New York Gets Ready To Rumble

It's the second week of June and already the ground is shaking with anticipation. The Rumble in the Bronx once again descends upon Fordham University and surrounding venues from Friday June 11th until Sunday June 13th.

NYCHoops.net spoke exclusively to Jim Hart, the Rumble in the Bronx Tournament director with regard to this year's talent. Hart said quite simply that the field is "Loaded."

One of the unique features about the Rumble is that it is probably the only New York tournament that attracts the upper tier out-of-state teams/players and the upper tiered Metropolitan area teams/players. This year is no different as the event features fourteen 14U, thirty-six 15U, forty 16U and fifty-two 17U teams.

In addition to the Rumble being a coming out party for NIKE teams, who have been limited to playing in NIKE events versus other NIKE teams, it's also a first look at the 17U teams minus the graduating seniors.

New York Talent

Some of the teams reppin' the home turf are the New Heights 17U's with Jermaine Sanders, Tyquan Goodlet (St. Anthony) and Darrel Lucky (Paul Roberson). New Heights athletic director Kimani Young also says to beware of their 15U squad who has Terrence Samuels of South Shore and 6-foot-8 Jordan Washington from Pathway HS (rumored to be going to Christ the King). The New York Panthers will be coming full throttle with Maurice Harkless, DeShaun Wiggins, Jeffrey Short and Shaquille Thomas. The NY Gauchos will also be packin' heat as their 17U's feature Angel Nunez, Omar Calhoun, Shaquille Stokes and P.J. Torres from New Rochelle HS and their 16U's come with Jevon Thomas, Da'Shawn Suber and Achraf Yacoubou's younger brother Fidel. The Juice All-Stars 17U will have Davontay Grace, A.J. West and Kevin Smith from Huntington Prep and their 16U will feature Abraham Lincoln HS's incoming 6-foot-2 frosh shooting guard, Isaiah Whitehead and Shaq Mosley from Uniondale HS.

Hart's Albany City Rocks team is no joke either. "We got DaJuan Coleman, Derek Millinghaus and Jerrel Scott, a 6'5" 2-Guard," says Hart. Tyler Harris was also supposed to be on the City Rocks but Hart says he doesn't expect him to play.

Out-Of-State Talent

Representing out-of-state talent, Hart says the defending champion Team Final squad will be bringing Mike Gilchrist, Rakeem Christmas and Trevor Cooney. "They also got a kid, Dion Jones who's supposed to be pretty good," says Hart. "Of course you have the Dallas Mustangs (TX) with LeBryan Nash and the Franchise All-Stars (TN) with some of the top 70 kids in the country like Chris Coleman."

From the Tri-State area, the Playaz Club (NJ) with Myles Davis, Myles Mack, Derrick Randall and Desmond Hubert look to make a major impact minus Kyle Anderson, who's leaving on Friday to participate in Adidas Nation. "CBC (Connecticut Basketball Club) should be pretty good too," says Hart. "They've got Andre Drummond."

In the younger divisions, Hart says that Garner Road (NC) should represent well in all age groups and BABC from Boston has one of the top 15U teams in the country. "They will probably win the 15U division," says Hart.

NYCHoops.net will bring you wall-to-wall coverage of this year's Rumble in the Bronx with key game recaps, player interviews, video highlights as well as daily top performers.

Click Here to view this Link.