Opinions( Shoe Games/Circuits)

The following is my take on the shoe affiliation used by many clubs to recruit non-affliated players.

 Shoe Games(Circuits)- This is a subject that many refuse to touch publicly. I am not smart enough to heed the admonishments of the powers that be. The shoe affiliations of clubs entail pros and cons. I will attempt to address both through my limited vision.

I have been a witness to both the Nike and adidas club circuits as a coach under the umbrella of a Nike team and an adidias team. I am under the impression that neither Nike nor adidas no longer provide monetary stipends to its club teams.

Nike is by far the most prestigious shoe circuit on the girls side of basketball. Attending Nike Nationals as a fan this past July was a great experience. The event featured college refs(3) for every game, a great location, highly competitive teams, great players, college coaches everywhere and was very organized. The Nike circuit also has the Nike Regional Skills Academy, a skills clinic attended by some of the best players in that particular region. The NRSA is not exclusive to 'Nike Players" and is truly a very good thing for the sport.  Being a Nike team certainly has its perks like free or discounted shoes. Or very unique shoes, only distributed to Nike sponsored teams. To be a Nike team, in my oppinion, a club must have at least a decent reputation for having college bound kids. You would also have to have some longevity and national promenence.  

adidas is the other major circuit. The adidas circuit was very strong years ago when it was headed by Mike T White. The adidas circuit has a national event as well. I attended a couple of them  a few years ago when it was held at Texas A&M and Indiana University. The caliber of teams, by in large,  were and are not as talented as the Nike circuit. The 2008 and 2009 adidas circuit featured very good teams such as FBC, TeamXpress, Memphis Bobcats, Oregon Reign, and Houston Elite. These teams featured outstanding players and teams that could hold their own against any Nike team at that time. Again, this circuit features free and reduced product. However, adidas has apparently limited the free shoes and goods in favor of heavily discounted product in a cost saving measure. adidas had the adidas Nations teams in the past. This program took the best adidas sponsored kids and matched them up against young prep stars from different countries. In fact, this is how local legend, Meighan Simmons, attracted the affection of Candice Parker and the University of Tennessee. 

Now to the meat and potatoes, are shoe affiliations needed to accomplish club goals? Or, does a player need to be associated with a particular shoe sponsored team to realize their college goals? To be frank, NO!! If a club coach director and or parent/player is focused on what really matters, a college scholarship, shoe affiliation is not all that important.

Here is one of the biggest lies that SOME shoe sponsored teams like to diseminate; To play the best competition, you have to play on a particular circuit.

Here is an example of why this is not true.

SA Reagan standout Wendy Knight '14 has played against the following players in her career with SA Finest Basketball:

Alexis Jones(Duke/ESPN #3/McDonald AA), Briana Turner(ESPN #2 2014/USA u17),Kelsey Mitchell(ESPN #1) ,Jordin Canada(ESPN #3/USA u16), Lahjana Drummer(ESPN #7),Zaire O'Neil(ESPN Top 25) ,Mycah Johnson(ESPN Top25),Erica McCall(ESPN Top 15/USA u16/u17) ,McKenzie Calvert(/Baylor commit) ,Jada Terry( ESPN Top 50),Candace Adams(ESPN Top 60),Brianna Day(ESPN Top 50) Peyton Little(Texas A&M/ESPN Top 5), Brooke McCarty(ESPN Top 20), AJ Alix(ESPN Top 50), Jessica Washington(ESPN #20/ USA u17/UNC commit)Courtney Williams(Texas A&M/ESPN Top 10/ McDonalds AA), Gabby Greene(2104 ESPN #6 )

Here are some of the Top Teams she has faced:

DFW Elite(Nike), Cy-Fair Shock(Nike), Essence(Nike), Boo Williams(Nike),Cal Sparks Gold, All Ohio(Nike)WV Thunder, NJ Sparks(Adidas)Missouri Phenom ,Oklahoma Select ,EBX ,Nebraska Shooting Stars, Mokan Eclipse, Texas Prep Stars.

