High School 2nd, AAU 1st?

[Blackcobra]

It seems that many players are getting the most looks from colleges in spring and summer AAU ball. Colleges are using those leagues for recruiting more and more. Not so much the high schools. Why do you feel that is?

[Blackcobra]

No politics in playing time I dont know. AAU play good or have a seat.

[SOCFAN1430]

You are also consistently playing with and against far better all around players. Even though I'm not big on the whole AAU thing, it does have it's positives and it's place. Plus you might have to travel for a whole week to see the same amount of top prospects that you can see in one day at a AAU tournament

[Blackcobra]

I feel that if you play AAU in the summer you may gaining a great advantage over the other players that do not. I have seen it with my own eyes.

[Johnny_Marzetti]

No politics in playing time I dont know. AAU play good or have a seat.

No.

Two reasons:
1. Separates wheat from chaff. One can see more top level recruits in less time, since the best players usually play together in the spring.
2. Main reason - coaches do not have time to get on the road to see many recruits in-season. It is far easier to trip in spring and summer.

You almost have to play spring ball to get recruited, but high school ball is about so much more than being recruited, so those who worry about AAU destroying high school ball (which, I know, was not brought up by anyone yet) never understood high school ball in the first place.

[TribeManiac10]

It is true that AAU and online media are the driving forces in recruiting today. The level of compitition at the higher AAU level is far beyond what available most of the time here in the southeast and at some of the tournaments I went to over the summer to watch a couple of the guys from the SHL(Jake Daniels, Travis Combs, Chase Lawson, Jordan Payne and Mitchell, etc.) play in there were literally hundreds of coaches in 1 room watching games. There are often various courts in some of these facilities and a coach could watch parts of 3 or 4 games in an hrs time. It would be ridiculous for coaches not to take advantage of tournaments like these. I would highly recommend AAU to anyone that wants to take their games to the next level and get looked at by a wide assortment of coaches. I would also suggest online recruiting sites like berecruited. A lot of coaches at the NCAA D2/D3 and JUCO levels frequent the site.

[fightingtigers45]

Coaches watch AAU to see if players can play for them.

They watch high school ball to see if a player can be coached by them.

[The Rock]

Johnny is on the spot, if you are serious about recruitment from the next level you must get to that next level. Sorry to say but if you have HS coaches not willing to help you get to that next level you need to research your avenues. Problems usually occurs when both coaches don't have a working relationship for the betterment of our HS athletes. Both should be working together if they have any idea of how to get there.

[Lightle04]

In most highschools the coaches won't even speak to AAU coaches. Most high school coaches hate AAU because they may have a player playing a certain roll on there high school team and at AAU the kids roll my be completely different. Like AAU a kid may be a slasher attacking the rim but his high school coach may want him to stay on the perimeter as a spot up shooter. If there was a way for high school coaches to do both it would be win,win for the kids.

[Fundamentals]

From what I have talked to college scouts they get to see if a kid has the talent and the ability to play with and against top notch talent. To see if a kd can do things to help the team win without scoring, too many players and Parents think you have to score to be the best player, and that is not true. Watching the NCAAs players that excel do it all, scorers get taken out of the game by good defenses.

Also as school go to pay to play and cut ack on traveling AAU ay be the only place some kids will get scene, think about it if you have to pay a couple of hundred dollars to play high school and your team isn't that good, but you can pay the same amount on a travel team that is top ntch and plays in college exposure tourneys, what would you do as a parent.

[Blackcobra]

@jeepnow Very good point never thought about the changing scene of pay to play.

[r1master]

In my opinion, the underlying reason why many high school coaches and AAU coaches don't appear to get along and cooperate is that high school coaches often feel like the AAU coach is under qualified. High school coaches are subject to multiple interviews, committee scrutiny, background checks, public scrutiny, and board approval before they can be considered "qualified" to coach. An AAU coach simply has to be an interested person willing to volunteer their time. With that being said, I think we all know that many great coaches coach AAU, even many guys do both. I am just giving my perception of why I think there is a disconnect between high school and AAU coaches. I agree, both need to work together in the interest of the high school athlete and his or her dream of playing college athletics.

[Fundamentals]

Well a lot of good high school coaches struggle with AAU cause it s a different beast, faster pace, every player on the other team can generally play. It s an uptempo game an organized madness at times, it is harder to have an offensive structure that takes longer to develop cause of the pace of the game. Then on the other hand a lot of AAU coaches struggle with school ball cause the lack of talent, lack of committment, parents, administration so they struggle. Also in high school u get 5-6 days of practice, AAU usually one-two days.

And a good team just doesn't have someone interested in coaching, a good organization makes you feel out applications, background check, AAU requires that online class, and you want a knowledgeable coach.

It s good for the kids, they play/practice against better players consistently and from what I have seen over the last 7 years is that those players who pay AAU the school games slow down for them thy make the better pass, play better defense, in any area they are usually your better player.

Pay to Play will be what kills high school sports, I have heard some CBUS school costs are like rent payments. Where would you put your money? Mediocre/decent high school team where your kid may not get noticed or a good AAu team that will be playin in front scouts and college exposure tournys?

[Chained Eagle]

Public high school coach works and develops the players in the district (unless they happen to get a "transfer"). Employs a strategy that fits into his system. Attempts to build a team concept.

AAU coach recruits the best players possible over a multi county/state area. Roll out the balls and turn them loose.

Maybe not all AAU is this way but a lot is. Have seen it with own eyes. The high school coach then has to deal with some bad habits.

With AAU being played during the off season it is much easier for college coaches to go out on the road to these AAU tourneys. Along with being able to see several prospects in one setting over a couple days it is an advantage.
NCAA by laws with dead periods also favor the aau circuit.