The World Series of Basketball: Day 3

Do Paul George and the all-star studded team from California have enough talent to compete with the super teams from Illinois and New York?  Max Preps/PHOTOCREDITS

Northwest (AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY)

Washington – Nate Robinson, Avery Bradley, Rodney Stuckey, Jamal Crawford, Spencer Hawes

Oregon – Terrence Ross, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Kyle Singler, Terrence Jones, Kevin Love

Left Out: Alaska. Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

West (AZ, NV, UT, CA, HI)

Nevada – Pierre Jackson, C.J. Watson, Shabazz Mhammad, Armon Johnson, Luke Babbit

California – Jrue Holiday, James Harden, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Brook Lopez

Left Out: Arizona, Utah, Hawaii

International

Argentina – Pablo Prigioni, Manu Ginobili, Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola

Brazil – Leandro Barbosa, Nene Hilario, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, Fab Melo

Canada – Steve Nash, Cory Josesph, Anthony Bennett, Andrew Nicholson, Tristan Thompson

France – Tony Parker, Rodrigue Beaubois, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, Joakim Noah

Spain – Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol

The World Series of Basketball: Day 2

Does any team have what it takes to defeat Andre Iguodala and the Illinois super squad?   Matt Kryger USA Today/PHOTOCREDITS

 

Midwest (ND/SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO)

MCT/PHOTOCREDITS

Minnesota – Nate Wolters, Jon Leuer, Mike Muscala, Kris Humphries, Joe Przybilla

Iowa – Kirk Hinrich, Kyle Korver, Harrison Barnes, Nick Collison, Patrick O’Bryant

Missouri – Ben McLemore, Bradley Beal, Alec Burks, Otto Porter, Tyler Hansbrough

Left out: Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas

Great Lakes (MI, WI, OH, IN, IL, KY)

Michigan – Jordan Crawford, Jason Richardson, Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin, JaVale McGee

Wisconsin – Devin Harris, Wesley Matthews, Caron Butler, Steve Novak, Carl Landry

Ohio – Trey Burke, Norris Cole, Lebron James, Jared Sullinger, Kosta Koufos

Indiana – Mike Conley Jr., Eric Gordon, Gordon Hayward, Zach Randolph, Cody Zeller

Illinois – Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Evan Turner, Andre Iguodala, Anthony Davis

Kentucky – Rajon Rondo, Shelvin Mack, Nolan Smith, O.J. Mayo, Darius Miller

Southeast (VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN)

Virginia – Kendall Marshall, J.J. Redick, Grant Hill, Mike Scott, Andray Blatche

North Carolina – Chris Paul, John Wall, Stephen Curry, Reggie Bullock, John Henson

South Carolina – Ramon Sessions, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Jordan Hill, Jermaine O’Neal

Georgia – Lou Williams, Kentavius Caldwell-Pope, Josh Smith, Derrick Favors, Dwight Howard

Florida – Austin Rivers, Brandon Knight, Vince Carter, Chandler Parsons, Amare Stoudemire

Alabama – Eric Bledsoe, DeMarre Carroll, Jamario Moon, D.J. White, DeMarcus Cousins

Left Out: West Virginia, Tennessee

Southwest (MS, LA, AR, TX, OK, CO, NM)

 Mississippi – Isaiah Cannan, Mo Williams, Travis Outlaw, Romero Osby, Al Jefferson

Louisiana – D.J. Augustin, Danny Granger, Thaddeus Young, Paul Millsap, Greg Monroe

Texas – Deron Williams, Jimmy Butler, Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, Emeka Okafor

Oklahoma – Kelenna Azubuike, Xavier Henry, Blake Griffin, Ekpe Udoh, Daniel Orton

Left Out: Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico

The World Series of Basketball: Day 1, New England & Mid-Atlantic

Do Kemba Walker and the star-studded team from the Empire State have what it takes to bring home the 2013 World Series of Basketball title? Associated Press/PHOTO CREDITS

                Today is the first installment in a string of posts titled “The World Series of Basketball.” This idea came to me when a friend asked me to write about all the high school talent from Indiana that is now in the NBA. I thought that would be a pretty cool idea, but I wanted to put my own twist on the concept and make it a more interesting piece. I started thinking about the Little League World Series held every year in Williamsport, Virginia. How cool would it be if someone organized a grand tournament between the states where players return home and play for the states where they grew up in? That is exactly what I set out to do with these posts.

                To begin, the United States was geographical divided into eight different regions: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Great Lakes, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, West (These grouping came straight from the LLWS). Each region is given the specific states corresponding with that geographical location, ranging from five teams in the West to eight teams in the Southeast. Additionally, to add to the World Series, four international countries were added to the tournament, Argentina, Canada, France, and Spain. From then on, I went about setting a starting five for each state and/or country. Only players currently in the NBA (2013 NBA draftees included), or those having played in the NBA last season, were considered for team rosters. Players must play for states in which they grew up in, for example, Virginia did not receive credit for players transferring to the prestigious Oak Hill Academy. As for international players, they were assigned to whichever team they compete with internationally. Any players born in the United States but who currently represent international teams (Joakim Noah, Ben Gordon), were considered only for their international rosters.

                After each team is assembled, each state and country will be assigned a random draw in a large tournament bracket, comprising the 2013 World Series of Basketball. Some states, such as Deleware and New Hampshire (sorry Matt Bonner), have failed to produce enough NBA talent and have been stricken from the list of tournament invitees. To start off, here is a look at the teams that made it from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regional divisions.

New England (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT)

 

Massachusetts – Michael Carter-Williams, Lazar Hayward, Jeff Adrien, Alex Oriakhi, Nerlens Noel

Left out: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut

Mid-Atlantic (PA, NY, NJ, MD, DC, DE)

 

Pennsylvania – Dion Waiters, Kobe Bryant, Tyreke Evans, Markieff Morris, Dejaun Blair

New York – Kemba Walker, Lance Stephenson, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Drummond, Roy Hibbert

New Jersey – J.R. Smith, Michael Kidd-Ghilchrist, Kenneth Faried, David West, Andrew Bynum

Maryland – Ty Lawson, Jarrett Jack, Victor Oladipo, Michael Beasley, Jeff Green

District of Columbia – Greivis Vasquez, Delonte West, Sam Young, Rudy Gay, Kevin Durant

Left out: Deleware