MEMPHIS, Tenn — Just two months after hosting Nike’s premier EYBL travel basketball event, this week, The Memphis Sports and Events Center is hosting the NCAA and USA basketball.
When you live in Memphis, you do not have to look far for competition or exposure. It comes to you.
"It's a big event with a lot of college coaches in it, and it's right in my backyard," Christian Alston, a rising senior at Bartlett High School, said.
That was all the reason Alston needed to sign up for the NCAA's College Basketball Academy. For four days, he will compete against some of the best high school talent from across the country.
"It just helps me be better during my basketball season and be able to be ready at the next level when I get to the college level, playing these guys that are more physical and talented," Alston said.
The NCAA teamed up with USA Basketball and Canada Basketball for the event that brings high caliber travel basketball teams and high school talent under one roof to hoop in front of hundreds of college coaches.
"It's the only place this weekend, this week where Division One head and assistant coaches can go to evaluate talent. It's no other opportunity or event across the country, so if they want to evaluate, this is the place to be," Dan Gavitt, Senior Vice President of Basketball for the NCAA, said.
There are three pathways to participation. The National Pathway includes USA Basketball and Canada Basketball hand-picking talent for their junior national team training camps. The team pathway is full of travel ball teams that qualified through events earlier in the summer. They are competing in the College Basketball Academy's U.S. Open Basketball Championships.
Then there is the individual pathway, where up to 400 rising sophomores, juniors and seniors receive instruction and play games in front of scouts and coaches from around the country.
The College Basketball Academy is not just about what athletes can do on the floor, but also what they can learn off of it. Players and parents sit in "Life Skills" courses and get information about college eligibility, NIL rules and what it takes to play not just college, but pro levels of basketball from the premier basketball organizations themselves.
"We think it's invaluable because you're getting direct information from organizations that have a vested interest and care about making sure that information that parents and their sons have is real and accurate," Gavitt said. "So they can make the best-informed decisions about a young person's basketball career, academic career, and their opportunities in life."
Landon Worthy, a rising junior at White Station High School, wants to inch his game a little bit closer to the next level.
"I'm hoping to get some experience, meet some new people, talk to some coaches, just play my game and get better," Worthy said.
The College Basketball Academy is hosting high school boys from July 24-27. It will host high school girls from July 28-31.