LITTLE ROCK — If you are in central Arkansas this weekend and think you see Mike Anderson, head basketball coach at the University of Arkansas, you probably do.
The same goes for Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Kansas’ Bill Self, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Florida’s Billy Donovan and Kentucky’s John Calipari, all of whom have already won at least one NCAA national championship.
Those coaches, along with about 200 others, will be here for the Real Deal in the Rock spring basketball tournament.
The NCAA recently added two weekends in the spring for evaluating players, and with 420 teams and some of the best talent in the country coming here for the tournament, which begins play today on 44 courts, it was a natural to attract some of the biggest names in college basketball coaching.
As well as those who hope to discover a diamond in the rough and help them get their own NCAA Tournament experience, or more of it.
Mostly the headliners will be featured at Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids, which will have three courts with games being played simultaneously beginning at 5:30 p.m. today.
Bill Ingram, founder of Real Deal, is a regular on the Shawn and Wally radio show, and during one hour Wednesday night he received calls from 11 coaches in 11 states. He received eight calls from teams trying to get in the tournament, which was far too late.
The tournament is not only a passion for him but also for Selandria Jackson, Alicia Smith, Derrick Joe and Ray Walker, who work constantly alongside Ingram.
Real Deal is simply too big for one man.
“I can’t imagine doing this without them, and all of our volunteers [300 and more are needed],” Ingram said. “They are the MVPs of this event.” It is so big that it has seen the likes of Kenny Smith, Clark Kellogg and others make personal appearances.
This weekend’s tournament also is being visited by Sonny Vaccaro, who was one of the key players in making summer basketball popular through his camps and contacts with various shoe companies.
Saying he has been influential in basketball would be a huge understatement. For example, he signed Michael Jordan to his original Nike deal.
In the eight years since Ingram started this tournament, it has grown into one of the country’s biggest and most successful.
It does a lot more, though, than just give kids a safe environment to display their talents and a place for coaches to watch them.
It brings more than $4 million into the local economy, and in today’s depressed economic state, that is huge to central Arkansas. More than 3,400 hotel room will be used, hundreds of cars rented and almost a countless amount of money will be spent in local restaurants.
Mostly, though, it features some of the best basketball talent in the country, the next group of guys who will lead teams through the NCAA Tournament before heading to the NBA.
It would take more space than this column to list every NBA player who has played in the Real Deal.
Of course, it is also a great opportunity for coaches from UALR, Arkansas State and every other school in the state to comb through more than 4,200 players without taking a serious hit to their recruiting budgets.
Ingram started work on this weekend’s tournament a week after last year’s event ended.
“It is a year-round labor of love,” he said Thursday during a news conference at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. “The last two months are always hectic, and with the coaches coming back this year, it has been even more hectic, but in a fun way.”
Admission is $10 today, $15 Saturday, and that’s a pass that is good all day and at all of the gyms.
Parking is free, and for anyone going to P.A.R.K., there is abundant parking across Geyer Springs Road.
This is a huge event for Arkansas, and some of the top names in college basketball know it.
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/27/2012