Hardwood Smoke

The Evo Kings Basketball Circuit

We’ve been working behind the scenes for a couple of years now, piecing together a circuit that ensures we can offer the experience that players, coaches and fans deserve in today’s travel world.  The most valuable element of our circuit is accommodating the systemic changes from the college transfer portal, by providing players with realistic opportunities for starting their college basketball career. College programs remain competitive since they recruit experienced players with proven resumes via the transfer portal, instead of recruiting a high school player with no experience or resume.  The new path of the college recruitment process for high school players requires them to land where they can play right away, gain that college experience and build their collegiate resume.

Today, the JUCO option is more powerful than ever before, including NAIA, Division 2 & 3 programs too. When we created the Evo Kings Circuit, we took your challenges into consideration. That’s why our sessions are held on non-live weekends, so you can still support your players that are pursuing the traditional path to a division 1 opportunity, but on the other weekends with us you can leverage the new path of college recruiting and place them in realistic opportunities!

By joining our circuit, you won’t have to drop the major events you normally attend, such as live events and/or shoe circuits.  With choosing 3 out of 5 sessions, you can also choose which sessions fit your schedule best. With the Evo Kings Circuit, you will help maximize and round out the college exposure opportunities for your players all season long.  An added benefit is the chance to strengthen the comradery within your program, since we offer three different divisions based off their skill level, you can bring all your teams a couple of times a season and they can support each other as they all compete!

We’ve been heavily networking with college coaches to bring them to our sessions, creating a budget-friendly approach to ensure their participation.  Most importantly, we created the chance for every GAME MVP selected to play at the end of each session in front of these coaches in our MVP Games.  The feedback from college coaches and these MVP games has been incredible, they love the idea watching players compete against similar speed, talent and skill sets.

Kings Circuit Benefits 

GRANDFATHER CLAUSE

• Teams & Programs That Join Year One
  • 1 Coach per team
  • 1 Director per program
  • Secures the right to vote on matters regarding The Evo Kings Circuit
    • Each year moving forward if they maintain being a member
  • Deadline to join 4/1/2026

EXPOSURE

• MVP Games
  • Game MVP’s play at the end of the session in front of college coaches
• College Coaches
  • NJCAA, NAIA, NCAA II & NCAA III
• Scouts & Sports Writers
  • Providing Player Write Ups for players and for college coaches to access
• Professional Videographer
  • Indy Sports Films capturing content for players and programs
  • Can also hire independently for college recruitment

FORMAT

• Flex Scheduling
  • Teams can choose any 3 out of 5 sessions, or more
  • Session 1-5 offers four games each
• Session 1 – Crossover Summit
  • 4/17/2026-4/19/2026
  • Rec Plex, Pleasant Prairie, WI
• Session 2 – Hardwood Smoke
  • 5/1/2026-5/3/2026
  • UW Health Sports Factory, Rockford, IL
• Session 3 – Midwest Select Showcase
  • 5/29/2026-5/31/2026
  • College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL
  • Canlan Sports, Lake Barrington, IL
• Session 4 – Cream City Rise
  • 6/5/2026-6/7/2026
  • Rec Plex, Pleasant Prairie, WI
• Session 5 – Kings of the Court
  • 6/26-2026-6/28/2026
  • Just A Game Fieldhouse, Wisconsin Dells, WI
  • Just A Game Fieldhouse 2, Reedsburg, WI
• Evo Summer Nationals
  • 7/24/2026-7/26/2026, UW Health Sports Factory
  • Top half finishers from circuit advance
  • Will play 6-9 Games

3 DIVISIONS, 9U–17U BOYS

• League of Thrones Division
  • For elite teams
• Royal Ascent Division
  • For competitive teams
• Crown Quest Division
  • Developing teams
• Can Host All Your Teams
  • Helps strengthen that chemistry within your program
• Advance to the Evo Summer Nationals
  • Top half finishers from each division advance
  • 6-9 games, 7/24/2026-7/26/2026
  • UW Health Sports Factory, Rockford, IL

OFFICIATING

• What Separates Us from Everyone Else
  • Majority of our refs are collegiate officials
  • Paid on a sliding scale based off performance & feedback
  • Wear custom uniforms with a jersey number
    • QR Code Ref Survey on all scorers’ tables
    • Can use ref’s jersey number to identify in your feedback

VENUES

• Great Venues in Illinois & Wisconsin
  • UW Health Sports Factory, Rockford, IL
  • Just a Game Fieldhouse 1 & 2, Wisconsin Dells, WI
  • College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL
  • Rec Plex, Pleasant Prairie, WI
  • Canlan Sports, Lake Barrington, IL

COMPREHENSIVE STATS

• Partnered with Hoopalytics
  • Stats will be provided publicly on our site
  • Stats from our league can be used for college recruiting purposes
  • Opposing teams can learn their opponents’ tendencies
  • Helps increase competition and level of play
  • Awards for Stat Leaders

NOTABLE RULES

• Rules That Protect the Integrity of the Game
  • All players must be age-verified to compete
  • 18 minutes halves, running clock (was 16-minute halves)
    • Except if there is a 10-point lead or less with 5 min left or less
      • Clock stops on every whistle
      • Clock stops after any baskets made under 1 minute left
    • Advance the ball to half court after time outs
    • Continuous-10 Seconds in the Back Court
      • Timeouts no longer prevent a 10 second violation in the back court
    • Technical fouls for players & coaches PER SESSION
      • 1^st Technical – Ejection from game
      • 2^nd Technicals – Out rest of that session

WHAT’S NEXT?

• Identify amount of teams you want to enter
• Identify skill level of each team
• Secure your spots by contacting
  • Jason Coker, President of Evolution Basketball
  • Cell 262-358-2761
  • Email jason@evolutionbasketball.org