Here is the official announcement for the Dayton Elite Open Gym on Wednesday. There will be a $20 fee for players to pay for the jersey that you will receive at the event. Players should arrive at 5:30, get their temperature checked and then begin warming up. pic.twitter.com/T88JBKE9lS
— Miami Valley Hoop Vault (@mvhoopvault) July 13, 2020
Miami Valley Hoop Vault, a new website that ranks local high school players and teams, and Triple Double Prospects, a scouting service for Ohio and Kentucky, have teamed to put on the invitation-only event. Similar websites in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas have already held similar events this summer to help fill the gap of fewer AAU tournaments.
“I’ve wanting to do something like this for a while because of the lack of recruiting opportunities for kids around this area, especially this summer with coaches not being able to go to AAU tournaments,” said hoop vault founder Rob Ellis.
College coaches have had to pay to watch livestreams of AAU tournaments. But Ellis said many coaches have not been able to watch because of frozen funds as a result of the pandemic. Ellis and event partner Corey Albertson of Triple Double Prospects are not charging for the livestream to maximize exposure for the players.
Ellis is a junior at Tippecanoe High School and moved to the area in the eighth grade. He followed Columbus area high school players on 270hoops.com, and when he moved he wanted to start something similar for the Dayton area. He began the process of creating his website with an Instagram page in 2018. He started the website this summer and got connected to Albertson to help make this event happen.
Most of the players are still waiting for college offers, but a few of the ones participating have reported offers.
A.J. Braun, a 6-foot-9 senior center from Fenwick, has Division I offers from Ohio, Lehigh, Boston, Bucknell, Elon and William and Mary. Ben Knostman, a 6-2 point guard from Tipp, has DI offers from Lehigh and Winthrop plus several Division II and NAIA offers.
Juniors with reported DI offers are Alter guard Jacob Conner from Bryant, Thurgood Marshall guard Mekhi Elmore from Marshall and Huntington Prep and Beavercreek forward Adam Duvall from Youngstown State. Wayne sophomore guard Lawrent Rice has an offer from Ohio.
Shawn Phillips, a four-star 6-10 center and No. 2 player in Ohio, played this past season at Belmont. He was invited but is unable to participate. Phillips, who has 11 DI offers including Ohio State, Cincinnati and Xavier, has transferred to Ypsi Prep Academy in Michigan. Phillips will be teammates with Emoni Bates, who has committed to Michigan State and is the nation’s top player in the 2021 class.
Other players participating who were some of the area’s top scorers this past season are Dylan Stinson of Tri-County North, Cameron Harrison of National Trail. AJ Eller of Brookville, Anthony McComb of Thurgood Marshall, Layne Sarver of Tri-Village, Allen Lattimore of West Carrollton, Tyler Montague of Vandalia Butler and DayJaun Anderson of Ponitz.
The plan is for each team to play 3-4 games with a 16-minute running clock. New Dunbar boys coach Tony Dixon is helping with coronavirus protocols. A few other area high school coaches will help run the event.
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