North Carolina coach Roy Williams was among the college coaches eyeballing a strong field of uncommitted talent on display Wednesday at the Beach Ball Classic.
“The Beach Ball Classic is always a good draw [for college coaches] because it’s always such a good tournament,” Williams said. “I’ve been down here before when I’ve had players that were already committed, now we’re down here looking at some guys who are not committed.”
This marks the sixth trip to the event for Williams - who has coached his alma mater to a pair of NCAA titles - since he returned to Chapel Hill in 2003, 10 days after leading Kansas to a national title.
Though coaches are not allowed to discuss individual recruits, this year’s tournament features several high-profile players who have yet to choose a college, including Bishop Gorman (Nev.) 6-6 senior guard Shabazz Muhammad – widely regarded as the top prospect in the nation, Chicago Whitney Young’s 6-11 sophomore center Jahlil Okafor and 6-9 junior Julius Randle of Prestonwood Christian Academy (Texas).
Trips to Myrtle Beach have reaped rewards for Williams, who landed former Beach Ball participants Danny Green – now with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA – and current Tar Heel sophomore Kendall Marshall, who was a Sporting News freshman All-American last season.
“It’s always good to see games because when people are trying to win championships, you like to see how they are going to mature once they get into a tournament, how they are going to build momentum once they get in a tournament,” Williams said. “And we have a lot of very high-quality teams, so you see them matched up against some great competition.”
Traveling crusaders
Prestonwood Christian is taking advantage of its traveling schedule to do something positive. The team has partnered with the TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation to raise awareness for children’s cancer and research to combat it.
TeamConnor was formed in 2008 in honor of Connor Cruse, a Prestonwood student who lost his battle with Neuroblastoma at 8. The team wears the organization’s logo, Connor the Caterpillar, on the back of their jerseys to bring attention to national childhood cancer awareness. Players including star junior Julius Randle regularly wear a Team Connor shirt.
“We’re playing for him this season,” said senior and Kansas commitment Zach Peters. “It really drives us because he had a great heart and attitude toward his deal. For someone to be able to fight something like that at that young an age really motivated us to play the season for him.”
Prestonwood won the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., prior to Christmas and visited patients in the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida on Dec. 18.
“You have a different kind of outlook on life when you leave [the hospital] because you see that if you’re maybe having a bad day or something bad happens to you, guess what? You’re not lying in a hospital bed,” Peters said. “You’re out playing basketball and living a life. You have to be able to look and see you’re really blessed, a lot more blessed than some people going through some struggles.”
The team looked into visiting another children’s hospital while at the Beach Ball. But the closest one they could find was in Charleston, and coach Chris Mayberry wasn’t sure if time constraints would keep them from making the trip.
“We may still look into it,” Mayberry said. “I think it’s really humbled our kids, saying we’re representing way more than just ourselves. . . . It’s just a great cause that we’re trying to get some awareness about out there.”
Scoreboard watching
A fire in October at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center has had beneficial effects for the 31st Beach Ball Classic.
It forced the purchase through insurance of a new scoreboard that has resulted in a lot less labor and less disruption on the court between games, because it allows scoreboard operators to put team names up electronically rather than manually.
In past years, the scoreboard had to be lowered and the team names had to be placed.
“We decided we’d upgrade to the electronic team thing because that was an option, and it was worth it,” said Myrtle Beach Convention Center general manager Paul Edwards. “You don’t want anything bad to happen to get something, but either way we have a new one.”
A group was moving things in for a convention using a high lift that blew a hydraulic hose and caused a fire. “It was sitting right underneath the scoreboard. Some people say [Beach Ball executive director] John Rhodes said to pull it under the scoreboard,” Edwards joked.
The fire, hydraulic fluid, rubber hoses and water caused about $650,000 in damage. The scoreboard was replaced in three weeks because the South Carolina Warriors, a new American Basketball Association team, was moving into the building to play its home games. The Warriors now play their home games in Little River, but the scoreboard remains.
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