I know COVID hurt a lot of things in America. A lot of things have started back and I was wondering if that Summer League was coming back? Players from Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris, WVU and other schools played in it.
Whatever happened to the Pittsburgh Area Summer League?
- Thread starter VincePITT
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They haven't had one in something like four years. At this point it is likely to never come back. And covid didn't/doesn't have anything to do with it.
You never know!
But you are correct, Covid is not a factor in any way at all.
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By the way ... the last year was the summer before Stallings first year (2016). It also was NOT held in the summer before Dixon’s last year. (2015).
The first year it was held was the summer of 2006 and those games were held in North Allegheny. The next year, it moved to Greentree Racket Club, where it was played from the summers of 2007 to 2012. It was the summer of 2013 when the first games were played in Montour.
Getting "it" together would need to come from a willingness of the teams to want to play. The logistics of putting it together would not be an issue.
I could be mistaken, but wasn't there some stupid NCAA rule (well, aren't most of them?) regarding "organized" off-season basketball activity that had the effect of killing off these summer leagues around the country?
When you say ‘teams’, I’m guessing the roadblock is coming more from the coaches than the players.
If I was running that league, I'd try to get it going again but would set up NIL events to attract players. Like, have the free summer league where fans pay $0 and players are paid $0 but after each game, the players can sign stuff for money, hold mini clinics for money, etc.
It’s puzzling why the teams/ coaches wouldn’t want their players , especially in the current state of flux with rosters to play some organized team ball .
I don' think that was really the issue. I think what really prompted the end was the coaches are now allowed to work with their team all through the course of the off season. So there is no longer a "first day of practice" (known as Midnight Madness.) There was real incentive for the coaches to really "push" their team members to play in the Pro-Am so that they could indeed play in something organized. With practices already happening at this time, this is no where near as important.
Heck, we even get to see highlights on some of the July practices on the Pitt Hoops twitter.
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think coached are allowed to have several more formal practices during the course of the off season than they did previously.
It would all have to start with the coaches I would suspect. Although, I can also tell you there were a few issues with making sure all Pitt players were there to play as scheduled in the last year or so. That was really not a issue at all in the first five years or so. Some issues were legit, as certain players might have class on a scheduled night of the event. Also, the drive up from WV and the drive down from Youngstown State was tough on some players, and tough for coaches to "strongly encourage" players to make the trip.
Hmmm.....actually, that might not be a bad idea especially considering Hoopie fans will spend every dime they have on autographs and selfies from WVU players.
Ideally, you'd need a facility with a 2nd gym. Does Montour HS have an auxiliary gym? What I'd do is have the players set up shop in there before/after their games and then have them at tables signing stuff. Also have like a price list in there where you can pay to have them play HORSE or whatever with your kid. Maybe these guys can make play a game and make a couple hundred bucks each time. FWIW, this NIL thing is going to get way out of control
Such as shame to see the pro-am league fall apart. During the summers I spent in Oakland, there was nothing better than driving out to Greentree to see former Pitt greats like Chevy and Levance take on guys like Steven Adams and Lamar Patterson. It was like a real life simulation of all the hypotheticals we play out on these boards about dream Pitt hoops lineups.
