“We didn’t find out until just 30 minutes before the tip off that he wasn’t going to be able to get here,” Eric Horstman, the Flyin’ to the Hoop founder and president said Tuesday afternoon. “We had prepared a real prime time entrance, so to speak, for him.”
Even so, it’s not like he was missed.
There was plenty of sports celebrity here without him.
With Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Ohio State’s Thad Matta, Minnesota’s Tubby Smith , Dayton’s Archie Miller and coaches from three dozen other colleges in the stands and several of the nation’s top-rated prep prospects — guys like Huntington Prep’s Andrew Wiggins (No. 1), Prime Prep’s Emmanuel Mudiay (No. 3) and HCYA’s Justin Jackson (No. 15) — on the court, basketball fans had to feel like they had gone to hoops heaven.
In its 11th year, the tournament is a showcase for future college and pro stars. At least 25 Flyin’ to the Hoop alumni have or are playing in the NBA.
Both for the cost — $40 for a four-day, 20-game general admission pass — and considering what you see, I don’t think there’s a better sports ticket in town.
The public seems to agree.
“Our attendance was up over all previous years,” Horstman said. “We easily had 5,000 people each day — over 20,000 for the tournament — and, of course, there was that unbelievable crowd Friday night (for the opener between Thurgood Marshal and second-ranked Findlay Prep of Las Vegas.) The stands were full and we had people standing three deep around the track at the top the arena.
The Flyin’ crowd drew a wide assortment of fans, everyone from former NBA All-Star Antonio Davis to Pine Club owner Dave Hulme, who sat a couple of rows from courtside each day.
Davis, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, was here to see his son A.J., who plays for Buford High in Georgia, go against Xenia and Fairmont. Afterward he pulled Horstman aside and commended him on the tournament.
“And Dave Hulme, that’s an interesting story,” said Horstman. “Each year our tournament runs about the same time as his anniversary. His wife asks him what he’d like and each year he says, ‘How about if I spent some time over at Flyin’ to the Hoop?’ That’s a testament to our tournament.”
Tuesday afternoon Horstman — his voice hoarse — said it felt “sort of surreal” that the tournament, after all those months of planning, was over.
Pulling off an event like this — this year 33 teams came in from nine different states — can have its share of behind the scenes problems. One year the just-fired coach of a San Diego school pocketed the plane ticket money Horstman had sent and left his team stranded in California — while he came to Dayton on the sly.
This year, a heavy North Carolinas snowstorm grounded the Winston-Salem based Quality Education Academy team on Thursday night just before they were to leave to play Saturday and Sunday night games here.
“You don’t want to cancel any games so when a DEFCON 1 situation happens, we have a contingency plan,” Horstman said. “This year we had 85 teams that had wanted to get into the tournament and we asked a couple of the private and charter schools who didn’t get in the field to be on a stand-by list. They have a little more leeway and that’s how we got the Kentucky school (Ft. Academy of Jackson, Ky.) to fill in at the last moment and play Westerville North Saturday night.
“Then we found out Prime Prep was getting in early, so we asked if they would be willing to play Springboro Sunday night and they jumped all over it.”
Legendary treatment: One scene that made me smile Monday came as I was standing next to UD assistant coach Kevin Kuwik outside the Alter dressing room as he waited to talk to Knights' coach Joe Petrocelli, who was engaged in another conversation.
“I’m just waiting to kiss the ring,” Kuwik grinned. “He’s a legend.”
The 75-year-old Petrocelli had just won the 822nd game of his 49-year career, his 12-1 Knights topping Cleveland Central Catholic, 75-67.
“Just about a week ago I found out I was going up against a legend tonight,” said Jonathan Harris, the 33-year-old Central Catholic coach. “Looking over at a guy, I figured win, lose or draw I’d learn from him. You can bet your bottom dollar, Coach Harris will be chasing him — I’m way back on the wins list now — but I want to be just like him.”
Unsportsmanlike conduct: While many coaches' efforts were especially impressive this year , there were a couple of guys who were not — and none more so than the ever-whining young assistant coach from the New York-based Our Savior New American. He complained about every call, back-talked the referees and got into it with Beavercreek fans sitting courtside.
“Go back to the hick town you came from,” he finally sniped at them.
After the Beavers 65-53 thrashing of Our Savior, they did just that.
Local connections: Along with Beavercreek, the local teams who best showcased themselves were Franklin, Alter, Fort Recovery and Xenia.
The All-Tournament team included Franklin’s Luke Kennard, HCYA’s Jackson, Walnut Hills’ Isaiah Johnson, Dave Bell of Garfield Heights, Sam Logwood of LaLumiere and Prime Preps’ Mudiay.
Memorable: One scene I will remember from this year came after Prime Prep had thumped Wayne, 77-61. in the tournament's final game Monday night.
After the gym had mostly cleared, the Prime Prep players congregated at their bench before heading to their bus and the trip back to Texas and they were quickly surrounded by young kids from here who had stayed behind to get autographs on their programs, their t-shirts and their tennis shoes.
Like I said Deion Sanders wasn’t missed.
There was plenty of Prime Time here already.
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