Andre Roberson preparing for first The Basketball Tournament with Team Colorado

Team Colorado welcomed several new players to its 2024 The Basketball Tournament (TBT) roster, but none can match the NBA experience Andre Roberson brings.

While a step slow at 32 years old and with a terrifying injury history, Roberson will still be among the best defenders in the TBT. Team Colorado head coach Zach Ruebesam thinks so having been a student manager with the Colorado Buffaloes during Roberson’s 2012-13 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year campaign.

“There’s no better defender on the court when he’s out there,” Ruebesam said at training camp. “The intensity he plays with, the talk he plays with, his understanding of the game, he’s played at the highest level. To have him out there to anchor our defense and give us athleticism and versatility has been huge.”

The former Pac-12 DPOY rode his reputation as one of college basketball’s best defenders and rebounders into becoming the second of now five first-round NBA draft selections in Colorado’s Tad Boyle era . Spending most of his seven NBA seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 6-foot-7 forward brought his tenacious playstyle to a Finals contender.

When injuries derailed Roberson’s NBA career, a path through the G League led him to overseas ball in the Phillippines where he spent this past year. Trying to “redefine” himself, as he put it, Roberson made the decision to join Team Colorado.

“This is just to get acclimated and get here to have some fun with the guys, honestly,” Roberson said. “Anytime I get a chance to be back here is a joy.”

While Roberson said this may be his only year in the TBT, the experience shouldn’t disappoint.

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