Most high school basketball preseason scrimmages, are held in closed gyms with little to no audience. They’re played in practice jerseys and with little external attention.

But not Dion and Sade Bethea’s.

Dion Bethea is the head coach for the Gray Collegiate boys basketball team, and The Preview is the preseason jamboree he puts on with the help of his wife, Sade, who is the owner of SJB Event Management. This year, the event, which is in its third year, is slated to take place Nov. 18. Lexington County schools Gray Collegiate and Chapin will participate along with Dreher, AC Flora, Lakewood, Indian Land, Dorman, Military Magnet, Richland Northeast, Sumter, Blythewood, Northwestern James island, Lancaster, Oceanside Collegiate, Northwestern, CA Johnson, Lower Richland and Goose Creek.

Two years ago, Dion wanted to bring some excitement to these early season jamborees. He wanted to give an opportunity for teams to measure themselves against the best teams in the state and provide an entertaining event to kick off the basketball season. What he and his wife built was a preseason event that has drawn the best teams in South Carolina and has become known for the entertainment element of DJs performing in between games and creating an electric atmosphere that even saw South Carolina basketball legend and current WNBA superstar A’ja Wilson attend last year’s event.

“We really put a lot of time into making sure the atmosphere is good, having a really good DJ,” Dion said. “The first two years we had the DJ’s that do the women and men’s basketball games at USC. This year, we have another really good DJ that we will announce later on in the week. But you know, the atmosphere and the quality of teams, I think that’s the biggest thing.”

What sets this event apart from other preseason jamborees is the atmosphere. Along with the DJs, players for each team participating get interviewed after the games by Angelica Santiago from iAMroyalty Media, a player is awarded the player of the game and the players get to feel like they’re participating in a big time event, something that Dion said he hears a lot from players and coaches.

“They love the interviews,” he said. “After each game, Angelica does a really great job of interviewing the kids and the coaches and then we also pick a player of the game from each team. They love doing the interviews and just being apart of it because it’s getting bigger and bigger every year.”

The first element of putting on an event like this is making sure there are match-ups that people want to watch. For example, last year, Keenan’s MiLaysia Fulwiley, who is now playing for Dawn Staley at South Carolina, dazzled the crowd as her team was pitted against state powerhouse Military Magnet.

“It was just electric,” Dion said. “And I swear, everybody wanted to see her against Military Magnet and it just so happened that Military Magnet ended up winning the state championship last year.”

Lexington’s boys team participated last year along with other top match-ups like Richland Northeast against Clover and Sumter against Blythewood.

Dion has been able to use his extensive coaching network to help bring in some of South Carolina’s best teams and after the success of the first two years at the event, he says even more coaches are reaching out and wanting to participate in The Preview.

“I didn’t think it was gonna get this big but next thing you know, everybody and their momma wanted to come to play people,” he said.

When it comes to the grunt work of putting on and managing the event, Sade uses her expertise in event management to ensure things run smoothly even if it’s an event more unique than what she’s used to planning.

“The first year was obviously something new for me,” she said. “It’s something that I’ve never done on that level. I’ve done things like weddings and parties and things like that but actually doing a sporting event was something new to me for the first year.”

She added that, like weddings and parties, hosting an event with this many moving parts requires significant attention to all the little things.
“It just takes a lot of detail when doing these types of events and just making sure everything runs smoothly,” Sade said.

Her attention to that detail has paid off and is a big reason the event was a success in the first two years. With big names like Wilson showing up and watching the festivities, it’s given The Preview even more credibility as a premier preseason basketball attraction. In year three, she is looking forward to showcasing more local talent on the basketball floor and on the microphone.

“It’s exciting to see people come out and support your event, especially people like A’ja Wilson,” she said. “It gives it a lot of traction and makes people want to come out and see who’s gonna be there next year. We also give opportunities to people who are local talents. Last year, we had a performer in between the games. So there’s talent out there and especially young talent who are looking to showcase their talents to the city. We encourage them to contact us and let us know and we’ll be glad we can put you on and give you an opportunity to showcase your talent.”

Of course, there’s also the family element of the Betheas running the event. While there are plenty of good teams on the court, the Betheas are the team crucial to making sure everything plays out. Sade says it can be a unique challenge at times but they are both looking forward to seeing The Preview grow in the third year.

“It’s challenging. When you’re dealing with someone that you know, they don’t always listen so it can be challenging sometimes because of that and being in a household together. Normally, when I’m dealing with clients, if I ask them to do something, they do it with no questioning. When you’re dealing with someone that you are in a relationship with, it gets a little more complicated but he’s learning to listen now,” Sade laughed. “He’s learned to see that I know exactly what I’m doing and that whatever I ask of him is something that makes the business better. So going into the third year, we’re excited.”