#MotorCityMadness Champions Brunch Held at Little Caesars Arena ahead of Championship Games
Joey Yashinsky
Motor City Madness got its day of tournament finals off to a festive start with the second annual Champions Brunch at the fabulous Rehmann Club inside Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday morning.
The event featured a full breakfast buffet and a star-studded panel of former NBA champions: Rick Mahorn, Earl Cureton and James “Buddha” Edwards.
Mahorn, a champion with the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons in 1989, and later an assistant with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, talked about the coaching profession and the never-ending quest for more hoops knowledge.
“I’m a student of the game because you’ll never know it all,” said Mahorn. “The game is too vast. As a coach, let your players be who they are and point them in the right direction.”
Edwards, a 3-time NBA champion -- two with the Pistons (1989, 1990) and one with the Bulls (1996) -- emphasized the importance of perseverance for young athletes.
“I tried out for my ninth grade team and got cut,” said Edwards. “But if you don’t make it the first time, keep following your dreams.”
Cureton won a pair of titles during his 12-year NBA playing career, with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983 and the Houston Rockets in 1994. He shared with the fans in attendance how lucky he was to learn from some legendary basketball minds.
“Chuck Daly was one of the best,” said Cureton. “I also spent some time with him in Philly. Chuck was great at understanding a player’s personality. You’ve got 12 different guys, so you have to know how to push their buttons. Daly, Rudy Tomjanovich, Doug Collins; I took a lot of positive things from all those guys.”
The Horizon League Champions Brunch perfectly set the stage for the women’s and men’s title games to follow later in the day.
The defending champion and top-seeded Green Bay Phoenix defeated the No. 2 seed Wright State Raiders in the women’s title game a few hours after the brunch concluded.
The men’s championship (ESPN), pitting No. 2 Wright State against upset-minded No. 8 seed Cleveland State, will put the finishing touch on Motor City Madness in Tuesday’s night session.