Arizona Basketball: Alkins, Ferguson to play in Ballislife game

The 6th Annual Ballislife All-American Game will feature many of the nation’s top high school boys basketball players including two 5-star Arizona Basketball commits.

Tis’ the season of high school showcases beginning with the McDonald’s All-American game complete with dunk contest and three-point contest. Then came the Nike EBYL Nike Hoop Summit which included multiple sessions; Session 1 in Brooklyn on April 16-17, 2016, and Session 2 in Indianapolis on April 22-24, 2016

Next Saturday, it’s time for Southern Californians to get a glimpse of the future college basketball stars in the Eastbay sponsored ballislife All-American Game. The Ballislife match last year was full of Wildcats! Stanley Johnson coached one of the teams and Chance Comanche. Justin Simon took part in the dunk contest and played on the other team against Comanche in the game.

Simon just announced he is transferring to play at St. Johns University next season in New York City, so as a sweet send-off ZZ would like to share some of Simon’s dunks from last year’s ballislife game.

This year’s Ballislife All-American Game features two future five-star Arizona Wildcats Rawle Alkins and Terrance Ferguson. The coaches this year are high school coaches from two of the top-ranked high school teams in Southern California. Josh Giles from Corona Centennial will coach Team Elite. In his day job Giles coaches future Bruins Jalen Hill and Ike Anigbogu, the latter playing for him in this showcase along with future Wildcat Rawle Alkins.

Team Future will be coached by Boys Open Division Champion Chino Hills high school head coach Steven Balk who went 35-0 last season. Balk coached his No. 1 team in the Nation to the finals against De La Salle high school. Chino Hills, with future Bruin Lonzo Ball and his two brothers, eventually took the home the trophy winning by 20 points, 70-50.

Coach Balk will be coaching our other future Wildcat Terrance Ferguson along with his own player Ball and future Bruin and ex-Wildcat commit T.J. Leaf. ASU commit Sam Cunliffe will also play on Ferguson’s team. That’s the last time these two will be friendly for at least a year.

The rosters for this game are listed below:

http://ballislife.com/2016-ballislife-all-american-rosters-presented-by-eastbay/ /

Ballislife insiders promise us some nice surprises, and ZonaZealots is hoping that NBA bound Gabe York will be one of the student coaches for this showcase. The more Wildcats the merrier we always say!

Want to know more and get hyped? Here’s the information from ballislife.com:

The national high school all-star game is set to take place April 30 at Long Beach City College’s Hall of Champions Gymnasium.

As traditional outlets continue to adapt to new media concepts and struggle to capture the attention of basketball’s new generation of fans, Ballislife.com has created a successful marriage between traditional editorial coverage and industry-leading video content, the latter which has become the main medium to consume grassroots and high school-related content.

Ballislife.com has developed into the main hub for fans, coaches and players to watch highlights of the nation’s best talent, follow the nation’s top teams in the FAB 50 National Rankings, and learn about the latest styles and popular trends in basketball.

Chance Comanche Post Ballislife game Photo by Shereen Rayan 05/02/15 /

In the last 10 years, as the growth of social media allowed knowledgeable basketball fans to question the validity of traditional national all-star games’ selection process, BIL created its own national all-star game in 2011 with the goal of selecting the most deserving players regardless of geographics, mainstream player rankings, or shoe affiliation. The 2016 edition of the BIL All-American Game figures to be its most anticipated with the best collection of national talent to date.

Scheduled to participate at the event is 6-foot-6 UCLA-bound point guard Lonzo Ball, the national player of the year who will play in front of his family and numerous fans one last time before matriculating to Westwood. California’s Mr. Basketball is the state’s all-time assist leader and led Chino Hills (Calif.) to the No. 1 ranking in the FAB 50.

The game will feature a plethora of other national standouts, including Michigan State-bound Miles Bridges (Huntington Prep, Flint, Mich.), Arizona-bound Rawle Alkins (Word of God Academy, Raleigh, N.C.), Auburn-bound Mustapha Heron (Sacred Heart Academy, Waterbury, Conn.), St. John’s-bound Shamorie Ponds (Thomas Jefferson, Brooklyn, N.Y.). The BIL A-A game will also mark the return of Vance Jackson (Prolific Prep, Napa, Calif.), who previously prepped at St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.).

Past BIL A-A Game participants include professional players Stanley Johnson (Arizona), Nick Johnson (Arizona), Jordan Adams (UCLA), Jabari Brown (Missouri), Zach LaVine (UCLA) and early entry NBA Draft candidates Malik Beasley (Florida St.), Dejounte Murray (Washington) and Marquese Chriss (Washington).

The 2016 BIL A-A Game begins at 6:00 p.m. PT and is preceded by The BIL Slam Dunk Contest presented by Eastbay beginning at 4 p.m. PT.

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Arizona Basketball: Alkins and Ferguson to compete in Ballislife All-American Game

By Shereen Rayan | Apr 23, 2016

The 6th Annual Ballislife All-American Game will feature many of the nation’s top high school boys basketball players including two 5-star Arizona Basketball commits.