Maybe at this time next year, you’ll see Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari at West Lawrence’s Six Mile Chophouse, or Michigan State’s Tom Izzo at downtown’s Pachamama’s, or Missouri coach Kim Anderson at North Lawrence’s circus school.

Indeed, it looks like the city’s recreation center/fieldhouse at Rock Chalk Park is going to do more than attract youth basketball players. City officials have confirmed they’ve reached a deal with a major promoter to bring a signature AAU basketball tournament to the city, which is expected to bring 80 to 100 teams, and upwards of 30 of the top Division I basketball coaches to scout talent.

City officials aren’t yet announcing the name of the tournament because the promoter hasn’t yet made an announcement, but Chad Tower, the operations supervisor for the Rock Chalk Park center, told me the tournament is one that is currently held in Kansas City. Tower said plans call for the tournament to be held over four days in late July 2015.

“You talk about a chamber of commerce type of weekend, this will be one of them,” Tower said.

The four-day nature of the tournament — Thursday through Sunday — is great for hotels and gives participants and their families a lot of time to explore the community’s shops and restaurants.

More such tournaments may be on the way. Tower said the same promoter is about 95 percent certain he’ll use the Rock Chalk center to host a similar size and caliber tournament for top Division I women’s basketball recruits in April. A different promoter is close to signing a deal for a four-day boys tournament that would showcase lower NCAA and NAIA types of talent. That likely would be in early July.

“We already have been giving a lot of tours to tournament directors,” Tower said. “When you get in there, you really feel the size of the facility. They have all said this is going to be the best facility in the area. They talk about how there won’t be another place like it in the area.”

Tower said Parks and Recreation officials also have had good discussions with members of Bill Self’s staff about having the KU coach’s summer basketball camps at the facility. Those camps likely would take place in June.

We’ve previously reported the facility also has booked some volleyball tournaments with area clubs and leagues. Thus far, Tower estimates that the facility has a little more than 20 tournaments booked.

When completed in early September, the Rock Chalk center — officially named Sports Pavilion Lawrence — will have eight full-sized basketball courts that can be converted to 16 cross-court playing surfaces. Only seven of the eight courts ever will be available for tournaments because the city has committed to keeping at least one court open for community use at all times.

Now that brings up an interesting possibility: Maybe I’ll just happen to be on the community court at the same time Calipari, Izzo and the other big-time coaches are in the facility. They’ll be over to watch in no time, because I’m guessing it won’t take long for word to spread about the player in jean shorts with the hook shot. Who knows, maybe even Kim Anderson will stop juggling fire for a moment and come over to watch.

In other news and notes from around town:

• There have been some questions about whether people will be able to take the city’s public transit system out to Rock Chalk Park. Robert Nugent, the city’s transit administrator, tells me the answer soon will be yes.

Nugent said the city will be unveiling its annual tweaking of transit routes in August. That will include a new route that will run from Sixth and Wakarusa to the Rock Chalk Park facility. It won’t have high frequency — current plans call for it running once an hour — but it also will have a flex service component to it, meaning people can call and schedule some times as well. Look for more details on the route in the coming weeks.

• Lawrence is staying in the trail business in a big way. The city is working to submit a $108,000 grant to build a new trail along the Kansas River between Burcham Park and Constant Park. The trail would tie into a recently completed trail that is located in the Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park, which is behind the old VFW building at First and Alabama streets. The grant, which comes with a 50 percent match requirement from the city, would be through the Sunflower Foundation, which provided grant money for the trail in Shaw Park. Winners should be announced in August. There currently is a path along the Kansas River, but Mark Hecker, assistant director of parks and recreation, said the new trail would be much more functional.

“We will put it back from the river just a bit to avoid erosion problems, but the idea really is that you’ll be able to take a nice walk along the edge of the river,” Hecker said.

If the grant is awarded, construction would begin this winter. In the meantime, the city is still waiting to receive word on whether it will receive a state transportation grant to build a new hike and bike trail through East Lawrence. News on that grant is expected at any time now.

• On the very off chance that our plan to get recruited by the country’s top basketball coaches doesn’t work, we may have a fall back. You get your best Brian Boitano costume on, I’ll do my best Reg Dunlop impersonation from the classic hockey movie Slap Shot, and we’ll put on quite a show at downtown Lawrence’s ice rink.

We’ve reported several times that parks and recreation leaders are exploring the idea of putting in an artificial ice rink in the plaza area between the library and the parking garage. Well, that plan is still moving forward, and we should know soon whether it actually will be feasible.

The city has sent out a request for proposals from companies that can provide the necessary equipment to create the ice rink. The deadline for those proposals is Friday. At that point, the city should have a better idea on the cost of the facility.

As currently envisioned, the rink — which would be designed for recreational skating, not hockey — would be in operation from around Thanksgiving through the winter holiday season, which may mean through New Years or perhaps all the way to Valentine’s Day.