By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

MANHATTAN -- The future of Kansas State basketball -- not to mention national-caliber talent from several states -- will be on display this weekend when the Manhattan Classic makes its first appearance at Bramlage Coliseum.

Power forward Wally Judge and guard Rodney McGruder, early commitments to K-State for the Class of 2010, will lead the 17-under DC Assault, an AAU outfit from Washington, D.C., that already has been kind to the Wildcats. In addition, 2010 recruiting target Latavious Williams will be part of the Brandon Bass All-Stars.

Spiece Mo-Kan, an AAU program out of Kansas City, organized the tourney, which features 22 teams in the 17-under division and 12 more in the 16-under. Games begin Friday night at the Peters Recreation Complex on the K-State campus, and concludes Sunday afternoon with the championships in Bramlage.

Most of the featured pool games will take place Saturday at Bramlage.

Matt Suther, the tournament director, said the Manhattan Classic is following a trend of putting the event on a college campus. And what better way to pique interest locally than to bring in a pair of future Wildcats?

"When we originally got it, we tried to market it and those were some easy ways to market the event," Suther said. "But we do have a lot of high-level kids coming in that have no ties to K-State.

"We've probably got 15 kids ranked in the top 50 in their age groups throughout the tournament, so we've got a lot of really, really good players coming in."

Judge, a 6-foot-9, 218-pounder from Jacksonville, Fla., and the 6-4, 195-pound McGruder of Washington, both are ranked among the top 100 players in the Class of 2009 by Rivals.com.

DC Assault already has sent K-State All-American Michael Beasley, plus current Wildcats Dominique Sutton, Ron Anderson and Jamar Samuels.

Williams, a 6-7, 195-pound power forward from Camp Springs, Md., is the No. 13-ranked player in the class and No. 5 at his position. Rivals rated Judge No. 48 and McGruder No. 76 overall, with four stars.

Suther said Spiece Mo-Kan will suit up as many as eight future Division I players, with three likely to end up at the top mid-major or high major levels. Spiece Indy Heat features DeShaun Thomas, a 6-7 forward from Fort Wayne, Ind., an Ohio State commit ranked among the top players in the Class of 2010.

Another top 2010 prospect is point guard K.C. Ross-Miller of Team Texas Elite, who has committed early to Kentucky.

For those who want to look even farther down the road, Perry Ellis a high school freshman-to-be from Wichita will suit up for Spiece Mo-Kan's 16-under team. Ellis, a 6-7 forward, is considered one of the top five players in the Class of 2012.

The DC Assault 17-under team will play three games Saturday at Bramlage - against Team Texas Elite at 9:15 a.m., Spiece Indy Heat at 1 p.m. and Spiece Mo-Kan at 3:30 p.m.

A complete schedule is available on the tournament's Web site manhattanclassic.org. Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday games are $10 for one day or $17 for a weekend pass and are available at the will call table inside the west doors at Bramlage or at the Powercat Illustrated office at 1125 Moro in Aggieville.