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Jun. 25—With the forecast showing some potentially gloomy weather for Hoopfest weekend, the foursome of HUB Northwest will look to make it rain even more as they look to win their eighth straight men’s 6-foot-and-over Elite Bracket title.
HUB returns its four core members — former college basketball players Mike Hart (Gonzaga), Parker Kelly (Eastern Washington), Marc Axton (EWU) and Robert Lippman (Northwest Nazarene).

In 2025, Hart and Kelly were nursing injuries leading up to the weekend but were able to add another title to their trophy case.
In the finals, they were pushed by Jet Juice, who led by three at one point in the championship game.
But 2026 might be their toughest test as the list of challengers is extensive, including three previous second-place finishers.
They are Wrecking Ball (formerly Jet Juice), Mammasboys (2024) and Big Juicy (2023).
Wrecking Ball and Big Juicy come from the same basketball tree.
The 2023 Big Juicy squad featured Spokane native Dominick Oliveri and Ethan Boag, who both played in Canada collegiately, but they have since created their own teams.

Boag left to build a Wrecking Ball team that includes Jakob Neufeld and Izzy Helman — all three played at the University of Victoria — and Lucas Sheet, who is a native of Victoria.
Oliveri, who played at Lewis and Clark High from 2014-16 before heading to Western Washington and the University of Victoria, will play on Big Juicy with Matthew Ellis, who was also on the 2023 squad. Scott Kellum and Trent Monkman join those two. All played for Victoria.
MammasBoys returns with its familiar group of Aubrey Shelton — the head basketball coach at Puget Sound — Austin Shelton, Ben Shelton and Kaleb Shelton-Johnson.
Four former Whitworth Pirates team up for Boto Boys: Jerry Twenge, Jake Holtz, Miguel Lopez and John-Todd McDermott. Twenge is the only local player, starring at Mt. Spokane.

Another team of former Pirates — Stephen Behil, Garrett Long and Carson Talbert — will play for the team Stink.
Some other notable teams and players to watch in over 6-feet:
—Brett Boese, who starred at Shadle Park High School and played at Washington State, joins fellow ex-Coug Charlie Enquist and ex-Loyola Marymount guard Tyler McClenahan on the Custodians.
—Former Gonzaga guard Joe Few, son of coach Mark Few, will play for Zag Nation. One of his teammates, Logan Law, runs track for GU.
—Austin Ehlo, the son of former WSU and NBA player Craig Ehlo, is teaming up with ex-St. George’s standout Dexter Sienko on the team Post.

—Spokane Colleges men’s head coach Jeremy Groth hits the court for BSN Sports.
Men’s under 6-foot
The two-time champs are back. Be Ball for Life is represented by Maurice Thomas, Dominique McClendon, Markieth Brown and Michael Hannan.
Last year, McClendon sank the second of two free throws to help his team win the title over Millwood. He and Brown joined from a previous team after the summer of 2024.
Brown played at Shadle Park before heading to Everett Community College, where as a sophomore he averaged 26.2 points per game. From there, he went to Montana Tech for the 2020-21 season, when he scored almost 10 points per game. Hannan played at Simon Fraser and Pierce College. He graduated from Central Valley High School.

Millwood includes Brandon Davis, Joshua Thomas, Alfie Miller and Jordan Gassman. The team has made it to the finals in at least the previous five seasons.
Davis is a Spokane native who played at Blue Mountain Community College and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Thomas is a Central Valley graduate who went to Eastern Washington (2017-19) to play basketball. His artwork has been featured on Hoopfest team and championship shirts as well as the official Hoopfest ball.
Miller is from Des Moines, Washington, and is Mount Rainier’s all-time leading scorer. He spent two seasons at Shoreline Community College before transferring to Montana State-Northern in Havre. He was an all-conference player there.

Gassman played at West Valley.
Two other teams to watch are packed with former Hoopfest champions.
—NW Warriors Elite (Aaron Antoine, Ahbrae Harvey, Therone Tillett and Ross Nakamura) won in 2023 and will look to make it back to the title game. The first three all have ties to the Lilac City Legends, a minor-league pro team based in Spokane, while Nakamura spent time with Whitworth. As a senior, he led NCAA Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Tillett played at Rogers High before a short stint with the San Diego Toreros for the 2013-14 season.
—The team ASAP features Justin Bright, Jason Carmichael, Dawson Youngblood and David Kielian.

Bright replaces Preston Wynne, a multi-time champ who was on the 2025 team. Bright, a former Central Valley standout who played at EWU, is one of the more decorated players in Hoopfest elite history.
Youngblood graduated from Deer Park. Kielian is another former Hoopfest elite winner.
Coed elite
Austin Bolt, who won the title in 2024, will play for Let it Flyy. Bolt is a former Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year in basketball and football in 2020 at Borah High School in Boise. His brother Aidan is back this year, but they will have two new members this weekend.
They include Macey Grant, a 2021 graduate of Lewis and Clark, who won the 2025 title with Ballin’ Like Magic. She recruited her dad Jacob to play this summer. He was second-team All-GSL in 1991 at Ferris. He won his men’s bracket last year.

Their two primary challengers are Baden and Ethical Hoopers.
Baden, the runner-up last year, features Jordan Barron, Fernando Barron, Jeremy Gaudette and Micah Colburn.
Jordan Barron, who graduated from Northwest Christian in 2019, played at Biola University before playing at a professional level internationally. Fernando Barron is from San Bernardino, California, and played at Hope Christian College and internationally, as well.
Gaudette is from Naches, Washington, and played at Yakima Valley College. Colburn’s hometown is Trout Lake, Washington, and he spent time at Ozark Christian College.

Ethical Hoopers will be a fascinating team to watch as the team is comprised of social media influencers.
Between Jack Appleby and Austin Nam, the two have almost 400,000 followers. Appleby is a FIBA 3×3 player from New York while Nam presents himself as a player who taught himself to play basketball at age 21. His girlfriend and Hoopfest teammate is Gia Mancini, who is a hooper from New York. Their fourth is Caleb La-Anyane.
—NOTE: Due to a decline in registered teams, there is no women’s elite bracket in 2026.
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