The NBA playoffs ended last week, but basketball season in Richmond isn't over.

The Tri-City Summer League starts tonight. The eight-team league, an area institution, has a new home -- George Wythe High School in South Richmond -- but otherwise remains unchanged. Which means the team to beat, as usual, is the one led by former Virginia Union star Ben Wallace, a longtime NBA standout who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Wallace Express romped to a 24-point victory in the title game last summer at John Marshall High School.

"Every year, they're the favorite," said Ted Berry, a former Huguenot High School star who runs the summer league with Corey Braxton, an assistant coach at Wythe. "Somebody has to beat them. That's the way it works."

The marquee matchup on opening night is the late game, which pits Wallace Express against DTLR/Cosmo Lounge. Ben Wallace's supporting cast includes his nephew, Wayne Wallace, and former VUU and Wythe point guard Robert Johnson. Boston College star Tyrese Rice (L.C. Bird High School) and the well-traveled Tyree Evans, who was a legend at Wythe, combine to give DTRL/Cosmo Lounge what should be the summer league's most high-powered backcourt.

Virginia Commonwealth's all-Colonial Athletic Association point guard, Eric Maynor, is among the current college players expected to participate in the Tri-City Summer League. The list of current or former pros who'll play at Wythe includes Cory Alexander and Berry, who spent the past season in Spain. Recent Benedictine High graduate Ed Davis is in summer school at the University of North Carolina, but the 6-9 McDonald's All-American may be back in Richmond in time for the summer-league playoffs next season.

Among the high school players who signed up for the summer league are 6-6 Travis McKie and 6-7 Karron Johnson. McKie, an All-Metro forward from John Marshall, is one of the top prospects in the nation's Class of 2010. Johnson, a Richmonder who attends a prep school in North Carolina, is ranked No. 50 in the Class of 2009 by Rivals.com.

Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or jwhite@timesdispatch.com.