by Ben Osborne / @bosborne17
Yes! One of our favorite moments in the high school season has arrived. Our good friends at the Jordan Brand Classic have announced the 2011 rosters and once again have let us have the news as early as anyone out there.
SLAM will once again be a partner with the Classic, which will be making its first-ever appearance in Charlotte in this, the game’s 10th edition. I’ll leave the official press info to the Jordan Brand Classic folks (just keep reading), but I did want to give them a special shout out for building easily the best rosters of any of this year’s high school events, and for including our man Quincy Miller in the proceedings.
Enjoy the news and remember that we’ll have you covered for all the Jordan Brand Classic news you’ll need between now and when the game tips off on April 16.
2011 Jordan Brand Classic Team Announced
Nation’s Top High School Basketball Talent Headline Star-Filled Roster For
10th Anniversary Showcase At Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena
CHARLOTTE, NC (February 15, 2011) – Jordan Brand, a division of NIKE, Inc., announced today that the top-five ranked ESPNU 100 players – No.1 Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL/Duke; in photo at right as shot by Kelly Kline/NIKE), No. 2 Anthony Davis (Chicago, IL/Kentucky), No. 3 Michael Gilchrist (Elizabeth, NJ/Kentucky), No. 4 Quincy Miller (High Point, NC/Baylor) and No. 5 James McAdoo (Norfolk, VA/North Carolina) – will headline the nation’s best high school senior basketball talent at the 2011 Jordan Brand Classic, presented by Foot Locker, at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte on Saturday, April 16 at 8:00 PM ET. This year’s event, which marks the game’s 10-year anniversary, will once again be nationally televised live on ESPN2.
This year’s Jordan Brand Classic will also include a Regional Game, showcasing the top prep players from the state of North Carolina in an East vs. West showdown. In its fourth year of the event, an International Game will feature 16 of the top 17-and-under players from around the world.
The tripleheader will begin with the International Game at 3:30 PM followed by the Regional Game at 5:30 PM, and the All-American Game at 8:00 PM. The International and regional rosters will be announced at a later date.
“As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Jordan Brand Classic, our goal remains to provide the student-athletes with a platform that will enhance their skills on and off the court,” said Keith Houlemard, President of Jordan Brand. “Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena is the perfect venue for capturing the talent and energy of these elite players.”
Also selected for this year’s event are Bradley Beal (St. Louis, MO/Florida), Khem Birch (Fitchburg, MA/Pittsburgh), Jabari Brown (Oakland, CA/Oregon), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Greenville, GA/Georgia), Michael Carter-Williams (Providence, RI/Syracuse), Rakeem Christmas (Bryn Athyn, PA/Syracuse), Michael Gbinije (Richmond, VA/Duke), P.J. Hairston (Chatham, VA/North Carolina), Myck Kabongo (Henderson, NV/Texas), Johnny O’Bryant (Cleveland, MS/LSU), Sir’Dominic Pointer (Winston-Salem, NC/St. John’s), Otto Porter (Sikeston, MO/Undecided), Shannon Scott (Alpharetta, GA/Ohio State), Marquis Teague (Indianapolis, IN/Kentucky), Adonis Thomas (Memphis, TN/Memphis), Kyle Wiltjer (Portland, OR/Kentucky) and Tony Wroten, Jr. (Seattle, WA/Washington).
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the Jordan Brand Classic alumni roster boasts some of basketball’s most recognizable names, including Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose.
Tickets for the Jordan Brand Classic are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, the Time Warner Cable box office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. For more information, please visit the official web site, www.JordanBrandClassic.com or follow the JBC on Twitter @JordanClassic.
