big time announcement

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

adidas Las Vegas Big Time
Tournament Biggest Ever--(July 4, 2001)

	What:	7th Annual adidas Las Vegas Big Time Tournament
	When:	July 25, 26, 27, 28 & 29, 2001
	Where:	Las Vegas, Nevada
	Who:	334 Teams, 4,500 athletes The top college prospects in the country
		NCAA Certified Event
Note: These links are to the Official Big Time site--They work with MS IExplorer, but Netscape seems to have a problem handling them.
Press Release		Teams with Pool Numbers
Media Request Form		Teams by Pools
Tournament Info		Pool Play Schedule
Map & Directions		Teams by State

334 Teams.

4,500 athletes.

Every Division I, and most D-II, D-III, NAIA, JUCO and probably just about every pro GM.

When adidas, Sonny Vaccaro, Larry McKay, David and Dana Pump, Chris Rivers, and the entire contingent of people responsible for the adidas Las Vegas Big Time say they want the biggest tournament ever, they weren't kidding. They wanted big, they're going to get BIG.

The Big Time is really going to outdo itself this year, and by demonstrating that practical application of the theory "more is better", the Big Time organizers are proving that too much of a good thing may not really be possible when it comes to this tournament.

It's almost surreal when you think about it. Huge hotels. Big entertainment. Ridiculously hot temperatures outside. The nicest high school gyms anywhere in the country. The best high school basketball players and college prospects in the U.S., all doing their thing for five days in front of every kind of college coach imaginable. . . . only in America. . . What a country. . . . Oh yeah, happy 4th of July.

This year, the adidas Big Time guys (and we mean Larry McKay who runs the event, Steve Beck who designs and runs the official website for the Big Time, and Domanic Clark, who runs their media relations department) got the jump on everyone by coming up with a bigger, better and cleaner website. And are we glad? You bet, because it's saved the rest of us mere mortals who have trouble with a 32 team bracket countless hours and hours of trying to figure out where to be and who to watch. Really, it wasn't all that long ago, before there was an "official" website for the Big Time that we were spending great chunks of time just typing in schedules, team rosters, brackets, and other minutae, and getting darn little sleep we might add....Well, no more. Let those who are paid to toil do the tedium... we'll just pass their work along (just kidding Larry, Steve and Dominic... we are very happy that you guys do what you do and it doesn't go unappreciated).

With the demise of the Rivals.com network, thankfully, AllianceSports picked up the website responsibilities for the Big Time. There you can find just about anything you'd ever want for this tournament, including pool play schedules, lists of teams, and more. Player rosters won't be available until the tournament happens, but just looking over the list of teams, this thing is really going to have most of the top players in the country, including quite a few of the traditional Nike-sponsored teams.

We've noticed though that there's a slight glitch at the official site, and the links sometimes work and sometimes don't if you are using Netscape 4.76 (which is the latest and best version of Netscape). . . we don't know why, but it works fine if you use IE....quick, someone call the Justice Department, tell them Microsoft is at it again..... So, what we intend to do is also reformat the list of teams and the team schedules and post them up here as well.

Of course, we will focus our coverage during the tournament on the California-based teams, which is going to be a huge task, because with 76 teams from California alone, most from SoCal, this group comprises the largest number of entrants at the tournament, literally more than double the number of teams from the next biggest entrant, Texas which has 36 teams entered.

We'll post up the team pool listings and the pool play assignments shortly for those of you who are browser-impaired (like us, we prefer Netscape's cleaner design to that of the MS product). In the meantime, here's the official press release describing the tournament.

See you there.

PRESS RELEASE

Field for THE 7th adidas BIG TIME Tourney Expands to Record 344 Teams from 41 States ....
July 25-29
Nation's Largest Summer Boy's Prep Hoop Tournament to Feature 856 Games on 26 Courts at
13 High Schools

LOCAL MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark (702) 735-7123

LAS VEGAS -- Just how do you spell BIG? Many might say a-d-i-d-a-s as July’s 7th Annual adidas Big Time boy’s high school summer tournament has been expanded to a record 344 teams. America’s finest young basketball talent will shine in the spotlight of Las Vegas, lighting up the neon-drenched sky of this popular entertainment and sports mecca,
July 25-29.

