40 girls basketball teams in action at Expo Center
A total of 40 girls’ travel basketball teams from 10 states converged this week at the Kentucky Exposition Center, starting a big month of a grassroots hoops at the facility.
Play wrapped up early Tuesday evening in the Premier Team Network/Under Armour National Championships, a tournament in which players played to impress the handful of major college coaches who sat courtside evaluating them.
The girls’ tournament was the first of three big travel-team events at the expo center in July, and the boys’ events take center stage the rest of the way as the live evaluation periods for college recruiting continue.
Longtime tournament organizer Eddie Ford will hold his venerable Kentucky HoopFest July 16-20 with boys’ teams from 25 states, and the month culminates with the AAU National Championships and Super Showcases July 23-28. The AAU events, which have moved from Orlando, Fla., are annually among the biggest, most prestigious in the country.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time if you’re a basketball fan,” said Ford, who helped run the Under Armour event and will have a big hand in the AAU championships, too. “… To think there could ever be something of this magnitude is really something. … If you’re a fan and you don’t come watch this stuff, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity.”
With a sprawling setup similar to what Ford has used at his tournaments for years, the girls’ event was held across 10 courts in the North Wing — essentially one giant room of, literally, wall-to-wall basketball. Ford said there might be 16 courts in play for the AAU Nationals.
This was the first year Under Armour was affiliated with the 3-year-old girls’ event, and Premier Team Network Director Bryan Alexander said the tournament could have 200 teams when it’s back in Louisville next year.
“Everyone thinks it’s the best setup in the country,” he said.
One of the top players at the Under Armour Nationals was sophomore guard Destiny Littleton of the Bishop’s School near San Diego and the EBO Elite club.
Littleton, who was California’s Freshman of the Year last season, is ranked No. 29 nationally in the Class of 2017 by All-Star Girls Report and said she already has scholarship offers from the University of Louisville, Kansas and Southern California.
“I like the way (the Cardinals) play,” said Littleton, who is nowhere a college decision. “It’s fast-paced, and that’s the way I like to play. … The only thing I’m going to have to get used to is the no-beach thing, but besides that, it’s fine.”
It was EBO’s second straight year playing in Louisville.
“Kentucky is a hotbed for basketball,” coach Marlon Wells said. “… This venue is great, probably one of the best venues to play at. You get to play on the old Kentucky floor, the old Freedom Hall floor. I mean, this stuff is great. These kids are young and don’t really know the history, so we get to tell them about it.”
Men’s evaluation period
The first of three live evaluation periods for men’s recruiting begins 5 p.m. Wednesday and goes through Sunday, and college coaches will be traversing the country to watch prospects.
The premier event of the weekend — if not the entire summer — is the LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas. Eighty top prospects are expected to attend, and it would be no surprise if Kentucky’s John Calipari, U of L’s Rick Pitino and Indiana’s Tom Crean, plus their assistants, spend part of the week there.
Another high-profile event is the Reebok Breakout Challenge in Philadelphia, which is expected to have 120 players competing and many major college coaches watching.