Tracy Press

— Gary Lloyd, utlawz president, 15U coach

ric Godfrey (left) and Jordan Williams of the Tracy Outlawz go after a rebound during practice at Lammersville School. Bob Brownne/Tracy Press

Now in their third year as a local travel team, the Tracy Outlaws are making an impression on the basketball world.

Next week, the club’s 15-and-under and 16-and-under teams will play at the Adidas Super 64 tournament July 22 through 26 in Las Vegas, one of the NCAA’s showcase events for young basketball players. The 13U and 17U teams will play in the American Athletic Union West Coast National Championships, also in Las Vegas next week.

Outlawz president and 15U coach Gary Lloyd said that once the high school basketball season ended in early spring, players from Tracy, West and Millennium high schools signed up with the Outlawz.

The club gets about 200 players who try out for the teams, and the Outlawz sign up about 120 players. Since spring tryouts, seven boys teams and three girls teams the Outlawz have organized have played all over California, Nevada and Utah.

Next week’s tournaments will be a chance for four of those teams to get noticed by college scouts and play against the best competition in the Western states.

“I recognized that we had a lot of kids in Tracy that have potential and skills that warranted exposure to college scouts, so we could parlay basketball into a college education,” Lloyd said

Traveling basketball teams have long been established in the Bay Area and Southern California.

The Outlawz club, which plays under the Amateur Athletic Union, gives local young players a chance to stay active year-round in a sport that is limited to the winter months in high school play.

“We’re a breakthrough organization for the valley,” Lloyd said. “In the past, we’d have teams go to the Bay Area but not be able to compete. Now, we can compete and go a level up.”

Next week’s trip will take place a year after the Outlawz debuted in the NCAA’s National Youth Basketball Championships in Las Vegas. The 15U team, this year’s 16U team, took third place in the gold bracket, the second highest of four levels, and the 14U team, this year’s 15U team, played in the silver bracket.

More recently, the 17U team won the AAU’s Reno Memorial Day Tournament, hosted by Jam On It basketball club, and the 16U team took second place in the Fourth of July weekend LA vs. Bay tournament in Fresno.

Club vice president Kevin James said it’s a steady progression for the teams.

“We’re taking baby steps to get where we want to be,” said. “Next year, we want to be going to these types of tournaments exclusively.”

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