If you want to be seen by the hundreds of college coaches out and about then one of the places to be without question is the Nike Tournament of Champions held once again this year in Chicago, Illinois.

That it where you would have found nearly every Division 1 college program over the past few days checking out some of the best high school basketball players from across the country. Many of those who stood out were from New York as well as the Empire State had 9 teams on the highest 17u level from Tuesday through Thursday looking to bring home the hardware.

Many of NY's top players stood out, but so did the programs as they look to make names for themselves as well and prove that they as a group can compete with anyone. It was a strong overall showing for all New York teams on hand, and with the tournament now complete let's look at how the local teams did as we recap from the action from Chicago.

BNY Select

Scripting it couldn't have made the result any better for BNY Select as the Binghamton area program may have come in a bit under the radar by people, but they are leaving Chicago with as strong a reputation as anyone as they went 5-0 in pool play, including a 71-65 win over 808 Basketball, a team considered to be the elite program in Hawaii, to win their Dublin Division and advance to the title game on Thursday afternoon against a very talented Jersey Warriors team out of New Jersey. With many thinking it wouldn't be easy it was Kiara Fisher (Elmira '20) showing just why she is among the best lead guards in the Class of 2020 in the country, as BNY would dominate from start to finish take the 52-30 victory and head back home with the championship hardware in their possession.

Lightning-Lawniczak

Things weren't looking good for Lightning-Lawniczak as they had a tough loss to CT Storm-Caruso in a game they looked to have locked up early in the first half. That loss meant they would have to defeat EOSC (OK) on Thursday morning plus get help to win the pool and advance to the Bern Division championship game. Both things would happen as Lauren Romito (Hauppauge '19) continues to show why at 6'4" she is a Division 1 prospect in helping them to the title tilt against Nike Texas Select. It was truly a fantastic run now just this week in Chicago, but last weekend in Kentucky as well as this Lightning group from top to bottom earned a lot of respect and admiration from the many college coaches on hand.

New York Havoc-Blue

A near perfect pool play performance saw the Havoc go 4-1 during pool play, losing only to a team from South Dakota on Wednesday afternoon. They drew wins over a very good Northwest Stars team out of Washington, and a good Minnesota Stars team as well that saw them use their height inside to their advantage, but also get great play out of lead guard Brianna Rozzi (Highland '19) who continues to come into her own as a sure-fire Division 1 recruit from the point guard spot. Winning a tiebreaker to make it to the Brussels Division title game, the Havoc forfeited the game to the Iowa Barnstormers because of travel though the goal of drawing more attention to the players and the program overall was certainly accomplished.

Albany Lady Stars

A great week in Chicago was capped off by a Cairo Division Championship Game appearance as the Lady Stars went 4-1 during pool play, winning a tiebreak against the Wisconsin Playmakers based off their head to head 46-43 victory on Tuesday afternoon, a game that saw Selenya Gonzalez (Springfield Central, MA '19) show a major scoring touch while also proving to be a solid distributor when she played on the ball. In the title game the Lady Stars took on the Midwest Wildcats out of Illinois, but with Gonzalez having to miss the game because of an eye injury that happened in their last pool game, that proved to be too much overcome in a 54-44 defeat, though it was easily a very successful weekend for the power Albany area program.

Exodus NYC (Tony)

Coming off a great showing down in Kentucky last weekend it was time for Exodus (Tony) to back that up with another impressive showing in Illinois. It wasn't the ideal start as they would fall in their opener to the North Dakota Drillers, but like the impressive team they are they responded with ease in taking a pair of close wins over BC Denver (CO) and Kingdom Hoops (IA). Khadija Demry (Christ the King '19) has repeatedly the past week proven why she is a player to watch on the Division 1 radar with her ability to run the Exodus (Tony) offense, and while they missed out on a title game opportunity, a 4-1 few days in Chicago meant a lot of positives once again for this Exodus program.

NY Extreme Hoops

An under the radar team full of recruitable talent, NY Extreme went out to Chicago and did what they wanted to do, improve on their performance from this past weekend in Kentucky while also giving their players more opportunities to shine on the highest level. Hannah Angelini (Somers ‘19) was excellent leading the offense at the lead guard spot while also proving to be a top rate scorer off the dribble. Winning all their games by double digits, NY Extreme lost to the top two teams in their pool, Lady Runnin Rebels (PA) and the NJ Sparks NIKE, by just a combined 9 points showing the depth and overall talent is there in the program even though they fell short of a playoff appearance.

New York Havoc-Grey

It was a bit of a yo-yo few days for the Havoc's Grey team in Chicago as they couldn't string two solid performances in a row which left them after Thursday's final game out of the playoffs with a 2-3 showing at the TOC. They held tight throughout against Missouri Phenom on Tuesday but couldn't pull it out losing 58-53. They were able to beat both B&B Basketball Academy (CO) and Michigan Elite, but struggles against the Midwest Wildcats (IL) and Hoopstars Family (WA) on Thursday ended their Helsinki Division run even though Lexi Van Vorst (Columbia '19) continues to prove she is among the best perimeter threats in New York with a solid three days of action.

NYC Heat

The week started out on the rough side for the Heat who went 0-2 on Day 1 on Tuesday losing to the Illinois Defenders and the Maryland Belles. Once they got past Day 1 though they as a team played much better as the Heat won 2 of their last 3 defending both Team Elite TG (GA) and the Oakland Soldiers. Sydney Taylor (St. Anthony's '19) was a big part of what the Heat were able to do with her inside/outside versatility, and even though they didn't qualify for the playoffs in the Budapest Division it was a strong three days for the Heat players to get noticed in front of dozens upon dozens of college coaches watching them.

Exodus NYC (Bunk)

Yet again it was a week of good and bad for Exodus (Bunk). Much like their showing at the Battle in the Boro this past weekend, they had their moments where things looked up like in their 70-52 win over the Hawaii Storm, but in close games against Vienna Division opposition they just couldn't pull through late as demonstrated by tight losses to both Fever (CA) and the Nike Lady Gym Rats-Gold (IN) meaning they wouldn't qualify for the playoffs. It was another fine week though for lead guard Casey O'Shaughnessy (Bishop Kearney '19) who continues to impress the coaches watching as she led the offense and reduced her turnovers, with the entire Exodus (Bunk) team putting college coaches on notice.