the All-ACC third team in 2013-14 and averaged15.5 points per game. He has played professional basketball in Europe since 2014, winning the Slovenian and Finnish League championships and being named a Greek League All-Star.

Doolittle, a 6-foot-7 forward, started 92 games at Oklahoma across his four-year career. As a senior in 2019-20, he averaged 15.8 points per game, shot 37.5% from 3-point range and was named to the All-Big 12 first team. Since 2020, he has played in the NBA G-League and professional leagues in Puerto Rico, Israel, Japan and Australia.

Hornsby, a 6-foot-4 guard, began his career at UNC Asheville before transferring to LSU. He started 52 games at LSU under coach Johnny Jones from 2014-16, averaging 13.1 points per game and shooting 40.1% from 3-point range. Hornsby was a three-time G-League All-Star following his college career, and then he went on to play the last five seasons in Europe.

Terry played just one season at Stanford before becoming the 31st overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. A 6-foot-1 guard, he averaged 14.6 points per game for Stanford and made the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. But he ended up playing just 13 games in the NBA and 29 in the G-League before announcing his retirement in December 2022 due to mental health reasons.

Quinn, a 6-foot-9 forward, played 27 games off the bench for Samford in 2015-16 and averaged 2.6 points per game. He later transferred to Division II program Kentucky Wesleyan and NAIA program MidAmerica Nazarene. Quinn spent the last three seasons playing professionally in Europe.

As for the former Hoosiers, Hulls, a Bloomington, Ind. native, played for coach Tom Crean from 2009-13. He averaged 9.8 points per game over 135 career appearances spanning four seasons. Hulls shot an impressive 44.2% from 3-point range as a Hoosier, including a career-high 49.3% as a junior. He helped the Hoosiers win the 2013 Big Ten regular season title and earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Hulls went on to play professional basketball in Europe from 2013-22 before returning to Indiana to become the team and recruiting coordinator for head coach Mike Woodson’s staff.

Vonleh was one-and-done at Indiana after winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2013-14. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 11.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 52.3% from the field and 48.5% from 3-point range.

After one season under Crean, Vonleh became the No. 9 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. Vonleh missed most of his rookie season with sports hernia surgery, and he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers following the season. He played for the Hornets, Blazers, Bulls, Knicks, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Nets and Celtics from 2014-23, starting 172 games and appearing in 362. Vonleh averaged 4.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in his NBA career and most recently played for the Shanghai Sharks.

Ferrell was one of the top point guards in program history while playing under Crean from 2012-16. He helped the Hoosiers win two Big Ten titles, first as a freshman in 2013 and again as a senior in 2016. He was named to the All-Big Ten first team during both his junior and senior seasons, and he was part of two teams that reached the Sweet 16.

Ferrell averaged at least 16.3 points per game in each of his final three seasons as a Hoosier, and he shot 39.9% from 3-point range across his four-year career. An Indianapolis native, Ferrell graduated as Indiana’s all-time assists leader with 633.

Following his career with the Hoosiers, Ferrell went undrafted but signed with the Brooklyn Nets. He spent five seasons in the NBA with the Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers. Ferrell finished tied for eighth in NBA Rookie of the Year voting in 2016-17, and he averaged a career-high 10.2 points per game the following season. After his NBA career, Ferrell has played professionally in Greece, Slovenia, China and Montenegro.

Green wore the cream and crimson under Crean for one season and former head coach Archie Miller for three. The 6-foot-3 guard started 31 games and played in 120 during his Indiana career as a 37.7% 3-point shooter.

As a senior in 2019-20, Green averaged a career-high 10.8 points. He scored a career-high 30 points in win over Florida State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge that year, and made a career-high 8 3-pointers in a loss to Ohio State in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament during his junior season.

Green most recently for the Norrköping Dolphins in Sweden, where he won the 2023 Swedish League championship and was named Finals MVP. He also played professionally in Hungary and Greece following his Indiana career.

Morgan played at Indiana from 2015-19 under Crean and Miller. The 6-foot-8 forward helped Indiana win the Big Ten regular season title and reach the Sweet 16 as a freshman in 2015-16. He averaged over 15 points and seven rebounds during his junior and senior seasons under Miller.

Morgan is one of three players – along with Trayce Jackson-Davis and Steve Downing – to record a triple-double in Indiana men’s basketball history. He did so on Dec. 22, 2018 against Jacksonville, totaling 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on 5-for-5 shooting.

After four seasons as a Hoosier, Morgan signed with the Utah Jazz as an undrafted free agent. He played 52 games in the NBA with the Jazz, Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors and also played for their G-League affiliates. Now he plays for BC Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia.

Williams was teammates with Morgan during the 2015-16 season. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game that year, and he scored 13 points in the Hoosiers’ win over Kentucky in the 2016 NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Williams played all three seasons under Crean from 2013-16, starting 94 total games. He scored a career-high 23 points three times, against Georgetown, Ohio State and Maryland.

Following his Indiana career, Williams signed with the Memphis Grizzlies as an undrafted free agent. He spent three seasons in the NBA and played 72 total games with 17 starts for the Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings. In 2024, he played for the Taiwan Beer.

Kopp played two seasons with the Hoosiers from 2021-23 under coach Mike Woodson after beginning his career with three seasons at Northwestern. He helped Indiana reach the NCAA Tournament twice and go as far as the Round of 32 in 2023.

Kopp averaged 8.1 points per game and shot 44.4% from 3-point range as a senior in 2023-24. Following his Indiana career, he joined the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G-Leauge affiliate, the OKC Blue, and helped them win the G-League Finals. Kopp averaged 8.3 points and shot 34.9% from 3-point range this season.

Kopp was teammates with Thompson for two seasons from 2021-23. A 6-foot-8 forward, Thompson started 91 games and appeared in 130 across during his Indiana career, playing for Miller and Woodson. He averaged career-highs with 11.1 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2021-22 and helped the Hoosiers reach the NCAA Tournament in his final two seasons.

Thompson was preparing to play in the 2023 NBA Summer League with the New York Knicks, but he suffered a right tibia plateau fracture and was unable to play. He attended many Indiana games during the 2023-24 season during his recovery, and The Basketball Tournament will be Indiana fans’ first chance to see Thompson play since his injury.

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