 |
| HOO the heck knew about this 2nd Annual OVO Bounce Tournament? |
This weekend saw a lot of crazy stuff going down in the Greater Toronto Area - Caribana, bridges being taken out by drunken truck drivers, and boy band concerts. But the only one I'm disappointed I'm missing out on has got to be OVO Bounce - a week-long basketball tournament/festival leading up to OVO Fest. For those not in-the-know, OVO stands for October's Very Own - the name of rapper/crooner Drake's label, and OVO Fest has become an annual Toronto concert event featuring most of the hottest names in rap and R&B.
But the newest addition to the festival is what has me intrigued. From what I can tell as a far, far-outside observer, OVO Bounce is a 4-day, 8-team Pro-Am tournament held in the Ryerson University gyms, that features many of the biggest names in Canadian basketball. The tournament is a partnership between noted basketball fan Drake, and CIA Bounce, a Canadian Youth Basketball Development program that has been dominating tournaments stateside and pumping out NBA draftees for the last handful of years. Wiggins, Bennett, Ennis, Thompson and Bhullar all played for CIA Bounce, and were all involved in the Pro-Am that also included current Toronto Raptor Amir Johnson, Detroit Piston Brandon Jennings, and many more.