DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. – You can’t help but be impressed with an event like U.S. Junior Nationals because, as the title above lets you know immediately, we’re talking about four days worth of controlled chaos, or an abundance of organized confusion if you will.
How else can you describe it? You have 240 teams separated between four classifications (platinum, gold, silver, bronze) playing five games in four days plus any potential playoff games later. Especially at a large, 10-court venue like the Capital Sports Complex, which has been brutally hot thanks to a heat wave currently gripping the east coast, there are parents milling about all over the place, kids making their way to their games and referees making their way to their assigned courts.
Of course, we wouldn’t be doing our job here if we didn’t mention what has been a crush of college coaches from far and wide that have made the trip to the Maryland/Washington D.C. area. When a team from the platinum bracket plays a game at Capital Sports, no matter the hour or the court assignment, you can bet Coaches Row is filled to the gills.
What about me? It’s been pretty hectic. I spent 12 hours at Capital Sports watching platinum games on Friday and another 10 or so at the University of Maryland’s Comcast Center doing the same thing. Much of the basketball in the platinum bracket has been top-notch with some of the nation’s very best Nike-affiliated squads going at it. You can’t really complain about your job too much when you get to watch players like Jewell Loyd, Taya Reimer, Michaela Mabrey, Chloe Pavlech and Sierra Calhoun go at it.
Am I getting a little tired at this point with early mornings and late nights down in D.C.? Yes. However, I’m a ball-a-holic, always have been and always will be. With that said, if you can find me a better place on the girls side this weekend to see some of the nation’s best players, I’m all ears.
As I type this from inside the bowels of the Capital Sports Complex, pool play is finishing up today with single-elimination playoffs beginning with the round of 16 at 6 p.m. and the quarterfinals slated for 9 p.m. With the top two in each platinum pool advancing out and into tonight, that is when the real fun will begin.
Who will come out on top tomorrow afternoon in the final? Nobody knows for sure, but the one thing I do know is I’ll be watching intently.
