A parents guide to basketball recruiting - navigating AAU
Remember to claim your free player profile over at www.prepbasketball.net
Now that I have some time to think and not run an IG page, I had an idea…why not write a parents guide to basketball recruiting! A few notes on these articles
This is my perspective and not the definitive end all be all of college basketball recruiting
Well, 1 is really all we needed I guess
After 5 years of being told what to do, I realized I never really got the sage wisdom of the parent in the arena. The parent who had to navigate the ins and outs of college recruiting for a non D1 recruit. What did they learn? What would they have done differently? Etc.
I’ll do my best to sprinkle in my own learnings here, but some more perspective is helpful I suppose. My son is a 6’3, 190 lb multi sport athlete who played Varsity basketball for all 4 years at 2 different high schools (he transferred after his freshman year to a school where they had a football team so he could play both and the new school and the academics were stronger). For his career he averaged 5.4 ppg. By the end of his senior year, he had 4 committable offers to play basketball with scholarships attached to them given by the head coach. 2 Juco, 1 NAIA, 1 D3
So let’s talk about AAU and it’s role in recruiting…from my parental perspective
When he was playing 14u, I was told we “had to play in the live recruiting events because college coaches were there” by his AAU coach. To play in these events meant the team had to travel to Phoenix, Las Vegas, and SoCal. In total, it costs around $1200/weekend when you account for the flight/hotel/food/entry fees/parking/entertainment/rental car and we had a parent with him at each event. Living in Utah, we have the option to drive to Las Vegas which helped a lot, but $1200/weekend is a pretty good number.
For 14u basketball, you absolutely do not need to play during an NCAA live period. Exactly 0 D1 coaches care about recruiting 14 year kids from Utah. It might be fun, but it will do 0 for recruiting. If you’re team is really good, there are plenty of options in Utah to stay in state and play up against 15-17 year old teams and get better. We spent about $5k playing in live periods during 14u. I don’t recommend it for 99% of players.
15u was different. He had a chance to play on one of the better AAU teams in the state as the 9-10th player on the team and compete on the UA Rise Circuit. We took it, but not for the reasons most people would (exposure on a “shoe circuit”). The coaches for the team really pushed him in practice and they often practiced against the 16u team, which featured multiple D1 prospects and 1 player who is currently a potential NBA draft pick in Tyrin Jones. My observations during the 14u live periods were that this wasn’t about recruiting, but if he wanted to be in a position to play in college, he HAD to get better, bigger, and more skilled. Now, this team did come with a cost. We spent roughly $12k during this AAU season because the travel demands were higher and the secondary “shoe” circuits require a certain amount of tournaments.
Side note - UA Rise, Puma NXT, Nike EYCL, Adidas Gold…the primary function of these events is to sell a dream of playing in front of D1 college coaches in order to help fund the top tier events. Yes, teams like Team Utah have had success in getting college coaches out to Puma NXT games, so it can happen. However, these teams tend to be more expensive than the independent teams because of the requirements to travel AND buy the gear. Back to my stories…if you’re still reading.
16u (and 15u for that matter) was a big year of development and confidence which cannot be overstated. When you practice against better players every week and hold your own it can do wonders for a players confidence which creates a fly wheel of hard work and skill development. Was it worth the costs (Another $10k)? Hard to tell honestly. I ended up meeting 2 coaches who came to watch 2 players on the team. Those coaches are currently not at either school they were with when they were there and no players have offers from that team to either the previous or current schools.
All in all, 16u was successful and my suggestion would be to go where you’re player will experience the most growth and be challenged during 15-16u. Take the risk and be the bench player on the better team rather than the best player on the “lower” team if it’s an option. Of course, this suggestion comes with the caveat that the coaches are connected to programs and the club is pushing the kids hard to get better.
Another note on 16u, prior to rejoining his 15u team we made a big error in chasing a uniform and experience rather than sticking with what we knew. He joined an out of state club and everything seemed great. They were joining the EYCL and the club director was, and is still, a great person. I started to see some warning signs that his coach wasn’t a person I wanted him to be coached by from a moral perspective and once my concerns were validated by some unfortunate experiences, we pulled him and we were grateful Team Utah still had a spot for him. Moral is, trust your gut and don’t chase the circuits and names. Trust the people.
17u was a fun summer. The grind of jumping from sport to sport and HS to AAU was a lot. I was also beginning to realize that the work was paying off he was putting in the weight room and gym, but the costs of AAU weren’t adding up to exposure and he was excited about a chance to connect with some friends. The only played 3 out of state events and he also spent his time travelling to college camps and focusing more on working with his HS team to prepare to be a leader and a senior.
17u was the biggest summer for him. He ended up receiving the committable offers during this time and none of them came from AAU events or play. The HS live period in June led to 2 and the school were he eventually has committed to came from his play at the Air Force Academy prospect camp and the connections those coaches had. He also had a chance to walk on at a D2 potentially from his time at that school’s camp. Nothing official would have been known though until after the season and transfer portal. Total cost for AAU and camp travel was around $7500 for the spring and summer
My theory for my son was if he put in the work in the weight rooms, shooting gyms, training sessions, etc, then it was important to get in front of coaches and see where the interest might come from. Over the 5 years, he played at a high academic camp with AOG, Pangos Freshman/Sophomore Camp, Westminster/Rocky Mountain College/Air Force/CSU-Pueblo prospect camps, UA Rise/Puma NXT/AOG Power32 circuits, and a few high level pick up games at colleges in Utah and Colorado.
