Regional
The Basketball Classic – Part Two
Plenty of Competition Helpful Education
(St. Louis, MO) – As the NCAA Tournament brackets are revealed other significant post season tournaments will be finalizing their brackets too. The Basketball Classic is back as one of those tournaments. While brackets will be announced after the March Madness, ‘made-for-TV, event on CBS, the other tournaments will come with less fanfare.
The Basketball Classic will have plenty of competition with helpful education added in.
Selection Committee members Rich Zvosec, Marcus Wilson and Greg Lansing joined Valley Hoops Insider to fill us in on this important post season tournament.
Zvosec tells us the The Classic is a rebranded version of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Tournament With a Purpose
While this 32-team tournament has plenty of competition there is a strong historic and social change component. Presented or ‘sponsored’ by Eracism, it has some unique educational and promotional angles. Eracism president Gary Stewart says The Basketball Classic is a unique combination of hoops and important values.
“We have outstanding people of high integrity in our group and have already introduced some tremendous initiatives and this tournament will help to make many of those a reality,” said Stewart. “The Basketball Classic is just the latest example of our commitment to the game. We have plans to introduce similar tournaments for other divisions in the future.”
Wilson says the communication and social justice goals of the Classic is what sets it apart from other tournaments.
Eracism’s four pillars of conversation, education, community and reconciliation form the foundation of other initiatives related to promoting minority coaches’ opportunities and national awards named after HBCU basketball greats.
A wide range of people are on the Eracism board. Lansing, Zvosec and Wilson are on that board.
Part Two of this conversation can be seen on YouTube and heard at Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts.
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