The recently completed We Got Next 3-on-3 Youth and Adult Basketball League crowned champions in five separate divisions.
Organizer Derek Hersha, a former Salpointe, Pima and Grand Canyon standout, is aiming to run another 3-on-3 league in June, when high school players leave club teams and are scheduled to play in summer league for their schools.
A potential change for the league will be taking away the 3-point shot for the youth divisions — third grade to sixth grade — to change the strategy and “encourage younger players to work as a team to focus on getting better, more high-percentage shots instead of bombing and many times airballing step-back 3’s,” Hersha mentioned.
“We really want this to be a developmental league that allows kids to improve their skills and confidence while increasing their man-to-man defensive abilities and their basketball IQ.”
The league was initially created to help youths whose middle-school basketball competition was canceled because of COVID-19. Players in high school and college were also encouraged to form teams because of junior varsity teams canceling their seasons and local rec leagues also stopping their operations.
Here are the photos of the champions and second-place finishers (photos courtesy of NIIMPHOTOGRAPHY, INC./Instagram: niimphotography):
3rd/4th Grade Champions: Splash Boys
3rd/4th Grade Runners Up: Quad Squad
5th/6th Grade Champions: Hoop Life
5th/6th Grade Runners Up: Hawkcats
7th/8th Grade Champions: Nothing But Nets
7th/8th Grade Runners Up: GoGetIt
High School Champions: KDQX
High School Runners Up: GoGetIt
Elite Division Champions: Scorekeepers
Elite Division Runners Up: JNT
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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