These are just  few of the players and teams that Knight has faced, and she plays for an unaffiliated club. She has faced at least a dozen former or future McDonald All- Americans. She has played 5 of the 20 or so Nike teams. She has played at least twice as many adidas sponsored teams.

Development- Now that we see that great competition is accessible without shoe affiliation, let's look at development for the average player. How does the average college prospect develop? Players develop by working on their craft(training) and PLAYING!! So often I have seen good players join stacked shoe sponsored club and ride the pine or take on a new limited role. A two time national championship coach cautioned me against placing my child on the numerous shoe sponsored clubs in Texas for this exact reason. She argued that my child would be better served staying with an independent  and experiencing growing pains while playing AGAINST stacked teams instead of playing WITH a stacked team. Now, one can reason that that advice was to stroke my ego while recruiting my child. My retort is to point out that this coach would have  better access and could better monitor my childs' recruitment by encouraging her to play with a friendly shoe sponsored club. Many reputable college coaches feel the same way but out of fear of alienating powerful club coaches, they keep their mouth shut.

The best case scenario of this is Alexis Jones. I can care less about what the experts say, Alexis Jones was the best guard in the country last season. No knock to any other guard in 2012, but I've seen them all, except  Jewell Lloyd, and Alexis is hands down the best. Alexis played with one of the most successful shoe sponsored clubs in the country early in her high school career. She left to play with a team of good but not great players, led by her father. I watched Alexis almost record a triple double, while tallying 30 plus points vs a top 5 team in the country that featured 10 or so BCS bound kids(2 McDonald All-Americans). Alexis faced traps and junk defenses by some of the best teams in  the country. She put on shows at huge events such as PBR Super 64 and Battle in the Bayou against shoe sponsored teams. She made the USA team while playing for her father, not for a shoe sponsored team. Alexis did not have fellow All-Americans to lean on when facing multiple All-Americans. Consequently, she got better!

In a local example of this, Kyra Lambert had a great summer. The Top 20 player in the class of 2015 grew! When running into to her at Battle in the Boro, I asked how her summer was going. She replied that she was playing better. She went on to say that she had a tough time at the Oregon City End of the Trail, one of the best events in the county. She apparently  faced junk defenses  set out to neutralize her in Oregon. I smiled with satisfaction when hearing this. The 15 year old Lambert GOT BETTER! I was privy to the many opportunities she had to play for shoe sponsored teams this club season. One in particular, DFW Elite-Washington, now renamed Texas Prep Stars, went hard after Lambert. Texas Prep Stars is a great team featuring the incredible Lashann Higgs from the 2015 class. Besides Higgs, they feature another Top 20 guard in 2015 in Alyssa Dry. They also have the most exciting player in the state in 2013 Nakia Jones, a guard for Beaumont Ozone. Texas Preps feature at least two other Top 50 kids, one of them, Jordan Posey, is a probable Top 25 kid. Add the 6'4 BCS bound Kelsey Lang and you see the opportunity Lambert had to play with a truly elite(stacked) team. But, how much better would Lambert  have gotten this summer sharing court time with these fellow Top 50 players? She surely would not have faced Box and 1 like junk defenses. She would not have struggled since she would have had so much BCS talent to lean on. Lambert led her Sophia Young Elite team against a Top 5 national team in the Georgia Metros(Nike). She also faced the top player in the country for 2013 according to ESPN Hoopgurlz, Mercedes Russell. In regards to development, who got better? Lambert or the many guards languishing on the benches of stacked teams across the country in the name of a shoe? Or in the name of a trophy? Or in the name of ranking? Who got better; Lambert by a landslide!

College- Back to the real reason to play club ball, scholarships. Here are some small comparisons to illustrate my point that the game is the game, despite shoe affiliation.

The University of New Mexico  has commitments from Brooke Allemand and Alex Lapeyrolerie for  2013. Allemand plays for the independent SA Finest Blue and Lapeyrolerie plays for Nike sponsored Cy-Fair Shock's second team.

