N.C. Central's McClendon-McDougald Gymnasium, capacity 3,056, looks like a big high school gym. And for most of the summer, that's exactly what it is. If you walk in between 6 and 8 p.m., you might see some low-level college players, but the evening's opening act is made up mostly of high schoolers.
At eight, though, the gym undergoes a bit of a transformation. Skinny 15-year-olds shooting 3-pointers are replaced by Duke's Jon Scheyer. Bigger kids still learning how to execute a hook shot let Carolina's Ed Davis show them how it's done. And every now and then, the star of the show-former UNC great and 14-year NBA veteran Jerry Stackhouse, the event's organizer-trades in his jeans and loafers for a pair of shorts and high-tops.
Welcome to the S.J.G. Pro-Am, better known as the Rucker of the South.
The Pro-Am is the most organized version of pickup basketball you've ever seen. There are 10 teams, which vary in size from nine to 18 players, composed of high schoolers, community college guys and current and former players from Duke, UNC, N.C. State and N.C. Central, plus some Triangle locals who went on to play college ball elsewhere. No team is allowed more than two current college players from the same team, so Scheyer and incoming recruit Mason Plumlee were paired together on Team Duhon while Kyle Singler and Miles Plumlee played for Team E-Net.
Players from the different area colleges do get paired with one another, though- N.C. State's Tracey Smith and Farnold Degan played alongside Singler and the elder Plumlee, and Duke forward Lance Thomas was paired with UNC's Davis.
Some of the big names on this year's rosters include Stackhouse, former Blue Devil Chris Duhon and former Tar Heels Sean May and Ray Felton, but the current pros only come into town for part of the summer. When they're away, their teams simply played without them.
Nobody takes attendance at the Rucker of the South, and though each team has a coach, instruction is minimal and entertainment is paramount. Big-time blocks are encouraged, dunks are mandatory and a nasty crossover dribble gets a rise out of everyone, especially the animated public address announcer.
Even Stackhouse isn't immune from a little embarrassment. John Wall, the former Duke recruit who chose to attend Kentucky, threw down a nasty dunk over Stackhouse in one of the incoming freshman's few appearances in late August. Big surprise: The video of the dunk blew up, making its way onto Youtube and PTI.
Street qualities aside, the tournament lets college players get used to one another's styles, and allows younger players to take on some high-level competition before they get to the college level. Two of the best emerging players on the court were Reggie Bullock, who has committed to UNC, and C.J. Leslie, who is leaning toward joining the Wolfpack.
Bullock said tournaments like the Pro-Am gives kids his age the chance to learn about how to deal with publicity, such as signing autographs and giving interviews to the media, in addition to the obvious benefits of playing with NBA-level competition.
"It's designed to help the kids continue their development in the game, and the only way you can continue your development is to play [against] talent," Stackhouse said. "There's no shortage of talent here."
Scheyer, who played in the tournament only briefly last year, said the summer league was a great way to stay in shape against top competition, and was thrilled to play against people other than his Duke teammates. He and Miles Plumlee both said that taking on the same players in practice every day gets tiresome, and were grateful for the opportunity to be challenged by players with different skill sets.
This year's tournament, which features an NCAA-style bracket at the end of the summer, was won by Team PJ Tucker, a team with two Wolfpack players and a former Texas starter now playing professionally in Ukraine. The league loses a little bit of steam during the playoffs, though, because many of the current college players go back to practicing with their own teams.
Scheyer, whose team was undefeated while he played, sat out the playoffs, and his team lost to PJ Tucker in the semifinals.
Summer league also gave fans a chance to see two of Duke's incoming recruits, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, perform in game situations. Seth Curry was slated to play in the Pro-Am before making the U-19 national team that took gold in New Zealand, and recent arrival Andre Dawkins was not considered for the tournament.
Miles Plumlee raved about his younger brother's and Kelly's performances, saying they had both been assertive and confident all summer. And Scheyer delighted fans with his frequent alley-oop tosses to Mason Plumlee, his teammate.
"Mason's a great player, and I think he's showing at Central the things he can do, whether it be putting the ball on the floor, finishing, rebounding, passing-he can do it all," Scheyer said.
As for Scheyer, he played point guard at the end of last season, and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said he will start this year at the same position. Over the summer, Scheyer played mostly on the wing because his team had another point guard-and because the raucous crowd at NCCU often urged him to shoot from long range.
Scheyer and Plumlee connected on all kinds of alley-oops over the summer-off the backboard, one-handed, you name it. But Scheyer said they never got out on a 2-on-none break, where Plumlee planned to jump over Scheyer for a dunk.
Scheyer made no promises about attempting such a move at Cameron Indoor Stadium-under Krzyzewski's watchful eye-but he didn't completely rule it out.
"If we're up by 50, maybe," he said with a laugh.
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