Colorado teams gather in Lone Star State

<p>Three of Colorado’s top club programs will do battle in the Lone Star State this week, as Colorado Chaos, Colorado Miners and Billups Elite squads descend on Dallas for the Great American Shootout.</p> <p><strong>Colbey Ross</strong> is hoping to pick up where he left off in Missouri last week as he leads Colorado Chaos into its opening pool-play game Thursday against ProSkills (Texas) 17.</p> <p>Ross was sensational last week in guiding the Chaos 17s Elite to a strong showing at the Mullens High Profile Tournament in St. Louis. He averaged more than 22 points per game and was often the best player on the court, earning him a nomination for player of the week from Prep Hoops Colorado.<br /> Chaos will play two more pool-play games Friday, against Howard Elite 17s and FV.</p> <p>The Chaos 16s, led by 2017 forward<strong> Jake Belknapp</strong>, who last week received an offer from Northern Colorado, will open pool play Thursday as well.</p> <p>For Billups Elite, the 17U is squad is aiming to build momentum after a 2-2 showing at the Chicago Summer Jam, where they were led by the strong play of 2016 combo guard <strong>Kobi Betts</strong>, who “was scoring the ball all over the place,” according to Billups coach Marcus Mason.</p> <p>In other Billups news, 2017 guard Jaziec Lottie is competing this week at the Adidas Uprising All-American Camp in New York, along with Colorado Hawks star De’Ron Davis and Colorado Elite standout Riley Welch.</p> <p>Meanwhile the Colorado Miners are making their first trip out of state and are eager to compete after faring well last season at GASO.</p> <p>Colorado Gold and Rocky Mountain Black will also be sending teams to Dallas.</p> <p>A look at where some of Colorado’s other 17U and 16U squads will be competing this week:</p> <p><strong>The Finals:</strong> After a strong showing as a team at Elite 100 in California last week, Next Level Premier landed in Atlanta on Wednesday for the Under Armour tournament.</p> <p>“If we can play with the chemistry that we did at Elite 100, I think we’ll have a good showing in Atlanta,” Next Level coach LeRoy Matticks said.</p> <p><strong>Three Stripes Alliance:</strong> After finishing third in the silver bracket of the adidas Uprising Guantlet Finale last week, the Hawks are in St. Louis beginning Friday with an opening pool-play matchup with Tru Federation (Indiana). The Hawks could use another strong performance from 2016 combo guard <strong>Tyrei Randall</strong>, who had a strong showing last week in Atlanta.</p> <p><strong>Best of Summer: </strong>The Colorado Force will be in Anaheim together chasing another championship after winning the gold bracket title of the Adidas Invitational with a 7-1 record last week in Indianapolis.</p> <p>B&B Basketball, led by <strong>Will Wittman</strong>, <strong>Cameron Pearson</strong> and <strong>Jacob Storey </strong>will be embarking on their first out-of-state trip of July.</p> <p><strong>Frank Ryder</strong> of Colorado Titans will also be looking to piggyback on a strong performance at last week’s Next Level Invitational in Milwaukee out in California.</p> <p>Colorado Elite, with <strong>Geoffrey Kelly</strong> joining the squad after spending last week with his school team, look to capitalize on a strong showing at Pangos Sweet 16 last week.</p> <p>Northern Colorado Elite will also be among the teams competing in Anaheim.</p>