NY2LA Sports Invitational Preview- 17U Pools A-D

NY2LA Sports Invitational Preview- 17U Division

With the NCAA ruling earier this year to eliminate the April “Live” period, the recruiting period starting on July 6 will be the first time this year that Division 1 coaches will be allowed to watch potential recruits play with their AAU teams. For the first event of this all-important month, most of the top Iowa teams (and players) will be participating in the NY2LA Sports Invitation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin next week. IAHoops.com will be in Milwaukee to watch the action, and we’re going to do a series of previews leading up to the tournament. Today, we’ll take a look at the 17U Division.

For purposes of this article, we’ll look at the pools and pick the teams that will advance to “Platinum” bracket play, and pick the winners. There are 9 pools of 17U teams in the tournament… Pools A, B, C, and D have the top 3 teams advance to the Platinum tournament, and Pools E through I only advance two.

Pool A (SYF Players, Milwaukee Spartans, All Iowa Attack Red, Buffalo Storm): This loaded pool features some great talent, including Vander Blue from the Spartans, who might be the best player in the tournament, Xavier Jones and Jesse Berry from the SYF Players, and our local All Iowa Attack's top team, which will feature Zach McCabe, TrayVonn Wright, etc. This is a tough pick, but I'm going to go with the Attack as the winners here, with the Spartans (2) and SYF Players (3) also advancing to Platinum bracket play.

Pool B (Net Gain Sports, Iowa Barnstormers, Wisconsin Scholars, Illinois Wolverines): Another loaded pool, with the headline for Iowa fans being the Net Gain Sports and Chanse Creekmur against the Barnstormers on day 1. The best player in this pool, though, is Flavian Davis, the wing from the Wisconsin Scholars who already holds a Marquette offer. The Scholars won another NY2LA event earlier this year, and I pick them to win this pool, too... with the Barnstormers (2) and Net Gain (3) also advancing.

Pool C (Howard Pulley, Meanstreets, Martin Bros Select, Illinois Heat): Lots of talent again here, with Howard Pulley featuring 6-11 Chad Calcaterra and 6-3 guard Jacob Thomas, along with the always strong Martin Bros who will feature Jordan Dykstra and Doug McDermott. Meanstreets and the Illinois are great programs, too, making this the hardest pool to pick. Harrison Barnes is not expected to be at the tournament for HP... he'll be at the LeBron camp this week. I'm going to go with Howard Pulley as the pool champions, with Martin Brothers (2) and Meanstreats (3) advancing.

Pool D (Playground Elite, MN Comets Blue, Midwest Stars Blue, Illinois Kings): This is the last pool that advances three to tournament play, and this is a little harder pick... no Iowa teams, and not quite as much of the top talent as "Super Pools" in A-C. We'll pick Playground Elite #1 here, with MN Comets (2) and Midwest Stars Blue (3) also Platinum-bound.

We'll take a look at pools E through I later this afternoon.