LOUISVILLE—Do you know what really makes this event for me? No, it’s not only the city. No, it’s not only being in a building that I grew up coming to nearly every month. What really gets me is sitting at the college courts. How cool is that? After having experienced the setup three times now, it still hasn’t lost its luster.

I’m riding high off of my midday trip to Sunergos, but I’ve also got that post-event buzz that only comes following the best days of basketball. This was one of those days. 

Allow me to walk you through some of what has me so enthused after 12 hours in the gym.

Atak’s Attack

3D Empire is always going to bring quality basketball. You can set your watch by them. Their program produces great talent. 

The next in line for the Empire is 6-foot-8 forward Kuol Atak. His potential is ridiculous. Long and lean, Atak runs the floor well and brings bothersome length on defense. While slight, he’s not soft down low when battling for boards or positioning. 

He brings plenty of versatility to the floor as well. Atak is a killer from mid-range, he can shake a defender and make a drive off the bounce, and he seems comfortable shooting from the perimeter. 

With added bulk and some further skill development, we could be looking up this time next year, and he’ll have risen to one of the hot commodities amongst high-level coaches. 

All Wright

Team Brandan Wright has had a great start to their spring, and that momentum continued on Saturday morning with a win over YoungPro Global. 

It was the Brandan Wright backcourt that shined again. The combination of Jayson Nixon and Jack Medalie was tremendous at Atlanta Jam a few weeks ago and looked the part yet again. 

Medalie led the team with 17 and Nixon racked up several assists. The pair has good chemistry and it was on full display. 

MidPro’s Machine Keeps Rolling

MidPro Academy has got to be one of the five best independent teams out there. This is an absolute machine. 

Their starting five is as good and well-balanced as I’ve seen. Shoe affiliation be damned, this team can play with anyone in the country. 

I’m based out of the south, so I can’t speak to this as staunchly as I’d like, but I’d venture to guess that there aren’t many better point guards in the Midwest than Brock Harding. 

Surrounding him with wings like Ethan Kizer, Danny Stephens and Ty Pence is almost unfair. That’s an all-D1-caliber perimeter in my book. 

Let’s not forget about Owen Freeman, the Iowa-committed big man down low. 

This group had more firepower than most, we saw it often last season, and we’re seeing it again this season. To say they dominated when I saw them on Saturday wouldn’t do it justice. 

Heading into Sunday, this group is undefeated, and all of their wins have come by double digits.