Greater Cincy is like the odd man out when it comes to having a shoe sponsored team, but it is more due to the shoe companies like to avoid change when they find success with programs. NIKE has had All OH Red and King James for the longest in OH. King James has had some turmoil this past year, but as long as they survive there is not going to be a 3rd program in OH. Adidas has OBC that is a long standing OH program and then Indiana Elite not far away. These programs don't want to see another program get sponsored in their area of recruiting so they want some protection as long as they are getting the top prospects in the market. The entire situation makes it very hard to see a new program jump into the mix. Not sure what Under Armor has in the area, but as far as NIKE & Adidas it will be unlikely to see a new program jump in unless King James can't get it back on track.

 

King James is gone. It is now C2K Elite and a UA sponsored program...

Kentucky Royals 2019 includes a lot of top 9th and 10th region players (Deere, Houston, Macke, Ohmer, Jolly, Allen), with a couple additions from Cincinnati (Alec Pfreim and Justin Pappas). A lot of D1 buzz last weekend in Ft. Wayne when they blew through pool play and bracket play 4-0 and battled EYBL Indy Heat, Dontaie Allen with 37 and Alec Pfreim 25 for the Royals, Isaiah Thompson with 35 for the Heat. They still need the shoe company contract and there have been conversations with Nike, so we will see.

 

Not trying to send shade on the team getting a shoe company contract, but it just does not work that way. A single team rarely gets into the EYBL unless you have a Top 10 prospect like Marvin Bagley in 2018 whose father was given a spot before his junior HS season. NIKE is not looking for good teams, they are looking for the next LeBron. Romeo got his own Adidas team for his final year in Adidas, but he was the #3 player in National Rankings. Allen is good and will play D1 basketball, but he is not in the same realm as those two guys. It is very hard and I hope the team gets what they are hoping for, but that just is not how the shoe companies look at things.

Ok. You're right.

Ok. You're right.

 

It isn't that I am right, because I could just as easily be wrong. It is just not as simple as a team being really good and having a really good player like Allen. There is more of a chance to get a Friend of Nike 15U or 16U spot and play in the EYBL in those age divisions. for 17U EYBL, those EYBL spots drop to 40 and there are more than 40 long time established NIKE programs with history of having really good teams with D1 players year after year. So taking a single team that does not have a program with younger teams equally stacked with D1 prospects is a long shot. I hope they get it, but if NIKE wants Allen to play in the EYBL they will try to help one of their established programs in a border state land him as one of their three border state players. To expect anything else would be a departure from the past. With King James being out, that does leave the potential for some program though in the Cincy area perhaps.

There is roughly 1 legit high major prospect in the Cincy area each year. There are 5-7 legit high major prospects on pretty much every EYBL roster every year. Simply not enough talent to support an EYBL level program in Cincinnati...

Kentucky Royals 2019 includes a lot of top 9th and 10th region players (Deere, Houston, Macke, Ohmer, Jolly, Allen), with a couple additions from Cincinnati (Alec Pfreim and Justin Pappas). A lot of D1 buzz last weekend in Ft. Wayne when they blew through pool play and bracket play 4-0 and battled EYBL Indy Heat, Dontaie Allen with 37 and Alec Pfreim 25 for the Royals, Isaiah Thompson with 35 for the Heat. They still need the shoe company contract and there have been conversations with Nike, so we will see.

 

Those EYBL tourneys are completely unfair to un sponsored teams. We beat the Nike team last year and went 3-0 in pool play but they moved Nike (2-1) into the better bracket play and didn't give us any bracket play whatsover.

Those EYBL tourneys are completely unfair to un sponsored teams. We beat the Nike team last year and went 3-0 in pool play but they moved Nike (2-1) into the better bracket play and didn't give us any bracket play whatsover.

Life. Unfair. Facts...