Border League in Gilbert lives up to the hype
After the completion of the NBA Playoffs in Orlando earlier this month, the basketball world was briefly centered in Gilbert from Oct. 23-25.
Eighty high school boys basketball teams with top recruits from across the nation competed in the inaugural Border League tournament. The event’s games were aired on ESPN2 as well as streamed live and can be seen again on basketball media website BallerTV.
To reconfirm Gilbert as the nexus of the basketball’s orbit, the seventh annual Lady Extravaganza high school girls basketball tournament which hosted eight teams was held at Mesquite and South Valley Junior High Schools in Gilbert over the weekend.
“This is definitely the center of the basketball world in the scholastic setting this weekend for sure,” said Matt King, Border League tournament organizer Position Sports’ Chief Operating Officer.
The Border League’s teams were placed in six different divisional brackets: West Coast, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona and the most heralded Top Flight Invite.
The games were held at Gilbert Public Schools district high schools, including Mesquite, Mesa Desert Ridge, Gilbert, Highland, Campo Verde.
Among the 35 local teams were Arizona Interscholastic Association member schools and prep school teams. This includes Surprise Valley Vista, Phoenixbased teams Sunnyslope, South Mountain and Brophy Prep, Gilbert Hillcrest Prep, Chandler AZ Compass Prep and Glendale Dream City Christian. The instate and out-of-state programs were evenly matched up and played in winners and losers’ consolation brackets.
Many of the top players from The Republic’s Elite 100 preseason 2020-21 season rankings such as Hillcrest’s Michael Foster, AZ Compass Prep’s TyTy Washington, and Sunnyslope’s Carson Basham performed in front of the mask-required attendants.
King said that Position Sports staff has received a barrage of calls from blue blood Division I coaches from across the nation as they watched the players’ games online.
Division I college recruiters were not allowed to attend the event because of the NCAA’s moratorium or “dead period” through Jan. 1, 2021.
However, the GEICO-sponsored Border League is not considered a high school basketball tournament because the season hasn’t officially begun.
It’s a club basketball tournament in which many of the local and out-of-state teams played under different names. Sunnyslope and Valley Vista were the “Tri-Stars” and “Monsoons,” respectively.
Also, as the COVID-19 pandemic factored into the planning, this was the only national youth boys basketball tournaments of the year. Many of the nation’s high school basketball state tournaments last winter and AAU spring and summer showcases were nixed because of the pandemic.
“Although it’s officially not a high school tournament, it really is put together to try to showcase education-based sports and the need we have for them,” King said. “The need we have for kids to play in environments where they’re able to play with their classmates. What we felt was important, those teams haven’t had an opportunity to congregate for awhile and this gave an opportunity to do that...
“This was put together over the past couple of months as stuff started to open up a little bit. We were able to see a pathway to do this in a healthy and safe way.”
Border League’s most anticipated games
In the Top Flight Invite Division at Highland, Air Nado (Coronado of Henderson, Nev.), which has former AZ Com
pass player and Michigan-committed point guard Frankie Collins, lost in the championship to National Spotlight (IMG Academy, Fla.), 68-59.
But the game everyone wanted to see was between high school sports recruiting website 247Sports composite’s No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players Chet Holmgren of Grassroots Sizzle and Mikey Williams of The Storm. They faced off in Top Flight Invite Division’s marquee consolation final matchup on Sunday.
“He’s a different class, so kind of considered different,” Holmgren said about Williams. “I don’t really even pay attention to the rankings. I just go out and try and compete against other competitors. This is definitely a great tournament, very well run. It’s a great talent pool.”
The sinewy 7-foot Holmgren of Minnehana Academy (Minneapolis, Minn.) is highly touted for his outside shooting touch, eagle-like wingspan, stellar ability to create off the dribble when facing the hoop or his post skills, guarding smaller players on the perimeter and shotblocking.
Williams is a 6-2 junior who plays for Lake Norman Christian (Huntersville, N.C.). He has a solid strength and impressive leaping ability, supreme court vision, breakneck speed, silky shooting touch and handles the ball like a yo-yo in halfcourt sets and transition.
The Sizzle beat the Storm 71-60. Holmgren dominated by posting 15 points, 19 rebounds, and 11 block. Williams had a game-high 25 points.
“This event has put guys in a great situation,” Sizzle coach and CEO of Grassroots Sizzle team Brian Sandifer said. “Obviously, everybody knows who Chet Holmgren and Mikey Williams are. But there’s other players on both teams that need some exposure like (Sizzle’s) Isaiah Davis, Chase Carter, Hercy and Mercy Miller, (Storm’s) Joyful Hawkins in a great event shown on national TV.”
In the battle of Chandler versus Gilbert bragging rights, the most anticipated game of the tournament was the primetime Saturday night West Coast division matchup between AZ Compass Prep and Hillcrest, who were titled as Dreamchasers.
The game that local prep basketball fans have been awaiting for years to witness was all Compass from the start, and they it led by as much as 20 points in the first half.
“The energy level and they outtoughed us,” Hillcrest coach Chianti Clay said about AZ Compass. “They played a lot more physical. We had to turn it back around that way. We got back in the game. We went to one-on-one iso-hero ball and it didn’t go our way and they had the lead back out. We could’ve stayed with the team concept and had a better chance.”
Hillcrest made a comeback to cut the lead to down to seven, but it was thwarted by the Washington-led Dragons who ultimately won 65-56.
“It was a good team win for us. It was a most anticipated matchup for a few years. It just never got to happen,” Washington, who contributed 18 points, said. “Just for me being a senior and being in Arizona my whole life, not so much one of the top guys, but that was more of a respect game. Arizona Compass, we’re here. This is our city.”
AZ Compass advanced to face Dream City Christian in the West Coast championship and won 69-65 in overtime.
Sunnyslope’s Basham, Valley Vista on local radar for 2020-21 season
Sunnyslope’s 6-11 center and Pepperdine-commit Carson Basham noticeably spent much time in the weight room over the summer.
Basham, ranked ninth in The Republic’s Elite 100 rankings, gained 20 pounds of muscle on his former lithe, lengthy frame help his balance between his upper and lower body strength to accept more contact in the post.
He also said his training improved his long range shooting over the summer.