Last July, a new grassroots basketball team event made a great splash in the summer viewing period - Las Vegas Fab 48 - drawing 172 teams and 300-plus college coaches and media to Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas NV).
The Oakland CA-based Drew Gooden Soldiers were crowned the inaugural Las Vegas Fab 48 champions in the presence of LeBron James at Bishop Gorman High School on Sunday night July 22, 2010. James stayed for most of the Soldiers' 86-66 victory over the Iowa Barnstormers to win the Invitational Division in front of 1,500 spectators. Oregon-bound Jabari Brown was named the tournament MVP following the conclusion of the game. Arizona-bound Nick Johnson and Kentucky-bound Kyle Wiltjer added 16 points each for the Soldiers while Seth Tuttle led Iowa with 16 points.
Led by Nick Emery's 19 points, Salt Lake Metro Black won the 17 Open championship by defeating Southwest Elite Black (TX), 68-48. Savon Goodman had 24 points and Brandon Taylor added 20 as the Team Philly 16s beat the Oakland Soldiers 16s, 81-47, to win the 16-under Division championship.
College coaches on hand included head coaches such as Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Roy Williams (North Carolina), John Calipari (Kentucky), Rick Pitino (Louisville), Billy Donovan (Florida), Bill Self (Kansas), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Ben Howland (UCLA), Rick Barnes (Texas), Mike Montgomery (Cal), Tim Floyd (UTEP), Tubby Smith (Minnesota), Sean Miller (Arizona), Lorenzo Romar (Washington), Lon Kruger (UNLV), John Beilein (Michigan), Herb Sendek (Arizona State), Bob Huggins (West Virginia), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Steve Alford (New Mexico), Johnny Dawkins (Stanford), Craig Robinson (Oregon State), Kevin O'Neil (USC), Bruce Weber (Illinois), Jeff Capel (Oklahoma), Dana Altman (Oregon), Steve Lavin (St. John's), John Thompson III (Georgetown), Scott Drew (Baylor), Seth Greenberg (Virginia Tech), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Bruce Pearl (Tennessee), Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt), Trent Johnson (LSU), Josh Pastner (Memphis), Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech), Mick Cronin (Cincinnati), David Carter (Nevada), Oliver Purnell (DePaul), Frank Haith (Miami FL), Steve Fisher (San Diego State), Ken Bone (Washington State), Anthony Grant (Alabama), Mark Fox (Georgia Tech), Doc Sandler (Nebraska), Marvin Menzies (New Mexico State), Max Good (Loyola Marymount), Randy Bennett (Saint Mary's), Bob Williams (UC-Santa Barbara) and Dan Monson (Long Beach State).
National scouts and media present included Jerry Meyer and Eric Bossi (Rivals.com), Dave Telep, Paul Biancardi and Joel Francisco (ESPN.com), Van Coleman (Hoopmasters.com), Clark Francis (Hoop Scoop), Brick Oettinger and Rob Harrington (PrepStars.com), Evan Daniels (Scout.com), Seth Davis (Sports Illustrated/CBS), Mike DeCourcy (Sporting News), Gary Parrish (CBSSportsline.com), Ronnie Flores (ESPNRise.com) and Jason King (Yahoo Sports).
Dwayne Wade, Deron Williams, Drew Gooden, Rafer Alston, Danny Granger and Kyle Lowry were a few of the NBA players who showed up to coach and/or support the traveling teams that they sponsor or support.
Plans are being made for the 2nd annual Las Vegas Fab 48 event which will be held on July 22-25, 2011 and headquartered again at Bishop Gorman HS (Las Vegas NV). Team registration as well as detailed tourney info will be available at the event website starting Monday January 3, 2011. Please mark your calendar as you are not going to want to miss this great event in 2011.
The event's elite division will again consist of 48 national-caliber squads with all games for all 48 top teams at just ONE gym site (Bishop Gorman's 3 court facility) while the 17u Gold Division will have all its 64 teams playing all their games at one site - UNLV Student Recreation Center (4 courts with covered parking just a mile from the strip) - making it very easy for college coaches to evaluate a multitude of prospects. The 16u, 15u and 14u divisions will also have all their divisional games being played at the same sites - making the planning of teams' hotel and travel arrangements very convenient.
Below is the official 2010 Las Vegas Fab 48 All-tourney team. There was so much talent on-hand, we had to expand it to 65 players in order to do justice to all the excellent performances that were witnessed during the event.
