I agree. It annoys me when people say "kids just aren't very good" when we see some of these brands of basketball that coaches have used for decades, regardless of their talent.
As I mentioned in my post, I didn't mean coaches just letting players do whatever they want. That's never a recipe for success.
Or maybe they have just had tremendous success with it?
They sure do - but my question was do you think they'd have even more success if they opened the reigns a bit. I think it would result in even better teams.
Fair point here. In the GMC we can take a look at guys like Greg Richards and Mike Price who ran their systems without much deviation for years with lots of success. Would I say "tremendous" probably not, could they have maybe made a deeper run in the post season some years had they switched up what they did a bit ... who knows but probably not as I'd say they got the most out of what they had every year
Small colleges have no chance at any players at big AAU events? You’re delusional. So are you implying that every player at big AAU events is mid major D1 or higher? Highly doubt that
Wrencher was hurt his senior season and sat out more games than he played. The first three games of his senior season he scored 10, 8, and 9. Then he got hurt and came back later in the season and wasn’t the same player. So if that’s the only name you can come up with, that’s a bad example.
It’s a good discussion- i don’t disagree at all, but it’s armchair coaching one of the most successful coaches in Ohio high school basketball. I think for instance Moeller definitely loosened up when they had Jaxson, Jeremiah, Alec and Duece on their roster. Then tried again a few years later and it just didn’t work despite having decent talent- too much effort by players on trying to create dynamic offensive plays and it got sloppy pretty quickly with defense falling by way side.
Kerley walked on at App St.
Absolutely….I have seen this more times than I can count. On the football side think of Joe Brrr..couldn’t snatch a minute at OSU and a few years later is playing in the Super Bowl!
Interesting question, one thing to add that is a big difference between school and AAU...preparation. In the spring and summer you are playing two or three games in a day after practicing once the week before, sometimes with no idea who is on the team you are playing. In school ball the other team has watched film of your team all week, practiced specifically how to beat you and (at least on good teams) every kid will know the plan to stop your team.
Lol I gave names
The big thing with this is confidence from the experience I have had personally and that I have seen from guys I've coached or been around, the confidence you have playing in AAU with sometimes people you grew up with and your friends you've known your whole life. Sometimes you go into a high school and that coached that loved you so much to and got you to come to the school is completely different from what you expected and it does not work out
Lol Big Pat is my guy but he was D1 material he got his offer specifically because he went to Moeller and Kremer's connections
He also averaged 1.9 through 23 games his junior year
Lots of players don’t get an opportunity until they are seniors, especially at schools like Moeller.
So you don’t think if he’d have gone to Purcell or Wyoming or Hamilton or whatever school where he probably would’ve averaged 15-20 PPG, he wouldn’t have gotten a D1 scholarship?
Not all open gyms and AAU games are crap. A ton of kids exponentially increase their skill sets, especially their offensive skill set, through these two avenues.
I agree wholeheartedly….was involved in AAU for 10 years…contrary to common belief here teams actually practice, run an offense and play defense..many teams press and do run and trap. One difference is many teams have 6-7 starter level players. 80+% of the players I coached, trained or knew liked Spring/Summer ball far more…more skill and less system driven.
My guess is you coached a high-level AAU team. For every one team like yours there is 5 that go the other way. Go watch a tournament at Courts 4 Sports and it is obvious.
What league's are you watching? Look at the pace and space in today's game vs just 10 years ago. More ball screens and iso ball than ever, back to the basket players all but gone. Most teams have made the jump to some type of conceptual offense at this point. What do you mean by more leeway?
No lol Pat wasn't even getting his game off in AAU the coaches weren't lining up to speak to an unathletic 6'6 C
Its not so much the coach won't let them use their skills it is they are afraid too.. A lot of the AAU coaches put up with the mistakes and turnovers. High school coaches will sit a kid if it happens too often. That makes a lot of these kids nervous during the high school season so they don't play as free and open.
Confidence is big with HS coach if you have a coach that will not let you play through mistakes or pull you out for every thing you do, that player won't reach his full potential in HS basketball as opposed to AAU where a coach might let you work thru the mistakes and coach you up during the course of the games and timeouts
Well respected HS coaches are sought out and listened to. AAU is a convenient way to watch a lot of kids play, but for the most part the coaching is a joke. They will use an AAU coach, but respect what they have to say, not so often. In the fall, college coaches are still in HS open gyms talking with the kid’s coach. There are a lot of exceptions.
Two guys with suspect tournament records over their career. Do you remember college basketball before the shot clock? A lot of great coaches had their players “running around in circles”, as you say. Real coaches do what wins. There is often a lot of criticism of Moeller’s deliberate ball control style on this site, but over the last couple of decades Mo has been without a doubt a top five state program that sent a lot of kids to school.
Great point, and part of the issue. They don't feel like they can use their talents to improvise and react every now and then. So much is so scripted and coach controlled. Almost to every possession.
Mostly SW Ohio but some NE Ohio periodically - I'm not against good and consistent coaching. But every possession and every minute of the game seems coach controlled. And agree with the point above, kids are afraid to ride the pine if they even attempt to improvise or react, even though when it may have been the right decision.