Nike Hoop Summit: Preview, viewing info and what to watch for

The 22nd annual Nike Hoop Summit will take place on Friday, April 12th in Portland, Oregon. This is one of the premier events in high school basketball with a host of former No. 1 picks having played in the game, including Derrick Rose, John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns.

It also adds the intriguing element of matching up United States born players against players from other countries around the world.

The Nike Hoop Summit will give fans an opportunity to see some of the best young players on earth, but that opportunity won’t go unpunished.

The game isn’t scheduled to tip-off until 10:00 pm EST on ESPN2.

Below is a look at both teams’ rosters for the 2019 Nike Hoop Summit:

Tyrese Maxey is representing Kentucky

Cats fans will want to make sure that they stay awake for the game to check out five-star guard Tyrese Maxey who is one of the twelve players representing team USA. My initial thoughts after looking at the roster for team USA was that it was heavily padded with big guys.

I expect Maxey will get a fair amount of time with the ball in his hands creating play-making opportunities. He will be playing alongside Cole Anthony who is the #1 rated player in the class of 2019.

After Ashton Hagans announced his intentions to return for his sophomore season, you can begin to see Kentucky’s back-court take shape for next season. Maxey is going to be a huge piece for the Cats offensively when he arrives in Lexington in just a few months.

Most people seem to think that he will thrive playing off of the ball as a primary scoring option. I will be interested to see him play with Cole Anthony at some point during this game.

Although Maxey is the only Wildcat commit at the Nike Hoop Summit, there are a few players still on the board for John Calipari and his staff.

Two Kentucky Targets

Matthew Hurt

6-9 Power-Forward Matthew Hurt will be making his college decision on April 19th. Kentucky has been incredibly involved in his recruitment for a long time and especially over the last few months. It was reported on Thursday by Andrew Slater that Hurt would host UK for one last visit before making his final decision.

Ideally, Tyrese Maxey would be in hurts ear during their time together encouraging him to take a hard listen to Calipari’s vision.

Hurt is considering Duke, Kansas, and Memphis. There has been a lot of moving pieces with each school on his list so it’s hard to say how recent moves and draft decisions may be impacting Hurt’s thought process this late in his recruitment.

Duke seems like the logical prediction but it is great news that Kentucky will be in to see him on Sunday.

Can we root for Maxey to focus on dishing some assists to Matthew Hurt on Friday? I think that’s ok.

N’Faly Dante

Dante is a class of 2020 five-star center that will be playing for the World team. He has been rumored to be a reclassification candidate into 2019 but as of now remains in 2020. LSU had been the clear leader in his recruitment but with the Tigers being in turmoil it has allowed programs like Kentucky and Kansas sweep in now. Dante will be a player to keep an eye on.

2019 Nike Hoop Summit

Date: Friday, April 12

Location: The Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

Game Time: 10 pm EST

TV Channel: ESPN2

Live Online Stream: WatchESPN

Rosters: USA | World