The Mid-America Summer Hoops Classic has been able to secure three dates in June 2009. Event coordinator Dan Hudson said next year's event will be June 17-19 at Murray State University's Regional Special Events Center, which will give some area basketball junkies a nice mid-June fix — Murray State's boys' basketball team camp will be June 20-21, which will mean five consecutive days of high-level high school hoops for the locals.
"Murray State has been really cooperative," Hudson said. "(Men's coach Billy) Kennedy has been a big help, and we were able to get some dates we can work with."
The hope is that the Mid-America, now seven years old, can return to the number of teams and the quality of play that was a staple of its early existence. In the early part of the decade, the event was able to land teams from Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri. Hudson hopes the mid-June dates can restore the numbers to their previous levels and even help the Mid-America make some inroads into Indiana.
But it's nearly impossible to put on such an event in July. Most of the nation's top players are on the AAU circuit then, since July is the prime evaluation period for coaches at NCAA Division I institutions. Starting next year, Kentucky joins Tennessee in making July a "dead period" for basketball.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment