It looks like the St. Louis area will be getting some national exposure during the high school basketball season as area powers Chaminade College Prep and McCluer North are slated to meet on February 12 in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
Details are still being worked out for this event, which will mark the first time that two St. Louis prep basketball teams will be featured on ESPN, since the network started broadcasting national prep games on a regular basis in 2002 when then-prep superstar LeBron James was a senior in Akron and his games were a staple on ESPN. The network has increased its coverage of prep sports by showing high school football and basketball games. Parkway West and Kirkwood played in a nationally-televised game on the old SportsTime Cable network back in 1991.
The probable venue of the game is the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a tip-off time at 4 p.m., but those details are still being worked out as well for this unprecedented event.
“This is a great thing for St. Louis,” said Chaminade coach Kelvin Lee. “It’s great for both of our programs as well as the St. Louis area.”
Added McCluer North coach Randy Reed, “This game will really put St. Louis basketball on the map. It shows that people are people are paying attention to what’s happening in St. Louis and we have some great players.”
The entire nation will get a chance to witness the talents of two of the nation’s finest players in guards Bradley Beal of Chaminade and B.J. Young of McCluer North. Both were dominant players during the summer as they raised their national profile to Top 20 status in the Class of 2011.
The 6’4” Beal is a national Top 5 recruit who has excelled at the local, national and worldwide stage during his career. He led the St. Louis Eagles 17U team to a terrific summer, which included two nationally televised games on ESPNU in July. Beal was also the Most Valuable Player of the FIBA 17U World Championships in Germany after leading the USA to a gold medal. Beal committed to the University of Florida.
The 6’4” Young skyrocketed into the national spotlight with several dynamic scoring performances while playing for St. Louis Gameface during the summer. Young enjoyed several 30 and 40-point performances during the summer as he led Gameface to a fifth-place finish at the AAU 17U Nationals in Florida. He is headed to the University of Arkansas. McCluer North also features rising 6’8” junior forward Jordon Granger, who also has several Division I offers.
This is a tremendous and well-deserved honor for both of these programs, which have won state championships in recent years. The local players and basketball clubs around the area did a wonderful job of representing our area with several butt-kicking performances during the summer at national tournaments in boys and girls hoops. For the first time, we had three area players ranked in the top 20 with Beal, Young and former Wellston star Ben McLemore, who is now at Oak Hill Academy.
The big winner in all of this is St. Louis area basketball. This is a testament to all of the players and coaches in the STL who have held it down for several years so these young men can get this rare opportunity to shine in the national spotlight.
Congratulations to our young hoopers in the STL.
