INDIANAPOLIS (WDRB) – The coaches were looking for seats
nearly 20 minutes before the game that Ellis Myles' Louisville Magic AAU
basketball team was about to play in a junior high gym on massive North Central
High School campus.
John Robic, John Calipari's top assistant at Kentucky,
reserved a folding chair in the front row. Thad Matta, the man who coached Ohio
State to the Final Four, slid in next to Robic.
Billy Donovan of Florida was parked on the baseline, next
Rick Pitino of Louisville and Richard Pitino of Florida International. Stan
Heath (South Florida), Jim Larranaga (Miami) and Brian Gregory (Georgia Tech)
were there. As were assistants from Indiana, North Carolina, North Carolina
State, Tennessee, Alabama and Samford.
Final score: The Magic defeated Florida Elite, a team with
at least three Division I prospects, by 39. They dominated three games in their
"Super" pool in the adidas Invitational, the most competitive AAU tournament in the Midwest, by an
average margin of 42 points.
Final count: More than 35 Division I programs scouted the
Magic players.
"Remember," Ellis Myles said, "that's two days in a row
everybody came out to watch some 16s, not 17 (year-olds). My guys are two years
away."
It's summer basketball. Counting the coaches wedged into
small gyms is as critical as counting points on the scoreboard. Myles not only
noticed the famous faces, he told his players to look at the crowd, too. He has
an 11-player team. Five of the 11, guys like Ballard guard Quentin Snider and
former Central star D'Angelo Russell, have already earned Division I
scholarship offers.
"My job is not finished," Myles said. "I won't be successful
until all 11 have DI offers."
If Myles, 30, sounds unusually motivated and prideful that's
because he is unusually motivated and prideful. Recruited by Denny Crum, Myles
finished his University of Louisville playing career for Pitino, overcoming a
serious knee injury to start in the frontline for the Cards' 2005 NCAA Final
Four team.
He's a guy who almost returned home to Compton, Calif.,
several times – and was also asked to return to Compton several times. He is a
fierce and occasionally volatile presence who benefited greatly from five
years at U of L. Myles coaches with the same energy he that he played, pacing,
stomping, urging. By game's end, his thick voice is often a rasp.
Myles wants to coach. He does not hide his ambitions. He wants
to coach major college basketball or the NBA. He hasn't been able to land an
assistant's position or even a high school job.
So in 2011 Myles assembled his team. He called it the Louisville Magic. He
solicited community support because he wanted to play in national events – and
win. He was not interested in staging tryouts or assembling a team that would
be happy with participation ribbons. His idea was to build something that has
been missing in Kentucky for years – a team capable of competing on the
national stage with proven AAU programs such as Indiana Elite, the Atlanta
Celtics, Team Takeover and Garner Road.
"I just wanted to have guys who wanted to fit into the way
that I was taught how to play," Myles said.
"He knows his Xs and Os," Scott Snider said. "He makes the
kids give everything on the floor. And he focuses a lot on defense, which is
where you win games.
"He gets on them. They get mad at him, like kids are going
to do. He does a great job of being the good guy and the bad guy at the same
time."
Snider's son, Quentin, is one of five with a Division I
offer. He has committed to U of L. Russell is being pursued by U of L, UK, IU,
North Carolina, Florida and a cast of thousands.
Until all these guys are signed by April 2014, Ellis Myles
will remain an extremely popular man. I'd suggest a cell phone plan with
unlimited calling and texting. After finishing tournament play in Indianapolis
this weekend, the Magic will compete in Milwaukee next week and in Las Vegas
the end of the month.
"Our goal is to win every tournament we play in," Russell
said.
"That would be nice," Myles said. "But I'm not satisfied at
all. We have 11 guys. We have six more that we need to get scholarships."
Copyright 2012 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.
Former U of L star Ellis Myles believes he has 11 Division I players on his Louisville Magic AAU team.
