The Under Armour Elite 24 is a celebration of streetball’s past, present and future. This event has existed for 8 years and has become one of the premiere events of the summer. The first four were at Rucker Park, and then three at Venice Beach. Last years event was back in New York for the first time since 2009 and was literally played under the Brooklyn Bridge. The 9th annual game tonight will be played outside at Pier 2 of the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It is in my opinion one of the coolest venues for a basketball game that I’ve ever seen.

Among the 24 high school prospects playing are Louisville commit Donovan Mitchell, and Louisville top targets Antonio Blakeney, Derrick Jones, Brandon Ingram in the 2015 class.

(Photo Kelly Kline)

The above picture is a shot of Donovan Mitchell in the Elite 24 dunk contest last night. If you missed the Dunk contest it will be re-aired at 12pm on ESPNU today. This kid has been one of the hottest players in the country this summer. He has been compared to players like Dion Waiters, Dwayne Wade and Tony Allen with his rim attacking mentality, abilty to score off the bounce and defensive presence. He will bring a lot of versatility to the Louisville backcourt when he arrives both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Blakeney has remained at the top of the list and a top target for coach Pitino this summer. He trimmed his list to seven schools back at the end of July. Louisville did make the cut and will get a visit from Antonio on Labor Day weekend. He has established himself as one of the elite scorers in the class of 2015 and would be a great addition to a already stellar Louisville recruiting class.

Ingram has said he plans to cut his list to seven schools at the end of August. It looks more and more like Louisville will make the cut and Ingram recently told SNY.tv that he plans on making the trip to Louisville sometime in October. He would be a great addition to the class and give the Cardinals a great wing player for the future. Ingram has broad shoulders and long arms and he is a smooth operator at the offensive end. His first step is impressive while attacking off the dribble and he can post up as well.

Jones recently cut his list to nine schools and Louisville made the cut. Jones is supposed to visit the Louisville campus sometime in September. He is known as an incredible finisher. He put his great athletic, leaping and finishing ability on display Friday night winning the dunk contest at the Elite 24.

Thon Maker, Terrance Ferguson, Dennis Smith Jr, and Tyus Battle are the 2016 Louisville targets who will be playing on Saturday night. It is really way too early to say just how high on the priority list these 2016 guys are, but the staff has watched these guys and been in contact with them.

It is a slow sports weekend as we all prepare for the college football season to begin, and tonight will be a great chance to see some guys that could be wearing the Cardinal red in the future. It will also be the last major event for these underclassmen as the next time most of them will be on the court in competition will be for their high school teams this fall. The game airs live on ESPNU at 7p.m.