It feels like high school basketball season just ended - because it did. It's still chilly enough outside for me to not consider it spring, and in the end of March, it's projected that our entire region will get hit with even more snow. With that being said, it doesn't feel like summer is approaching.
But it is. It's officially less than three months from the scheduled start date of the 3rd Annual Empire State Takeover summer league, which means it's go time! After much thought & work, figuring out summer AAU schedules and how to make things work as well as possible for as many players of interest as possible, the dates are set.
For a 3rd straight year, the 518-based summer league will be taking place at Union College in Schenectady. The league, like last summer, will primarily be held on Wednesday nights, with opening night slated for June 28. However, the schedule will differ from last year from the standpoint that a pair of weeks will be skipped over, and two other weeks will have two league nights. Still, seven nights over seven weeks. The dates:
June 28
July 12
July 17
July 19
July 31
August 2
August 9
The outliers, July 17 and 31, are Mondays. The others are Wednesdays. This will be done due to anticipated low numbers over the two Division I live periods in July, where many girls are all over the country in AAU tournaments. July 12 will still pose a problem for some of those, but it's certainly better than the alternative.
As usual, every team plays in two games per night. If there are eight teams like last year, game times will again be 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30. No team will ever play 5:30/8:30, and I'm going to make a more concerted effort this summer to try & keep everyone at a 5:30/7:30 or 6:30/8:30 slot week by week. The only difference in schedule format from the previous two years lies on August 9 (playoff night), where every team will get a guaranteed two games instead of single-elimination. More details on that when the schedule is released in early June.
As far as game play goes, there will be one main difference. One of the major points of the league is college exposure, and the vast majority of players in the league will eventually move on & play college ball. In an effort to mirror the college game as much as possible, the time format will change from two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters. Team foul rules will also change, like the college game did before last year, to per-quarter into the double bonus. Timeout rules will change accordingly, so as not to extend the games beyond their allotted time on a consistent basis.
So, there it is. Union College again, mainly Wednesdays with a couple Mondays this summer. No one can say I don't get my information out EARLY!! Well before AAU programs have practices scheduled and other high school summer leagues have the details in order, the dates and times are out in the open. If anyone schedules their things on the same time as EST... they cannot say it's because I didn't inform everyone!
Last year's league featured 27 girls in the Class of 2017. To date, 22 of them have committed to schools to continue their academic & athletic careers, with 10 of them doing so on scholarship. It also featured many of the region's finest basketball players in the Classes of 2018, 2019, and 2020, with one already committing to a Division I program and six others already having scholarship offers. What will 2017 EST bring? One thing I do know; it's only going forward!
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