EYBL, UA, & Adidas Tours Resume this Weekend

New England Recruiting Report | Thursday, May 15th, 2014

The three national sneaker circuits are all in action this weekend with Nike’s EYBL tour headed to Hampton, Virginia for session III of the EYBL, the Under Armour Association heading to Houston for the UA Invitational, and the Adidas sponsored teams making their way to Indianapolis for Adidas Gauntlet – Indianapolis.  

There will be lots of post-season ramifications for the all of the EYBL teams in Virginia this weekend with all teams striving for a berth in the EYBL finals at the Peach Jam during the month of July.  BABC comes into the weekend with a record of 5-3 while Expressions sits at 2-6.  

BABC appears to have a tough schedule this weekend as they’ll face off against CIA Bounce (5-3) and Playaz Basketball Club (6-2) on Saturday followed by MeanStreets (2-6) and Athletes First (6-2) on Sunday.  Expressions has a pair of winnable games on Saturday against Howard Pulley (4-3) and The Family (3-5) with another to start the day on Sunday against NorthWest Xpress (4-4) before closing their weekend with Team Final (7-1).  

Bruce Brown has been BABC’s most dangerous playmaker this season, leading the team in both scoring (14.9 ppg) and steals (1.6) while Terance Mann has led the team in both assists (3.5) and rebounding (6.6) while playing the point for long stretches at a time.  Jeremy Miller and Tyree Robinson have both shown productivity in the frontcourt at various spurts.  

Aaron Falzon has led Expressions in scoring this season at 14.5 points per game while Jared Wilson-Frame hasn’t been far behind at 13.  Mustapha Heron made his Expressions debut last weekend, giving the team their third double figure scorer, while the return of Ikenna Ndugba gave them another reliable ball-handler in the backcourt.  

The Mass Rivals are headed to Indianapolis this weekend where they’ll put their perfect 5-0 Adidas Gauntlet record on the line.  Their schedule kicks off with a match-up against Brookwood Elite (1-4) on Friday night followed by Kansas Pray and Play (1-4) first thing Saturday morning.  They’re back in action at mid-day with a showdown against RL 9 (2-3) before their day wraps-up later that night with the Ohio Basketball Club (2-3).  They’ll play one final game first thing Sunday morning against Compton Magic (1-4) before returning to New England.  

Jalen Adams currently sits in third place in the Gauntlet with 5.2 assists per game while also leading the Rivals in scoring at over 14 points per game.  Those numbers were even more impressive considering he only averaged less than 24 minutes per game during the first Gauntlet session.  Curtis Cobb wasn’t far behind in the scoring column with 13.2 points in 20 minutes per game.  Josh Sharma is leading the league in blocks with 2.4 per game while also averaging nearly 9 points per game in just over 18 minutes.  Marcel Pettway is also coming off a productive weekend with 9.4 ppg in just 14.8 minutes.  

The New England Playaz are set to make their second appearance on the Under Armour tour after making a run to the round of 16 at the Pittsburgh Jam Fest.  The Playaz open in Houston against Dallas Showtyme on Saturday morning with KC Run & Gun waiting in the wings for a potential second round match-up with the potential winner moving on to the Round of 16.

The Playaz are coming off a run to the finals of the Providence Jam Fest.  Jarred Reuter and Crew Ainge are both playing some of the best basketball of their careers while Jerome Desrosiers made his debut last weekend joining the highly talented young frontline of Jordy Tshimanga and Tomas Murphy.  

While BABC, Expressions, Rivals, and Playaz will all be traveling the country this weekend, the vast majority of New England’s other top programs will be staying local to compete in the annual Hall of Fame Spring Classic.  

Stay tuned to the New England Recruiting Report and follow us on twitter at @NERRHoops for continuous updates from all four tournaments.