Former Memorial stars Adam Eberhard, Dylan Penn eager to reunite in TBT on national TV

EVANSVILLE — Adam Eberhard and Dylan Penn are excited to team up once again in The Basketball Tournament.

The former Memorial and Bellarmine University standouts are on UKnighted, which is mostly comprised of former Knights players. It's one of the 64 teams competing in the single-elimination, winner-take-all tournament and for the $1 million cash prize.

UKnighted makes its TBT debut this year — its first contest is against The Ville, comprised of multiple University of Louisville alumni. The game is Saturday at noon CDT and will be televised on FOX. Another Memorial graduate, Kyle Kuric, was slated to play for The Ville in the TBT but is unable to go due to a family emergency.

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Eberhard and Penn look forward to stepping foot inside Freedom Hall one more time. They embrace being in the Bellarmine brotherhood and teaming up with legends like Braydon Hobbs and Jeremy Kendle, who played on the Knights' 2011 D-II national championship squad. Eberhard has the fourth-most points (1,860) and third-most assists (493) in program history and was a three-time All-American.

The Memorial graduates want to continue representing Evansville with pride in the TBT.

"It's special for a lot of reasons, obviously with Dylan being both from Evansville, both from Memorial, both from Bellarmine," Eberhard said. "I'd say we still talk at least once a week and we're always keeping up with each other. It's good to have someone that's kind of like my brother doing this with me."

"Anytime I can get on the court (and) share a locker room with him, he's a great person, a great individual to be around," Penn added. "He's always one of my favorite teammates. It's going to be fun being with him one more time representing the school we both played at."

The TBT was founded in 2014 and is set up like March Madness. The third round of the TBT is the equivalent to the Sweet 16 while the quarterfinals are similar to the Elite Eight. The semifinals and championship take place at Drexel University in Philadelphia on Aug. 2 and 4. UKnighted is the No. 7 seed in the Louisville region.

Eberhard and Penn are three years apart and constantly cheer each other on. Penn was happy for Eberhard when he became a Southeastern Conference champion as a Tennessee assistant in 2022. Eberhard, now coaching with the University of Illinois Springfield, celebrated when Penn became the Most Outstanding Player of the American East Championship at Vermont the following winter and when they danced in the NCAA tournament.

"Being super close with him, it's been great to see his progression from Memorial to Bellarmine to Vermont to going overseas," Eberhard said. "He's always asking for advice and talking about, 'Should I go to this league? What do you think about this? What do I need to work on? How does my shot look?' Being able to kind of help him and see him put in that work, he's been rewarded for the right reasons. It's special for sure."

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UKnighted practiced together at Bellarmine last week and is ready to make some noise in the TBT. What the former Knights look forward to the most in the tournament is another chance to play for their school. Eberhard thanks his time at Bellarmine for jumpstarting his coaching career while Penn wants his teammates to get the most out of the experience.

"Everybody on the team has either played professionally or at a high level in college," Penn said. "I think everybody is just very excited to get to go out there and compete in front of a great fanbase. For a lot of us Bellarmine alumni, I know a lot of guys are excited to put on that uniform again and represent the school and the University."

This week could be even more special for Eberhard as he and his wife, Hannah, are expecting their first child, a son. If their baby arrives before TBT action begins, he hopes to still play.

"That would be the best-case scenario," Eberhard said. "But if he comes late, then we'll be staying home, which is perfectly fine, too. It's an exciting time."

Other Evansville-area connections to The Basketball Tournament (TBT)

• Former University of Southern Indiana standout Jacob Polakovich is competing with Zip 'Em Up, a team mostly of Xavier alumni, while another former USI big man, Josh Price, is on the roster for Fail Harder. Nolan Causwell, who appeared in 29 games for the Screaming Eagles this past season also is competing with Purple Hearts.
• Former University of Evansville guard Ryan Taylor, who led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring in 2018-19 before transferring to Northwestern, is competing for Eberlein Drive.
• UE assistant coach Craig Snow is on the staff for The Enchantment, a team of New Mexico alumni.