The event is sponsored by Nike, but the tournament will feature the richest field of Nike, adidas and independent teams certainly outside of the July evaluation period and maybe anywhere.

HoopGurlz.com will be at the Showdown in full force, with both myself and Glenn Nelson, Courtney at our booth to collect and create Player Profile Pages and take head shots, and three professional video cameramen from www.nwgamefilms.com. Even though this is not an NCAA evaluation event, through our written, photographic, audio and video coverage, any college in the country can be there - virtually.

This Memorial Day party also will serve as a launch of our Platinum Membership. We will begin offering those, we believe, on Monday for $49.95 per year. Memberships will allow access to all Evaluations, which will become premium this weekend, as well as summary stories that focus on top players at events and evaluations. Platinum Members also will get priority in the creation of Player Profile Pages, and will be entitled to discounts on other items as we add them.

Next week, we also will be offering the game videos as downloads. We will announce pricing and purchase process in the next couple of days.

The pools for this year’s Nike Midwest Showdown are stacked and getting out of pool play will be a feat. The host team, All-Ohio Black is in the same pool as DFW Elite. That means a likely clash between two of the top players in the 08 class - Dunning and Pope. Hayes, Sykes and the Lady Essence team will have to face off with the always tough Ohio Legends if they are to repeat as the Elite Division Champs. The Tennessee Flight with Avant (Tennessee commit, 2010 class), Barrett and Candace Wood (North Carolina commit, 2008 class) have the Family, another perennial Nike-sponsored powerhouse. Exodus, out of New York, will have Leary, Prahalis, Smith and Alexa Roche, another top 50 player in the 2008 class.

Cincinnati’s Finest, led by Gray (Tennessee commit, 2008 class) is in the same pool as the West Coast Elite and their trio of bigs in Bone, Gayle and Monique Oliver. Also in that pool are the K.C. Selects with Latia McGee and the oft praised Roanoke Stars. In another pool you have Johnson and her Tennessee Pride squad along with Shegog and the Fairfax Stars, Clayton and Team Unique, the always tough Michigan Crossovers and rumors abound about an under-the-radar post on the SMAC Showtime team who will look to make a name for herself and her team. In the last pool the Atlanta Celtics and West Virginia Tornadoes are joined by four others to complete the Elite bracket field.

The fields are set, the schedule is out and there are some marquee games coming right out of the chute: Exodus vs. The Family, SMAC Showtime vs. Tennessee Pride, Texas Blazers vs. Tennessee Flight, the Alabama Lasers vs. Fairfax Stars, K.C. Selects vs. West Coast Elite and Team Unique vs. Michigan Crossovers. This is a great way to kick off the summer and prepare these teams and players for the viewing period this July.