For fans whining about recruiting via AAU programs

[NewJerseyHawk]

Example #33 on why recruiting via AAU is extremely problematic....essentially the AAU program is holding hostage any college basketball program that recruits players from their AAU program.....

A) What if the AAU player isn't good enough to beat out someone else on the roster??

B) What if the AAU player just believes that he's entitled to start or play because his AAU coach is just going to pressure the HC or assistant coaches behind the scenes??

C) what if the player just isn't a good fit for the program in general??

D) what if the kid from the AAU program has a drinking or weed problem and is influential on other kids on the roster....?? You don't want as a coach to publicly humiliate the player by suspension but if the kid isn't good for roster and the portal is the best solution, what is the program supposed to do....??

Again this isn't me making up these scenarios, this is a warning shot by a prominent AAU program, to any college coaches recruiting their programs players....

I am not saying some college coaches won't force out another player, if another or better player becomes available, but this is the type of political hurdles, college coaches have to deal with...

This isn't a good way to rely on building a roster or program via AAU....I'm sure people will disagree but it's very difficult to massage dozens or even a couple of relationships in the recruiting scene.....the notion that AAU fixes your program are true if you are Will Wade or LSU....

 

[RU84]

Example #33 on why recruiting via AAU is extremely problematic....essentially the AAU program is holding hostage any college basketball program that recruits players from their AAU program.....

A) What if the AAU player isn't good enough to beat out someone else on the roster??

B) What if the AAU player just believes that he's entitled to start or play because his AAU coach is just going to pressure the HC or assistant coaches behind the scenes??

C) what if the player just isn't a good fit for the program in general??

D) what if the kid from the AAU program has a drinking or weed problem and is influential on other kids on the roster....?? You don't want as a coach to publicly humiliate the player by suspension but if the kid isn't good for roster and the portal is the best solution, what is the program supposed to do....??

Again this isn't me making up these scenarios, this is a warning shot by a prominent AAU program, to any college coaches recruiting their programs players....

I am not saying some college coaches won't force out another player, if another or better player becomes available, but this is the type of political hurdles, college coaches have to deal with...

This isn't a good way to rely on building a roster or program via AAU....I'm sure people will disagree but it's very difficult to massage dozens or even a couple of relationships in the recruiting scene.....the notion that AAU fixes your program are true if you are Will Wade or LSU....

So what are examples of the types of schools that do end up being held hostage by these AAU programs? Not disagreeing with what you’re saying just out of curiosity. I’m not familiar with the dark underbelly of the AAU world. Also, how do the blue bloods do it? How do they consistently get top tier talent but avoid being completely held hostage?

 

[NickRU714]

I don't follow recruiting (football or basketball).

How does it work then? What are the alternatives to avoiding AAU kids?
At what level (Top 100/200/300) do players not play AAU?
I always assumed (maybe wrongly) that all the top players do both HS and AAU.

 

[Colbert17!]

AAU use to just be an opportunity for kids to play after the season was over. Over the past 50 years it has grown into this monster that it is today.

 

[tjb_rivals53842]

Forty-plus years ago when I was playing high school soccer, all the college recruiting happened at the club and not the high school level. You basically had to get in line with a club playing in a big city (where there were enough immigrants who wanted to play the world’s most popular game, and were good at it).

Struck me as odd then because the model for all other sports was to go through the high school coach. But it worked well for the colleges, because all the best players were in one spot, playing against each other.

Have you ever attended a high school game with a D1 prospect outside of somewhere like the Philadelphia Catholic League or the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference? It’s impossible to evaluate a kid in those environments with any confidence, and the coaching is usually poor to ridiculous.

AAU has fixed that. Sure there are other consequences, but the one referenced here is no different than what coaches at places like West Philadelphia or DeMatha in the day, with their elite (and pale-complexioned) coaches surely did: Use whatever leverage they had to protect their guys. Cynically it was because those schools were recruiting just like AAU programs, less cynically it was because they had leverage, they used it.

 

[PatrickRU92]

Not a reply to Hawk, but I call bullsh!t on this proclamation.

