Alexander: Will San Juan Capistrano become the new Lahaina?

It is assemblage basketball’s mentation of the silly season: November tournaments successful locations here, determination and everywhere. The Maui Invitational created the template, and successful the ensuing years, we’ve seen tournaments established successful the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Cancún and Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Las Vegas, among different alluring destinations.

Now you tin adhd southbound Orange County to that list, and there’s a bully anticipation that arsenic the SoCal Challenge moves guardant successful years to come, San Juan Capistrano mightiness go known nationally for much than swallows.

If you’re wondering what the SoCal Challenge is, you’re astir apt not alone. It’s an eight-team Division I men’s tournament, and the inaugural mentation began Monday day with Nicholls State outlasting Cal Poly, 75-72, successful overtime and Utah Valley smacking Idaho around, 83-45, successful the time session. The nighttime league featured TCU and Santa Clara, followed by Fresno State and Pepperdine.

The competitors volition instrumentality Tuesday disconnected – and fixed the conditions successful Southern California this week, I tin ideate players scheming to get to the formation aft signifier – and volition decorativeness up Wednesday. The time sessions are streamed by FloSports and the nighttime games are shown connected CBS Sports Network. The last games each time statesman astatine 10 p.m. section time, the rationale being that existent assemblage hoops junkies successful the Eastern and Central clip zones don’t fto slumber get successful their way.

This accumulation is the brainchild of Steve Barnes, who was an adjunct manager and caput manager connected the assemblage level for 3 decades, the second astatine San Jose State for 3 years astatine the commencement of this period and astatine Colorado State connected an interim ground successful 2018. He happens to unrecorded successful the area, wherever helium was a caput manager astatine Capistrano Valley Christian successful the mid-1980s and past an adjunct astatine Saddleback College, and he’d been portion of capable of those tournaments successful far-flung places to wonderment wherefore it couldn’t hap successful his backyard.

“I virtually was connected the motorcycle way walking to the formation from my house,” helium recalled Monday. “I look up and I spot the Laguna Cliffs Marriott. And I’ve been to JSerra to recruit, and knew however bully a gathering it was … I’m like, ‘You cognize what? Let maine spot if I tin bash this here?’

“This is nicer, amended than anywhere. And radical privation to travel to this area.”

So Barnes sought retired JSerra caput manager Keith Wilkinson, and this is different illustration of the mode the extended assemblage hoops household works. Wilkinson had played for Tim Floyd astatine USC from 2005-09 and was an adjunct manager for Floyd astatine UTEP from 2010-14 earlier taking an assistant’s occupation astatine UC Riverside from 2014-18. Floyd and Larry Eustachy worked unneurotic astatine Idaho successful the aboriginal ’90s, Eustachy yet replaced Floyd astatine Iowa State successful 1998, and Barnes had worked for Eustachy astatine Utah State, Iowa State, Southern Mississippi and Colorado State.

You ne'er cognize when, wherever oregon however each of those relationships volition beryllium beneficial.

“We person a large facility, and I’m fortunate to person immoderate bully relationships due to the fact that I got to enactment for a truly bully brag successful Tim Floyd and marque a batch of connections, Steve being 1 of them,” Wilkinson said.

The administrators astatine JSerra were supportive. And Barnes got unneurotic with Joe Lewis, whose “experiential and entertainment” accumulation company, arsenic self-described, has specified heavyweight clients arsenic the Academy Awards, the Grammys and the Special Olympics, arsenic good arsenic the Pro Bowl and the Pac-12 shot title game. Lewis’ institution helped get the woody with the CBS Sports Network, which successful crook lent credibility to a first-time event.

“I get connected determination with Joe connected a league telephone (with web representatives) and we mightiness arsenic good beryllium speaking French,” Barnes said. “I don’t cognize what they’re talking astir … Joe handles that. That’s his world. That’s what helium does. He does the production. He knows each that stuff. And I bash the basketball. And it’s a bully fit.”

There mightiness beryllium a niche present to beryllium filled. The SoCal Challenge joins the four-team Wooden Legacy tourney (which utilized to beryllium an eight-team lawsuit played implicit 4 days), an ESPN-fueled accumulation that volition diagnostic USC, San Diego State, Georgetown and Saint Joseph’s and volition play Thursday and Friday astatine the Anaheim Convention Center.

Maybe there’s country for 2 Thanksgiving week tournaments successful 1 county. And possibly the intimate ambiance of what is astatine archetypal glimpse a 2,500-seat precocious schoolhouse gym – but 1 spiffy capable that immoderate D-I teams mightiness spot it arsenic an betterment implicit their ain facilities – is simply a separator.

As Barnes noted, bare seats successful a 2,500-seat installation don’t instrumentality retired arsenic they mightiness successful a full-sized arena. And if and erstwhile the spot is full, it tin beryllium electric.

Again, the Maui tourney is the template, though COVID-19 restrictions person kept that tourney connected the mainland for a 2nd consecutive year. Last twelvemonth it was played successful Asheville, N.C., and this week’s lawsuit is being played successful Las Vegas due to the fact that of health-related restrictions successful the authorities of Hawaii. But nether mean conditions, the game’s premier preseason tourney takes spot successful a 2,400-seat gym with spartan locker rooms and the Pacific Ocean adjacent by, and not lone is it an early-season conflict of powers but besides a solemnisation of the game’s roots.

That’s what they’re trying to replicate successful South Orange County.  But it is simply a crowded field.

Just this week determination are 15 exempt events successful what would beryllium considered edifice locations: Four successful Vegas alone, 3 successful the Bahamas (two successful Nassau and different connected Paradise Island), six successful Florida (two successful Fort Myers), and 1 successful Cancún (and no, it’s not named aft Nick Van Exel). The contention for teams volition beryllium challenging going forward, arsenic you mightiness suspect.

The instrumentality is to get the connection out. Barnes talked of dropping basketballs by a gym wherever TCU would aboriginal signifier connected Saturday and encountering a radical of gentlemen playing a pickup game.

“I spell successful determination and archer them what’s going on, and they go, ‘You mean, they’re coming present to play?’” helium said. “They can’t representation it due to the fact that they’ve ne'er had a sporting lawsuit successful southbound Orange County similar this.

“We’re unique. But erstwhile you’re unsocial and new, it’s not understood.”

The thought is that it isn’t a one-shot deal. He’s already moving connected teams for not lone 2022 but ’23 and ’24.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander connected Twitter