Zero Gravity Finals on tap for this weekend

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, June 7th, 2017

The 5th annual Zero Gravity National Finals returns to Massachusetts and the greater Boston area this weekend. The field includes over 700 teams from spots all over the nation, ranging as far west as Texas and even as far north as Canada. With such a surplus of talent slotted to be in attendance, the ZG Boys National Finals will be one of the nation’s biggest and deepest grassroots events of the years.

The New England Recruiting Report will be on hand all weekend long to provide wall-to-wall coverage of all high school divisions while Zero Gravity will be providing coverage of the middle school divisions from their various platforms.

The field is no less talented than it is deep with nationally known programs including Albany City Rocks, BABC, Castle Athletics, CBC, DC Blue Devils, Expressions Elite, Indiana Elite, Mass Rivals, Middlesex Magic, New England Playaz, New Heights, New York, Team Final and Wall 2 Wall all looking to cut down the nets on championship Sunday.

Local programs to watch in the varsity division include:

BABC - The Defending Zero Gravity National Champions come in to Finals across multiple age groups looking to do damage. Their EYBL program recently earned a bid to the 2017 EYBL Finals, extending their streak as the only program in the country to have qualified for the event every year since its inception. Cole Swider, Jakigh Dottin, and Shandon Brown headline their attack.

Mass Rivals – The 2016 Adidas Gauntlet champions enter the Finals having not lost a game on the Gauntlet circuit since spring of 2016, as they remain undefeated this spring. With talent in the program across all age groups they are legit contenders in all three high school divisions. David Duke, A.J. Reeves, and Akok Akok lead the way for their varsity club.

New England Playaz – The Playaz hold the distinction of recently being ranked among the top five u17 teams in the nation and are also undefeated in Adidas Gauntlet play this spring. They are always well coached on both ends of the floor and led by the individual talent of Nate Laszewski, Chris Doherty, and Chuck Hannah among others.

Middlesex Magic – The Middlesex Magic have been winning at an unprecedented rate this spring having taken championships at the Northeast Hoops Festival, Hoop Group Jam Fest, and Super 16 Showcase. Thomas Shaughnessy, Tommy ONeil, and Patrick Harding lead a club that may just be playing their best basketball of the season right now.

Connecticut Basketball Club – New England’s lone Under Armour sponsored program, CBC has two players that are among the hotter national names in our region right now in Filip Petrusev and Jaiden Delaire. That may be just the tip of the iceberg though as this club is tough and intent to prove that you must #respeCT.

D.C. Blue Devils – The Blue Devils have emerged as the most consistently successful program the state of New Hampshire has seen in well over the last decade. The names on the back of the jerseys may have changed since last year but the offensive spacing, unselfishness, and deep belief in one another has continued.

Metro Boston – They’ll have to adjust to life without Carl Pierre following the 2017 guard’s commitment to UMass on Monday night. Now they’ll look to the likes of Nick Timberlake and Jarred Houston to step into bigger roles and help the team compete on the same level they have all spring long.

Boston Bobcats – The Bobcats will be competitive in all high school divisions, but where they could really compete for a championship in on their loaded 9th grade team. They come into the field with multiple titles in their trophy case and hopes of adding their biggest hardware yet.

Northeast Elite – The 10th grade division is where Northeast Elite does their best work. Coach Freeman’s squad is coming off a run to the championship game of the Super 16 Showcase and there is no reason to think they won’t be in contention again this Sunday.

Other High School local contenders to watch include Rise Above, Central Mass Swarm, Northeast Elite, Blue Wave Elite, Mass Select, New England Storm, Evolution Elite, Mass Elite, Bay State Magic, LOX, C4, CBA, and CT Select.