Sure, when Calipari (for example) shows up at practice the Team Final coach pushes him out the door and tells him to get lost because he told a player that he wasn't going to play as much next year.

As an RU fan would love to see it, but that is not happening.

 

[RUsojo]

I see no issue with an AAU program using their legitimate leverage to do right by their kids.

This is not a problem with AAU. This a reality of relationship building and shows the importance of proper roster management.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Not a reply to Hawk, but I call bullsh!t on this proclamation.

Sure, when Calipari (for example) shows up at practice the Team Final coach pushes him out the door and tells him to get lose because he told a player that he wasn't going to play as much next year.

As an RU fan would love to see it, but that is not happening.

You have different levels here…there is some top end brand validity for what you mention for a couple of the bluest of the blue bloods …and their coaches

Take away those 10 or so programs …a lot of it that temperamental ….if you are a power 6 program …and not a blue blood l, but the next level …and you take a kid and it doesn’t work out, you have a lot of re-recruiting of rhe AAU coaches to get their next prospect …as the AAU coach does NOT want to get a record of steering their kids to the wrong place …

It’s one thing to send a kid to Kentucky , duke , or Kansas and if that kid doesn’t work out …the aau coach isn’t getting a black eye and either is the coach for decades of excellence

The Rutgers of rhe world…we take a top 75-125 rank AAU kid (let’s say like the kids we got in Mike rice first big 7 man class )…..there was all eyes on how a kid like him was handled here …and when things didn’t quite pan out for the kids …it had a lingering effect on how the next generation of kids woukd be handled …and rice wasn’t even the coach. Eddie had to deal with that fall out …the word became “don’t go to Rutgers …you will not make it there “

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Hawk, I am usually with you on things, but I think this is a GREAT statement they put out. High school coaches should do the same, in all sports. NO kid should be pushed into the transfer portal. If a high school kid signs with a school and doesn’t play much, that is the coaches decision. But if Johnny Smith likes the school , is going to class, going to practice, and is not doing anything stupid , no reason he should have to leave because Coach Jones thinks he can bring in a better player from Eastern Alaska Tech. And yes, I would think the same way if it involves a Rutgers coach.

 

[rcube1994]

I must have missed the tweet where they promise their players wont transfer to a different school because someone came along with a better "offer".

 

[RUSONIC]

Cash will resolve any misunderstanding the coach has with a team.

 

[needmorecowbell]

I see no issue with an AAU program using their legitimate leverage to do right by their kids.

This is not a problem with AAU. This a reality of relationship building and shows the importance of proper roster management.

There is plenty wrong with AAU but I agree this is not one of them.

 

[Joey Bags]

So what are examples of the types of schools that do end up being held hostage by these AAU programs? Not disagreeing with what you’re saying just out of curiosity. I’m not familiar with the dark underbelly of the AAU world. Also, how do the blue bloods do it? How do they consistently get top tier talent but avoid being completely held hostage?

The blue bloods simply submit a stronger *** offer than whatever BS the AAU programs are peddling.

 

[Big boy stan]

So your choice is to not recruit from this AAU group OR recruit a kid that does not work out and they stop you from recruiting?

Seems like the result is the same. May as well take the kid and ignore the coach.

In any case, at a school on RU's level, I would guess if you get a top AAU player, you probably do your best to keep him and develop him, rather than pushing him out. Much like Doucoure in past years or maybe Jones this year.

 

[LETSGORU91]

I must have missed the tweet where they promise their players wont transfer to a different school because someone came along with a better "offer".

You beat me too it. AAU programs want to dictate what happens at the next level? But said players are free to jump in the portal anytime they want? That's complete BS. What a bunch of self entitled idiots.

 

[motorb54]

Where do these AAU programs get their money?

 

[tjb_rivals53842]

Nike, Adidas and Under Armour are the biggest sponsors/funders. All three are sponsoring AAU tournaments this evaluation weekend.

 

[The RUT]

Why is anyone recruiting AAU? What a waste of time.

Just only recruit the portal, wasting your efforts on high school players now.

