Yes, you read that correctly. Every couple of years Team USA Basketball congregates for some type of tournament. Whether it’s the Summer Olympics or the newly instituted FIBA World Cup, international basketball seems to be on the rise. Just this summer, Team USA held a mini-camp and invited several past, current, and potential future team members to learn from each other and some of the best coaches in the world. But here at eDraft Sports, we wanted to see what would happen in a hypothetical basketball world. So, naturally we looked to children for guidance.
The Little League World Series is set to get underway as it does every August. Youth baseball players from around the world meet in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to play some ball. The setup of the LLWS is particularly interesting, and that is where this story begins. The LLWS is broken into two “conferences”: USA and International. Within those conferences are regions, and within those regions are specific teams from specific states from specific towns. In smaller, regional tournaments, these towns play to advance to represent their state, and then their region in the championship rounds. The question we want to know is: what if this style was used to determine who represented Team USA?
I’ll give you an example. The eight regions that constitute the LLWS are: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Great Lakes, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and West. So the champion from the Great Lakes faces the champion from the Northwest in a bracket style, until a winner is determined (think NCAA Tournament). So, what would a basketball tournament with NBA players look like in this manner, and who would win said tournament to represent the USA? That is where our quest begins.
There are a couple of ground rules for determining eligibility for the tournament. Each team consists of 12 players, regardless of position. If a player is born outside the USA and lived there for more than 5 years before coming to the USA, they are not a part of any USA region. Further, if a player is born in a state but moved before they started playing high school basketball, they are placed in the region where they started playing meaningful basketball. Is this arbitrary? Somewhat, but it is also the best way to determine where a player would represent. Finally, if a player has represented another country internationally, they would belong to that country/region, even if they met the first two requirements.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to break down each of the eight regions and see who would make the team, who would just miss the cut, and why. We can't go down to the individual state level, simply because there aren't enough players to form enough teams. Then, we’ll use your input to determine who would win in potential matchups between regions. Would the Great Lakes beat the West? How would the Mid-Atlantic fare against the Southeast? Can the Northwest make a run to the finals? Stay tuned to find out, and if your favorite players make the cut.