LIKE IT IS : AAU event drawing more than just players
Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008
Outside a soft summer rain left steaming parking lots full of puddles.
Inside the gyms were kids from all across the nation — from coast to coast — hoping to win a 16-and-under or 15-and-under AAU national championship.
It may be Division II, but basketball enthusiasts will tell you that’s still a great accomplishment, especially with this field.
Henry Forrest, Arkansas’ wellrespected AAU state chairman, has managed to bring thousands of visitors to central Arkansas during the dog days of summer, and that is no easy feat. It is a tribute to how well he’s run state and national tournaments here in the past.
Wednesday 87 teams finished pool play, and half of those will begin bracket play today in one of many gyms being used.
A drop-in by Court of Dreams (P. A. R. K. ), Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian on Wednesday showed the biggest change — and perhaps the biggest challenge — on the college level in years.
Coaches are now evaluating kids as young as 14.
Some blame this on Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie, who seems to think younger is better when it comes to his commitments, but the truth is it is widespread.
And probably unfair — to the coaches and kids.
There are any number of kids that young who have shot up from 6-2 to 6-6; some will continue to grow, others won’t.
The biggest downside to a ninth-grader being offered a scholarship to a Kentucky or another big-name basketball school is he could easily get overconfident and quit working to get better.
There used to be an NCAA rule against evaluating any player on a team under the 17-year-old classification, but the all-seeing eye of college athletics needs a checkup to see if it can still read the bottom line.
Of course, oral commitments are not binding, for the kids or the coaches, so this could all be an exercise in futility. But until the NCAA reinstates age minimums — and this is the organization that wants to control summer basketball — expect a certain amount of chaos.
Overall, the NCAA does a good job of running such a huge, multibillion-dollar world as college athletics, but it is not perfect, and this issue involving kids who can’t drive yet — some probably haven’t even shaved — is not a good idea.
However, you cannot blame the assistants or head coaches who showed up in central Arkansas this week. They are just doing their job, and there were many on hand looking at the teenagers.
John Pelphrey and Gillispie were expected to be watching games at Pulaski Academy on Wednesday night.
No doubt some players were more impressive than others, but you never know which ones are going to get a second or third growth spurt or who will work even harder and get better.
Michael White, a top assistant to Andy Kennedy at Ole Miss (and a former starting point guard for the Rebels ), was in town, but he had no comment on evaluating kids this young other than saying “you do what you have to do.”
White, like most assistants, will spend this week on the road, a week at home and then 11 days in Las Vegas or Orlando, Fla.
Vegas has become the largest summer tournament in the country, and Orlando still hosts the AAU national championships for Division I.
Shawn Forrest, Henry’s son, was at the tournament representing North Texas after being thrown out like bath water after six seasons as an assistant at Arkansas State.
White and Forrest made numerous notes while watching a great game between the North Carolina Celtic Stars and the host team, the Arkansas Hawks, who are mostly 14-year-olds who are playing up.
Former Razorbacks tight end Billy Winston coaches the Hawks, who include several college prospects if the kids continue to work hard.
Of course, those were not the only coaches in town. With so many venues and so many kids to scout, they were spread out in central Arkansas.
It is a great tournament in a great location, and Henry Forrest and his staff are doing everything they can to keep it about the kids.
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