Moneyball Pro-Am Starts Thursday; Features Plenty of Spartans

For a 14th summer the Moneyball Pro-Am returns to the Lansing area, and again it’ll feature a number of Spartans.

Eleven of next year’s Michigan State Spartans team will participate in this year’s Moneyball Pro-Am, with each being split up among six different teams. Miles Bridges, Nick Ward, Cassius Winston and Josh Langford are a few of the marquee Spartans who will be taking place in this year’s event. Below are the teams with each Spartan participating.

-Team Green

• Miles Bridges
• Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn

-Team Silver

• Cassius Winston
• Nick Ward

-Team Black

• Josh Langford
• Conner George

-Team Red

• Kyle Ahrens
• Matt McQuaid

-Team Light Blue

• Kenny Goins

-Team Volt

• Jaren Jackson
• Xavier Tillman

If you are not familiar with the event, the Moneyball Pro-Am is an annual basketball tournament/showcase that includes local players who play collegiately, previously played at the college ranks or are even in the pros somewhere. The tournament will start on Thursday and last throughout all of July and into early August. Games are played at Aim High in Dimondale and are free to the public.

Michigan State — and sometimes Michigan — has always had players participate in the event, giving fans an opportunity to watch some of their favorite players during the offseason. This year’s lineup has some intriguing aspects to keep an eye on.

This tournament will be the first real look at how each of these guys have progressed throughout the offseason and an opportunity to see who possibly took a step forward on the court. This will especially be intriguing to watch for players such as Winston, Langford, Ward and McQuaid who will need to continue to improve for Michigan State to live up to the preseason expectations.

It’ll also be the first opportunity to get a look at highly touted incoming freshmen Jaren Jackson and Xavier Tillman. Both will be members of the Volt team, and will now get their first look at college competition through this event. It was last year during this event when Bridges showcased his highflying athletic ability and gave Spartan fans a sneak peek at what to expect in the upcoming season.

Speaking of Bridges, let’s see how much he’s improved during the offseason. He made the decision to return to East Lansing to leave behind a legacy and it’s been documented during the offseason that he’s been putting in some hard work. That includes a trip to Florida back in May. So it’ll certainly be exciting to see where his game has improved since March.

In a lot of ways this event is simply a glorified scrimmage with the Spartan players normally being the most talented on the floor. So don’t read too much into the stats or numbers these guys are putting up throughout this event.

But this is an opportunity in the middle of the offseason for Spartan fans to get an early look at how their team is forming and take a look at some of the new guys coming in. Plus it’s free! So if you’re in the Lansing area and care about Spartan hoops then head out to Dimondale to catch this year’s Moneyball Pro-Am.

Click here to check out the entire schedule and rosters.