Weekend Recap: Under Armour Classic
Nearly 90 boys teams in the 15u-17u age groups traveled to Mid-America this weekend to play in the Under Armour Memorial Day Classic. The Louisville Legendsand G3 Grind split the 15u Title while the Ohio Rebels won the 16u and Louisville Legends won the 17u division. Here’s a recap of some of the weekend’s action:
15u:
The Louisville Legends swept through pool play, going 3-0 and winning every game by double figures. They won two tournament games before agreeing to split the championship with the G3 Grind since G3 is already in the UA Classic and had no incentive to play the title game.
Western Kentucky Elite went 1-2 in pool play to fall to the silver bracket but bounced back to run off 3 straight wins and claim the Silver Bracket championship with a 36-35 win over Middle TN Soldiers Bravo.
Manimal Elite had a strong weekend but fell short in the semifinals in what was a tremendous game against the G3 Grind. KJ Crump led Manimal in scoring all weekend including a 34 point game against G3. Isaiah May shot the ball well all weekend while DaShawn Jackson averaged over 10 points per game for coach Greg Oliver’s squad.
Charlotte Court – Nimbo won their pool with a 3-0 Saturday and Sunday and eventually fell to Manimal Elite in the quarterfinals Monday morning. Coach Nimbo Hammon’s squad has had a very solid spring and won a lot of games.
G3 Grind is an Indiana team but two of their starters are from Kentucky and they were impressive. Fern Creek’s Darrius Washington has really bulked up and looked every bit of a big time college basketball recruit. I cannot say enough about how impressive Washington was on the weekend. He’s due to climb back up our 2021 class rankings.
16u:
Vision Elite had a great weekend, beating the Louisville Legends 58-55 in a good game. Butler’s Trey Minter was a star all weekend and showed his scoring prowess. Minter will play a huge role Coach Goodin’s Bears next season.
The Louisville Legends fell in pool play to Team Vision then lost the opening game of Gold Bracket play in Overtime to M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs in what was an extremely high level game. Dallas Rufus was a star all weekend and Eli Roberts played the best I’ve seen him play. If he keeps his motor running, he can be a D1 player with his size and skill level.
Charlotte Court struggled in pool play going 1-2 before advancing all the way to the Silver Championship game and falling to Kentucky Pressure in a game that was plagued by chippiness. The two teams combined for about 20 technical fouls and one of the Charlotte Court players challenged one of the referees to a fight after the game. Ugly scene.
M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs went 5-2, losing to the Ohio Rebels in pool play and the gold championship game. The Mustangs won the thriller over the Legends on Sunday then beat Kentucky Rivals and Grassroots Indiana in bracket play before losing to the Rebels in the title game. Guards Marcellus Vail, Dayvion McKnight, Jalen Scott and Malachi Corley all had big weekends for the Mustangs.
17u:
NKY Squad had a strong weekend and finished as runners-up in the 17u gold bracket. Tyler Fleek of Covington Catholic hit a buzzer beater to lift them past Manimal Elite in OT. The squad finished 5-1 on the weekend in their first tournament with a healthy Dieonte Miles.
Western Kentucky Elite stumbled to 1-2 in pool play but came back on Monday to win the Silver bracket over Next Level.
NKY Force won their pool and advanced to Monday’s Semifinals before losing by 10 to the eventual champion Louisville Legends. Dalton Bruner had a good weekend for the Force.
Charlotte Court went 2-4 on the weekend. They struggled to an 0-3 performance in pool play before going 2-1 in silver bracket play and losing to Next Level in the silver semifinals.
Manimal Elite had a good weekend as they went 5-1 before they lost to the NKY Squad on a buzzer beater. Keaston Brown and Devan Cambridge had big weekends for Manimal.
All in all, there was a lot of good basketball played in Louisville over the course of the weekend. The tournament was quite a grind but the winners punched their tickets to the UA Classic in July. Congratulations to the Louisville Legends 15u and 17u and the Ohio Rebels 16u on their tournament championships!