The Nike Spring Showdown at the Merrillville Fieldhouse was a great event. It was especially great since it was Easter weekend. Most of the top AAU programs in Chicago were at the event including Meanstreets, Mac Irvin Fire, Illinois Wolves, and Illinois Warriors. Representing Indiana were Indiana Elite, D3 Pride, D-Rose Uptempo, CAPS, and Indiana Select.

Indiana Elite-Team Indiana, which features 5 Indiana University commits (only 3 were healthy enough to play), lost in the first round of tournament play to the eventual champions Terry Porter Elite. It was a back and forth game, but Yogi Ferrell was the only player for Indiana Elite that played well for the entire game. Some others played well in stretches.

D3 Pride lost in the first round of tournament play as well. They played a very tough Mac Irvin Fire team that features many of the top 2012 talent in Chicago. Gary Harris led D3 Pride with 22 points. Mike Ramey added 18 points all off of 3’s.

D-Rose Uptempo played this weekend without Harry Wills (prom), Kendall Waters (back therapy), and Daniel Purvlicis. They did have Stephan Hawkins and Elijah Ray though. Coach Stallings said Ray and Hawkins will be playing the rest of the season with them. Uptempo lost a tough pool play game to D3 Pride despite a great game by Petey Balls.

Indiana Select lost a heartbreaker to Dorian’s Pride after leading most of the game. Ray Lee had a huge game for Dorian’s Pride. Indiana Select would go on to win the Silver bracket championship though.

Mac Irvin Fire 16’s won the 16U gold bracket championship. Led by 6’10” super prospect Jahil Okafor.

Indiana Elite-Kendrick won the 15U gold bracket. Jeremie Tyler, 6’1 SG Tech, had a great tournament for Coach Kristof Kendrick’s team. Tyler had a game where he scored 20 points in the first half on his way to 30 points and the next game he had 27 points.

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