For
as long as we can remember, 3 shoe company sponsored basketball programs have
dominated the state of Ohio. Until recently, All-Ohio (Nike), King James (Nike)
and the Ohio Basketball Club (Adidas) have been the only options in terms
participation in elite basketball circuits. Things are about to get very
interesting, as staring with the 2017 season, the Buckeye State will have a
fresh new option when Quincy Simpson’s C2K Elite program hits the courts.
Simpson’s
vision for his Commitment 2 Kids Elite program revolves around player
development, athletically, academically and spiritually. Having coached and trained many of the state’s
elite players for several years, Simpson has always strived to run a program
that emphasized more than just “rolling out the ball.” Moreover, as he has done as head coach of the
very successful Lima Senior High School program (LSH) and as the lead man for
the 2016 King James Shooting Stars, Simpson wants to create a “family
atmosphere” with his new program. “Our
teams will practice, develop, have academic sessions and will do community
service. This will truly be a family, the same way my family is with LSH,”
Simpson said.
According
to Simpson, in year one, his program will be fully sponsored and will field teams
in 3 grade divisions 2020 through 2018.
Each of the 3 teams will play in some capacity on the Under Armour
Association (UAA), an elite circuit similar to Nike’s EYBL and Adidas’
Gauntlet. With the arrival of Simpson’s program, the UAA will give Ohio players
another national stage in which to compete at an elite level, while also playing
in front of college coaches and scouting services. Simpson and his organizational team is
already busy developing rosters, a schedule, website and social media accounts
in preparation of the upcoming season.
In addition, Simpson has already secured commitments from many of the
state’s elite players, coaches and established programs. As an example, Chris Anthony, coach of the
very successful 2020 Ohio Bulldogs program will bring his roster of studs, and
will coach the U-15 team, while Steve Wright will coach the U-16 team and
Simpson will coach the 2018 squad.
With
4 shoe company-sponsored programs in the state (yes, Drew Joyce will still be
in the game in some capacity), the obvious question is can the state produce
enough talent to field 4 elite level teams. We asked All-Ohio’s Jerry Watson
this same question. “We’ll have to see,”
said Watson. “People will have to
project talent better [in order to find enough kids],” Watson said. “They [Under Armour] are coming into a tough
market. We’ll have to gage their success
after they go through the first season to see how they do,” Watson continued. We posed the same questions to Nike’s John
Stovall and he was a bit skeptical. “It
all depends. You can field as many teams
as you like; the questions is, can you field enough teams to be successful at
the national circuit level,” questioned Stovall.
OBC’s
Mike Duncan believes that state has enough talent for a 4th program.
“I think there’s enough. To be honest, it’s all about coaching. If you can get
good coaches and you practice [you can be successful],” said Duncan. “If you can get 3 D-Is [division I players]
and a couple of D-IIs, you can win,” continued Duncan. “We will have to see,”
Duncan said. We also spoke with Ken
Taylor, coach of the 2019 King James team, who is also skeptical of Ohio’s
ability to field 4 elite teams. “The population is just not there. We’re not
Chicago or New York. Will the teams be watered down? With out a doubt,” Taylor
said. Although he doubts there’s enough talent to go around, Taylor
acknowledges that Under Armour’s presence in Ohio will “create more
opportunities for Ohio kids to play with other top kids and to be seen.”
By
most accounts, a new Under Armour program in the state is a win-win situation
for Ohio basketball, and represents a tremendous opportunity to raise the
profile of Ohio basketball. Although
there will be challenges for the fledging program, the sky is the limit for
Simpson’s program. Continue to follow
Buckeye Prep for updates on the program’s progress.
