Adidas champion NY Rens will face Nike EYBL champ the Georgia Stars on July 22nd in Las Vegas. (Photo by Kelly Kline/adidas)
The NY Rens — champions of the adidas Gauntlet Finale event — and the Georgia Stars — champions of the Nike Peach Jam — will meet in a showcase game on July 22nd in Las Vegas that will be streamed online.
The game will pit Rens stars Rawle Alkins and Mustapha Heron against Georgia Stars’ standouts Wendell Carter Jr. and Jared Harper.
“This is pretty much just like high school, this is the defacto national championship,” Rens coach Andy Borman told SNY.tv Monday morning.
“Pretty much the adidas champ and the Nike champ, the two best circuits in the country, get to play against each other on Wednesday night at Bishop Gorman High school.”
The Rens beat the Atlanta Celtics Friday night in Suwanee, Ga., to win the adidas Gauntlet, while the Georgia Stars handled the St. Louis Eagles Sunday afternoon at the Peach Jam.
“We ran through he adidas tournament,” Borman said. “We had really good game aginst the Team Loaded, we won by three, but every other game we won convincingly.
“From what I gather the Stars did the same thing on the Nike circuit. So you have two teams playing with a lot of momentum. This is the reason we play and coach AAU. It doesn’t happen very often where the two best teams get to play each other.”
Borman estimated that 85-100 coaches watched every Rens game at the adidas event, with many focusing on Alkins and Heron.
Alkins remains wide open in his recruitment, and holds offers from Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, St. John’s, N.C. State and many more.
Heron is working with a list of SMU, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, St. John’s, Maryland and Marquette — but it’s not final.
As of Monday morning Borman hadn’t heard anything new from college coaches, but quipped, “My phone hasn’t rung yet. I think these coaches are still recovering from watching a million basketball games in four days. But at 1 or 2 [p.m.] today my phone may malfunction.”
