ZG NE Hoop Festival Preview
Zero Gravity’s most exciting tournament to date this fall season tips off this weekend at the NE Hoop Fest, powered by NERR. The lineups is ZG’s most powerful group of teams yet for this fall season, which leads up to ZG’s Battle for the Belt in two weeks. With a star-studded list of teams in the high school divisions, it is sure to be the most exciting weekend of hoops to come to New England this fall.
The varsity division is absolutely loaded – boasting regular powers like New England Playaz, Middlesex Magic, BABC, and Mass Rivals along with many of New England’s strongest and most reputable programs such as Mass Elite, South Shore Wolfpack, Bay State Magic, Bay State Flash, Team Saints, and last week’s varsity national division champ: Mig’s Team.
Though there are a handful of games that could be picked as highlight games in the varsity division, there is expected to be an extra amount of hype surrounding New England Playaz vs Middlesex Magic-Crotty and Mass Rivals White-Pastore vs South Shore Wolfpack-Marquadt on Saturday, as well as BABC vs Bay State Magic on Sunday morning before the end of pool play.
In the tenth grade field, look for New England Playaz, Expressions-Worrell, Middlesex Magic-Crotty, Mass Rivals White-Pastore, South Shore Wolfpack-Coyle, Team Saints, CT Select, Metro Boston, Boston Bobcats, and Boston Warriors to all potentially make a run to the finals in what may very well be the deepest tenth grade field that ZG has put out to date this fall. Mass Rivals White-Pastore vs Middlesex Magic-Crotty, CT Select vs Metro Boston, Boston Bobcats vs NE Playaz, and Boston Warriors vs Expressions-Worrell should be expected to stand out as some of the most highly-touted games in pool play going into championship play on Sunday afternoon.
With rival programs BABC and New England Playaz grouped in American Silver pool, the ninth grade field certainly won’t lack excitement and some intense showdowns. In the American Gold pool, Mass Rivals 1-Pastore should see some tough competition in a feisty Central Mass Swarm-Byrnes squad and a Mass Commanders Blue team who has played well all fall long. Keep a close eye on MABC Bengals 1-Merritt, Bay State Flash-Lyth, and Expressions-Correia as the teams to potentially make a deep run to the finals on what is sure to be a busy championship Sunday.
Full schedules and brackets for the NE Hoop Fest powered by NERR can be found on ZeroGravityBasketball.com, while the most extensive coverage of this weekend’s NE Hoop Fest can be accessed on NERR and ZG Report. For constant updates and analysis, follow along on Twitter @NERRHoops and @ZGReport.