Louisville basketball: Ryan McMahon’s stock on the rise

Former Louisville basketball standout Ryan McMahon balled at TBT.

Just after the first timeout in the second half of the Red Scare, Golden Eagles semi-finals matchup at TBT, I texted my friend and Big Red Louie Podcast co-host Presley Meyer, telling him that I was officially not believing the Dayton Alumni team would advance. Though they had done nothing but prove people wrong up until this point advancing to a point no one thought they would, things looked to be headed south. Presley responded “You forgot they have (former Louisville basketball star) Ryan McMahon.”

If there’s anyone who knows about dealing with the doubt of others, it’s the former Louisville Cardinal sharp-shooter who had overcome plenty of that during his first run of The Basketball Tournament.

Compared to other rosters of teams competing at TBT, the Dayton roster was a bit “lackluster” and was made up of only eight players, putting a lot of pressure on several younger players to produce at a high level right away. Every players stepped up to the plate and provided “homerun” performances, helping the Red Scare and former Louisville basketball graduate assistant turned TBT coach, Joey Gruden, advance to the semifinals and only two wins away from winning the $1 million prize.

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One of those players who stepped up big was Ryan McMahon, a guy who ended up on the roster thanks to his connection with Gruden. Having never played professional basketball, McMahon stepped in and looked like he belonged, providing an elite shooter to go along with Trey Landers and Devin Oliver.

In his first TBT he developed into the team’s second leading scorer averaging over 14 points per game and became the go-to shooter when games got close. Hitting 11 threes in four games, McMahon proved that even against some of the world’s best talent he could thrive. It wasn’t just his shooting either, McMahon showed much improved quickness and savviness of the defensive end and completely took his man out of the flow of the offense for long stretches.

Presley wasn’t crazy to think that McMahon could swing a game that by the second seemed to be going the way of the Golden Eagles. Touting a roster of primarily former Marquette players including Final Four legend, Travis Diener, the Eagles were one of the tournaments most experienced groups who had been in this exact moment before.

The Red Scare gave the Marquette squad all they could keeping the game mostly within four to six up until the very end thanks to strong performances from Landers and recent Dayton graduate, Ryan Mikesell. The Dayton squad had learned just a day earlier how dangerous sleeping at the end of a game could be as they gave up nearly 15 unanswered points to House of ‘Paign during the Elam Ending finale before ultimately winning 83-76 to advance into the semi-finals.

Ultimately, I was right when it came to the message I sent Presley during the second half. The Red Scare were unable to hold off the experienced Golden Eagles team, who with a victory will play in their second straight TBT championship. Despite their inexperience and roster that didn’t feature a star name, the entire Red Scare team proved that they were capable of succeeding far more than most thought they could. That includes McMahon.

On multiple occasions during the tournament, ESPN basketball commentators Seth Greenberg and Fran Fraschila praised McMahon and talked about how his play should springboard him into a nice first professional contract, likely overseas and give him an opportunity to rise the ranks in one of the best international leagues. Playing in a bench role, McMahon was effective, reliable, and flat out dominant from deep.

McMahon didn’t get the chance to show what he could do in the NCAA Tournament this past season due to COVID-19, but TBT gave him the an even bigger stage than he could’ve ever expected.

Of course the NCAA Tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the US, but in the midst of a pandemic that’s caused there to be no sports for the last four months, all eyes were on the TBT. Because of his stellar performances, McMahon’s agent should have plenty of teams calling from all across the world.