Hey how about that? We were working so hard in 2015 that when we looked up, we were three weeks into 2016. With last year in the review mirror, I wanted to stop and kick off 2016 with an update on where we are at BasketballElite.com, and what cool things we have coming up – at least the things I can mention so far.
I’m also doing this to give more behind-the-scenes info on covering basketball, scouting, sports business and everything else we are involved in. It’s a lot, and personally, I love it. I’ve been in love with the game of basketball for as long as can remember and I’m really thankful that over the years I’ve been able to become so involved in so many aspects of it.
I’m not going to do a big ‘year-in-review’ here, but I do want to mention that in 2015, we broadcast over 60 games through our sister site NetCastSports.com and we already are ahead of that pace this year. We added the Fab 40 event and that will be coming back, as well. But wait…there’s more!
In 2016 we have some ambitious goals and plans already in motion. The Fab 40 Eastern NC Regional, an invite-only event, is returning for the Spring, and we’re still looking to add a Western and Central NC regional. Our Southeast Summer Showcase will be held for the sixth time this June. We’re also planning on bringing you a ton of showcase/AAU and All-Star broadcasts this March.
We’ll be updating our Coverage Calendar shortly, but we will once again be covering EYBL, Phenom Hoops, Big Shots, On the Radar Hoops and probably add some HoopSeen events for AAU coverage. We’ll be hitting the Dick’s Sporting Goods national high school tournament and likely will be at the Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn.
And right now we’re still pounding the pavement with our college coverage – over 100 live college games scouted in 2015, but we’ll break that record this year – we love to find the players who aren’t just NBA potential talents but overseas as well.
This year we’re also stepping up our pro game – we already cover the Portsmouth Invitational, NBA Summer League, several of the Vegas combines, the ABA and the NBL-Canada. We’re adding to that: the ECBL has partnered with NetCast Sports to bring several live broadcasts, we’ve already hit several UBA games and the really big news – we are adding a pro travel team again in 2016 for BaskeballElite.com. Last year’s team toured Europe a bit but we’re going even bigger this year with a lot of games in the US. We’ll have more info on the pro team soon – and how some of you can get involved in an awesome way that you’re really going to like. We’ve got a couple of ex-NBA guys already on the roster so you’ll want to stay tuned for this. I’m really excited about this and there’s some more news coming that I wish I could say, but I can’t just yet.
We also will be putting together some pro jamborees in the Spring and maybe even in the summer.
I want your feedback – we want to take you guys with us on this journey, from those hard-to-find high school gyms to the raucous AAU tournaments and the intense NBA summer leagues, we really want to bring you more into the action than ever. If you aren’t following Basketball Elite on Twitter @bball_elite, you need to do it right this second. We’ve also got several scouts to follow: James Blackburn, Charles Clark and Tony Bruton as a start.
Today, I’m heading over to broadcast Calvary Baptist (NC) as they take on The Burlington School. This should be a good match up and we have David Olivera Jr and James Blackburn on the call, and as a bonus, a halftime interview with agent Alex Ihler of HBA.
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