Tulane has commitments from Courtney Latham and Leslie Vorpahl. Latham plays for Nike Cy-Fair Shock-Coleman and Vorpahl plays for the independent SA Heat-Cantu.

Diamond Lockhart  recently committed to Texas Tech. She plays for DFW Elite, a Nike sponsored team. Tesha Smith is being heavily recruited by the same Texas Tech and has the opportunity to attend the school if she chooses. Smith plays for the independent, SA Finest.

(For the record, I love the games of Alex Lap, Latham and Lockhart. I first saw Lap at a Houston tournament when she was a 7th grader and her length and athleticism was easily admired. I first took note of Latham at Texas A&M elite camp a couple years ago and loved her savvy game. I have been a Lockhart  fan since her 8th grade year and she matched up against my squad in the Lady Rohawk event. She gave me fits!)

Again, this is not a knock on any Nike team and it is surely not a comparison between independent like SA Finest and national kingpins DFW Elite and Cy-Fair-Shock.  There is no comparison! These Nike clubs are goliaths in the game!

What I am saying is that playing for independents has its advantages, just as playing for shoe sponsored clubs has advantages as well. I am addressing the widespread misperception that shoe sponsored clubs are superior to all independents and the fallacy that shoe sponsored teams better prepare kids for college.

Surely one advantage that I perceive  shoe sponsored teams having is getting marginal players into BCS schools.   I have not, nor will I ever name players on this blog in a negative way, however, take a look at how many ineffective bench warmers are sitting at BCS schools and you will find a large number of them who played for powerful shoe sponsored clubs. I have a 2 part theory behind the presence of so many BCS benchwarmers from power clubs.

First,  BCS coaches wish to keep favorable relationships with power clubs. To do so, they take mediocre players for their level in hope that that club program will deliver their next superstars to them through loyalty. On more than a few college visits, I have been introduced to players in ways such as this, " This is Suzy Q, she is from such and such, and she played for (insert shoe sponsored club)." Inevitably, I sit and watch the team practice and see why I received the club resume of the player. In a good majority of the cases, she cannot play!!! The kids that CAN play, and played for shoe sponsored clubs, do not need the introductions or club team affiliation in the introduction. Their games speak for themselves!  Geno Auriemma did not need to say that Maya Moore played for the Nike sponsored Georgia Metros when speaking of her.

The second reason that I believe so many BCS benches are being warmed by shoe sponsored former players is that many club coaches guide them wrongly through vanity. It is so much more of a recruiting tool if a club director can say "I have this kid at this BCS conference school."  It is impressive on the website for a club to post how many NCAA tournament appearances that their BCS players have experienced. Never mind that a large portion of those kids may not have actually contributed much on the court. Instead on guiding  players to mid-low major universities that their players CAN PLAY at, many power programs put vanity ahead of the best interest of their kids.

With all that being said, who would not want to be a Nike sponsored team? I would! As long as I could continue to develop and not amass a five figure recruiting and operating budget. Winning a tournament by over recruiting  players that have been with me for years is not a cost that I am willing to pay right now. My naivety has me thinking that this is not the way club ball should be. But, what do I know? Probably not much!!!

Opinions(Exposure Events/Camps&Clinics)

To paraphrase the great John Wooden, "I am giving my opinion not advice." The following are a few opinions that I wish to share with the many club coaches and parents trying to navigate the club waters. Most of these topics need an entire blog but I will attempt to keep them brief. I will break them down into multiple blogs entitled "Opinions".

1. Exposure Events- Simply put, go where your team will be seen. Having college caliber kids is the key to having your team seen! College coaches livelihood depends on delivering kids that can help them win. If your team has players that will help a college program win, coaches will follow. Good exposure events can be put into a couple categories, big and effectively small.

