Date: August 24, 2009 at 13:39

When you are showcasing your team to college coaches, which the Knights have done during the month of July with great frequency, the best way to determine your success is not with wins and losses but with how many coaches continue to crowd the coaches section at your games and how many stop you inquiring about some of your players. Now winning is important too and is a goal, but in these events is does take a back seat to displaying players where coaches want to see them. "Can we see this guy handle the ball more?"..."can he defend the perimeter?"..."can we see him on the blocks?"; These requests obviously must be met for the players' benefit and you must incorporate that into your game plan. Sometimes in doing so, you lose some rythm, players play out of their comfort zone or out of position and if you win it's icing on the cake. That is something every team deals with so it impacts all teams.
The Knights won 1 game and lost 2 during the event but players already receiving some interest got more interest, some who had not gotten much attention in Myrtle Beach or in Charlotte got some attention in Greensboro, and we can call it a success as almost every Knights players impressed someone at one level or another.
That is the benefit of these events, and attending as many of them as possible! Players noone knows get on the recruiting map and coaches will watch them in the future. Recruiting magazines and newsletters will print names of good performers and coaches will access this and keep an on them and their progress in the coming year or two. Because the Knights routinely had 9-20 coaches at their games in Greensboro and given the exchanges between Knights coaches and these "scouts", we can call it a successful July for Knights players.
Among the Knights top performers the event facilitators took note of were Juandrico Walker, Tyrice Thomas, Aaron Baker, Kris Jones, and Lamarr Coles. More importantly every Knights player performed well enough to at least receive an inquiry and for that we are proud and pleased. During July's two "evaluation periods" (July 6-15 and July 22-31) the Knights were the states most active team attending the top recruiting showcases on the schedules during both of those critical July evaluation periods. During these events, the Knights were proud to see Brian Daniels, Juandrico Walker, Tyrice Thomas and Steve Woods impress at every venue and become recognized names to most recruiting writers and many coaches who, by the end of the Greensboro event had enough info to do a biography on each player.
With Coach Jones' expertise and contacts (Reclaiming the Game) and the addition of Kris Jones, Aaron Baker and Marquis Roberts along with Brian Daniels and Steve Woods who have already been entertaining offers, the Knights benefited from players who had impressed in other venues which brings attention to their teammates providing more exposure. Credit each player for capitalizing on the added exposure.
Special thanks would go to team mother Mrs. Debra Daniels who provided much needed support and backing to help make these opportunities available to our team and to Mrs. Vickie Coles as well as they make up the "dynamic duo" of team mothers. There are none more caring and willing to sacrifice for all of the kids be it staying up late to wash and dry uniforms, run to the store for drinks, fruits and other necessities, spend their own money when a player depletes his funds. Mrs. Daniels and Mrs. Coles are wonderful!
We are proud that our players, coaches and parents made the sacrifices to ensure that our players were able to take advantage of what amounted to 10 days of basketball in front of over 500 college coaches and recruiting services giving Knights' players maximum exposure during the busiest July "evaluation period" schedule of any team in Virginia! Look at the schedules of the four Big Shots events (the largest recruiting showcases in America), and the only team in Virginia that you will see in every event was the Norfolk Knights! Thanks to Coach Jones, Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Coles and all of our parents, we are proud to have afforded our players exposure to college coaches umatched anywhere in Virginia!
The Knights have arranged to repeat this busy schedule in 2010 and include more events throughout the season where organizers send live video feeds of games to coaches during non-evaluation periods to even provide more exposure for Knights players. They will do this as Hampton Roads Elite, a anme change that will reflect a roster that includes players from nearly all 7 Hampton Roads cities.