The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) made its first ever appearance in the Bay Area over Memorial Day weekend.

Forty of the top Nike sponsored Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) teams from all over the country appeared at Dream Courts in Hayward as they played in the fourth session of the event.
This is the fourth and final session of the EYBL and the top five teams in the four divisions will be eligible to participate in the Nike Peach Jam in August.

According to representatives of the event, Nike sets up four sessions in different regions of the country and asks one of the teams in the region to set up the session; for this year’s West Coast session, Nike asked the Bay Area based Oakland Soldiers to host the event.

“We’ve never had nothing like this that I can remember here with this much talent,” said Director of Basketball Operations for the Oakland Soldiers Greg Davis.

“It’s really a thrill for us to be able to host it because we got a chance to bring some of the top high school athletes in the country to the Bay Area,” he added.

When asked why he selected the Dream Courts to host the event, Davis explained it was because the facilities were one of the few in the area able to hold an event of this magnitude.

“It’s actually one of the premier facilities in definitely Northern California but maybe the whole West Coast that could accommodate this kind of event which requires at least seven full quality courts,” he explained.

The Oakland Soldiers went 3-2 during the first three days of the event losing to Boo Williams of Virginia and Howard Pulley of Minnesota.

The Soldiers were missing not only two of their top players but two of the top high school players in the Bay Area and country, seniors-to-be Aaron Gordon of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose and Jabari Byrd of Salesian High School in Richmond who were nursing injuries.

The 6’8” Gordon is the number four player in the country and number two ranked power forward, according to Scout.com, and has received offers from perennial collegiate powers such as Kentucky and Arizona. He told The Pioneer, though it is being rumored he will transfer to national power Findlay Prep in Nevada after winning three state championships for Mitty, he plans on staying.

According to Gordon he will return from his foot injury in a couple of weeks.

The 6’5” Byrd is the 13th ranked player in the country and third ranked small forward, according to Scout.com. He was averaging 11 points per game in the games he has played in the EYBL, while Gordon was averaging 12 points per game for the Soldiers.

The highlight of the EYBL session came Sunday when the top two players in the country Jabari Parker and Julius Randle were pitted against each other in what many analysts deemed was the game that would determine who was the number one player in the class of 2013.

The highly anticipated matchup packed the fourth court and even had an appearance from the presumptuous number one pick in this year’s NBA draft and national champion Anthony Davis.

The game did not disappoint as it went down to the last minute until Randle and his Team Texas Titans squad pulled out the 63-59 victory against Parker and his Mac Irvin team.

While the event was successful Davis hopes this is not the last time Nike asks his team to host the event.

“Were praying that we show well enough that Nike sees fit to let us continue to let us have it here Memorial Day weekend,” Davis said.