HANCEVILLE — This past week, Wallace State Community College finished its second annual Summer Shootout, a four-day camp featuring basketball teams from around the region, with each squad assured at least three games.

The shootout has grown significantly in just two year’s time, as 58 teams combined to play roughly 125 games in its latest version. Wallace State’s men’s basketball coach John Meeks said he hosts the summer event to try and bring potential recruits on campus.

“We’re the host of Northwest Regional, and when I took the job two years ago, the goal was to make it a camp for those teams who might be playing in that regional,” Meeks said. “That’s what we did as far as pushing it. We tried to make it an affordable experience for schools.

“But then the main goal was to be able to get teams on our campus that’re going to be possibly participating in the regional, and we might have recruits to give us a chance to see kids first-hand and to give them a chance to see our campus.”

Meeks flew solo as the man in charge of this year’s shootout, a feat that often had him juggling more responsibilities than he’s accustomed to as the Lions’ head coach. When referees didn’t show up, he became an official. When an out-of-town team didn’t know where to eat or stay, he gave them suggestions and directions.

“I did a little bit of everything,” Meeks said.

According to the coach, a great deal of the participating teams were local, such as Cullman, Fairview, West Point and Cold Springs. Meeks said the school that travelled the farthest was Central Tuscaloosa, which brought its varsity squad to the Tom Drake Coliseum.

The biggest-name team in attendance was Class 6A Hoover, a Final 48 contender last season.

“They’re going to be a major proponent of us getting larger schools movng forward,” Meeks said. “We get good teams now, but we want larger teams. We also want to expand our junior varsity side, getting more and also getting seventh- to ninth-grade teams. That competition would be really good for us because that’s a market that some people haven’t tapped into.”

Meeks has a few modifications he’s considering for improving future shootouts. One obstacle he’ll have to overcome is the Alabama High School Athletics Association’s change from allowing seven days of summer practice competition to four. That rule will take effect in 2013, which will make the camp even trickier for Meeks to plan.

“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board about that,” Meeks said. “First, we want to limit the number of teams we have each day, and we want to do different divisions where we have upper and lower.”

The Lions’ coach said he’s also thinking of stretching out the length of the camp, rather than trying to stack too many teams into four 13-hour days like he did this year.

“Maybe in some ways, even limit how many teams we take each days and who we allow to participate in each division in each day,” he said. “Coaches are looking for more competition from schools at their level. Most of these schools want to come in and play where they know it’ll at least be a tight game. Their ultimate goal is to make sure their kids get better and winning a game by 40 or 50 isn’t an ideal situation.”

West Point coach Randy Jones, whose Warriors have attended the shootout both years, said he likes his players getting experience on the same floor that hosts the Cullman County Tournament and Northwest Regional.

“The big thing about going back down there, it gives you some time to play there before regionals,” he said. “We're going to play there if we make it to regionals.”

This camp also served as a good way to break in the Tom Drake Coliseum’s recent renovations. The Lions put the finishing touches on the $14,000 project in April, adding a two-toned hardwood floor and replacing the previous on-court logos.

“Our guys haven’t had a chance to use it much, only a few days before summer break,” Meeks said. “You can see that the teams that are normally here every year for regionals or camp, when they walk in, their eyes light up about the change. There wasn’t anything wrong with the old one. It was just plain. Now the floor is more modern, and it matches the essence of what this facility is about.”

Jones had similar sentiments, saying the facility now matches up with others around the state.

“The floor is unbelievable,” he said. “What they've redone, they've improved that facility so much. It looks great. That's one of the nicest facilities I've seen in Alabama. They might not have the seating that Alabama and Auburn have, but as far as the floors, it's as nice as anything around.”

Wallace State’s three-part basketball academy began Monday, which Meeks said he and Ron Burdette, the women’s coach, will host together.

“I like team camp for recruiting purposes, but in individual camp, you get to see kids grow over the course of time,” Meeks said. “That excites me to see how much the kids at that age love basketball, and they come to camp with the goal of being better.”

Laura Owens can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 258 or at lowens@cullmantimes.com.