Star seniors will be on display at Portsmouth tourney

	Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks will have his chance to impress NBA Scouts at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Travis Lindquist/Getty Images

One week from now, the NCAA champion will be crowned, brackets will go back to being the metal things that hold shelves together and you'll no longer have a good excuse to put off cleaning out the garage.

But just when the ball racks are being put into storage in college gyms around the country, hotly contested basketball games featuring some of the NCAA's top players will be taking place in a high school gym in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The 55th annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, slated to take place from April 4-7 at the Churchland High School Sports Complex, is a low-profile event compared to the NCAA tournament. But for the players participating, it's just as important. It's a chance for most of the top senior college basketball players to impress NBA general managers, player personnel directors and scouts from every NBA team. It's also an opportunity for the players to audition their talents to scouts from professional leagues in Spain, Italy, Greece, France and most of the other top European leagues.

Among those scheduled to play in Portsmouth next week are Aaron Brooks, the All-Pac-10 guard who led Oregon to the Elite Eight; Ron Lewis and Ivan Harris, who helped Ohio State to the Final Four; UMass Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Stephane Lasme, who was second in the nation in blocked shots (5.1 bpg); Jackson State's Trey Johnson, the nation's second-leading scorer at 27.1 points per game; and two-time NCAA assists leader Jared Jordan of Marist.

The PIT, as it is commonly known, has a rich history, boasting past participants like Hall of Famers Rick Barry, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Dave Cowens, as well as future Hall members like John Stockton and Scottie Pippen. In recent years, the shift of the NBA Draft's focus to underclassmen has forced the PIT to battle to stay relevant. But the venerable tourney has done just that by providing opportunities for senior players who are not surefire NBA players.

I have personally attended every PIT since 1995, and in that time I've seen talented players like Ben Wallace, Cuttino Mobley, Ruben Patterson, Jeff Foster, Derek Fisher, Anthony Johnson, Mikki Moore and Chuck Hayes. Today, all are starters in the NBA.