grand finale schedules and pools

The ARC/Slam N Jam Grand Finale gets underway on Tuesday, July 27, 1999. Like it's bigger and younger cousin, the adidas Las Vegas Big Time Tournament, this one is played at several gyms. However, unlike the Big Time, the ARC/Slam N Jam tournament is really tiny by comparison, and it's actually divided into several divisions, and includes youth traveling teams as well, all the way down to the 10U divisions. For the high school age players, there are two tournaments running simultaneously, a high school "team" tournament which will feature three pools of four teams each and one pool of three teams (that's 15 teams for all you math majors), and there's also a 9 pool, 34 team "all-star" high school team tournament. Some of the teams played at the Big Time, some at the Best of Summer, and some at the Slam N Jam NIT in Long Beach. This will be the last chance to see many of them, and we'd even expect to see some of the college coaches who aren't jetting off to Colorado at this one, although candidly, most of the coaches we spoke with the last three weeks have told us they're either going to Berkeley for the adidas/EBO "Great 8", to the BCI Nationals in Colorado, or to San Diego for the Nike National Summer Championships. Still, for those players being recruited on some of the better known teams attending the Grand Finale, we'd expect to see at least a few college coaches in attendance during the last week of the NCAA open exposure period. As you glance down at the pools below, you'll notice that there's at least one team which continues to get the "bad taste in names" award, and it's the same team that played last week at the Big Time under the same name. . . the Colorado Sharpshooters, which we understand is actually from right around the Columbine area. . .sheesh.

Pool 1 NY Gauchos Magic City Stars Galveston County All-Ohio White	Pool 2 ARC Burbank Las Vegas Panthers Minnesota Magic Bentalou Bombers	Pool 3 SFV Players Lane County Demons Boise Flight I-CAN All Stars	Pool 4 Chicago Knights San Jose Wildcats TX Blue Chip I On 2 Hoops
Pool 5 Camp Exposure Inland College Bound Birmingham Bombers All-Ohio Red	Pool 6 ARC Los Angeles Aim High Lacy Timberwolves Colorado Sharpshoopters	Pool 7 ARC Dynamo Arizona Stars MSU Skyliners Las Vegas Heat	Pool 8 G-Rebs Oakland Running Rebels TX Blue Chip II
Pool 9 Team Kansas Oklahoma Trotters North Riverside

The first day schedule, Tuesday, July 27, 1999, for the high school all-star teams looks like this:

**Note: All Games will be played at Mojave High; MA=Mojave auxiliary; M=Mojave Main

Time	Teams	Gym
9:30 a.m.	Galveston County v. All-Ohio White	M
10:30 a.m.	Minnesota Magic v. Bentalou Bombers	M
10:30 a.m.	Camp Exposure v. Inland	MA
12:00 p.m.	Birmingham Bombers v. All-Ohio Red	M
12:00 p.m.	Lacy Timberwolves v. Colorado Sharpshooters	MA
1:30 p.m.	Team Kansas v. North Riverside	M
1:30 p.m.	G-Rebs v. Oakland Running Rebels	MA
3:00 p.m.	SFV Players v. Lane County Demons	M
3:00 p.m.	ARC Dynamos v. Arizona Stars	MA
4:30 p.m.	Texas Blue Chip I v. On2Hoops	M
4:30 p.m.	ARC Los Angeles v. Aim High	MA
6:00 p.m.	NYC Gauchos v. Magic City Stars	M
6:00 p.m.	Chicago Knights v. San Jose Wildcats	MA
7:30 p.m.	ARC Burbank v. Las Vegas Panthers	M
7:30 p.m.	Texas Blue Chip II v. Oklahoma Trotters	MA
9:00 p.m.	MSU Skyliners v. Las Vegas Heat	M
9:00 p.m.	Boise Flight v. I-CAN All Stars	MA

The 16 team High School "team" tournament is actually going to be pretty competitive, and will feature some really good teams from in and around SoCal competing against what looks like mostly some teams from in and around Las Vegas. Here are the pools:

Pool 1	Pool 2	Pool 3	Pool 4
Mater Dei Clark Chargers Copper Hills Window Rock	Oceanview El Toro Bonanza Manley	Santa Ana St. Bernard's I Cheyenne	Marina St. Bernard's II Las Vegas Rattlers Moorpark

This tournament will primarily play it's games at Cheyenne, but there are a couple of games played at Bonanza High during the week. Interestingly, none of the games in the Grand Finale are played at what we'd consider the two best gym floors in the Las Vegas area: Durango and Green Valley, and actually we'd rate the gym surface in Green Valley as among the best we've ever seen; likewise, Silverado also seems to be out of this one completely, so if you got used to those three gyms at the Big Time, well, you'll have to settle for Cheyenne, Mojave,and Bonanza.

Here's the High School "Team" tournament schedule for Tuesday, July 27, 1999:

***Note: All games on Tuesday will be played at Cheyenne Main, except for the Bonanza v. Manley game, which will be at Bonanza:

Time	Teams
10:30 a.m.	Copper Hills v. Window Rock
12:00 p.m.	Santa Ana v. St. Bernard's I
1:30 p.m.	Cheyenne v. Copper Hills
4:30 p.m.	Mater Dei v. Clark
6:00 p.m.	Marina v. St. Bernard's II
6:00 p.m.	Bonanza v. Manley
7:30 p.m.	Ocean View v. El Toro
9:00 p.m.	Las Vegas Rattlers v. Moorpark

We won't see you there, but we'll try to keep everyone posted on the results.