Nike & Adidas Hosting International Events

New England Recruiting Report | Thursday, August 4th, 2011

For most people the craziness of the summer basketball circuit ends with the month of July, but for the nation’s top prospects that window extends one week longer. 

Nike and Adidas will both conclude their summer schedule this weekend with competing international events. 

The Nike Global Challenge and Adidas Nations Global Experience both operate under the same premise – to assemble the top prospects in the United States and allow them to compete against their counterparts from the rest of the world. 

For Nike, the Global Challenge is the culmination of their Skills Academy series.  Players began in June by attending skills camps hosted by NBA players before heading to the Lebron James Skills Academy in July where the top 30 players were selected to move on to this weekend’s Global Challenge.  The three American teams will be joined by five international teams from Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, and Puerto Rico.  New England will be well represented with Ricardo Ledo and Nerlens Noel suiting up for Team USA East, Mitch McGary selected for Team USA Midwest, and Oliver Hanlan on Team Canada.  The eight team tournament will begin on Friday at Liberty High School in Oregon and conclude on Sunday. 

For Adidas, the Global Experience is the culminating event of Adidas Nations series.  The schedule began earlier this spring with three separate training weekends in Houston, Las Vegas, and Chicago respectively and corresponding sessions all over the world in Canada, Europe, Latin American, and Asia.  This weekend’s Global Experience will bring those locations together for a six team tournament including two teams from the United States.  New England will be equally well represented in this event as Andre Drummond, Kris Dunn, and Kaleb Tarczewski are all expected to suit up for United States 2012 while Kuran Iverson is expected to do the same for United States 2013.  The championship and third place games of the event will air live on CBS Sports Network on Monday.