GreatLakeState
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From Portland Tribune. The other kid mentioned, Kyle Singler,
is another white kid and consensus top 10 player in 2007:
 NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.  The Portland Elite Legends had
put Oregon on the national spring-summer basketball map,
going head to head with the nation's top AAU teams and
winning more often than not the past two years.
  "In my opinion, they were the best team in the country," says
University of Arizona coach Lute Olson, who watched the
Legends roll to victory in the Houston Kingwood Classic in
May. "They were far and away the best team I have seen."
  Benson High coach Troy Berry, in his 11th year as coach of
the Legends, had visions of grandeur as his team came to this
week's Nike Peach Jam as the top seed. The Legends also
had their sights on winning the Main Event, a big tournament in
Las Vegas July 22 through July 25.
  "We were on the verge of accomplishing something nobody
in the history of AAU travel basketball has done  win four
straight national tournaments  and we were going to do it two
years in a row," Berry says. "We were going to pull off a Tiger
Woods, the grand slam of AAU basketball. Everybody was
talking about us."
  Everybody was talking about the Nike Inc.-sponsored
Legends this week, too, but for different reasons. Star players
Kyle Singler and Kevin Love didn't make it to the Peach Jam.
  Singler, a 6-8 junior-to-be at South Medford High and the son
of ex-Oregon State quarterback Ed Singler, tore the meniscus
in his right knee at the Nike All-America camp in Indianapolis
on July 5 and had surgery.
  The 6-9 Love, who will be a junior at Lake Oswego, is no
longer with the Legends â€â€and his departure has created a
huge stir.
  "Nike fired him," says his father, Stan Love.
  The move came after Kevin Love participated in Reebok's
ABCD camp July 4 through July 9 in Teaneck, N.J., instead of
the Nike All-America camp, which ran at the same time.
  "Nike told him, 'Don't bother to go to the Peach Jam, and
we're no longer associated with Kevin Love,' " Stan Love says.
  Kevin Love and Singler made the Legends "really special,"
Olson says. "The big guys can both pass the ball. They were
really impressive. ... It's a shame."
  The Legends were left with eight players at the Peach Jam â€â€
Seth Tarver of Jesuit, Tresean Owens, Nick Burns and Bryson
Hampton of Benson, Marquis Hall and Dontae Bryant of
Jefferson, Paul Noonan of Beaverton and Mike McLaughlin of
Lake Oswego. They battled and played hard, but,
undermanned, the Legends were no match for the best teams
in the tournament. They went 2-3 and failed to make it out of
pool play into the quarterfinals.
  "All the kids on our team got cheated," Berry says.
  "It's really disappointing," Tarver says. "We had the greatest
momentum we could have had going into this big tournament.
To lose (Singler and Love) was real crucial. It's like playing with
a whole new team.
  "When I heard about Kyle, I was like, me and Kevin  I mean,
our team  can still do it, because Kevin is so good. But when I
heard about Kevin, I knew it would probably be too difficult."
 ÂÂ
  Coaches split on system
 ÂÂ
  Love had earned the No. 3 player ABCD ranking behind 7-1
Indianapolis center Greg Oden and 6-5 Cincinnati guard O.J.
Mayo. Love was rated among "five who are ready for the NBA
now" at ABCD by SI.com. The flap with Nike that kept him out of
the Peach Jam had big-time coaches at Riverview Park
Activities Center buzzing.
  "It bothers me," Olson says. "It's like, let the kids play. A kid
chooses to go to a camp somewhere. ... It's gotten to be
ridiculous, the competition among the three (shoe companies).
We're now at the point where you eliminate choices. College
coaches would like to see all the camps run at a different time,
so the kids could play them all. But that's not going to happen."
  But other coaches, including Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, offer a
different perspective.
  "Listen, it's a business, and (Nike is) entitled to run it as such,"
Krzyzewski says. "We have to understand that. The summer
stuff has actually been cleaned up quite a bit in recent years. I
would like to see some coordination of what is done (between
the shoe companies), and I would like to see USA Basketball
involved. I think that would clear up many of the problems."
  Love originally committed to play in the Nike All-America
camp, then decided to participate in the Reebok ABCD camp
 in part for a chance to test himself against Oden.
  Stan Love says he consulted Nike basketball executives Don
Crenshaw and Lynn Merritt about it, "and they gave their
blessing to go. They said, 'That's a great idea. Kevin should
play against the best players.' And a week later, they fired him."
