Teams are lining up to play next year

The first tip-off has yet to happen, but Chris Crumpler could be spoiled for choice in next year’s Bermuda Thanksgiving Basketball Classic.

Crumpler, the man with the vision and drive to put together the Classic, said: “We’re excited about the possibilities.

“I have a list of over 35 teams that want to come next year. Three or four of those teams are in the ESPN Top 100. We have a whole year to market this with the Department of Tourism’s New York office to really sell it overseas.”

He said it was a possibility that with such much interest in the Thanksgiving Classic, the tournament could expand to 16 teams, but funding would have to be made available.

“I’m in talks with a couple of people, but you can’t do an event like this right without money. We’re looking for a title sponsor for next year. We’re excited about moving forward.”

Crumpler’s vision would see the event grow and attract the best teams from North America and make it an attractive option for ESPN to come down from to broadcast.

ESPN

 “We’re trying to get in contact with ESPN to help set the stage. Bermuda is such a selling point. It’s only 700 miles off the east coast. It’s an easy and great getaway for those guys and it’s a great way for those guys to bond.”

The tournament came about after he saw what could happen by taking teams away to Las Vegas to play.

“We were going to Vegas and we weren’t good enough.

“I took a select group and we got better. I was wondering if we could pull off something like this in Bermuda.

“It took us a year and a half of planning. Last year when I went to Vegas, I really promoted it and got some things tied down last September, October and November with Government and Grotto Bay so when we went down at Christmas last year I told a couple of coaches that we are going to do it.”

He said this was a classic win-win situation for all involved.

Crumpler added if the players “are going to buy into our programme and to care about basketball, they need more exposure. If we expect them to give us a high level of commitment and a high level of dedication, we have to give them something to compensate for that. Having this tournament helps keep our guys engaged.

“All these guys want to go to college. A lot of these guys are dreaming of pro basketball so my job as a coach is to work my butt off to produce an outlet for them.

“This is going to make the local players play better and be better at an earlier age. What’s happening with the under-18 development team, is that our cream of the crop at 16, they want to go away.

“This will help keep them here.”

He added for Government this will help put “heads in beds”.

 “This is during the down season. The Thanksgiving Classic recognizes the American holiday, and gives them a reason to get away and puts heads in beds in Bermuda. That makes a lot of people happy.”

Steven Simons, who coaches the Red Team for Bermuda said:  “This is huge for Bermuda basketball. We’ve had visiting teams come in the past but never on this scale. This is a huge step.

“If we can get this one off right and fulfil the expectations this will be an even bigger and better tournament.” n