- Big Events: I have attended a few big events as a coach and fan. I have coached in Battle in the Boro, Battle on the Bayou, Big State Flava Jam and PBR Super 64. These events have hundreds of teams. I have also attended Nike Nationals as a fan. The common denominator in these events is the impressive amount of coaches. An event like the Boro can have 200-300 plus scouts easily. While 200 scouts sitting court side in one facility is eye opening, the key to befitting from the coaching presence is having good players. Good players will play well enough to win a game or two. The more you win, the better the competition gets. The better the comp gets, the more college prospects participating in the game. More college prospects results in more college coaches viewing the game. I have been on both sides of the big event game; coaching a young and unheralded team and coaching a heavily recruited team. I have paid the hefty fees that accompany most big events only to play in front of hardly any scouts. I have also played in front of an average 50-60 scouts for an entire event. If your team lacks established relationships with tournament directors and does not have known players, it may be a tough nut to crack when attending big events.

- Small but Effective Events: Again, I have been to numerous small events. Events such as Cali Summer Games, Texas Classic, Peach State Summer Invitational. The Cal Summer Games and numerous Peach State events routinely have 100 plus coaches for 32 team event. This breaks down to 3 college coaches for every club team. Bigger events basically have a 1 to 1 ratio, with the established teams monopolizing most of the college coaches. I have had great success, on a scout per game basis, while attending smaller events. A key factor in attending a smaller event is schedule flexibility. Most smaller event features exhibitions games. These games are a huge benefit to up and coming teams. The 60 plus coaches that I played in front of in a big event like Battle in the Boro, was easily matched with the 60 or so coaches at our exhibition game at last years Cal Summer Games. One of the major benefits of attending smaller events is that coaches tend to sit on lessor known teams for extended periods of time. In the Blueprint for instance, some local teams played in front of a couple dozen coaches. Some of these teams have attended bigger events and played in front of no more than a handful of coaches.

So which is the better, big or small? Again, it is determined by additional factors including your teams talent and reputation. I would suggest a smart mix of big and small events. Here are a few events that are good, IMO.

Big:
PBR Super 64 (great facility, organized, comp, coaches, media)
Battle in the Boro (great comp, amazing amount of coaches, media)
Big State Flava Jam(great comp and coaches, media)

Small but effective:
Cal Summer Games (100 plus coaches, location, facility)
Peach State- Real Deal in Ville (100 plus coaches, good facility, media coverage)
Texas Classic (40-50 coaches at one facility)


I have heard good things about the following events:
Deep Soth Classic-Big-( tons of coaches, great comp)
USJN 16u- Big- (huge number of coaches, great comp)
End of the Trail-Big-(coaches, organized)


2. Camps/Clinics: Camps and clinics can be a terrific tool for players in the recruiting process. I have seen both sides, effective and useless.

College Camps- For long, these have been called nothing but "money makers" by many in club basketball. I do not totally agree with that sentiment. Many college camps consist of two groups, elite recruits and payers. All camp attendees must pay to attend camps, however, all campers do not receive the same attention from the staff. Usually, the payers are delegated to a separate gym in larger camps. These "payers" are not really on the radar of that particular school. The other group, the elite prospects, are the attention getters. They are usually  already on the coaching staff's radar and received invites. My opinion varies in regards to camps. They are beneficial in many ways. They will give perspective real quick. If a kid attends a camp and gets no attention, it is an unbiased way of a parent(club coach) learning that their kid is not as elite(good) as they think. Again, a college coaching staff is not going to have an elite prospect on campus and ignore them. Attending college camps also can allow players to size themselves up with other recruits, take an extended look at the coaching staff and see the school facilities. Here is a common theme at camps, OFFERS. The majority of players that I have coached have received offers from attending camps. However, all of these players were previously being recruited by the institutions that offered them. If you are in the "payer" side of the gym, getting very little attention from the head coach or top assistants, you may want to adjust the level of your expectations from that particular school or conference. If you are treated in this way at multiple institutions, I would not continue to throw money away by attending college camps.

