PEORIA — Good chemistry in sports can be a fleeting thing. In the case of Bradley’s Always A Brave alumni basketball team, though, the magic alchemy that propelled the 2005-06 Braves to the NCAA Sweet 16 has had remarkable staying power.

In the past two weeks, AAB — made up of six Sweet 16 players among its roster of nine — has won four games in The Basketball Tournament to qualify for the event’s final four beginning Saturday at 4 p.m. (Central) against Team Colorado. The semifinal game will be telecast from Fordham University in New York on ESPN.

“These were our first games together since we lost to Memphis (in the Sweet 16),” said point guard Daniel Ruffin. “It’s like we just picked up where we left off. The personalities haven’t changed, guys joking around with each other. Just like then, Tony Bennett and Will Franklin are the (vocal leaders).”

Said guard Jeremy Crouch: “It was amazing how quickly it clicked again when we got back in the gym together for the first time. The chemistry with this group has always been there. We all know our roles.”

Not that anyone is fooling themselves that this tournament run is anywhere near as meaningful as the one 10 years ago.

“It feels similar in that we were never expected to do it,” said center Patrick O’Bryant. “We were seeded ninth, kind of written off (like they were as a 13th seed in ’06). But we’ve shocked a lot of people.

“And while it’s great that we’ve made it this far, in two years nobody’s going to give a crap about this. In the NCAA tournament, people still recognize us as a Sweet 16 team. I don’t think people are going to say next year, ‘Are you that team that made the final four of the TBT?’ All they’ll care about is the winner.”

Ruffin agreed.

“Making the Sweet 16 was huge for Bradley,” he said. “There was a lot more following, the school hadn’t been there in 50 years. There was a lot more excitement. Not to take anything away from this team, but not many people knew about this tournament. The goal was more about just getting everybody together. When we started winning, we took it up a notch and started believing we could make some noise.”

It started July 16-17 with wins over 120 Sports (74-68) and Jackson Underdawgs (78-77 on a last-second 3-pointer by Bennett) and continued last weekend with victories over Pedro’s Posse (92-65) and the Golden Eagles Alumni (89-81).

“It’s been pretty good competition,” said forward Marcellus Sommerville. “Some teams not as good, but that might be because they haven’t played much together. Every game gets tougher.”

Sommerville has been the scoring and rebounding leader, averaging 24.3 points and 8.0 boards. Tony Bennett (14.0 ppg), O’Bryant (12.0 ppg) and Will Franklin (11.8 ppg) have also averaged double figures as Always A Brave has shot a solid 52 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point territory.

Those numbers are particularly impressive considering two of the expected top scorers — guards Andrew Warren and Walt Lemon, Jr. — bowed out before the tournament started because of injuries.

Because of the depleted nine-man roster, which included four players who have other jobs and don’t play regularly anymore, Ruffin is somewhat surprised AAB is where it is.

“Half the team isn’t playing anymore and the couple of guys with young legs we could have had backed out on us,” Ruffin said. “We’ve replaced those minutes and done a good job so far. Right now it’s just motivation. We have enough hungry guys that we can’t be tired.”

Part of that hunger is the chance to share the $1.8 million winner-take-all purse (Top-voting fans of the winning team split the remaining $200,000). That would equal $150,000 apiece for the nine players, coaches A.J. Guyton and Chuck Buescher and general manager Bobby Parker.

But the ex-Braves claim the prize money wasn’t the driving force in getting the band back together.

“Bobby has done a great job organizing this,” Crouch said. “I was just looking forward to a week of eating good meals, playing some basketball and hanging out with the guys. Anything on top of that was gravy. Obviously, we’ve exceeded that by quite a bit. It’s been really fun.”

Crouch was also complimentary of Guyton, the former Peoria High and Indiana star who has melded the group into the cohesive unit it was down the stretch a decade ago.

“A.J. has done a great job of getting us to look inward and try to figure out what we can do to put ourselves in position to be successful,” Crouch said. “There’s no film so you can’t do a ton of preparation to get ready. To A.J.’s credit, there are three guys in the huddle who are talking. He lets us go if it’s positive and then steps in and says, ‘It’s my turn now.’ "

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter at davereynolds2.