How the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center set itself apart as an elite basketball facility

Running the floor and being more active on defense: that’s what Tre Raymon focused on during his second and final game of the day Wednesday.

The 6-foot-8 forward participated in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Academy, a weeklong event at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center where college coaches across Divisions I, II and III give prospective athletes a taste of the college basketball experience. The academy includes both elite basketball competition and life skills coaching for juggling the responsibilities of being an NCAA student-athlete.

There are three separate classifications for players: Rising sophomores at junior college programs, rising high school sophomores and juniors playing with their AAU teams and rising high school juniors and seniors representing themselves individually.

The NCAA flies in athletes and teams from around the world to participate in the event.

Raymon, a junior at South Pointe High School, represented himself individually and said that the experience was enriching, with team coaches giving him advice on what college coaches are looking for him to showcase. Raymon has traveled quite a bit this summer with his AAU team, heading to cities such as Chicago and Cincinnati for tournaments, but the academy being so close to home felt different.

“The first couple games, you got to figure everybody out and get chemistry together,” Raymon said. “It’s kind of fun because people not from this country come in. We got some people from Africa. We played a team that didn’t even speak our language. It was crazy. The ref didn’t speak our language. So it’s been fun.”

This is the second year that the NCAA has hosted this academy. The inaugural event was hosted last year in Memphis.

NCAA vice president of men’s basketball Dan Gavitt said the NCAA’s reason for coming to Rock Hill was because of the Sports & Event Center.

Not only is the layout of the facility great for the showcase, but also what is in proximity to it.

“The Rock Hill Sports & Event Center is a fantastic venue for a competition like this,” said Gavitt, who has been serving in his role since 2012. “The town of Rock Hill has been very well-received by all of the participants and parents. The restaurants, hotels, the welcoming community, and of course the proximity to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport to bring in prospects from all over the country, including some foreign players as well, it definitely helps with transportation.”

Gavitt said Rock Hill’s location made it easily accessible for a lot of its schools and their coaches to get to.

Coaches and scouts from top programs including Texas, Georgia Tech and Louisville were in attendance.

Clemson associate head coach Billy Donlon said that while the location of the venue is great, its overall upkeep and construction is even better. It’s something many coaches pay attention to when attending events like this.

“It’s really well-kept,” Donlon said. “You have so many courts that are tight, right next to each other so you can get from game to game. You watch a guy for a half, you got to walk 20 feet to get to the next game, and that’s convenient. There’s a lot, but the facility is state of the art. This is a state-of-the-art facility, and they continue to make it look that way and feel that way.”

The Sports & Event Center was the second facility in the University Center development to open. The 170,000-square-foot venue first began hosting events in 2019.

Mark Sexton, director for Rock Hill’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, said the idea for the venue came from the city hosting national and international events at the Rock Hill Velodrome and the Rock Hill BMX Supercross Track in Riverwalk.

“It’s something that was talked about for a while, we have some obviously quality outdoor venues, but we didn’t have anything indoor for those types of events, basketball, volleyball, the variety of things that can take place,” Sexton said. “If you build a quality facility, and then you treat them well with a quality staff, you keep it clean, and then you have some good Southern hospitality and customer service mixed in there, people recognize that, and I think that’s a good combination.”

Raymon wasn’t the only local youth to participate at the academy this week.

Jordan Watford, a three-star recruit and No. 2 for his class in the state of South Carolina per 247Sports, is entering his senior season at Lancaster High School. He said that events such as the NCAA Basketball Academy being so close to home allow him to see where he measures up among the world’s top talent. It also allows him to take what he sees from the players and share that knowledge with his high school teammates.

The 6-foot-5 guard said he’s been contacted by Longwood, Queens and Presbyterian so far this week.

“Going back and seeing how everyone carried themselves (at the academy), even though it’s not the same as high school, that’s how I try to get everyone (at Lancaster) to carry themselves,” Watford said. “On the court, practice, shoot around, you want to make sure that everything is serious because I know it’s kids on my (high school) team who want to make it to the next level. So they got to see it in me, and me being the leader, I tell them there’s kids out here working hard, so if you want to do this, you have to do that.”

The NCAA Basketball Academy is just part of what has been a busy July and year overall for the Sports & Event Center.

Rock Hill hosted the championship tournaments in the adidas 3Stripes Select Basketball (3SSB) boys and girls circuits, along with some games in the junior circuit from July 9-22. It’s the third year in a row that the city has hosted the event, the marquee matchups being played at the Sports & Event Center and other games being played at middle and high schools in York County.

The partnership between adidas and the city began when adidas did a tour of the Sports & Event Center in 2022.

Mike Barnett has spent 20 years with adidas, running the brand’s grassroots basketball events and tournaments, and was blown away by what he saw.

“It’s the best of anything we’ve seen,” Barnett said. “It’s everything. The acoustics in the gym, very important. A lot of these places don’t spend the money on that, and you go into these places, and the balls start bouncing and people start cheering, and you need like a bottle of Advil in your pocket all day long just to be in there. They did everything. Thirty-something restroom stalls in the women’s restroom to the 8,000-square-foot room that we use for a players’ lounge, they really thought of everything.”

Barnett said another thing that sets the Sports & Event Center apart is the championship court, which is used for highly touted matchups that draw a larger number of fans and college and NBA scouts.

The 1,300-seat venue allows adidas to put those games under a larger spotlight, and the fact that it’s under the same roof as the eight side-by-side courts is more than an added bonus.

The city’s willingness to help the adidas tournament run as smoothly as possible is something beyond the venue that keeps Barnett and adidas coming back.

There are talks for adidas to continue hosting its 3SSB championships in Rock Hill until 2030, with both sides understanding how one positively impacts the other. Sexton said that York County has gained over $20 million in direct economic impact from hosting the three annual 3SSB events in 2022 and 2023.

“When I met with (Rock Hill’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department), there was this sense of, ‘We want to serve you, we want to partner with you, we want to help you.’ We’re not used to that,” Barnett said. “Most places you go are privately owned. They’re trying to get a number on their books to pay their overhead, so they rent it to you, and it’s all you after that. In Rock Hill, it’s not like that. Anything we need, there’s constantly people from Parks and Rec (checking in on us). We’ve never been anywhere quite like that.”

Looking ahead, Sexton said that the prevalence of the Sports & Event Center has allowed the facility to be more selective regarding who hosts events and tournaments there.

Construction of an annex across the street from University Center is slated to begin soon, with a projected opening date of December 2025.

That increases the hosting capacity for the venue but also opens up the city to host events that don’t require such a huge space, such as the Charlotte Hornets reaching out about using the space as a training facility.

It allows the downtown area to host two events simultaneously.

“Well, we’re not going to say you can come and train, we’re going to shut adidas down or shut the NCAA down,” Sexton said. “That building will allow us to do it. It’s going to have four more basketball courts, eight more volleyball courts and give us a chance for 12 indoor pickleball courts. Dealing with other event rights holders who may say, ‘I don’t need 170,000 square feet of space,’ but they do need 40,000 square feet of space.”

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Academy had its final day on July 25. The Sports & Event Center is reorganizing in preparation for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Academy, which is July 27-29.