 

[chrebet80]

Why is anyone recruiting AAU? What a waste of time.

Just only recruit the portal, wasting your efforts on high school players now.

Yea I hate having guys like cliff omoruyi on the team

 

[The RUT]

Yea I hate having guys like cliff omoruyi on the team

There are guys better than Cliff in the portal lol.

 

[Scangg]

There are guys better than Cliff in the portal lol.

Not many and anyone that good is likely going to a national championship contender type team

Only using the portal and not recruiting HS at all is obviously not smart

 

[The RUT]

Not many and anyone that good is likely going to a national championship contender type team

Only using the portal and not recruiting HS at all is obviously not smart

I disagree - 80% of your recruiting efforts should be portal. 20% high school.

Not worth your time unless the player is a sure thing IMO.

 

[Scangg]

I disagree - 80% of your recruiting efforts should be portal. 20% high school.

Not worth your time unless the player is a sure thing IMO.

You just disagreed with yourself...

You said "Just only recruit the portal, wasting your efforts on high school players now"

Key word ONLY.

You actually agreed with me. I said "Only using the portal and not recruiting HS at all is obviously not smart"

 

[The RUT]

You just disagreed with yourself...

You said "Just only recruit the portal, wasting your efforts on high school players now"

Key word ONLY.

You actually agreed with me. I said "Only using the portal and not recruiting HS at all is obviously not smart"

Lolol exaggerated a bit in that first post.

 

[chrebet80]

There are guys better than Cliff in the portal lol.

Cliff is better than 99% of the portal players and that’s being conservative

 

[tjb_rivals53842]

Cliff is better than 99% of the portal players and that’s being conservative

Cliff’s PPRG! (Torvik) is 3.1. That would rank him tied for eighth among the 164 guys in the portal who are 6-9 and taller (my arbitrary cut off).

Cliff’s BPR (evanmiya.com) is 19.1. That ranks him 11th among the 98 guys identified as pure 5 men in the portal.

IMO, would be fair to eyeball Cliff‘s trajectory (getting better all the time, from what I can see) and ceiling when comparing, too.

 

[Russ Wood]

Example #33 on why recruiting via AAU is extremely problematic....essentially the AAU program is holding hostage any college basketball program that recruits players from their AAU program.....

A) What if the AAU player isn't good enough to beat out someone else on the roster??

B) What if the AAU player just believes that he's entitled to start or play because his AAU coach is just going to pressure the HC or assistant coaches behind the scenes??

C) what if the player just isn't a good fit for the program in general??

D) what if the kid from the AAU program has a drinking or weed problem and is influential on other kids on the roster....?? You don't want as a coach to publicly humiliate the player by suspension but if the kid isn't good for roster and the portal is the best solution, what is the program supposed to do....??

Again this isn't me making up these scenarios, this is a warning shot by a prominent AAU program, to any college coaches recruiting their programs players....

I am not saying some college coaches won't force out another player, if another or better player becomes available, but this is the type of political hurdles, college coaches have to deal with...

This isn't a good way to rely on building a roster or program via AAU....I'm sure people will disagree but it's very difficult to massage dozens or even a couple of relationships in the recruiting scene.....the notion that AAU fixes your program are true if you are Will Wade or LSU....

Water is wet. For decades kids have been run off of college teams and for decades HS &/or AAU Coaches get salty about it.

This is not some new thing.

People need to chill and stop acting like college players never ever transferred until 3 years ago

 

[jakeknight]

There's lot more going on here than portal vs AAU/Club recruiting. The gold in terms of success is a very limited commodity when you look at H.S. To college and then on to a professional career. The AAU/ club coaches and I guess what you call the athletes inner circle are often providing guidance that is not in the long-term interest of the kids they are theoretically advising. How long will it take for NIL to trickle down to the elite HS level. The number of kids eventually coming out of college and making a career in professional athletics is less than 1 percent. There is simply too much focus on the imaginary gold ring all the way along the line. NIL is not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't run very deep in the eligible pool and there clearly need to be some level of structure put in place to help the athletes navigate the process.