The college basketball recruiting circus heads to Las Vegas, the center of hoops at all levels this week
Everybody from top prep prospects to superstar pros and college coaches are in the desert for the next few days
By
Gary Parrish
•
3 min read
LAS VEGAS -- The final evaluation period of July -- i.e., a five-day span when college basketball coaches are allowed to scout high school prospects -- likely won't be as eventful as it was last year, if only because LaVar Ball won't be involved. Nothing could top that scene -- when LaVar and LaMelo's team played Zion Williamson's team in a game that drew a crowd so large Adidas officials, with the help of the Las Vegas Police Department, started turning away fans more than 45 minutes before tipoff.
"I've never seen anything like it," David Pump, a prominent figure in summer basketball, told me that night.
I personally echoed those thoughts. Literally every coach I spoke with also did. So the odds of this five-day evaluation period in Las Vegas matching that five-day evaluation period in Las Vegas, in terms of pop and drama, are low. But the desert is still the place to be this week. It's the basketball center of the world.
Many of the nation's top high school players -- including the consensus No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2019, James Wiseman -- are in Las Vegas. Just about all of the top college coaches -- everybody from Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams to Jay Wright and Tom Izzo -- will, at some point, be in Las Vegas. And, yes, some of the world's best professional players are also in Las Vegas -- as USA Basketball opens a three-day training camp Wednesday.
Will the FBI also be in Las Vegas?
Yeah, probably -- or at least somebody working on behalf of the FBI. Because, remember, it was last July in Las Vegas when a Louisville assistant was, according to federal documents, videotaped in a bugged hotel room discussing a pay-for-play scheme involving a prospect. That development was made public last September. The following month, in October, Rick Pitino and two Louisville assistants were fired. So rest assured college coaches will be a little more careful about where they meet, and with whom they meet, over the next five days -- if only because that dude you've known for years just might be wearing a wire.
Anyway ...
The Fab 48 is probably the place to be Wednesday night.
It's Team Takeover vs. Compton Magic.
Which means it's the team that won the Nike EYBL Finals at the Peach Jam earlier this month (Team Takeover) against the team that won the Adidas Summer Championship earlier this month (Compton Magic). They are the nation's best two 17-and-under teams, according to Prep Hoops. So this is a rare meeting between the top Nike-sponsored program and top Adidas-sponsored program.
Both are loaded.
Team Takeover has six players ranked in the top 70 of either the Class of 2019 or Class of 2020, including Villanova pledge Justin Moore, while the Compton Magic are led by brothers Isaiah Mobley and Evan Mobley. Isaiah is ranked No. 24 in the Class of 2019. Evan is ranked No. 2 in the Class of 2020. USC coach Andy Enfield has already added their father, Eric Mobley, to his staff. So you can safely assume they'll be spending their college careers playing home games inside the Galen Center.
Bottom line, if there's a must-see game of the week, Team Takeover vs. Compton Magic is probably it. Will it resonate like LaMelo vs. Zion? Definitely not. And LeBron James probably won't show up only to be encouraged to stay away because tournament officials are ill-equipped to handle the frenzy his presence would further create, which is something that really did happen last July. But what Team Takeover vs. Compton Magic will be is a highly competitive basketball game played between two great teams affiliated with industry rivals and led by players who project as future college stars. So there are worse ways to spend a Wednesday night, I'm certain.
