Sheldon Hoops Struggles in Arizona Tournament
Jun 28, 2024 11:31AM ● By Alejandro Barron
The Sheldon Huskies after their win on June 16 against Carlsbad High School in the SoCal Summer Preview to qualify to participate in the Section 7 Arizona boys basketball tournament in Glendale, Ariz. Photo courtesy of @sheldon4peat on X
ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - As summer competition continues with teams preparing for the winter season for the 24-25 school year, the Sheldon Huskies qualified for the Section 7 Arizona boys basketball tournament.
The tournament took place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., a multipurpose venue that is home to the Arizona Cardinals and hosts the annual Fiesta Bowl. The tournament featured 400 teams.
Head coach of the Arizona Sun Devils basketball team, Bobby Hurley, spoke with the media at the tournament and said that it’s important for high school recruits to play with their high school teams.
He said especially in elite tournaments like the Section 7 tournament, it is good to get a taste of what the game is like at the college level.
According to BallerTV on X, which was in charge of live streaming the games, these teams were competing in front of more than 500 college coaches to showcase their skills.
In attendance, according to retweets from Section 7’s X page, were scouts from schools like the University of Arizona, Ohio State, University of Texas, University of Miami, UNC and more.
Section 7 had announced on June 20 on its X page that the tournament had been sold out.
The Huskies qualified for the tournament on June 16 by defeating Carlsbad High School in Los Angeles by a score of 71-65 in the SoCal Summer Preview.
The first day of tournament play took place on June 21, when the Huskies were featured in the Amazon Bracket and took on Olympus High School from Salt Lake City, Utah, a team that went 24-3 overall and won the 5A state title this past season.
The Huskies would go on to lose by a score of 75-64 in their opener and prepared for their two games on June 22 against Deer Valley and Laramie High.
Deer Valley did not travel far compared to the Huskies as they’re from Glendale, Ariz., where they went 27-4 overall and won the 4A championship in Arizona this past season.
The Huskies fell by a score of 65-53 in their 1 p.m. matchup (Mountain Standard Time) against Deer Valley and rested until 9:45 p.m. to take on Laramie.
Laramie High School is coming off a season where they went 22-4 overall and lost in the 4A state championship in Wyoming. The Huskies could not get in the win column against them, as they lost by a score of 60-56.
The Huskies' last chance to get into the win column was against Red Mountain High School, which was coming off a 15-13 overall record out of Mesa, Ariz., where they lost in the first round of conference playoffs.
The Huskies could not get the win and walked away from this tournament with a 0-4 record but were able to face elite competition from outside of California.
The Huskies will continue in summer tournaments this weekend in the Cali Live Boys 2024 Tournament in Roseville, an NCAA-sanctioned scholastic event for the best high school teams in California, according to Exposure Basketball.