(side note: Many club coaches are paid handsomely to work(deliver their players to) certain camps. Be aware! I would ask for a list of camp counselors before attending college camps. The club coach working as a camp counselor and his/her kids will expectantly receive a lot of attention from the coaching staff. If your child(player) is competing for attention against the working club coach's players, good luck in getting it! Some coaches pander their kids to as many college camps as possible in an attempt to set up a job at the collegiate level. Plan accordingly!)

Clinics(Scouting Services)- When playing the rankings game, clinics can be a must. Many clinics such as Nike Regional Skills Academies are well attended by scouting services and ranking publications. While getting ranked may not be all that important in the recruiting process, it can aid in recruiting. I have had players attend clinics where they left such an impression on scouting services that they increased their reputations nationally. Consequently, their status rose higher in the rankings that college coaches purchase from scouting services. Believe it or not, many college coaches use ranking/scouting services to find prospects. On a personal note, two top 5 programs began to recruit my kid on word of a scouting service. Of course, recommendations only go so far. Players will have to validate the scouting service recommendations. Again, no reputable college coach will jeopardize their job giving a ride to a player that can not get it done on the word of a talent scout.

If a clinic is strictly a skill set clinic, there are plenty of reasons to attend. Getting better is always a good thing.

Homegrown Talent!

I bleed Purple and Gold. I think Raider Silver and Black. My palate prefers  In and Out Burgers, Roscoes Chicken and Waffles and Consuelos carne asada tacos. Though Cali is HOME, my home is San Antonio and it is The Tone that I now represent.

Club basketball has hot spots. Like Cali, Dallas and Houston have been at the forefront of talent. However, San Antonio has now earned national respect. Gone are the days where all the best players have to leave the city to get their just do. In fact, here is an interesting fact:

The  three local  highest rated players in their respective classes, all play for San Antonio based club teams:

2014 Recee' Caldwell- HG #7, ASGR #9, Peach State #6

2015 Kyra Lambert- HG Top 25, Peach State #18

2016 Amber Ramirez- Peach State #15

All three players are in the Top 25 and on pace to be potential McDonald All-Americans.

San Antonio is a mid-major city! I have written a pretty detailed blog to explain my reasoning behind that statement. Part 2 of that argument is still under works. I am having a hard time not offending people, which is not the intent of this blog, so Part 2 is taking longer than planned. Like many mid-majors, we are heavy at the top but get thin in the middle when compared to "hot beds" around the country. Like Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot, we have a few players that can play almost anywhere in the country. Players like Baylor bound McKenzie Calvert and Caldwell( a Baylor de-commit) have more than enough options. Caldwell is being heavily pursued by national powers UConn, Duke, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas, Stanford, LSU, Kentucky, Louisville, Oklahoma, etc, just to name a few. Like the deep 2010 class, players like Meighan Simmons had her choice of schools and her success at Tennessee validated her national standing. The difference is that many hot beds have multiple Meagans. They have dozens of D1 players in one class.

That said, the strides by local club teams, pointedly SA Finest Basketball, has sent a clear message to the country that San Antonio players need not to travel elsewhere to get their proper respect.

TeamXpress was a major player on the national scene. Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil was the standard bearer. However, CDW drew heavily from a national talent base. Atlanta's Kyra Crosby, Oregon's Krystal Forthan and Louisiana's Tank Youngblood traveled to the Alamo City to play with TeamXpress. Currently, Sophia Young Elite too draws from a talent beyond the greater San Antonio area. Though SYE is San Antonio heavy many star players are from the greater Central Texas area.

SA Finest has blazed a path. Home grown talent can play with any team in the country.

- A six point loss to Nike Cy-Fair Shock(PBR Super 64 Champs) without Recee' Caldwell in April

- A 12 point win over Adidas Showcase champ NJ Sparks Elite in July

- A 3 point loss at buzzer to PBR Super 64 Final Four Missouri Phenom

- Victories over national respected Albany Rocks, Epiphany Prince Elite, Cal Ballerz

- A double digit victory over West Virginia Thunder by SA Finest White

An Elite 8 finish in PBR Super 64 and an Sweet 16 finish at Battle of the Boro with homegrown talent speaks volumes. Sophia Young finished in the Sweet 16 as well in the Battle of the Boro.

