San Diego, California's Alliant International University was the site of the second annual Adidas Junior Phenom Basketball Camp, in which the best sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys in the country in the classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012 were playing.

There are thousands of kids playing basketball all over the country. Basketball has overtaken baseball to become America's pastime. From the boondocks in Alaska, to the playgrounds of Harlem, to the sweaty gyms in San Francisco, kids can be seen every weekend at AAU or club team tournaments perfecting the crossover or finger roll at the at the age of 8.

But how could one camp determine who is the best eighth grader in the country? I asked myself that question as I walked into the gym to see for myself. That's where I ran into hoop guru Clark Francis walking around the Alliant's gym with a notebook and program guide in hand. If anyone knew what to look for he would have an idea. Francis, head of the Hoopscooponline.com, has been publishing basketball college recruitment and player rankings for the past 23 years.

He has seen hoopers such as LeBron James and Sebastian Telfair as rising 8th graders, before they exploded on the national basketball scene. "This camp is a great starting point for players who are really good," said Francis. "It allows you to see where you are in terms of the pecking order of players in your age group. But let's say you are one of the worst players in camp. Maybe when you get home from the camp it will motivate you to get better and work on the things you need to improve on."

Other talent evaluators were on hand such as Patrick Stanwood of Hoop Scoop, Dinos Trigonis of Full Court Press, Dave Keefer and Jack Nelson of Californiapreps.com and a host of other reporters and writers including myself. Some were just checking out what was going on out of curiosity. For others the camp was the start of that search for the next great one. The next KG, Kobe or J. Kidd.

In Francis's case, it gives him a chance to get a jump-start on the scouting competition that has become a cottage industry in the age of specialized sports coverage. It is not uncommon to see college coaches attending middle school games in order to get the jump on the young basketball talent. This also is true for the recruiting analysts. "From my standpoint camps like this give me a starting point in the rankings," continued Francis. "You can see the potential and what a player can become. The more information and the longer you track a guy the better insights on a player you can get."

The format of the Junior Phenom Camp is modeled after the big shoe company camps sponsored by Adidas, Reebok or Nike. It was the Adidas ABCD exposure camp that helped catapult Tracy McGrady, a Florida basketball unknown going into his senior year into an NBA lottery pick in a little over a year. At the Adidas Junior Phenom Camp players were picked and put on teams within their class groupings. They played two games a day and in between games and drills, players were housed in the dorms at Alliant University. They also received lectures on academics and interacted with the various coaches and campers.

"Talent from all over the country came to this camp," said Joe Keller, head of the Team California club team and the Founder and CEO of the Junior Phenom Camp. Keller's face was beaming as he looked at his list of 348 kids at the camp (360 who registered) whose parents, coaches, or sponsors shelled out $450 dollars to get a T-Shirt, uniform, a pair of sparkling new Adidas shoes, and three days of basketball. "This is a great opportunity for the kids to measure themselves and develop relationships with other kids, who are here from all over the country."

Most of the players at the camp were recommended by a basketball coach, organization or a hoop guru in their prospective areas of the country. Kids from Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York City were there, as well as Daichi Kobayashi, an incoming 6th grader from Yokahama City, Japan. However, Philadelphia, Texas and California had the largest contingent of campers.

Out of the 120 players in each age division, 20 were selected to the division's All-Star game which took place at the end of the camp. Tony Chenault, a 5 foot 11 inch point guard from Philadelphia with handles and a rugged east coast game, was the consensus number one incoming eighth grader at the beginning of the camp. He played very well early on but towards the end of the camp Travis Robertson, a 6 foot 1 inch wing player, had the distinction of being the number 1 ranked player based on his performance in the 8th grade All-Star game.

There were several other very good players, with several over 6-feet tall going into the eighth grade. The basketball played was solid for the most part but in some games players shot too much trying to impress the scouts and hundreds of onlookers. Some of these players will be tracked through high school and will make a who's who list of basketball rankings.

However, it is too early to tell who will do what. Some players will go home from the camp and will work harder and improve. Others will rest on their laurels and rankings and may fall off. There are also several thousands of other kids not at these types of camps but in the gyms and playgrounds working. The anticipation and expectation of this camp may have been excessive but it was a good thing for most of the youth at the camp.

"At the end of the day, a kids performance at this camp will not mean anything when it comes to getting a college scholarship or becoming a McDonald All American years down the road," continued Clark. "However, what the players take home and work on from this camp will be the most important thing. Being able to compete is the most important thing one can get out of this camp."