Kory Alford, Danny Granger Hurricanes (New Mexico signee)
Kyle Anderson, Playaz 17 (Top 10 national junior)
Ryan Anderson, California Supreme Red 17 (Boston College signee)
Brandon Ashley, Drew Gooden Soldiers 17 (Top 10 national junior)
Adjehi Baru, Team Loaded 17 (College of Charleston signee)
Gary Bell, Seattle Rotary Select (Gonzaga signee)
Wayne Blackshear, Mac Irvin Fire17 (Louisville signee)
Deonte Burton, TP Elite 16 (Top 20 national sophomore)
CJ Cooper, Belmont Shore Gold (UTEP signee)
Erik Copes, Team Philly (George Washington signee)
DeAndre Daniels, Belmont Shore (Top 10 national senior)
Brian Darden, Team Loaded 17 (Radford signee)
Myles Davis, Playaz 17 (Top 75 national junior)
Sam Dekker, Wisconsin Playground Warriors (Wisconsin signee)
Nick Emery, Salt Lake Metro Black
Bruce English, Belmont Shore Gold (Loyola Marymount signee)
Javan Felix, New Orleans D-I Ambassadors
Christian Frankling, Los Angeles Rockfish
Amir Garrett, Belmont Shore (St. John's signee)
Ricardo Gathers New Orleans D-I Ambassadors (Top 25 national junior)
Sterling Gibbs, New York Panthers (Maryland signee)
Thomas Gipson, Texas Bluechips Navy (Kansas State signee)
Savon Goodman, Team Philly 16 (Top 20 national junior - Villanova verbal)
Cezar Guerrero, Belmont Shore (#61 - Rivals.com 2011)
Maurice Harkless, New York Panthers (St. John's signee)
Darnel Harris, Hurricane Rebels (Florida International signee)
Andre Hollins, Memphis Magic (Minnesota signee)
Desmond Hubert, Playaz 17 (Top 100 national senior)
Jernard Jarreau, New Orleans D-I Ambassadors (Washington signee)
Amile Jefferson, Team Philly 16 (Top 10 national junior)
Grant Jerrett, Belmont Shore (Top 10 national junior/committed to Arizona)
Kevin Johnson, California Supreme Red 17 (Top 100 national senior)
Nick Johnson, Drew Gooden Soldiers 17 (Arizona signee)
Myck Kabongo, Grassroots Elite Canada (Texas signee)
Kyle Kager, Texas Bluechips Navy (American signee)
Brandon Kearney, Team Detroit (Michigan State signee)
Brett Kingma, Friends of Hoop Seattle 17 (Oregon signee)
Austin Kuemper, ICP Portland 17 Red (Oregon signee)
Charles Lee, Hurricane Rebels (Cleveland State signee)
Charles Lewis, Houston Superstars
Tyler Lewis, Team Loaded 17 (committed to NC State)
Myles Mack, Playaz 17 (Rutgers signee)
Keaton Miles, Dallas Mustangs (West Virginia signee)
Josh Montague, Iowa Barnstormers
Reece Morgan, Branch West Elite (Cal Poly signee)
Chance Murray, Los Angeles Rockfish (Top 100 national soph)
LeBryan Nash, Dallas Mustangs (Oklahoma State signee)
Darius Nelson, Team Odom (UTEP signee)
Josh Oglesby, Iowa Barnstormers (Iowa signee)
Walter Pitchford, Team Detroit
Norman Powell, San Diego All-Stars Gold (UCLA signee)
Jeff Short, New York Panthers (Fordham signee)
Charles Standifer, Play Hard/Play Smart (San Francisco signee)
Ameen Tanksley, Team Philly 17 (Niagara signee)
Adonis Thomas, Memphis Magic (Memphis signee)
Kevin Thomas, Grassroots Canada 17
Shaquille Thomas, New York Panthers (Cincinnati signee)
Sam Thompson, Mac Irvin Fire 17 (Ohio State signee)
Jean-Pierre Tokoto, Wisconsin Playground Warriors (Top 15 national junior)
Josiah Turner, Drew Gooden Soldiers 17 (Arizona signee)
Seth Tuttle, Iowa Barnstormers (Northern Iowa signee)
Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa Barnstormers (Wisconsin signee)
Byron Wesley, California Supreme Red 17 (Southern Cal signee)
Kyle Wiltjer, Drew Gooden Soldiers 17 (Kentucky signee)
Tony Wroten, Seattle Rotary Select (Washington signee)
