LOUISVILLE, Ky — Tucker Neale is a popular man this week in Louisville. 

What You Need To Know

  • NCAA certified girls basketball tournament is in Louisville this week

  • 900 teams from around the globe are here to play basketball

  • Many are thrilled to see the tournament happen considering COVID-19 shut so many things down

  • The teams are here for competition and to have college coaches look at their performances

 

The former college basketball player — he once led the nation in scoring and still holds the Colgate University points record — and former NBA prospect has built a youth sports empire.

Through his company, Ohiobasketball.com, Neale produces the Run 4 Roses basketball tournament for travel girls teams to showcase their talents for college scouts.

"I always felt there was a better way to do things and being under one roof is the best model possible," Neale said.

He found the biggest roof in the city.

During the first week of July, 900 teams were signed up to play on 60 courts at the Kentucky Expo Center. The tournament is certified by the NCAA, so hundreds of coaches from all levels, all corners of the country have signed up to scout high school talent. Neale pointed to a section of wall next to the arena's main entrance where hundreds of school logos had been taped in ascending rows. They were in no particular order. SEC schools appeared next to division three schools in the collage. Under each logo, a coach's name was listed denoting who would be representing the program at the tournament. Under an image of UCONN's iconic blue huskey, Geno Auriemma's name was printed. One of the most recognizable faces in all of college sports — male or female — was expected to pull up a courtside chair before the week was over.

"Girls basketball is a wonderful sport," Neale said. "Girls don’t get enough credit for the things they’re doing and women don’t get enough credit. So we’re trying to put them on a higher platform here."

Teams had come from around the country and beyond. Neale smiled and said the Chilean girls national team would be playing. And, while the wall of coaches was impressive, the international visitors likely did not realize the transformation the Expo Center had undergone over the previous year. 

In early April 2020, as Kentucky dealt with mounting hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19, the national guard built 2,000 beds and curtain arrangements, forming an emergency hospital in case the city's hospitals became overwhelmed. Though it ended up unused, the beds remained in June and again in November as next door another massive room was converted into Kentucky's largest polling location to handle sizable voter turnout that weighed in on a presidency and a Senate seat, among other races. Yet another arena, typically used for rodeos, was cleared of dirt to facilitate a mass vaccination site.

Now, just months later, the din of whistles, applause, and sneakers on parade flooring drowned out memories of a tense year prior, and better memories were being made in the building.

"It's a beautiful sight … Beautiful," smiled Todd Ricard as he looked around the room. Ricard and his team from the Hawaiian island of Maui worked harder than most teams to be in Louisville.

"All in all, about a 12-hour plane trip," Ricard smiled again.

"We want to be competitive, but I think for them it’s more the experience of what it’s like on the mainland — not just for basketball, but if they go to school in general."

If any of his girls get a scholarship out of the trip Ricard will be elated. But they came to find competition off of their small Pacific island.

For this week, for these athletes, Louisville is the center of the universe.