  Tarver, who originally played for the Reebok-sponsored
Portland Panthers before switching this year to the Legends,
also participated in the ABCD camp. Berry says the Tarver
situation is different because Tarver originally had committed to
ABCD when invited to the Nike All-America camp.
  Last week, Kevin Love wore an ABCD shirt during an
appearance on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" morning show.
  "Maybe he should have worn a generic shirt, but he was
being respectful to the camp he attended and wore their shirt,"
Stan Love says. "Nike had a big problem with that, too.
  "Last time I checked, Kevin isn't under contract with Nike or
anybody else. He's a 16-year-old kid who wants to play against
the best competition he can find. The shoe companies are all at
war with each other, and in this instance, they're taking it out on
Kevin."
  The Loves had been souring on both Nike and Berry
throughout spring and summer.
  "We told Don and Lynn we were going to fulfill our
commitment (with the Legends) this year, and we were going to
entertain other options after that, which meant we weren't
playing for Troy anymore," Stan Love says. "We've had enough
of Troy poisoning the well, putting Kevin down all the time."
  Whether that had anything to do with Nike's decision remains
unclear. Crenshaw, who helps coordinate the Peach Jam,
referred questions to Nike public relations representative
Rodney Knox. When asked why, Crenshaw said, "because
that's the way we do things."
  Repeated calls to the phone number Crenshaw provided for
Knox were answered by a recorded message that said, "The
person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.
Please try again later."
 ÂÂ
  Moving on
 ÂÂ
  Love will play in the Main Event in Las Vegas with the
Southern California All-Stars, a team ranked No. 1 in the
country by Basketball Beat despite the shellacking they took
from the Legends in the Houston tournament in May.
  "If that's what's best for Kevin, great," Berry says.
  The Legends, meanwhile, might be on their last legs. Berry,
42, says he has grown tired of the time commitment and the
effort recruiting players to his program and might give it up.
  That would be too bad, says Oregon State coach Jay John.
  "Troy's a great coach and a good guy," John says. "His team
is always one of the best-coached in the country at the travel-
team level. They have good spacing, and they share the ball. A
lot of times with travel teams, it's hard to get guys to play as a
team because they all have their reputations to uphold. The
Legends don't play that way."
  Word is that next year, Love and Singler will be the featured
players on a new Reebok-sponsored AAU travel team run by
Ernie Spada of United Salad, a Portland company that has
been involved in basketball for years.
is another white kid and consensus top 10 player in 2007:
 NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.  The Portland Elite Legends had
put Oregon on the national spring-summer basketball map,
going head to head with the nation's top AAU teams and
winning more often than not the past two years.
  "In my opinion, they were the best team in the country," says
University of Arizona coach Lute Olson, who watched the
Legends roll to victory in the Houston Kingwood Classic in
May. "They were far and away the best team I have seen."
  Benson High coach Troy Berry, in his 11th year as coach of
the Legends, had visions of grandeur as his team came to this
week's Nike Peach Jam as the top seed. The Legends also
had their sights on winning the Main Event, a big tournament in
Las Vegas July 22 through July 25.
  "We were on the verge of accomplishing something nobody
in the history of AAU travel basketball has done  win four
straight national tournaments  and we were going to do it two
years in a row," Berry says. "We were going to pull off a Tiger
Woods, the grand slam of AAU basketball. Everybody was
talking about us."
  Everybody was talking about the Nike Inc.-sponsored
Legends this week, too, but for different reasons. Star players
Kyle Singler and Kevin Love didn't make it to the Peach Jam.
  Singler, a 6-8 junior-to-be at South Medford High and the son
of ex-Oregon State quarterback Ed Singler, tore the meniscus
in his right knee at the Nike All-America camp in Indianapolis
on July 5 and had surgery.
  The 6-9 Love, who will be a junior at Lake Oswego, is no
longer with the Legends â€â€and his departure has created a
huge stir.
  "Nike fired him," says his father, Stan Love.
  The move came after Kevin Love participated in Reebok's
ABCD camp July 4 through July 9 in Teaneck, N.J., instead of
the Nike All-America camp, which ran at the same time.
  "Nike told him, 'Don't bother to go to the Peach Jam, and
we're no longer associated with Kevin Love,' " Stan Love says.
  Kevin Love and Singler made the Legends "really special,"
Olson says. "The big guys can both pass the ball. They were
really impressive. ... It's a shame."
