For so many years in the state of Arizona, our state has been really void of many opportunities for Arizona's top prospects to gain maximum exposure to college coaches, scouts and media. As a result, Arizona top club teams and players have ventured out of the state to have an opportunity to improve their college recruitment. This weekend's Southwest All-American Camp did just that for each of the camp participants, while also establishing a new event that will take the state to another level each year.
While there are many events that take place in the state throughout the year and Arizona's basketball prospects participate in them, often the elite prospects do not play due to a lack of any basketball scouts or college coaches at these events. Top prospects often play in the many events that are held in the state, without any real exposure gained from playing in such events. Last weekend's Southwest All-American Camp proved to be much different as loads of scouts/media attended - raising the bar for exposure events in the state.
Such top-rated scouts/media as Josh Gershon (Scout Hoops), Gerry Freitas (The Hoop Review), Chris Karpman (ASU Rivals.com), Roy White (West Coast Hoops), Ryan Silver (West Coast Elite), Jeff Meadows (Hoops Report), Derek "DJ" James (Arizona Preps/Arizona Hoop Review), Michael Clark (Arizona's Finest MixTape) and, of course, myself and Gregg Rosenberg (Arizona Varsity / AZ Prospects.net) were all in attendance for the event - making for maximum exposure for each of the camp's participants.
While most major exposure events in the West have the same claim, events in Arizona consistently get overlooked by such top-rated scouts/media - forcing Arizona's top-rated prospects to have to travel to other states to gain maximum exposure. This is not the only reason for top basketball prospects to play the game, of course. Players need to play for the love of the game and to develop through playing against good competition, but it definitely helps a great deal. An opportunity to have a great performance and see the benefits in one's college recruitment and possible player rankings are very attractive to today's top prospects.
Our staff is very thankful for the many scouts/media that attended last weekend's event, and are hopeful that we can continue to build on this success in next year's event. The state of Arizona is growing a great deal in the sport of basketball, and events such as this will be vital in the future for helping Arizona's top prospects gain maximum exposure.
