It was 15 years ago that I made my 1st trip to Las Vegas and it was for the last open period of the season. That season had the Adidas Super 64 with the likes of Andre Drummond, Kris Dunn and the top ranked "17U" player Shabazz Muhammed. The entire court at Rancho was decked out in silver trim along with the backboards and a custom center court logo. 1 full side of bleachers dedicated to the college coaches with that entire sideline filled with tables for the media.
Then came the Fab 48 and Bigfoot Hoops followed later by the Under Armour championships. Finally you had popup tournaments that built their schedules around the big 3. Need a game on Thursday or Friday, they set you up. Heck, even NY2LA had a tourney out there 1 year and it included a memorable Minnesota matchup. You had star power, big games and as the last tourney of the season it was a celebration. Who was watching that kid? Duke had full staff there and blue bloods X,Y,Z were also there. There was a magic to it in the 2010s.
Fast forward to today. The shoe companies dominate the 3 AAU open periods and our local High School open period is setup like a camp. That's not a bad thing, but for the non-shoe teams what is there? My personal level of interest for July was as low as its ever been. When was the last time we writers actually were focused on what coaches were in the stands watching? Certainly doesn't help that just about anything below 17U is meaningless these days. Even then, high school kids are being recruited less than ever. Thank you transfer portal. Kids just have games that have no meaning or you play a full bracket, lose 1st game and then are playing out the string. Indianapolis had the final 4 of all Minnesota teams in just a regular 16 team bracket with no pool play. 16U final was an all Minnesota affair. That's demoralizing. The lack of interest that players had this July was shockingly bad. Then you have the highlight dunk by Gideon Horne from this summer and the aftermath of that. I'll just say Thank You to the video vultures for that.
But this isn't a media member group text chat (Hi Jared, Hi RJ, Hi Alex). Time for some solutions to try and bring back some buzz to the local scene in July. The concept here is simple. Small, limited travel but still exposure for all. Plus the idea of new matchups and a new format. So here goes. All of these ideas by my decree
First of all, the spring period is already loaded and many of the Sanford league teams already have matchups at BATL, the GPA and the Comets Shootout. Therefore, the Scheels League week in May is moved and left open as a badly needed off week between the TC Takedown, BATL and the spring open period. Instead, we move it to the final week of July right after the last open period. We'll still treat it like an open period though as we'll go Thursday thru Sunday. My version is only 32 teams and just 17U, all under 1 roof. None of this 330 teams in 17U and 6 gazillion teams in other divisions and every gym between Juneau, AK and Albuquerque, NM in use. Also these teams are from Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas and I'm inviting Huestis Elite from Montana too as their kids get NSIC interest. Like the days of the Adidas Super 64 at Rancho HS and its 3 courts, we'll do everything in 1 location. We'll do 1 of those as a main gym show court where the games are given full treatment. None of this 3 courts crowded together and whistles everywhere because 700 courts are going like any other week. There will be coaches/media reserved seating on 1 side and like the Super 64 give me public address like a real game. Sorry to those coaches who don't put in rosters, you'll need them here. We'll start at 9 AM with final game at 7:30 PM on the 1st 3 days. 90 min game windows so you have time to move around a bit and maybe catch the end of the other games. So that means 8 games a day (6 Sunday). Then championship day starts at 8 AM with semifinals in the consolation bracket, semis in the championship bracket and then the title games. Top final at 3:30 PM so its not insanely late. All games will also be online. I'll even make a major concession and allow video vultures, but they will be caged in a specific area of the bleachers where they don't block fan viewing. None will be allowed in the court area for safety reasons. All rights to the event are reserved and your access is dependent on paying a nominal fee.
32 of the best teams in the region are invited with the idea to have top teams from as many states that recruit our area as possible. That means shoe teams too, not just Scheels league with a few extras. D1 MN 3SSB, Hoop Habits UA Rise, Power 5 3SSB, Team Herro EYBL, Howard Pulley, Kingdom Hoops EYCL etc. You're invited. Now in an effort to add some spice to it, remove politics and to avoid many same region matchups that may have already occurred, I'm doing this like the World Cup Soccer draw. The 32 teams will be divided into 4 pots. Teams will be placed into the pots largely by region with a sample distribution that might look something like this. And for sake of discussion, spare me the politics of we won't come or we won't play so and so etc etc. Focus on the concept and structure and play along.
West Pot: Huestis Elite, Team Warwick, Sanford SD UA Rise, SW MN Stars, MN Comets, ND Phenom, Sanford ND, MN Rise
South Pot: Kingdom Hoops EYCL, Martin Brothers UA, All Iowa Attack, Murray Elite, Howard Pulley EYCL, Real Phenom, Sizzle MHC, Minnesota Heat GVR
Central Pot: MN Fury Zurn, MN Fury Goring, MN Select Fuerte, MN Lightning, Gain Elite P32, Hoop Habits UA Rise, D1 Minnesota 3SSB, Northstar Titans
East Pot: WI Academy, Team Herro EYBL, Team 1848, Power 5 3SSB, Playmakers P32, WI Swing, Chapman Basketballl Academy, 24: UP
From these 4 pots, we'll generate 8 pools of 4 and we do it like soccer where each pool gets 1 team from each of the 4 pots. This is also how we generate new matchups, avoid early rematches and give teams their shot at shoe teams. We'll use pool play to make those games more meaningful. Top 2 in each pool go on to the 16 team championship bracket. Bottom 2 in each pool play a 16 team consolation bracket. Lose and go home in both. Just like the old Vegas days, you might be done early Saturday. Pool play on Th/Fri with bracket on the weekend. Round of 16 and quarters on Saturday. Semis and finals on Sunday.
Every team gets exactly 1 pool game on the main court and its their only game that day so no excuses about being tired or less rest than another team. Everybody gets their moment in the sun. The other 2 pool games will be on the other day (1 Th/2 Fri or vice versa). Half of the round of 16 is on other courts but all the quarters (Sat PM), semis and finals for the top bracket are on the main show court to get the special treatment. In a perfect world, this would be at the Pentagon, but that's too far away and too big and expensive for what we're after here. Plus Minneapolis is well suited for travel access and entertainment. The other fun location I'd consider is the JAG Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells where they have a wonderful show court along with 4 adjacent courts How about Noah's Ark for the teams on the day they play on the show court?
With my proposal, you'd have one of the biggest events of our AAU season even without it being open. Consider it a smaller summer version of Battle At The Lakes but in tourney form not just pre-defined matchups. A chance for a defacto regional championship to end the season too as the top programs from 6 states are invited. You'd have the most talent, better matchups and everything close under 1 roof. I propose a place like Eastview which has a nice cozy main gym and 2 very suitable side courts adjacent. D2 kids could show out against D1 kids. Kids at the back end of a shoe roster would get their shot in front of the D2 guys which is rare since they're always on the road. Not to mention you could get some very fun cross shoe matchups (D1 vs Team Herro? Yes please). Its just a hard fact that recruiting is as regional as ever and where kids attend college show that. A thread on X from today shows numbers on that for Wisconsin and Indiana (click here). If you look at Minnesota numbers over the years, we may get 1 kid who goes D2 outside of the region. For far too many teams in this event, they'd get more exposure in this 1 weekend than in the rest of their travel season.
So in conclusion, you'd have a final regional event that would have a definite champion. That's how you end a season. It'd be in front of the audience that the kids need to playing in front of. That means maximum exposure. Plus it comes without all the fluff and extra-curricular activity of Las Vegas. What are your thoughts? Discuss in the post on X.
https://x.com/MammothBB/status/2079738200843603977?s=20