tournaments this week

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SoCalHoops Tournament News

adidas Las Vegas Big Time, Fairfax,
BIW Tournaments Set For This Week--(July 24, 2001)

We're going to have to be brief on this because we've only got about an hour or so before we leave for Las Vegas, but we wanted to remind everyone of a few events which probably don't need any reminders, but here goes.

First: The biggest, most talent packed basketball sideshow in the summer circuit will get started in less than 24 hours. The adidas Las Vegas Big Time will feature 334 teams, will be played in 13 different gyms, on 26 separate courts, over five days, and will have more than 4,000 players and more than 600 D-I, II, III and NAIA coaches in attendance. The tournament is so huge that no one can possibly cover it all, and even though we've been known to attempt the impossible on occasion, when it comes to the Big Time, it's just futile, so we won't even try. If you want to keep track of scores and team schedules, you can check the official adidas Las Vegas Big Time website, which will have updated scores so you can follow your favorite team(s) if you aren't there, a message board (which requires registration), maps, schedules, and some stories which will evidently get posted during the tournament (but we're not sure about how in-depth the stories will be).

One thing you won't find at the Big Time are stats. Nope, no official stats. Even though the Big Time is run by the same folks who also run the Reebok (now Powerade) Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic, a large December tournament held in Las Vegas which reports the official stats for each game, there will be no official stats for this tournament, so we won't be running any lists of scoring leaders, assist leaders, steals, etc... This thing is just too huge, the rosters too much in flux, and it would be far too expensive for the organizers to runs stats at this thing, and besides, no one would really care that much.....

For the most part, we will be parked mostly at Green Valley HS (tournament headquarters) and Durango HS for the first two days. These two gyms will see most of the major national recruits coming through since this is where the "Open Bracket" teams will play their pool games, and it will be loaded with coaches and most of the top talent in the country.

We'll have some help from our friend Dave Keefer, who also writes for California Preps and NorCal Preps who will be writing some stuff for us as well, so hopefully we will have double duty coverage. Depending on how the first round of single elimination play shapes up, we will probably venture out into some of the other more remote gyms to check on some of the SoCal players and teams who don't make the open bracket. Remember, there are more than 90 teams from SoCal, so following all of them is going to be literally impossible, but we will do our best to report on some of the more prominent players and teams from the region. There are a couple of local Las Vegas newspapers with online editions who will cover the tournament extensively, so you might also check there if you are looking for stories. Lastly, just about every major recruiting site in the country with an online presence will be in Vegas, so you might want to check our "Recruiting" links for some of those sites (e.g., Dave Telep, Clark Francis, Mike Sullivan, etc).

Second: Fairfax will be running its usual summer tournament this year at the same time as the Big Time, and we understand that it will start on July 26, and run through Sunday, July 29. We don't have the full list of teams attending, but we do know that Fairfax, Westchester, Pasadena Muir, Pasadena, Mayfair and several other top teams from the region will be there. Evan Burns has publicly told everyone and anyone that he won't be traveling and will instead play with Fairfax, and that pretty much also spelled the demise of Team Dada, which was originally seeded as one of the top teams in the Open Bracket in Las Vegas, but which has since dropped out of that tournament. We know a few Fairfax guys who will be in Vegas (e.g., Fernando Sampson, who will be playing with the Double Pump All Stars team), but we'd expect to see most of the rest of the Fairfax varsity roster there. We will obviously be unable to cover that tournament personally, but our good friend Michael A. Miller has promised to keep everyone informed and since Fairfax is about five minutes from his house, he plans to be in attendance there for most of the tournament. Michael has been busy writing yet another screenplay, but he thinks he'll have time to write a few words about who is playing well.....look for his updates either on our SoCalHoops men's message board, or over at the Bruinzone Message Forum, on PrepWestHoops, or on Tracy Pierson's Bruin Report Online website.

Third: The Best in the West Varsity Finale at Downey HS will run concurrently with both the Big Time and the Double Pump Best of Summer, and if you want to see some local teams in action, it's going to be a pretty good tournament as well. The BIW Varsity finale will run from July 27 through July 30. We have the first day's schedule (we also have the bracket, but no time to post it now....maybe later tonight). Here's the schedule for the first day's games set for July 27:

2:00 p.m. Alta Loma v. LB Wilson
3:00 p.m. Buchanan v. Paramount
4:00 p.m. Ribet v. Leuzinger
5:00 p.m. Pacific v. Whitney
6:00 p.m. Lakewood v. Clovis
7:00 p.m. Alemany v. Gahr
8:00 p.m. Carson v. Downey
9:00 p.m. Fountain Valley v. St. Anthony