Tournament director Greg Procio said the 11th annual Hoophall Classic “probably hasn’t even peaked yet.''
Fans at the Hoophall Classic have plenty of reasons to cheer last weekend at Springfield College.SPRINGFIELD – A stamp of approval never hurts.
Especially from a Hall of Famer.
St. Anthony High School coach Bob Hurley likely spoke for most of the 42 teams that played 24 games at last weekend’s 11th annual Hoophall Classic at Springfield College.
“We just absolutely love it here,” Hurley said after Monday’s game. “We don’t travel (to play games) everywhere, we don’t need to because we have great competition in our area of New Jersey and New York. But this is one place we love to come to.
“We like how the crowd becomes a part of it. They know their basketball. They know good players, good teams . . . what is a good play. They know what basketball is all about.”
The quality of the field – with eight teams ranked in the Top 10 of the ESPN Rise national boys and girls polls – was so good that the nation’s No. 1 team Simeon Career Academy of Chicago lost by 25 to a team playing without one of its best players.
So good that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski flew in to watch Monday morning games after playing at Clemson Sunday night at 6.
High profile enough that ESPN televised its first-ever game between prep schools and aired six others on either ESPNU or ESPN3.
The nation’s fifth-ranked team Prestonwood Christian of Plano, Texas, walked off the Blake Arena floor with a 30-point loss.
“This event probably hasn’t even peaked yet,’’ Hoophall tournament director Greg Procino said.
This year’s crop of talent seemed a bit unusual in that many of the country’s top-ranked players at the Hoophall have not yet committed to colleges.
That talent - led by Hoophall Classic All-Tournament Player Shabazz Muhammad of Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas - helped attract likes of Coach K, Jim Calhoun (UConn) and John Calipari (Kentucky).
“That right there says a lot about the quality of the teams and players here.’’ Procino said.
A fifth day of games was added to the front end of the weekend schedule and Procino said Blake Arena, which seats approximately 2,000 people, was at capacity at certain points on Satuday, Sunday and Monday.
“We printed 8,000 tickets and we ran out,’’ he said. “I’d think we were close to 10,000 people for the weekend.’’
Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley, right, talks to one of his St. Anthony players Kyle Anderson at the 2012 Hoophall Classic.Procino reiterated that the tournament has not outgrown the Springfield College facility, saying the confines and atmosphere are a big part of what makes the Hoophall so special.
“This is a high school event and we have a great high school atmosphere here,’’ Procino said. “Ninety percent of those games would not look good in arena setting. You’d lose the energy, there’d be a lot of empty seats and it (Blake Arena) is so personal. The crowd is right on top of the game.
“And the Hall of Fame has a great partnership with Springfield College and its (staff and) students do so much for this, it’s built into their curriculum.’’
While Procino said he started lining up teams for next year in October, the official 2013 schedule would not be released until October.
“We’ll get something north of 100 requests (from national teams) to be on our schedule and we’ll only take a couple,’’ Procino said. “But will always be a mix of local teams playing, that’s our backbone. And we’ll always have a couple of girls games too.’’
HOOP NOTES: Stanley Johnson of Mater Dei of Santa Ana, Calif., won the dunk contest during Sunday night’s Skills Challenge . . . More than 30 current NBA players have competed at past Hoophall tournaments, including the likes of Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Derrick Favors, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, O.J. Mayo and J.R. Smith . . . Procino said BasketBull, LLC, also played a major role in the Hoophall’s success, “and (director) Colin (Tabb) had another very successful year with the (middle school) Junior Hoophall Classic,’’ on Saturday and Sunday in the fieldhouse.