SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Nike All-American Camp To Be Held
July 5-11 @ IUPUI--(July 2, 2002)

	What:	16th Annual Nike All-Amerca Camp
	When:	July 5-10, 2002
	Where:	National Institure For Fitness & Sports (NIFS) Indianapolis & IUPUI Gymnasium
	Who:	200 Top Prep Players

This weekend (actually starting Friday, July 5, but really starting when the D-I coaches arrive on July 8) will mark the beginning of the first wave of camps at which college coaches will be present in droves.   Locally, the adidas Double Pump West Coast All-Stars Camp will start on Sunday, July 7, and the first session will run through the 10th.   Nationally, there are two big camps, and during that first week, while a lot of local and west coast schools will be at some of the regional events, most of the Division I coaches from every program in America will be at two camps next week in Indianapolis and New Jersey:  Nike All-America Camp will be held on the campus of IUPUI (the name is too long to repeat if you're not going to be there) and adidas ABCD Camp will be held on the campus of Fairleigh-Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey from July 7-11.

Nike gets the jump on everyone by starting to have their kids come in on July 5, but games won't really get started until Monday.  The atmosphere at the two camps is a bit different, with Nike being closed to the public, while adidas is open to spectators as well as to credentialed media and college coaches.

Given the NCAA's strict new regulations, both camps will continue to keep camp participants separated from D-I coaches.  Remember, this is not a "contact" period coming up, but what the NCAA calls an "evaluation" period.

The names of the attendees at Nike Camp have not been made available publicly yet, and won't be released to the general public until July 6.  Likewise, while the names of a few of the top invitees to ABCD camp were released publicly a few weeks ago in a press release about this year's camp, adidas doesn't release the names of it's full rosters until the camp actually starts.  The reasons for secrecy are many and varied, and if you ask, no one at Nike will admit the real reason for the mystery, but the answer is that there's an historical rivalry between the two camps to outdo one another to secure the top talent for their own camps; and what better roadmap to follow than to secure the opposition's list of invitees.   We're not sure how much truth there is to such a theory, and it smacks us as a bit paranoid, but then witness what happened last year with Amare Stoudamire....

Whatever the reasons for keeping the names a secret, there is a place where you'll be able to get the names immediately as soon as they are released on Saturday, July 6, 2002.   The official list of attendees will be released on Saturday at a new website hosted by Nike called HoopsFuture.com.   We're not sure who picked the name, but that's what they're calling it.   The website will have complete information and schedules for the Nike AA Camp, full media information, the rules of the camp, interview schedules, and the Nike AA Camp "Wall of Fame" where you can find a list of some of the top players who have attended the camp in prior years.  [*Interesting tidbit:  Nike's AA Camp used to be called "Nike All America ABCD Camp" when it was first started, and it first was run and organized by the same man who put Nike Grassroots basketball on the map, Sonny Vacarro, who is still in charge of the adidas ABCD Camp.  In fact, for a couple of years after Sonny left Nike in the early 1990's,  Nike didn't hold a camp until they decided to resurrect Nike AA Camp in , and Sonny's ABCD (Academic Betterment Career Development) Camp was for a short period sponsored by Converse in the early 1990's...hey, anyone remember the "Krider Cup?"]. 

We know a couple of the California kids who are supposed to be attending (e.g., Marcus Williams, Harrison Schaen, Wesley Washington, and a few others), but rather than speculate we'll just wait like everyone else for the word on Saturday, July 6.

We've reproduced the players' schedules for the camp so you'll have an idea of what the campers (and coaches and media-types) will be doing while they are there.  Granted there's not much info in the way of basketball information here, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

2002 NIKE ALL-AMERICA CAMP SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, JULY 5th
CAMP IS CLOSED TO ALL SPECTATORS & MEDIA

* College Preparedness sessions will include a review of NCAA initial-eligibility standards
** Team photos & individual headshots will be taken in NIFS Auditorium on Sunday, July 7th

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