  The Legends were left with eight players at the Peach Jam â€â€
Seth Tarver of Jesuit, Tresean Owens, Nick Burns and Bryson
Hampton of Benson, Marquis Hall and Dontae Bryant of
Jefferson, Paul Noonan of Beaverton and Mike McLaughlin of
Lake Oswego. They battled and played hard, but,
undermanned, the Legends were no match for the best teams
in the tournament. They went 2-3 and failed to make it out of
pool play into the quarterfinals.
  "All the kids on our team got cheated," Berry says.
  "It's really disappointing," Tarver says. "We had the greatest
momentum we could have had going into this big tournament.
To lose (Singler and Love) was real crucial. It's like playing with
a whole new team.
  "When I heard about Kyle, I was like, me and Kevin  I mean,
our team  can still do it, because Kevin is so good. But when I
heard about Kevin, I knew it would probably be too difficult."
 ÂÂ
  Coaches split on system
 ÂÂ
  Love had earned the No. 3 player ABCD ranking behind 7-1
Indianapolis center Greg Oden and 6-5 Cincinnati guard O.J.
Mayo. Love was rated among "five who are ready for the NBA
now" at ABCD by SI.com. The flap with Nike that kept him out of
the Peach Jam had big-time coaches at Riverview Park
Activities Center buzzing.
  "It bothers me," Olson says. "It's like, let the kids play. A kid
chooses to go to a camp somewhere. ... It's gotten to be
ridiculous, the competition among the three (shoe companies).
We're now at the point where you eliminate choices. College
coaches would like to see all the camps run at a different time,
so the kids could play them all. But that's not going to happen."
  But other coaches, including Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, offer a
different perspective.
  "Listen, it's a business, and (Nike is) entitled to run it as such,"
Krzyzewski says. "We have to understand that. The summer
stuff has actually been cleaned up quite a bit in recent years. I
would like to see some coordination of what is done (between
the shoe companies), and I would like to see USA Basketball
involved. I think that would clear up many of the problems."
  Love originally committed to play in the Nike All-America
camp, then decided to participate in the Reebok ABCD camp
 in part for a chance to test himself against Oden.
  Stan Love says he consulted Nike basketball executives Don
Crenshaw and Lynn Merritt about it, "and they gave their
blessing to go. They said, 'That's a great idea. Kevin should
play against the best players.' And a week later, they fired him."
  Tarver, who originally played for the Reebok-sponsored
Portland Panthers before switching this year to the Legends,
also participated in the ABCD camp. Berry says the Tarver
situation is different because Tarver originally had committed to
ABCD when invited to the Nike All-America camp.
  Last week, Kevin Love wore an ABCD shirt during an
appearance on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" morning show.
  "Maybe he should have worn a generic shirt, but he was
being respectful to the camp he attended and wore their shirt,"
Stan Love says. "Nike had a big problem with that, too.
  "Last time I checked, Kevin isn't under contract with Nike or
anybody else. He's a 16-year-old kid who wants to play against
the best competition he can find. The shoe companies are all at
war with each other, and in this instance, they're taking it out on
Kevin."
  The Loves had been souring on both Nike and Berry
throughout spring and summer.
  "We told Don and Lynn we were going to fulfill our
commitment (with the Legends) this year, and we were going to
entertain other options after that, which meant we weren't
playing for Troy anymore," Stan Love says. "We've had enough
of Troy poisoning the well, putting Kevin down all the time."
  Whether that had anything to do with Nike's decision remains
unclear. Crenshaw, who helps coordinate the Peach Jam,
referred questions to Nike public relations representative
Rodney Knox. When asked why, Crenshaw said, "because
that's the way we do things."
  Repeated calls to the phone number Crenshaw provided for
Knox were answered by a recorded message that said, "The
person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.
Please try again later."
 ÂÂ
  Moving on
 ÂÂ
  Love will play in the Main Event in Las Vegas with the
Southern California All-Stars, a team ranked No. 1 in the
country by Basketball Beat despite the shellacking they took
from the Legends in the Houston tournament in May.
  "If that's what's best for Kevin, great," Berry says.
  The Legends, meanwhile, might be on their last legs. Berry,
42, says he has grown tired of the time commitment and the
effort recruiting players to his program and might give it up.
  That would be too bad, says Oregon State coach Jay John.
  "Troy's a great coach and a good guy," John says. "His team
is always one of the best-coached in the country at the travel-
team level. They have good spacing, and they share the ball. A
lot of times with travel teams, it's hard to get guys to play as a
team because they all have their reputations to uphold. The
Legends don't play that way."
  Word is that next year, Love and Singler will be the featured
players on a new Reebok-sponsored AAU travel team run by
Ernie Spada of United Salad, a Portland company that has
been involved in basketball for years.