SA Finest has illustrated a point that SA Lady Rohawk coach Charlie Harper swears by; keep local players home! All nine of SA Finest Blue's players are all being recruited. 8 of 9 players have been with SAF Blue for 3 or more years. 7 of 9 have been with SAF Blue since middle school. 7 of 9 have been offered by D1 institutions. 5 of 9 have major interest from BCS schools. 3 of 9 have already committed to D1 institutions.

SA Finest White has 9 players. 6 of 9 have been with SAF White since middle school. 4 of 9 have been offered by D1 institutions. All 4 D1 offered kids received offers by playing in SA Finest uniforms. 6 of 9 players are being recruited by D1 institutions. All 9 players are being recruited by colleges/universities.

In total, 18 of 18 players on SA Finest White and SA Finest Blue are being recruited. 15 out of 18 are being recruited by D1 institutions, 11 of 18 have been offered, 9 out of the 11 offered kids have been with SA Finest since middle school!

All that to say, development and loyalty pay off. Many hot bed programs in bigger cities use fear to attract San Antonio talent. I was told that Recee' Caldwell would not get a USA invite to u16 without a major backer. She was not only invited, she made that team! She would supposedly not get the proper exposure with SA Finest, yet she can basically go to whatever school she chooses. She reportedly  cannot be an All- American with SA Finest, maybe not, but does that really matter in the overall scheme of things? 

In speaking with one of the more respected college coaches in the country, he/she lamented the fact that more teams don't do it the "old way". He/she went on to explain that the old way did not include mass recruiting and out of town warriors. The old way had club coaches that taught kids for years and developed. The new way includes teams and programs that function as NBA teams with a salary caps and  draft lotteries. For what, trophies?!!!  The kids that make up most of these nationally respected all star teams all will go to play basketball anyway.

 To claim that that one must be on the best team to play the best competition is misleading. My daughter shoots at lunch with a JV boys player. This kid is 6'4 and reverse dunks it off the back board with ease. If he was a girl, he would be the #1 kid in the country, easily. Surprisingly, he likes to rebound for my daughter. He is OK with playing her 1 vs 1. He has no problem being physical against her, hand checks and all! In fact, there are a dozen 6 foot plus athletic boys ball players at her school that welcomes her in games!  To claim that you need to play on a particular circuit, on a particular team, to face real competition is comical. It is well known that McKenzie Calvert trainer has some of the best boys players in the city in his gym. In fact, I ran into one of them that recently committed to Tennessee at the airport on Thursday. Calvert faces BCS bound boys often. NO girl(s) in the country is better than whom she faces on a regular basis during training.

This is not a SA Finest commercial. Just like I often wrote of TeamXpress  and the SA Lady Rohawks of old and their accomplishments, this a public announcement of doing it the old way. Developing, training, teaching, educating players and parents works!!! The game is the game. Many of the powers that claim to hold the key to success, never have even played the game! If they did, they would probably stop with the misleading sales pitches that to shine, SA kids must leave. San Antonio has a bright future that can only get brighter with help of good local club coaches and parents that understand college coaches will come if their kids stay!

Vorpahl decides!!!

Leslie Vorpahl has apparently decided to attend Tulane University. The heady PG for Churchill HS has reportedly given her verbal to the Tulane staff. The SA Heat player will join Danielle Blagg to form a SA connection for the Greenwaves.

Congrats to the Vorpahl family!

Hot in July!!!

The 1st half of July has been good to a lot of local teams and players. More on them to come! One kid is crazy hot right now!!

Tesha Smith(2013)-  Smitty has been on a 10 day game tear. Her huge double doubles in wins vs NJ Sparks Elite, Cal Ballerz and Albany Rocks cemented her status as one of the best bigs in Texas. In the two days of communication, she has received love from Texas Tech, Alabama, Ole Miss, USC, TCU, UCF, Tulsa, Marshall, Southern Illinois, Arkansas Little Rock, SMU, NMST, UTSA, UNT, Wichita St.

