Article 304: Memorial Day Classic

May 24, 2012

The summer basketball club scene heats up this Memorial Day weekend and features some of the better known Northern California clubs at the Bay Area Memorial Day Classic. In addition, prominent clubs from Colorado, Fresno, Southern California, and Washington will make the trek to NorCal Courts and Alhambra High in Martinez, Benicia High, and College Park High in Concord. The event will culminate on Monday afternoon with the championship games.

With 90 teams participating, here are some of the teams and players to watch for:

Oakland Kings: The gritty style with tenacious defense and rebounding is their hallmark as they have already won tournaments at the Pangos Sweet 16, Reebok Breakout Challenge, and City Championship.

Double Pump Elite 2013: A team synonymous with the club scene features 6-foot-8 Tanner Lancona (Tesoro), Pepperdine-bound Jeremy Major from Maranatha, Bishop Montgomery's Lamond Murray Jr. (son of former Cal star Lamond Murray), London Perrantes (Crespi), and 6-foot-7 Michael Thomas (El Camino Real).

Play Hard Play Smart: The Sacramento based club includes Sheldon standouts Dakarai Allen, Derryl Williams, and Ryan Manning. In addition, Franklin product Darin Johnson is on the team.

LAX Hoops: LAX has a loaded roster that includes juniors Sam Findley from Centennial of Corona, 6-foot-9 Alpha Ndaw of Valley Christian of Saddleback, Antown Johnson from Orange Lutheran, 6-foot-6 Reggie Theus from Fairfax (son of former NBA player and coach, Reggie Theus), and NorCal transplant Kendall Smith from Deer Valley.

Greenline: Also known as De La Salle, the summer club version features national recruit Elliott Pitts and promising post prospect Patrick Marr.

Pioneer Tech: The Evergreen State brings juniors that include Gonzaga commit and 6-foot-8 Lucas Meikle from Bellarmine Prep Tacoma, Brad Wallace from River Ridge, and Keenan Williams of Capital Olympia.

Oakland Rebels Red: Includes promising point guards Jalen Mcferren (Castro Valley) and Joey Frenchwood (Newark Memorial) while the wings feature Jonathan Boddie (Central Catholic), Derrick Clayton (Castro Valley), and Temidayo Yussuf of St. Joseph's.

Colorado Chaos: The Centennial State team includes juniors Austin Sparks from Valor Christian, Carlton Hurst (Aurora Central), and Zack Rusk of Thunder Ridge.

Modesto Basketball Club (MBC): Serves as the summer home for the Modesto Christian program. The team includes highly regarded 2015 prospects Anthony Townes and Leandro Amador, and sophomore guards Tyras Rattler and Mason Washington.

Organized Chaos 17U: The Central Valley based club features LJ Moore from Central High, post prospect John Fenton (Central Catholic Modesto), and sophomore Calvin Young of Bullard.

Lakeshow 17: Lakeshow features promising juniors in Raymond Bowles, Henry Caruso, and EJ Floreal.

Bay Area Hoosiers: The San Jose based team includes Palma star Noah Allen who has offers from a few Ivy League programs and has interest from several other programs. The club also has features Weston Ranch shooting guard Dylan Alexander and Salesian point guard Markel Leonard.

Other notable programs in attendance include Bay Area Warriors (featuring Cardinal Newman's Kenny Love), Bay Area Bulls (Bellarmine Prep's Blair Mendy and Grant Vermeer), Lunardi's (Burlingame's Frankie Ferrari), SF Rebels, NorCal Warriors, Davis Wildcats, among others.

Notable first day games on Saturday include LAX Hoops versus Oakland Kings, Colorado Chaos vs Greenline, MBC vs Oakland Rebels Red, and Bay Area Hoosiers vs Organized Chaos. All pool play games in the elite division will be held at Nor Cal Courts.