An ambitious big-money basketball tournament in Wanganui is all set to go, with 15 teams confirmed and still others expected to come on board.
The $10,000 HoopNation Basketball Tournament will be staged in the Springvale Stadium from October 22-24.
Organisers Paul Berridge and Karl-John Allen said they had confirmed entries from four teams in the premier men's conference, eight in the men's A grade and three in the women's A grade.
Berridge said they expected more entries to come in between now and Labour weekend, and were confident the women's division in particular would be boosted.
The winning premier men's team will get $5000, while A-grade men's and women's winners will get $2500 each. Every team that enters will receive a set of reversible uniforms to keep.
"Everything's set to go," Allen said. Both men said they were "thrilled" by the response they had received.
"We're competing against a national third-division tournament in Wellington the same weekend, and some of those teams have told us that if they'd known about our tournament they would have come here," Allen said.
"So we won't have this problem next year," he said.
Berridge said the quality of teams in the men's premier division alone was being bolstered, with some of the country's best basketball talent on show.
"These are players we believe will be a big drawcard to get people to the Springvale Stadium during the tournament," he said.
Confirmed players from Wellington include age-group stars such as Steve Adams, Brook Ruscoe and Dion Prewster.
Prewster is the Junior Tall Blacks' captain while Ruscoe is starting guard for the Auckland Pirates national league team.
But Berridge said the decision of 17-year-old Adams to come to Wanganui was the biggest thing for the tournament.
"He's just come off the back of an adidas camp in the United States and that's an invitation event which attracts NBA scouts.
"This kid hasn't played at university level yet, although he will be turning out for the University of Pittsburgh in the highly competitive NCAA basketball competition next year.
Others confirmed for the premier men's teams are Darryl Jones (starting guard for the Nelson Giants) and Aaron Bailey-Nowell (starting forward for the Taranaki Mountaineers).
A team from Auckland features Waikato Pistons import Kevin Smith and Pistons' bench player Brad Anderson.
Berridge said Wanganui would field two teams in the men's A division along with three from Wellington, one from New Plymouth, another from Taumarunui and one from Auckland.
"At the moment we've got two Wanganui teams and one from New Plymouth in the women's A grade, but another out-of-town team should confirm they're coming in the next 24 hours," he said.
He said the three-day tournament had also attracted the interest of a number of national league teams.
Wellington Saints coach Pero Cameron was sending Kenny McFadden up to scout the players, and Berridge said he was aware other national league teams would be looking at the talent on show.
"Both men's divisions will be a chance for up-and-coming players to play against NBL men and assess their skill level," he said.
Berridge said local players would gain some benefits from the tournament as they were pitted against top-quality players.
"There's Akira Masters from Wanganui High School who will be playing, and while he's dedicated to the sport he knows the development phase isn't really available locally for him. This is an opportunity for him to front up to these senior players.
"I've got him and another local youngster Jordan Hamlin, who's been at St Pat's College in Wellington, into one team. Both played for the Wanganui Wolfpack last year but this is a chance for them to get further recognition in front of those scouts," he said.
"These kids are champing at the bit for the tournament to start and play against these other guys," Berridge said.
Each division will be divided into two "conferences" of a maximum of six teams each, and there will be five games of round-robin play with two games on the Saturday, two on the Sunday and the last game on the Monday.
The conference winners will meet in the finals on the Monday.