The Circuit update. BBL backed out because they couldn't field a competitive team under the rules: June 1 2008 cutoff with 3 older exceptions. Red Hots were the best as they fielded a much different squad than the one in NJ a few weeks ago. They had a good mix of Baltimore and Hawks stars. The fee to play with them was minimal. Nation's Best had the largest number of teams under their 3Step umbrella but got rolled by Red Hots. Team 18 and Project MW were a distant 3rd and 4th but had some really good players. Nationals has really faded as their best players left because of the cost and the dense decisions of the management with regard to rosters. The rest of the field really drops fast. 3d Nationals barely field a team of 15 and didn't resemble the NJ team at all. Where were those giants playing middie and pole?
Several of the teams were asking for free agents the days before the tournament. The age and class verification dropped a bunch of players. One conversation overheard was how players tried to register by saying they were reclassing this year and how other tournaments allowed this practice. No go here.
The other truly noticeable item was the size of the players. Without the future re-classes; the current 9th graders playing down due to verification of class; and the 3 player exception on June1; the players on the field were much physically smaller than any summer tournament I've been to in years. The play on the field got better after games 1 and 2 as teams got to know each other a little more. | 
