AUBURN, Ala. – Matt Moschella knows about Auburn basketball. Like any college basketball fan, he watched the Tigers make that magical run to the Final Four in March 2019.
"They kind of just took over March Madness," Moschella said. "They very easily should've won that tournament. With Jared, Bryce, Chuma, Horace, all those guys. They were a fun team to watch."
What Moschella didn't know about, until recently, was the passion of Auburn fans.
Moschella is the owner or GM of War Tampa. He started the team in 2018, known then as Tampa 20/20, with the goal of winning The Basketball Tournament (TBT). They competed in each of the last two TBTs, winning one game their first year and taking Chris Paul's CP3 team to the wire in the first round last summer.
This year, with the additions of Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer to a roster that already included former Auburn players LaRon Smith and Desean Murray, it was an "easy choice" for Moschella to change the name to War Tampa and the colors to orange and blue.
Just like that, Auburn basketball fans were invested, The team's Twitter account, @War_Tampa, grew exponentially in followers. Donations came pouring in. Merchandise was going faster than they could make it. On the TBT's website, War Tampa currently has 1,444 fans listed. Next up is Carmen's Crew with 1,002, and after that, no other team has more than 650 fans. Only three teams have more than 500 fans.
"It makes me very happy that we have so many people who want to see us play," Moschella said. "Truly, without these fans, we probably aren't in this tournament this year. With them cutting it from 64 to 24, they want the teams that are going to get the most views."
"It means a lot," Brown said Monday after arriving in Columbus, Ohio. "It lets me know they're still following me, still following my guys. It just gives us that much more confidence to go out there and perform. I appreciate my Auburn fans for staying in contact and keeping up with us and supporting us. We won't let you down."
War Tampa guard @Bwb_2 has a message for @AuburnMBB fans ahead of TBT 2020!@war_tampa pic.twitter.com/0HmZN1fMKc
— TBT (@thetournament) June 29, 2020
The fan support might have helped push War Tampa into the field, but Brown and his teammates are coming to Columbus with every intention of winning the $1 million grand prize.
Spencer, who played professionally in Argentina last year, was supposed to go back overseas this summer to play basketball. Instead, he chose to put that off temporarily because he wanted the chance to compete with his old teammates at TBT.
"I can't wait to get to Ohio," Spencer said. "I just don't want to disappoint. I want to be on top of my game for the Auburn Family because this is really a big deal. People might not understand. This is really a big deal. It's not your everyday team you see put together. This is a team of alumni that has tournament-caliber experience on it.
"To have that Auburn connection, to feel that all over again, it's a really big deal to me."
As the No. 17 seed, War Tampa will open this year's TBT on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT with a first-round matchup against House of 'Paign (Illinois alumni). The winner moves on to the Round of 16 to face the No. 1 overall seed, Carmen's Crew (Ohio State alumni), on Wednesday, July 8.
It was only 15 months ago when an unsuspecting Auburn team reached the Final Four. Moschella believes this War Tampa team can make a similar run through TBT.
"I think truly – and I'm not just saying this because it's my team – if our guards play their game, we could take over this tournament just like Auburn did in the NCAA tournament," he said.