ZG Finals Expecting 500+ Teams

New England Recruiting Report | Friday, June 5th, 2015

The AAU season has reached the 11th hour in New England but the biggest tournament of the year is still yet to come as next weekend's Zero Gravity Finals is expecting to host over 500 teams. Those teams will converge on the state of Massachusetts from points as far west as Texas and as far north as Canada and span the course of over fifty courts in the Greater Boston Area.

The New England Recruiting Report and HoopRootz will be on hand throughout the week, covering the high school and middle school divisions respectively, for what appears to be one of the biggest and deepest grassroots events of the year.

Nationally known programs such as BABC, CBC, New England Playaz, New Heights, Expressions Elite, Mass Rivals, Adidas Elite, Team Final, Albany City Rocks, Team Richmond, Texas Jazz Elite, Castle Athletics, Hilltopper Elite, Sports U and LI Lightning will all be in attendance battling at a chance to cut down the nets come championship Sunday.

Here's a look at some of the top local programs in attendance:

BABC - Fresh over winning Division A of the Nike EYBL with an overall record of 13-4 and becoming the only team in the country to qualify for the EYBL finals for six consecutive seasons, the ZG finals will be BABC's final regular season tournament of the season before heading to Augusta in the first week of the July evaluation period. Bruce Brown and Kevin Marfo lead the squad as a potent inside-out tandem.

Mass Rivals - The Rivals varsity team only dropped one game in the Adidas Gauntlet Circuit this spring and was one of 16 programs from around the country to qualify for the Gaunlet Finals in July. Wenyen Gabriel leads a roster of 10 players who already hold division I offers.

New England Playaz - The Playaz sophomores are coming off a run to the Super 16 finals a couple of weeks ago and aside from their obvious talent, have more size than perhaps any other 10th grade club in the northeast with Tomas Murphy, Chris Doherty, Nate Laszewski and Aaron Wheeler going 2-5 in many line-ups.  

Expressions Elite - Led by a pair of dynamic sophomores in Jermaine Samuels and Nick Richards, Expressions had one of the youngest teams in the EYBL this year. That young talent will be on full display next weekend and the X will have championship aspirations on their minds as they look to prove themselves against top New England programs.

Middlesex Magic - Coach Crotty's squad is peaking at the right time after a run to the semi-finals of the Super 16 and their third Massachusetts u17 state championship in the last four years led by the likes of Brandon Twitty and Matt Dewolf.

Other High School local contenders to watch include Metro Boston, MB Nation, New England Storm, Evolution, Mass Elite, Bay State Magic, MEBC, LOX, Central Mass Swarm and Boston Spartans.