STOUGHTON, Mass. — It’s not often that the top shoe circuit grassroots teams from New England compete under the same roof. It’s even rarer that they play against each other. But that’s what we saw this weekend at the Dana Barros Basketball Club.
BABC, Mass Rivals and Middlesex Magic – three of the top shoe circuit teams from the region – were among the many talented grassroots squads that competed at the annual Zero Gravity Boys National Finals, and they ultimately had to go through each other in pursuit of Sunday’s championship. After each team went undefeated in Saturday’s pool play, Sunday’s eight-team 17U division bracket treated us with some must-see matchups.
BABC ultimately took home the trophy after prevailing over the Magic in the semifinals and then Rivals in the championship game in instant classics. The semifinal BABC/Magic game featured a fun, standing-room only atmosphere around Court 2 for a rare matchup between two of the region’s best before BABC held on over Rivals to claim the title after coughing up a late double-digit lead. BABC improved to 33-0 this spring as head coach Leo Papile’s group continued to cement itself as one of the country’s best grassroots teams.
Here are 10 standouts from the 17U division who caught my eye during the two-day event.