What role did AAU play in his recruiting? Honestly, probably the lowest role in terms of exposure to coaches. Prospect camps and HS live period were the best things he did in terms of exposure to coaches. It was by far the biggest expense ($30k of the $35k was spent on AAU) and had the lowest impact for college coach exposure. Again, his recruitment was the NAIA/D3/Juco level mostly and many of those coaches do not have the budgets to travel so going to them was always going to be the best way I think.
What value did AAU provide? Plenty. As I mentioned, he had some exceptional coaches who truly helped him get better and get prepared for the moments. Some of his coaches also had connections to colleges and helped facilitate introductions which helped a ton as well. He built some friendships that I’m sure will last and he and I had a great time bonding and spending time together (my wife as well went on a few camp trips with him also). The ultimate question, if we could do it over would we spend as much time and money on AAU as we did?
I don’t think so. The relationships with those same coaches can be forged outside of the AAU world as most of them do skill work and training. Recruiting for HS has changed significantly and I think the role of AAU has greatly diminished over the years as well.
After it’s all said and done, he committed to a high academic Academy to play basketball. His school will be free and he’s set for a great job after graduation. While we could have spent less on the journey, the outcome of attending an elite college and building so many great memories is pretty amazing IMHO!
Also…
Since nobody asked, I’ll give you a list of clubs here that I know and respect in Utah. Again, this is a single perspective so it’s not the gospel truth and I’m sure I’ll miss somebody. I’ll even add a few notes as to the level of players who will be recruited from these clubs.
D1 prospects:
Utah Prospects - this club is on the Nike EYBL circuit. Currently about 50% of US AAU players who end up in D1 play in the EYBL. They have players from border states as well who play especially on the 17u team where the competition is the top in the world. Costs are covered by Nike…I think.
Mountain Stars - they play on the Under Armour UAA circuit. UAA, along with 3SSB and Puma PRO16, are the 1b circuits for D1 recruits. They all have an equal and smaller % of D1 players who play in these circuits. The Stars are mostly Colorado and Utah players and the club is strong in both states. Costs are covered largely by UA…I think.
LM D1/D2 prospects:
(Note: all of these clubs from here below will have an occasional spot for a scholarship player, but most of them will cost between $5-12k for the spring and summer)
Team Utah - While they have been knocking on the door of making the PRO16 league, they haven’t quite made it yet. However, because of how Puma runs things, Team Utah plays a lot of top level teams on main courts and have shown they have the talent to compete and win on those levels. Pretty much every roster is filled with Utah players with an occasional Idaho player sprinkled in. The best thing about the Puma circuit is their connection with the JA48 event with JucoAdvocate. Coaches are OUT to watch these Juco players…
Utah Valley Prime - UV Prime plays on the Adidas Gold circuit and I’ve heard mixed reviews on the competition level and college coach exposure. However, UV Prime always has some of the top Utah players on their teams and the coaches seem to move players on to the collegiate levels with good success
SL Metro - Dave Hammer has the longest tenure of any coach in the AAU world here and the connections to back it up. They don’t play on any circuit, but the roster of players currently in college can’t be ignored. Dave is also currently an assistant coach at SLCC.
Utah Gold EYCL - Utah Gold is connected with the Utah Prospects and they have 2 levels. EYCL and Select. The EYCL teams practice against the Prospects often which is great for development. The EYCL circuit left some parents disappointed though with the lack of coach attendance which was surprising to me!
Salt Lake Rebels - The Rebels have had success with D1 players and connections to D1 programs. I think they made the jump to Adidas Gold this year, but don’t hold me to that. Evric has a deep rolodex of coaches he can reach out to which helps.
NAIA/Juco/D3 prospects - this list is long so I won’t write up on the programs. I’m going off memory so apologies if I missed someone!
BWill - Puma NXT
UBC - Adidas I think still?
Utah Future - Independent I think?
Utah Gold Select - Independent
Salt City Hustle - UA Rise
Mountain City - Independent
Next Level Basketball - Puma NXT
Pharm Boys - Puma NXT
FlyFam - Independent
Utah Branded - Independent
Salt Lake Bandits - Independent
SLC Prime - Adidas Gold
Westside Kings - Uncle Drew Circuit
The Hoop Factory - Independent
Utah Hard Knox - I think they merged with Mountain City?
Utah Premier - Independent
Utah Legacy - Independent
Wardell Elite - Independent
Good luck navigating the world of AAU here. A few rules of thumb:
If someone says “play here and you’ll get a scholarship” but that person can’t give scholarships, then take it with a grain of salt.
AAU is a part of the recruiting journey, but I think it’s role is shrinking as the importance of HS recruiting gets smaller
Whatever you do, the process really needs to be driven by the players desire and drive. Forcing things to happen, especially after 14u, is going to be a quick way to spend a ton of money and drive your player out of basketball. If they don’t want it more than you do, probably time to stop playing AAU.