Elite talent converges on Vegas

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

Pangos Midnight Madness

Reebok Big Time

Adidas Super 64

Nike Main Event

Try to find a talented teenaged basketball player outside 30-mile radius of the city.

It's no small feat this week. More than 800 teams are expected to play across the Las Vegas Valley this weekend, beginning Friday with Pangos Midnight Madness at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy near Palace Station.

Just hours after Midnight Madness wraps up, the Reebok Big Time, Adidas Super 64 and Nike Main Event will all tip off. The Big Time alone uses 12 sites for games that in total feature over 4,000 athletes.

"Watching these kids come into the gym, with the name kids, knowing they're going to get a scholarship somewhere, that always made me happy," Big Time executive director Sonny Vaccaro said. "A few years ago, when Dwight Howard and Josh Smith were playing on that great Atlanta Celtics team, we were seeing the future of the NBA draft here and I was pretty damn correct."

While that's probably the case again this year, it's a little less immediate of a future. The NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement means that high schoolers generally won't be going straight to the NBA.

That means that 7-foot Spiece Indy Heat center Greg Oden won't be playing with as much pressure, as his college plans are set. He, along with Spiece teammates Mike Conley and Daequan Cook, have all committed to Ohio State.

Other top seniors in this year's Big Time include Houston Elite's Damion Jones, So Cal Allstars' Chase Budinger and New York Panthers bigman Derek Caracter.

Vaccaro said he doesn't think the NBA's new labor agreement and its rules for younger players will have too much of an impact on this year's tournament.

"I don't think it has sunk in yet," he said. "Where the effects are going to be felt is next year's class. For the juniors and sophomores, the wait becomes that much longer."

Top juniors include O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Billy Walker and Cole Aldrich.

Aside from the new NBA rules, the news at this year's tournaments are new formats to try and get more good basketball matchups.

The tournament champions from the Adidas and Nike tournaments will meet at Cox Pavilion on Tuesday night, the same night as the Reebok Big Time final at Foothill High School.

Offsetting that scheduling is the new "Elite Eight" format in the Big Time, bringing the top seeded teams out of pool play on Friday and Saturday and into games against each other.

"In pool play, Lamar Odom was knocked out of the tournament before he got to the Final Eight," Vaccaro said. "Why don't we just have the teams we designate as the top eight play each other and start all over again in pool play? We wanted to ensure people here got to play against these kids without an upset in pool play."

All of the Elite Eight games will be played Friday and Saturday at the Foothill gym.

While the top national talent seems to gravitate toward the Big Time tournament, the top local players will be wearing Adidas gear this weekend.

The Las Vegas Prospects roster includes all-state forward Andre McFarland, second-team guard Marcus Lawrence, Eldorado standout Davell Jackson and Galena freshman Luke Babbitt.

Coach Anthony Brown said the team is working to make a name for itself in the Super 64.

"We're not settling for anything short of a championship," he said. "We've got the tools to do it, we've got the athletes to do it."

The Prospects finished sixth at an Adidas tournament in Atlanta last week. They first play at 1 p.m. Friday at Eldorado.

Several local high schools have dealt with vacations, summer school and summer jobs to field teams, including Coronado and Liberty. They combine to play as the Cougars in the Big Time.

Cougars coach Paul Berg echoed the sentiments of most local coaches, that any competitive floor time in the middle of the summer is a plus.

"Any varsity experience you give them prior to the season is valuable," Berg said. "I look at it as time on the court, getting chemistry and minutes and playing together overall."