It was February, at the Triple Crown Sports NIT, and TAV 18 Black coach John Sample held his expectations low. At that point, the team had less than 10 practices under its belt. No matter the results that would come he was confident about one thing though. The roster had more than enough to compete for the national championship come April.

TAV finished that weekend 7-2 and taking sixth place overall, losing only to Asics KiVA 18 Red and Northern Lights 18-1 while beating KiVA, Arizona Storm Elite 18 Thunder, Munciana 18 Samurai, Sunshine 18 Westside and Momentous 18-Dan.