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Michigan Crossover Punches Ticket To Augusta

By Percy Wright, 07/20/15, 4:00PM EDT

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After a one year absence, The Michigan Crossover is headed back to Nike Nationals


Siyeh Frazier will look to help lead the Michigan Crossover to a Nike Nationals Championship

After 9 consecutive years of playing in Nike Nationals the summer of 2014 proved to be a little different for the Michigan Crossover girls program. Nike introduced the Girls EYBL, a league exclusively for Nike sponsored teams that changed the whole landscape of travel basketball. Instead of going to Nike Nationals based on being a sponsored program, now each club has to qualify. 24 teams get in and 8 are left on the outside. In 2014 the Michigan Crossover program was left on the outside looking in.

 Program director Emez Oliver was very disappointed and knew that changes had to be made. First order of business was upgrading his roster. This led him to Benton Harbor, MI to reclaim 2016 guard Kyrse Gondrezick after spending one season with Midwest Elite.

The Crossover went into Boo Williams with high expectations. They had the number one player in the state back on their roster and a former division one head coach leading them from the sideline. After a couple of close games at Boo they finished a disappointing 2-3, their head coach accepted a coaching job on the division two level and the Crossover were back to the drawing board.

After the spring period, Oliver’s search for a new head coach ended when he appointed Juan Young, an in house coach who has been part of the Crossover family for years. They also picked up Michigan State University commit Mardrieka Cook. The Crossover now had the state’s two highest ranked players and were ready for a run in Nashville.

The newly drafted Crossover team came out smoking in Nashville with impressive victories in their first three games. They finished the EYBL league with a 5-5 record a ticket to Nike Nationals.

The future for the Crossover is looking very bright. Their sophomore team led by Alisia Smith, Alicia Norman, Kamaria McDaniel, Kaela Webb and Deja Church also qualified for Nike Nationals. They also have a very talented group of young guns on the heels of the sophomore group. Looks like the Michigan Crossover is back on track and on course to make some noise of the next few years.

This story was written by LBI Carolina Scouitng Director Percy Wright he can reached via email pwright@lbiscouting.com also follow him on twitter @LBInsider_NC