Las Vegas Returns as College Basketball's Offseason Hub — SkimNews
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- Nike's EYBL circuit completed four days of competition across 22 courts at the Las Vegas Convention Center, hosting hundreds of boys and girls teams in 15s, 16s, and 17s divisions.
- Nearly every major college head coach attended alongside at least half the NBA's high-level general managers and presidents of basketball operations, including John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Dan Hurley, Brad Stevens, and Danny Ainge.
- The event marked the first time a live evaluation period coincided with the NBA's Las Vegas Summer League, with over 100 Nike NBA player alumni attending Session 4 per a Nike spokesperson.
- Las Vegas had been removed from the recruiting calendar after a 2017 FBI investigation led to convictions of 10 men, including four college basketball assistants; the eventual adoption of NIL rules made that decision seem shortsighted in hindsight.
- College coaches told CBS Sports that meeting with player agents was the primary draw — one Big East coach reported casual conversations with at least 20 agents during the week.
- Nike kept admission affordable at $10 per session for boys' games and under $90 for a four-day girls' pass, while Adidas, Under Armour, and Puma notably held no events in Vegas.
Why it matters: The convergence of AAU competition, NBA Summer League, and agent meetings in one city creates an unparalleled networking hub that could permanently reshape the offseason basketball calendar. Adidas and Under Armour's absence puts them at a competitive disadvantage, as coaches and agents increasingly treat Las Vegas as the essential annual gathering point — one high-level agent called it more important than the Final Four.
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