To anyone unfamiliar with Memphis Hoops this happens to be one of the hottest beds in all the country for basketball at any level.
From the time the kids can crawl they are given a basketball and seemingly head straight-out to the red-hot asphalt or concrete courts that are spread out all through the beautiful City of Memphis and learn to play the game Memphis-style within a few years.
You see this is more than just a game in the City of Memphis this is a way of life and a ticket out of some of the most-oppressed economic situations in all of Tennessee and definitely the Mid-South region.
Big Time High Schools
Memphis hoops starts out with the area high schools such as Millington Central high school (Ron Spann 82 State Champs/MSU recruit 83-87), Christian Brothers, Raleigh Bartlett and Germantown to name only a few of the basketball high schools that are more like stopping grounds for college recruiters throughout the entire nation.
One would think that the University of Memphis would have a leading-edge two for accumulating the finest Memphis talent since the school is located in the heart of the city?
Multiple College Recruiting
With only a limited number of eligible scholarships that are available for the University that is most known for its Tiger basketball program this is where outsiders can come in and even steal a few of the best talent each and every year from the Memphis area and the Memphis Hoops hotbed college basketball mill.
Collegiate Talent
Each and every year the City of Memphis adds to the list of starters all across the nation for Division I in Division II college basketball upwards of 300 to 500 signees annually. When compared to any other region of the country even the big cities like New York and Los Angeles Memphis Tennessee ranks number one in per capita of major college recruits from this area of the country.
If the university does not acquire the top 5 to 10 college basketball blue-chip players each and every year there are always barbarians at the gate such as the Louisville Cardinals and the Tennessee Volunteers at work recruiting heavily from the Memphis area every year.
Rose Blossoms
Take 2009 for example and the player that was high on everyone’s list as being the best player in college basketball, Derrick Rose, and his rise to NBA greatness with the Chicago Bulls that happened to have started out at the University of Memphis as an All-American freshman.
Rose hailed from another great basketball city Chicago, Illinois but when he was 12 moved to Memphis to live with the grandparents where he learned to play the game of basketball Memphis style. The rest is history and as an NBA All-Pro Rose is said to grow each year in the league with his trademark style of hoops basketball.
To anyone unfamiliar with Memphis Hoops this happens to be one of the hottest beds in all the country for basketball at any level.
From the time the kids can crawl they are given a basketball and seemingly head straight-out to the red-hot asphalt or concrete courts that are spread out all through the beautiful City of Memphis and learn to play the game Memphis-style within a few years.
You see this is more than just a game in the City of Memphis this is a way of life and a ticket out of some of the most-oppressed economic situations in all of Tennessee and definitely the Mid-South region.
Big Time High Schools
Memphis hoops starts out with the area high schools such as Millington Central high school (Ron Spann 82 State Champs/MSU recruit 83-87), Christian Brothers, Raleigh Bartlett and Germantown to name only a few of the basketball high schools that are more like stopping grounds for college recruiters throughout the entire nation.
One would think that the University of Memphis would have a leading-edge two for accumulating the finest Memphis talent since the school is located in the heart of the city?
Multiple College Recruiting
With only a limited number of eligible scholarships that are available for the University that is most known for its Tiger basketball program this is where outsiders can come in and even steal a few of the best talent each and every year from the Memphis area and the Memphis Hoops hotbed college basketball mill.
Collegiate Talent
Each and every year the City of Memphis adds to the list of starters all across the nation for Division I in Division II college basketball upwards of 300 to 500 signees annually. When compared to any other region of the country even the big cities like New York and Los Angeles Memphis Tennessee ranks number one in per capita of major college recruits from this area of the country.
If the university does not acquire the top 5 to 10 college basketball blue-chip players each and every year there are always barbarians at the gate such as the Louisville Cardinals and the Tennessee Volunteers at work recruiting heavily from the Memphis area every year.
Rose Blossoms
Take 2009 for example and the player that was high on everyone’s list as being the best player in college basketball, Derrick Rose, and his rise to NBA greatness with the Chicago Bulls that happened to have started out at the University of Memphis as an All-American freshman.
Rose hailed from another great basketball city Chicago, Illinois but when he was 12 moved to Memphis to live with the grandparents where he learned to play the game of basketball Memphis style. The rest is history and as an NBA All-Pro Rose is said to grow each year in the league with his trademark style of hoops basketball.
Going Strong
Other notable Memphis area basketball players who went on to greatness in the NBA include Sylvester Gray and everyone’s all-time favorite Penny Hardaway of Orlando Magic fame.
You have to go back a few decades to find a basketball player with a name that gets any better than Penny in Memphis and Memphis Hoops and that would have to be listed as one of the players that played against Lew Alcindor or other wise known as Kareem Abdul Jabar in the 1973 NCAA Championship Game where the Bill Walton (44 points on 21 of 22 shooting) lead UCLA Bruins tripped up Memphis State University and won the National Championship. That player from the Memphis area was none other than Larry Joe Kenon. Memphis Hoops lives on!