‘It’s been excellent’

By Michael Kinney

July 19, 2008 12:09 am

— By Michael Kinney
Transcript Sports Writer
At the conclusion of the AAU national Championship, members of San Gabriel Valley Blue stepped to centercourt at Lloyd Noble Center and hoisted a giant gold ball over their heads. They let everyone in the arena know that they were best team in the country.
However, the big winner of the week may have been the City of Norman. The consensus from the fans, coaches and players of the 54 teams from around the country seems to be that Norman knows how to show people a good time.
“It’s been excellent,” said Lorenzo Jefferson, whose daughter Moriah, plays for the Lady Panthers Elite. “This has been the best week I have had in a long time. Just watching the games. Not just my daughter’s games or the games of the girls I know. I made new friends. It’s been an excellent week. That is the only way I can describe it.”
This was the fourth AAU national tournament that has been held in Oklahoma. But it was the first one for Norman.
However, the Norman Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Sherri Rogers and her staff looked like veterans throughout the week.
“I thought the tournament went off without a hitch,” said Rogers, who was also the tournament director. “You have a couple of bumps in the road as far as getting little bitty things out the way. But other than that, by Saturday we were into the groove. It was a first-class event and we have heard nothing but great things from the 54 teams that have been here.”
Even those who have been on the AAU circuit for years had nothing but good things to say about their time in Norman.
“This is the best,” Richard Napier said. His daughter Rishonda plays for SGV Blue. “I have been in AAU basketball since 2005. We were in Orlando, Missouri, Minnesota and now here. This is by far the best ran tournament, the most friendly tournament and the most competitive tournament that I have ever been to.”
An estimated 3,500 players, parents, fans and coaches were in Norman from July 12 through Friday for the tournament. From California to New York, people who might never have come to Oklahoma found a friendly environment.
“Everyone in Norman has treated us well,” Dayton Hoopstars coach Barry Schuster said. “Everyone associated with the tournament has treated us well. First-class act. Can’t say enough good things about the folks in Norman.”
When the NCVB first got the bid to host the tourney, Rogers was confident that Norman was the perfect place for it. She said she has received phone calls from hotels, restaurants and other businesses that benefited from the event being held here.
While the parents and players were enamored with the facilities and how the tournament was set up, it was the small things that put Norman over the top.
“I was lost and the policemen drove me to the venue I was trying to get to,” Napier said. “The New York team, their daughter was having a birthday party. The restaurant didn’t have birthday cakes. The manager went to Wal-Mart and got a birthday cake for her. That is just the people here. The sponsors, off the hook. The newspaper coverage had something in the newspaper about teams every day. That didn’t happen in Orlando or any of the other spots. And we are in the big building. We got to see Courtney Paris. Nobody else provided that kind of stuff for the girls.”
Michael Kinney366-3537mkinney@normantranscript.com