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MEMORIAL DAY PREVIEW

By PrepStars.com staff
readermail@prepstars.om
May 23, 2003

All spring long the recruiting community holds its breath in anticipation of the July evaluation period, but in late May there's a brief but forceful exhale during one of the best basketball weekends of the year.

Memorial Day Weekend marks a time of travel for many Americans, but the grassroots basketball highway runs to only two places: Chapel Hill and Bloomington.

The annual Tournament of Champions kicks off in North Carolina on Friday, with headquarters at UNC and other playing sites at Duke and N.C. State. The TOC always boasts an extremely strong field and serves as a crash course on Tobacco Road basketball for many of the prospects, some lucky enough to play at the Dean Dome, Cameron Indoor Stadium and Reynolds Coliseum all in the same weekend.

The TOC isn't officially sponsored by either of the shoe superpowers, Nike or adidas, but its core group of teams are adidas-backed, with a few Nike defectors and other teams also included in the mix.

Based on our current top-25 poll, ranked teams at the TOC will include No. 6 Sports Academy (La.), No. 9 Richmond Squires, No. 11 The Playaz (N.J.), No. 12 Arkansas Hawks (though star wing Marcus Monk may not play due to injury), No. 13 Philly MJC, No. 18 Cleveland Basketball Club, No. 19 Georgia Stars, No. 20 Southeast Pump N' Run, No. 21 Juice All-Stars, No. 22 N.C. Gaters, No. 24 So. Cal All-Stars and No. 25 Long Island Panthers.

Top players scheduled to play include Sebastian Telfair, Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Nelson, Shaun Livingston, Josh Smith, JamesOn Curry, J.R. Smith, Roy Bright, Mike Williams, Cedric Simmons, Jason Horton (making a surprise guest appearance with the Michigan Hurricanes), Jamar Butler, Greg Steimsma, Glen Davis, Randolph Morris, Arron Afflalo, Glenn Miles, Rajon Rondo, Marquise Gray, David McClure, Brian Laing, Devon Hardin and James Hardy.

The Tournament of Champions tips off at 6:30pm Friday night and ends mid-afternoon on Sunday. Admission is open to the public.

At the Nike-backed Memorial Day Classic on the campus of Indiana University and the Bloomington Sportsplex, a smaller but extremely talented field of teams -- primarily Nike-affiliated -- begin play Saturday and fight it out through Monday.

The MDC has suffered a mismatch compared with the TOC the past several years, but this year the Nike tournament appears to have the edge. And playing in the heart of the high school basketball world pumps energy and fire into the competition. Three years ago Carmelo Anthony cemented his status as a top-five recruit with inspired play in Bloomington.

While the sheer volume may put the TOC over the top for number of high-major kids, the MDC is more centralized and appears to have better quality top to bottom. Expect better pool-play games from Bloomington.

Check out this list of teams, including our entire AAU top five: No. 1 New York Gauchos, No. 2 Riverside Church, No. 3 Team Texas (minus guard Jason Horton), No. 4 Jackson Tigers, No. 5 Team Florida, No. 7 Memphis YOMCA, No. 8 St. Louis Eagles, No. 10 D.C. Blue Devils, No. 14 Athletes First, No. 16 California Team Select and No. 17 The Family.

Top players scheduled to play are Al Jefferson, Darius Washington, LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson, Brian Johnson, D.J. White, Alexander Kaun, Jason Rich, Isaiah Swann, Juan Palacios, A.J. Price, Malik Hairston, Jawaan McClellan, Ra'Sean Dickey, Robert Swift, Shawne Williams, Robert Vaden, Kalen Grimes, Jordan Farmar, Russell Robinson, Zam Frederick, Joe Crawford, James Gist and Ron Coleman.

Like the TOC, the Memorial Day Classic is open to the public. Games begin Saturday morning.

PrepStars.com will have comprehensive coverage from both events throughout the weekend, so be sure to stop by the next few days for the latest on who's dominating the camps, school lists and other recruiting notes.