Crush in the Valley Showcase Returns to San Pablo This Weekend

The Grind Session’s 9th annual Crush in the Valley basketball showcase is returning to the area and set to tip off this Friday at Contra Costa College in San Pablo. The three-day event will feature 25 teams, 17 games, and an impressive lineup of some of the nation’s top high school prospects.

The Grind Session is a winter circuit of high school basketball events from late November until early March that consists of elite teams from all over the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. To put into perspective how good this circuit is: over the past 10 years, nearly 100 players from the Grind Session have gone on to play in the NBA, including more than 20 who were chosen in the first round of the past two NBA drafts.

“The Grind Session has taken high school basketball to new heights over the past decade, becoming the home and proving ground for the nation's best prospects and teams. Hundreds of teams have participated on the circuit and over 2,500 players from those teams have gone on to play collegiate or professional basketball,” said Cesar Vizcarrondo, Chief Brand Officer of The Grind Session. “College coaches are looking for players that are ready, seasoned and developed to play college basketball and our level of competition is that."

The three-day event opens with four games on Friday starting at 3 p.m., continues with eight games on Saturday starting at 10 a.m., and concludes with five games on Sunday starting at 9 a.m.

The 17-game slate will be headlined by a massive showdown between two of the nation’s top teams – Napa’s Prolific Prep (#7) and Glendale, Arizona’s Dream City Christian (#25) – when they take to the court on Saturday night at 6 p.m.

The highly anticipated matchup will feature 11 of the nation’s top 100 prospects across the ’24, ’25 and ‘26 classes.

Prolific Prep’s roster features some of the best talent ever seen on a high school squad. In addition to having four recruits in the top 83 of the 2024 class, the elite hoops academy also stars junior A.J. Dybantsa and sophomore Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 prospects in their respective classes.

Dybantsa is already widely considered to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft.

Meanwhile, Dream City Christian’s team is stacked with several four-star prospects of their own, including seniors Jamari Phillips and Emmanuel Stephen, junior Ifaola “Tacko” Fawaz, and sophomores Ikenna Alozie and Miles Sadler.

Some of the other featured games include:

• Millennium HS (AZ) vs. Salesian College Preparatory HS (CA)
• Branson HS (CA) vs. Monterey Trail HS (CA)
• Archbishop Riordan HS (CA) vs. Centennial HS of Corona (CA)
• Dream City Christian (AZ) vs. Accelerated Prep (CO)
• Prolific Prep (CA) vs. Bella Vista (AZ)