All in less the two days!

Building with Bricks! The Blue Print!!

The inaugural ShesBallin "Blue Print" was just that, the foundation. Thirty three college coaches from twenty eight schools  came to San Antonio, including  twenty two Division 1 programs. In terms of a national scale, those numbers are small. When taken into proper perspective, those numbers are huge!

I have been on both sides of the exposure game. I have played in huge events, featuring hundreds of teams and hundreds of coaches and not had a single scout at my game. Slowly but surely, attendance at my games has steady risen. Now, when attending large events, I experience the other side. No less than a few dozen scouts sit in on the games with a few games earning 70 plus at times.

With that in mind, the Blue Print provided some clubs with the chance to play in front of coaches. Not just brag about attending an event WITH coaches, but attended an event and play in FRONT of coaches. The George Gervin Center allowed for coaches to view multiple games at the same time. While admittedly not the strongest field of teams, the event featured teams from Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico.

One of the best events that I have attended in terms of results was a small event in Houston that featured a couple dozen coaches. It was one of the best because of results; a couple of my players earned Division 1 offers from their performance at  the event. I have no doubt that some kids got a step closer to their goals of playing college basketball with their performance at the Blue Print!

The significance of the event will be felt in the fall, when college coaches finish the viewing period and get settled in for the school year. Then, many of the players attending the event will get the attention that that earned. Many new faces came to light and many familiar ones helped their standings and reputations. 

The game of the event  featured SA Finest Blue vs Louisiana Lady Blues. The Lady Blues feature eight players, seven of which have Division 1 offers. SA Finest Blue features nine players, seven of which whom have Division 1 offers(3 already committed). All twenty 26 and 31 coaches in attendance on Monday sat on the game. The crowd was over flow with players from other teams sitting on the floor and viewing from the second level. The SA greats like two of the Roberson sisters,  Arielle and Amber, Anissa Hastings and Tai Dillard were in attendance. The Lady Blues feature great guard play, including Top 15 2014 Lawriell Wilson. SA Finest started slow, which has been typical in the first two events of July. The Lady Blues were a headache for Finest off of the dribble. The super quick and athletic guards and wings had the crowd oohing and aahing. Twice the Lady Blues extended the lead to double figures. SA Finest was down 10 with 3:30 to go before they decided to stop playing around. They cut the lead to five with a little over a minute to go when 2014 Recee' Caldwell hit a three off of a double staggered screen. She followed it up with a beautiful bank shot pull up jumper on the left side in traffic to cut the Lady Blues lead to one point . The crowd had encircled the court  and the coaches were sitting at attention, the atmosphere captured the best of club ball. Excited parents, hyped fans, pleased college coaches all anticipating the outcome.  After a few empty possessions, Wichita State commit and SA Finest Blue forward Briana Jones scrambled for a loose ball and timeout with 9 seconds to play. The Lady Blues immediately double Recee' Caldwell as she attacked the paint to find 2014 Wendy Knight. Knight used the dribble to attack for dribble pull up at the left elbow. However, she could not fully shake her defender. The heady Knight faked a pull up and allowed her defender to take the bait. She then calmly dialed up a 15 foot twine tickler!  Game Winner with 2 seconds left, SA Finest Blue prevails by 1. The win meant little for SA Finest and the lose didn't hurt the Lady Blues in the grand scheme of things. The game put a stamp on the Blue Print. Local fans had a chance to see 17 sure fire college players play against each other. College Coaches discovered some new prospects and became better acquainted with more. Wendy Knight catapulted herself up the recruit boards of many schools in attendance. And San Antonio won! Not the game, but the event. The Blue Print was a win for the city! Let's celebrate by ensuring that the players continue to mandate that college coaches come to the city. A popular saying goes, " If you build it, they will come". We now have the Blue Print!

Blue Print Schedule!!

Click here for the Blue Print Schedule