BOSTON — On Tuesday night at the Track at New Balance, 41 MIAA boys gathered for the Northeast High School Senior Showcase, where more than 30 college coaches signed up to scout the talent.
To understand the value of such an event, just ask Chris Harvey.
"These guys, again, they've become the forgotten group," said Harvey, the Salem State coach. "So for something like this — for these kids to be seen by all of us — it reminds us that there's really good players in the MIAA."
For decades now, New England's elite basketball players have increasingly opted for NEPSAC programs and other elite prep schools in the region while state associations like the MIAA have lost some of their biggest stars. But nights like the Northeast High School Senior Showcase, organized by Winchester boys coach John Fleming and Lexington coach Reggie Hobbs, signal a concentrated effort to give MIAA players what they need to get to the right college.
Exposure is at a premium in today's world of recruiting and a selling point for NEPSAC. In addition to its frequent open gyms in the fall, NEPSAC hosts multiple scholastic showcases during the summer live scouting periods. The Northeast High School Senior Showcase is meant to compare to such an exposure event.
The showcase had two games on two courts at a time, more manageable from a scouting perspective than an AAU tournament with dozens of games happening at once. Coaches didn't have to leave their seats to see every player.
"I can't speak for all my colleagues, but sometimes when you go and watch six, seven courts going on at the same time, it just starts blending," Harvey said. "Everybody looks the same. This, to me, is a great event for high school kids to be seen by colleges, both state and private."
The Northeast High School Senior Showcase is in its fourth year and first at the Track after years at Woburn High. It's not an MIAA-sanctioned showcase, hence the name, though MIAA players make up the field. Players sign up individually. Though high school coaches cannot lead these teams since they cannot coach players out of season, Fleming and Hobbs brought in some MIAA alumni who went on to play in college. Shawn Hebert (Ayer-Shirley/Worcester State), Derin Ongur (Lexington/Haverford), Philip Sughrue (Winchester/Roger Williams) and Jeff Tan (Winchester/Emerson) coached the teams.
"We told the players, you have an opportunity to talk to a current college player," Fleming said. "Talk about and ask about the process for them and where they are in that individually, where you are, and maybe where they were at the same time."
The games were high-energy and competitive. For seniors like Shawsheen Tech's Matt Breen, who said he turned down multiple prep school opportunities, the showcase felt meaningful.
"It's really nice of the coaches to get us all here to give some exposure to some schools around here," he said. "I think everyone had a lot of fun."
Fleming said the feedback from college coaches, many of whom have attended all four years, has been positive. He and Hobbs were intentional about scheduling the showcase in August when the AAU season was over but school has not begun. Harvey said he appreciated the timing as a coach who is often busy during the season, making it harder to check out local high school games.
"I think when coaches come, they see the talent level, and then they make those connections, and eventually have a couple guys on the roster, I think they know that this is valuable for them," Fleming said. "And again, it's the access. It's right here, right in front of your face. You see kids play three straight games, and you know what you have."
Fleming and Hobbs are looking to continue growing the showcase. There's a trade-off with its current scheduling — it's during the Division 1 dead period, which means those coaches cannot recruit or contact athletes in any capacity. But it also puts Division 3 coaches in a prime position to see the athletes that fit their systems.
"We've thought about maybe trying to pair it with the Wally Seaver Tournament, thinking about that [or] maybe even in June, but I don't think there's going to be a perfect time," Fleming said. "I think for a lot of these guys mostly at the Division 3 level, this is kind of perfect, and we found that."
Added Hobbs: "It's specific too, right? Because we're able to open it to any rising senior. So I think kids who are a little further along in the process who sort of recognize that they want to play, I think that's kept it manageable for us. I think if we open it up to other younger grades, it becomes a little bit more harder to manage."
The Northeast High School Senior Showcase is on a promising trajectory. So will a girls showcase happen too?
It's hard to say when. Because these showcases are not run by the MIAA, it takes people like Fleming and Hobbs coming together and arranging everything themselves.
"I think that it would be great to have a showcase, for sure, but I think, number one, would there be enough interest? Probably," Andover girls coach Alan Hibino said. "Number two, and I think bigger, is who's going to plan it? ... I think there are so many committed coaches on the girls side. We could run our own, and is it coming? Sure, if there's enough interest."
When organizing a scholastic showcase, coaches have to make sure they're not violating the MIAA's out-of-season coaching policies — another heavily-debated topic entirely. Newton South coach Joe Rogers says he's had discussions with the MIAA about what could be possible, but thinks a showcase might still be a year or two away. He envisions a showcase more like the NEPSAC, where school coaches can lead their actual rosters, versus having players join as individuals.
"In order for it to make any sense to run the event, you'd have to create a window where we were allowed to coach our kids for a certain period of time before it, right?" he said. "It doesn't make sense for us to all show up and play organized pickup. It makes sense that we would have not a long time, but a week or 10 days, that we could work with our kids before we held a live period event, and then be able to actually coach them in the live period event."
The bottom line: both boys and girls coaches recognize the importance of holding a showcase and providing aspiring college basketball players with exposure. And it's not all about retaining MIAA talent, but these events can help coaches appeal similarly to NEPSAC programs while they tout the positives of playing at a local public school.
"It's a challenge, right?" Fleming said. "I read an article about this the other day, kind of comparing the Olympics and the idea of cheering for your country [and] your home, as opposed to here playing for your public school. It's your hometown, right? And the difference of that between going to another school with kids you didn't grow up with, and you're kind of mixed together — we play that piece up, right? Because it's true — playing in a state tournament game in front of all your friends and family and with your buddies that you grow up with, it's special. It's unique."
