/// - 3 Stripes Select Basketball - Palmetto Road Championship - ///
The slogan “The Road Ends At The Rock” was prominently featured all over The Rock Hill Sports and Event Center in South Carolina. It’s a fitting theme that sets the stage for Adidas’s AAU championship finale. Rock Hill, SC is a beautiful city that blends its past and present together, seamlessly. The Sports and Event center is one of the most impressive facilities in the country and is a fitting location to house such a massive event. Walking through the front door of the facility and seeing 8 full courts of action going all at once was energizing. This is a true hoop junkie’s dream. I spent 6 days watching Adidas’s 3 Stripes Select Basketball circuit featuring some of the best teams and players in the country.
Coming into this session, I had a plan. I took about a week to look into the teams and players that I wanted to check out the most. Over the 6 days I was in SC, most games started at 8:30 am and the last game would usually tip off at 9pm. Rock Hill Sports and Event Center has 8 full courts and a separate dug in arena. That’s 9 games going on at pretty much all times and that is a lot of basketball to take in. If this isn’t something that you’re used to, it can be incredibly overwhelming. There are people everywhere and a bevy of college coaches and scouts from every part of the country. There’s seating for coaches and there was even a craft services area filled with food and friendly staff. Adidas really pulled out all of the stops for this and it showed in every way imaginable.
I tried to keep a reasonable amount of games on my schedule per day. I wanted to really be able to lock in and focus on the teams and players that I wanted to see the most. The talent pool is extremely deep and it was not an easy decision. Sometimes the best games would overlap one another and I found myself hopping from court to court, taking pictures and observing everything. When you’re into hoops, this is a beautiful problem to have.
In order to truly get a feel for a player and his/her team, it’s prudent that you watch them for multiple games against various teams. You can really learn a lot about a player and his/her attitude based on a number of factors. One of the biggest things I look at is body language. How are they when their shot isn’t falling? What’s your body language look like when a team is getting the best of you in an individual matchup? Are you making the necessary mental adjustments? Are you hanging your head in frustration or are you showing that nothing they’re doing is flustering you? This is just a small fraction of what I look at when it comes to evaluating talent. Coaches and scouts from all over the country are looking at the same things and even more.
There were college coaches from every major program in the country in attendance. Dan Hurley, Kelvin Sampson, John Calipari, Mark Pope and so many more adorned the sidelines and rafters for these games. Journalist and media from all walks of life adorned every inch of the arena. At any given time and on any given court, there was someone watching, evaluating and potentially changing the trajectory of their program and the lives of players based on what they see out there. That’s a lot of pressure for some of these kids to endure and for some it can be too much. For others, they simply thrive off of it and excel when the lights are at their brightest. Kaden Magwood and Nate Ament from Team Loaded VA fit that bill. With every eye on his team, Kaden stepped up and hit big bucket after big bucket. Nate played great defense and hit key buckets to give Team Loaded the win. With every eye seemingly in the gym on their team, they stepped up big time and didn’t let the pressure of the moment get to them. Kaden and Nate are a formidable one, two punch for Loaded and they gave quite a few teams matchup problems.
Coaches and Scouts from all over, were here to watch Team Loaded VA 17U take on Team Tradition 17U. The entire court was full, all the way around and came to a standing room.
The defending 17 U Champion, Utah Prospects immediately put teams on notice. Lead by C/O 26 guard Ikenna Alozie and Jalen Holland. The Prospects have the perfect mix of size, shooting and athleticism that really gave a lot of teams trouble. Augustine Ekwe, Chamberlin Burgess and Fawaz “Taco” Ifaola all played their roles extremely well. They were without the services of 25 star, Isiah Harwell. He was present and rooting his team on as he recovered from an injury. It really didn’t seem to matter that he wasn’t on the court because the Prospects did everything they needed to do as a unit and became back to back 17 U Champions! John Southwick also played a major role in this team’s success. He hit a bevy of back breaking threes that put the nail in the coffin in multiple games. Utah took out the teams with bigger names, really gelled and did all of the little things to come out on top! They are the epitome of what building a winning culture and great team is all about!
Indiana Elite was another team that was in the running for the 17 U title. They made the final and took on the Utah Prospects. Indiana is exactly what you think a team from Indiana would be. They play fundamentally sound basketball and rarely made mistakes out on the floor. Their big man, Malachi Moreno is their rock but Braylon Mullins, Trent Sissley and Mark Zackery really make this team go. These young fellas have bright futures ahead of them.
I touched a bit on Team Loaded at the top with Kaden Magwood and Nate Ament but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Team Loaded truly lives up to their moniker. They came to Rock Hill with 6 separate teams representing VA,NC and DC. Their 15’s 16’s and 17’s are stacked with talent from top to bottom and feature some of the top players in the country. Nate and Kaden who play for Loaded’s 17 VA squad, are also accompanied by Latrell Allmond who’s a stud in his own right. Their 17’s from NC are headlined by Mikel Brown and Jordan Tillery who give opposing defenses nightmares. From top to bottom on every level, Loaded brings it!
There were so many other players and teams that I wanted to be able to sit and truly dive in on. With such a finite amount of time and understanding that I’m only one person, I just sat and watched some really good basketball and just enjoyed the show when I could. Players like Koa Peat of Compton Magic and Darryn Peterson of Phenom United all had great performances along the way. If you made it this far, thank you for your time and attention! I’ll be dropping off a parting photo gallery of other players and teams below this sign out. I will be debuting a player spotlight blog featuring Mikel Brown Jr of Team Loaded later this week. Mikel is truly remarkable and I couldn’t think of a better player to kick this feature off with. So that’s it for this look back at my time at the Adidas 3 Stripes Select Basketball Championship! Big shout out to Adidas for giving me media access to such a spectacular event! Until next time my friends!
- Bruce Loatman -
Ronin Zero Media Co.
