NHSBCA Hosting ‘Rising Seniors’ Event
INDIANAPOLIS – The first “NHSBCA Rising Senior Event” will be held Sunday through Tuesday (July 14-16) at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
Staged by the National High School Basketball Coaches Association, the competition will feature teams of boys basketball seniors-to-be from six Midwestern states. Plans are for the event to be held each year and grow to include additional states.
Squads representing Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin are taking part in the first-time event, which includes five rounds of games, a skills competition and off-court sessions for the teams.
Teams will arrive on Sunday (July 14) with activities including an opening ceremony, a guest speaker and a social gathering. Competition is on Monday and Tuesday (July 15 and July 16) with all games at Ben Davis (in the main gym or the multipurpose facility).
The Indiana squad features 12 players including Indiana recruit James Blackmon Jr. of Marion, Trevon Bluiett of Park Tudor and Indiana State recruit Bryant McIntosh of Greensburg who participated as Indiana Junior All-Stars last month. Plymouth’s Mack Mercer and DJ McCall of Fort Wayne Concordia are area players listed to be part of the roster. The squad will be coached by Columbus East’s Brent Chitty, who was the Junior All-Star coach. He will be assisted by Plymouth’s Ryan Bales and Tipton’s Brad Dickey.
Standouts from other states include Javairius Amos-Mays, Chris Parrilli and Josias Sanon from Illinois, Reed Tellinghausen, Jalen Jones and Cole Clearman from Iowa, Trey Edwards, Trent Gilbert and Hunter Shelton from Kentucky, Javon Bess, Dakota Mathias and Vince Edwards from Ohio and Jerrell DeBerry, Sean Clarey, Jordan Shea and Turner Moen of Wisconsin.
This year’s event does not fall during an evaluation period for NCAA Division I coaches, but college coaches from lower levels (NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA programs) may attend. Also, evaluators for several scouting services have indicated they will attend.
Indiana Basketball Coaches Association executive director Steve Witty said the plan is to move the Rising Senior Event to a July evaluation period in future years. Indianapolis again will host the competition in 2014.
“We had about five other states that were interested and will probably be in it next year,” Witty told The Indianapolis Star. “We have the support of the (National Basketball Coaches Association), and the reason we’re doing it is to bring an educational component to the summer events, as well as leadership and character building.”
Admission is $10 for a one-day pass or $15 for a two-day pass. The on-court action begins at 9 a.m. Monday (July 15) skills competitions. The first round of games follows at 10 a.m. Monday (July 15).