Staged at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center, the event is designed to supply future men’s and women’s college basketball players a glimpse into what awaits them during a prototypical student-athlete experience through the tournament pathway tier of the NCAA College Basketball Academy.

Slated for July 22-26, the men’s tournament will feature 24 tenth grade teams and 16 ninth grade teams. The women’s tournament, which mimics the previous itinerary, will transpire July 26-30.

For ninth grade participants in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, all 16 teams will kick-start the Club Championships by lacing up in four pools each consisting of four squads. Following two pool play matches, the two winningest teams in each bucket advance to the gold bracket while the remaining squads play in a silver tournament.

The tenth graders, on the other hand, will ignite their Club Championships journeys in eight pools of three.

Like the ninth graders, the top two teams in each pool will advance to the gold brackets. The eight teams landing in the silver circuit, however, will have earned their spots after falling in the gold bracket’s Round of 16. The teams with the third-best mark in each pool will punch their ticket to an eight-team bronze bracket.

The Gold bracket’s championship contests for both the ninth and tenth grade divisions will also receive a broadcast on the final day of competition.

Of the 80 squads venturing to Rock Hill for this year’s installment of the Club Championships, nearly all received an at-large bid from the USA Basketball selection panel. One bid was reserved for the returning champion from the 2023 U.S. Open Basketball Championships.  

Outside the hardwood, the college hoops hopefuls will attend a series of life skills courses revolving around NCAA eligibility and compliance; the recruiting process; name, image and likeness opportunities; agents; and the transfer portal.

Accompanied by their coaches, teams are required to sit in on these sessions for each day during their experience in South Carolina. Parents and chaperones will take part in separate, simultaneous life skills lessons as well.

Like the U.S. Open Basketball Championships, both the men’s and women’s Club Championships aim to provide opportunity, standards and quality to the grassroots basketball environment under USA Basketball’s youth initiative umbrella. Every USA Basketball national tournament also prioritizes USA Basketball youth guidelines with proper player segmentation, safety considerations and a bonus of fierce competition and fun.