As Chase Harler prepares to make his debut as head coach at Best Virginia, the Wheeling native and former West Virginia University guard believes he has a good idea of ​​what it will take to get the team into the basketball tournament.

“You’re going to have to rely on the defensive side,” Harler said. “You can be hot shooting, you can be unhot shooting. We’ve got to have a foundation and our foundation has to be defense.”

That’s exactly the message Harler gave the team this week, leading up to TBT’s season opener on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Brotherly Love at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh.

Best Virginia’s roster features eight former WVU players — guards Taz Sherman, Tarik Phillip and Teyvon Myers and front court players Wes Harris, Esa Ahmad Jonathan Holton, Sagaba Konate and Devin Williams — along with two new additions with no Mountaineer ties in guard Marcus Keene and wing Xavier Bledson.

“It’s exciting. These are guys that I’ve played with that are closer to my age,” Harler said. “It’s a new era. John Flowers started this and it’s turned into something great. I was fortunate that he passed it on to me and I’m going to do my best to continue what he built.”

Of the previous Mountaineers, Sherman, Ahmad, Harris and Konate will make their Best Virginia debuts.

With Keene’s arrival, the team has one of the most prolific scorers in TBT history. The 5-foot-11 guard was the leading scorer in college basketball in his final season at Central Michigan, averaging 30 points in 2016-17.

“We have some great Elam Ending players that can create shots off the bounce,” Phillip said. “The more players you have that can do that, the better chance you have. You’re not going to have three defensemen that can defend all three guards at the same time.”

Best Virginia, a No. 3 seed, enters its fifth TBT appearance with a 7-4 record in the event. Brotherly Love, seeded sixth in the eight-team regional, has a 4-2 all-time record.

Brotherly Love’s roster includes forward Donte Greene, who previously played for Syracuse and four seasons with the Sacramento Kings. However, on Friday night, TBT’s official X account reported that Greene is one of seven Brotherly Love players ruled out of Saturday’s game. The team’s official TBT roster includes 14 players from various colleges.

The winner of Best Virginia-Brotherly Love advances to the second round at 8 p.m. Monday against the winner of Pitt’s alumni Zoo Crew and Million $ Worth Of Game.