Las Vegas is a city known for making and breaking dreams, and that's where hundreds of high school basketball players have converged this week hoping to lock up college scholarships.
For five days beginning today, coaches will be out en masse observing and scouting the biggest collection of teenage talent in the nation, with nearly 900 travel teams playing in four tournaments in dozens of high school gyms spread across the city.
In attendance will be the nation's most recognizable college coaches and just about everyone else whose business is basketball, with shoe company and apparel executives, agents and professional scouts joining the Elvis impersonators.
The most important requirement for a coach: "If you don't have GPS, you're in trouble," USC assistant Bob Cantu said.
A navigational system is a must because the three main tournaments -- The Main Event, the Reebok Summer Championships and the Adidas Super 64 -- are spread out across the city. And if coaches want to start tracking players for the high school graduating class of 2013 and beyond, the AAU West Coast national championships will be taking place at the Cashman Center near downtown.
"Organization is the No. 1 priority in trying to see as many kids as you can in one day," Cantu said. "You have to be smart in how to schedule your day."
Even though NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from speaking to high school players this time of year, observers shouldn't have any problem identifying what schools are watching. The coaches want to be seen, and to do that they will be wearing shirts, hats and shorts covered with the largest school logos imaginable.
"The bigger the shirt logo, the better they can see across the gym," Cantu said of potential recruits.
Entire coaching staffs will be in Las Vegas, producing the largest gathering of college basketball coaches since the Final Four in San Antonio.
Tournament schedules are posted on the Internet, helping coaches with planning, but there are so many gym sites that Cantu said, "As you're getting out of your car, you're saying, 'What wristband do I need?' You have to know the area."
It's also an expensive week, with coaches spending as much as $300 to purchase packets supplied by tournament organizers that include rosters and player phone numbers, plus costs for tickets to individual games, hotel rooms and transportation.
