A familiar name stood at the top of the 18 Elite division of the Triple Crown National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in Kansas City. No. 24 Legacy 18-1 Adidas had a title to defend and succeeded with a 7-2 overall record against an exceptionally difficult field at the NIT.

There’s not much more a team can do after the historical season of last year’s Legacy 18s team who won the NIT, several tournaments, and AAU Nationals. But that’s a different team and there’s an entirely new identity in the 2020 18s team that’s been building for the three years Bryan Lindstrom has been coaching this particular squad.

Lindstrom is like the vault holding onto the memories of wins and the sting of losses over those three years so the final day at the NIT meant even more than winning a major tournament and protecting the 18s title at the event. It also meant seeing familiar teams and rising to the occasion to win at the right time.