Beach Ball Notebook: New court offers different look to tournament

Regular spectators of the Beach Ball Classic had become accustomed to seeing the tournament’s signature court featuring its red and black logo highlighted by red and black trimmings around the perimeter.

Things look a little different this year.

For the first time since the tournament moved to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center from Socastee High School in 1994, the 35-year Beach Ball Classic has a new playing surface.

Beach Ball executive director John Rhodes said the previous court was 30 years old and it had been already been repaired three times. It belonged to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and was part of a 1994 renovation project that allowed that venue to begin hosting the event.

“It was to the point where we’d spent $18,000 to $20,000 on shipping and getting it repaired and we might get another five years out of it. They already told us the court had already seen its best days,” Rhodes said. “So we made a decision we had to get a new court.”

Rhodes said the new court cost $80,000, and the Beach Ball Classic nonprofit, which also spent significant money for the state-of-the-art scorer’s table that debuted for the 2014 tournament, is paying for it over two years. Rhodes said being a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame selection committee for high school coaches allowed him to negotiate a savings of up to $40,000 for the court.

Rhodes said the floor was used this past summer for NBA-affiliated events.

Beach Ball committee member Chad Smith designed the court. It is wood colored with blue and yellow accents, has the City of Myrtle Beach seal in the center, words Myrtle Beach and Convention Center on opposite baselines and a couple tournament/sponsor logos near midcourt.

“We felt if we were going to do another court, since we’re on television we needed to let people know where we really are, so we felt to put the City of Myrtle Beach seal in the center and let Myrtle Beach be the name, it would help the identification of where we are located on national television. And let me tell you, it looks darn good on TV. That center court pops.”

Speaking of TV

The Beach Ball Classic received national television coverage for the first time last year, and the television exposure has expanded for the 35th edition this week.

Twenty-one games are being broadcast through numerous networks and outlets.

Games are being broadcast on American Sports Network (ASN) in more than 100 markets through Sinclair Broadcast Group, according to Beach Ball director of broadcasts Allen Smothers, as well as on Comcast SportsNet, Dish Network and DirecTV on channel 665. Locally the games are on WPDE 15.2, which is channel 1240 on Time Warner Cable. On HTC Cable, games are broadcast on channels 4 and 93, and HTC is providing streaming video at www.htcconnect.com.

The 21 games include all winner’s bracket games, the third-place game and consolation championship.

The college women’s games at the convention center last week were also on Comcast SportsNet.

American Sports Network broadcasts events of several conferences including the Big South Conference, Atlantic 10 and Conference USA.

The on-air talent calling the games includes play-by-play announcers Smothers, Tyler Watkins, Big South Conference and ACC announcer Mike Hogewood and Layne Harris.

Analysts are Ralph Patterson of ESPN, Tommy Gaither, Wayne Gray, former Socastee coach Tommy Johnson, Conway High’s Ashley Smith, former Coastal Carolina basketball player Colin Stevens and Van Coleman, who will work with Smothers on the championship game.

The broadcasts also have intros and halftime shows hosted by Banana Jack Murphy, and coach interviews at halftime and post-game conducted by Caroline Springs.

Schwartz recipient

Rhodes, who has overseen the tournament since its early years, is the recipient of this year’s Lambo Schwartz Ambassador Award.

The award is voted on by the BBC committee and Rhodes was unaware that he was the recipient until he was called out for a presentation during last week’s CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational girls tournament. He’ll be formally presented with the award this week.

Rhodes was a sponsor of the inaugural tournament in 1981 as owner of the Gullyfield Restaurant and soon became the tournament director at the request of Beach Ball founder and longtime Socastee coach Dan D’Antoni, who is now coaching Marshall University.

He has spent time as an assistant coach on the U.S. Albert Schweitzer team that features the country’s top high school players, and has been on the McDonald’s High School All-American Team selection committee and HOF selection committee.

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Beach Ball Notebook: New court offers different look to tournament."