BleedGopher
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per CBS:
The Under Armour Elite 24 is one of the nation's best events for college basketball recruits -- evidence being the way it's consistently lured top prospects to New York each August.
Jaylen Brown and Cheick Diallo are among the stars who participated last year.
D'Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay played the year before.
It's a game that's grown in terms of popularity and prestige -- somewhat because it's one of the few high school events NBA scouts are allowed to attend, mostly because Under Armour has never had to compete for prospects with another shoe company. But that second part is changing. Because multiple sources told CBS Sports that Nike has created, pretty much on the fly, a new event designed to draw players and attention away from Under Armour, one that was also certified by the NBA within the past week.
And the best part?
The event will be held in ... the Bahamas!
Which means Nike has decided the best way to prevent prospects from wearing Under Armour on ESPN is to offer them all-expenses-paid trips to the Bahamas on the exact days as Under Armour's Elite 24. In other words, prospects are now picking between three days in New York or three days on an island with some of the world's most beautiful beaches.
"That seems to be a pretty fair interpretation," Nick Blatchford, Under Armour's director of grassroots and college basketball, told CBS Sports on Thursday. "It's a paid-for vacation."
And, predictably, it's working.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...ur-battle-for-high-school-stars-is-heating-up
Go Gophers!!
The Under Armour Elite 24 is one of the nation's best events for college basketball recruits -- evidence being the way it's consistently lured top prospects to New York each August.
Jaylen Brown and Cheick Diallo are among the stars who participated last year.
D'Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay played the year before.
It's a game that's grown in terms of popularity and prestige -- somewhat because it's one of the few high school events NBA scouts are allowed to attend, mostly because Under Armour has never had to compete for prospects with another shoe company. But that second part is changing. Because multiple sources told CBS Sports that Nike has created, pretty much on the fly, a new event designed to draw players and attention away from Under Armour, one that was also certified by the NBA within the past week.
And the best part?
The event will be held in ... the Bahamas!
Which means Nike has decided the best way to prevent prospects from wearing Under Armour on ESPN is to offer them all-expenses-paid trips to the Bahamas on the exact days as Under Armour's Elite 24. In other words, prospects are now picking between three days in New York or three days on an island with some of the world's most beautiful beaches.
"That seems to be a pretty fair interpretation," Nick Blatchford, Under Armour's director of grassroots and college basketball, told CBS Sports on Thursday. "It's a paid-for vacation."
And, predictably, it's working.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...ur-battle-for-high-school-stars-is-heating-up
Go Gophers!!