Amazingly, despite increasing the field by 32 teams, a waiting list continues to grow for this massive hoopfest. The adidas Big Time will have over 4,500 athletes participating during the five-day extravaganza.

Representing 41 U.S. States and Canada, the record 344 teams will provide their own unique brand of summer hardwood heat when 856 total games will be played on 26 courts at 13 high school gyms in the Southern Nevada area. After three ‘pool play’ games for each team in two days, teams will move into one of four single-elimination tournaments held in front of more than 300 college coaches.

By individual state, California leads the way with 76 teams entered, followed by Texas with 37, Washington with 20, Indiana with 18, Colorado with 15, New York and host Nevada with 13 each and Wisconsin with 10 teams. Canada is sending four teams to this year’s tournament.

In six years, The Big Time has grown rapidly into the summertime event to watch and the tournament at which to be watched.

Green Valley High School, located in suburban Henderson, will be the official Tournament headquarters and the site where the majority of the featured Open division games will be played.

“The commitment from adidas for the Big Time tournament has raised the bar to a new level,” said Larry McKay, who founded the tournament along with Green Valley coach and tournament co-director Jim Allen in 1995. “The interest in this year’s tournament has far exceeded our greatest expectations. This response is truly a direct reflection of the incredible support that we have from adidas’ Sonny Vaccaro and hundreds of talented and tireless tournament staff.”

Reading like a current who’s who of young basketball superstars, alumni of The adidas Big Time include Kobe Bryant of the two-time defending World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, Tracy McGrady of the Orlando Magic and Lamar Odom of the LA Clippers.

The teams with the best records from 72 four-team pools will advance along with the 56 top-seeded teams (seeded pre-tournament) to comprise the 128 team Open Division. The three additional A,B and C Divisions will include all the second, all the third and all the fourth place teams from Pool Play competing in their own respective 72-team single-elimination tournaments.

Besides Green Valley the other tournament sites in Henderson will be Basic HS and Foothill HS, while the sites in N. Las Vegas will be Mojave HS and Cheyenne HS. The Las Vegas high schools hosting The adidas Big Time will be: Cimarron-Memorial, Chaparral, Desert Pines, Durango, Las Vegas, Palo Verde, Silverado and Valley.

Each of the tournament sites features a main gymnasium and an auxiliary gym which will be utilized by the tournament. Basic HS was added to the site list when the tournament decided to increase by 32 teams.

The adidas Big Time also uses top game officials from throughout the Western U.S. National High School Federation rules are followed with a few exceptions, the major one of which is that the games are played in two 16-minute halves instead of four 8-minute quarters.

Games will start at 9 a.m. daily. Green Valley and Durango will be the only venues in action during the tournament’s final day and the championship games in all four Division will be held at Green Valley on Sunday, July 29.

Daily general admission tickets, $8 each and good for all games, will be available only at the door.

Previous Open Division champions in The Big Time are: Team New Orleans (1995), Illinois Warriors I (1996), DC Assault I of Maryland (1997), Michigan Mustangs (1998), New Orleans Jazz (1999) and the Atlanta Celtics I (2000). All but Team New Orleans are entered this year.

Past A Division champs are: Illinois Warriors II (1995), Bronx Ravens (1996), Dakota Schoolers of South Dakota (1997), LA Rockfish Orcas (1998), Valentino’s Bison Red of Nebraska (1999) and Friends of Hoop Black of Washington State (2000). Dakota Schoolers, LA Rockfish Orcas and Friends of Hoop return.

Starting in 1997, B Division winners have been: Emerald City of Washington State (1997), Wisconsin Shooters (1998), Northern Stars of South Dakota (1999) and the Derek Smith All Stars Black of Kentucky (2000). All four programs return teams again this year.

The C Division began in 1999 and the first crown was won by Packers Blue of Washington State. Winning the C Division crown in 2000 was Tru-Playaz of Colorado. Tru-Playaz has entered this year.

Including the 32-team increase over last year’s 312 entries,The adidas Big Time filled 344 slots nearly a month earlier than last year’s ‘smaller’ field. The first official entry for 2001 was received from the Middlesex Magic of Belmont, Mass., on March 9. The last official team to be accepted was the Donyell Marshall Foundation II of Syracuse, N.Y., on June 12, nearly six weeks prior to the event. For more information, contact the tournament office at (702) 799-5454 or visit the official tournament website at www.adidasbigtime. com.