By: Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
In a city full of bright lights and stars, Colonel Crawford’s David Sheldon and Connor McCreary had no trouble standing out in a high school all-star hoops gala this summer. Sheldon, like his father Rob and brother Chris before him, coached the Eastern Ohio Basketball Camp entry for which McCreary played in the Adidas Super 64 tournament.
“It came full circle,” Sheldon said of his family’s experience at the tournament and with the Eastern Ohio Basketball Camp run by Larry Huggins. “I went to this camp as a player. Chris and Dad, and now me coached them. We’ve developed a great relationship with the people at the camp. I went to dinner with Larry Huggins and I heard a lot of stories about my dad.”
It is the third time in the previous four years colonel Crawford has been represented by players at the tournament. Austin Smith and Nate Klingenberger have also played in the tournament on the Eastern Ohio entry. An all-star team is selected from the camps 750 to 800 players who attend of the three summer sessions. Three from each session are selected.
“It was a great experience to go out there and play with the team that we had. It was something I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life,” McCreary said. “I was honored to be able to go there and be on the team.”
The tournament field is primarily composed of AAU teams who have been together throughout the spring and early summer and the Adidas Super 64 is the final tournament of the season.
All of which made the showing by Eastern Ohio even more impressive given they had just one practice before they played.
“We were pretty close,” McCreary said of the chemistry among the players. “Nobody was selfish. We had so many people who could score so it was my role to pass. I’d actually rather pass the ball and have someone else score.”
Although the Eagles with McCreary as one of the team’s leading scorers have won district titles the past two seasons, Sheldon says even with that success in the winter he had something he is not accustomed to having at Colonel Crawford – lots of size.
“We had 6-6, 6-5, 6-5 across the back. All the kids could shoot it and put it on the floor,” Sheldon said. “This group really played well together. The kids were from all over the state of Ohio.”
Sheldon said his group in Las Vegas had a “high basketball IQ” and responded quickly to what they were asked to do. But in spite of all the size and talent, he said his team was undersized every time it took the floor.
Winning guaranteed the next game would also be against a team with the same record so each game got progressively tougher.
“I think the one highlight, that last game, we’re down three and Connor buried a 3 with a minute to go to tie it up,” Sheldon said. “Then he hit two free throws late to win it.”
The other highlight of the trip is who got to watch them play. Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge was in attendance one game. So was Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan along with coaches from last spring’s Cinderella darlings of the NCAA tournament – Florida Gulf Coast.
“I noticed a little bit during the game, but I tried to zone it out during the game,” McCreary admitted about being aware of who was watching. “But they had a presence. You knew they were there.”
“This is a time the NCAA coaches can be out,” Sheldon said. “It’s neat. It’s the guys you watch on ESPN. It’s the upper echelon in basketball.”
McCreary has another year at Colonel Crawford but is definitely interested in playing at the college level.
“The biggest goal to to be able to go and play college basketball,” McCreary said. “I’ve been looking at Marietta a lot. They’re my number one choice right now.”