[Coachinthestands]

Some AAU coaches that also coach on a high school staffs use it as a recruiting tool to bring them to the high school they also work at, for self-serving (winning) purposes. See Team _(fill in blank here) and they mirror team (HS) that has been to several KHSAA sweet 16s the past few years


So if there was no prestige in the high school game and all that matters was AAU and exposure then why would they just do AAU only? The reason is High School gets more publicity and has more prestige from media, than AAU. High School puts Banners and pictures in their gym, AAU borrows gyms. AAU is a national organization but its ran like a carnival and rave at times. You walk in buy your Neon Glow Item of choice (Necklace, Wrist Band Arm Sleeve, Knee Sleeve) and you technically could get 52 trophies a year if you played every weekend in AAU. Good odds, since there is Platinum Champs, Gold Champs, Silver Champs, Bronze Champs, Tin Champs, etc.



AAU gets little to no local publicity compared to high school sports. AAU may have a better talent pool (considering teams usually dont want the slowest, weakst player), therefore all operations are trying to get the best recruits they can get. Players jump teams in AAU almost yearly. Heck some play with three teams in one summer.



Once again someone is making apples to oranges comparison. College coaches don't go to as many high school events because their season is going on simultaneously. They have more time in off-season, which is usually in the heart of AAU season. However the best recruits will have coaches at both. I worked at a high school program a few years back and we had a 6 foot 3 sophomore girl a couple of years ago and Pennsylvania, NC State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Indiana all came to our high school workouts and showed up at games.


Also High School basketball costs very little if nothing compared to the AAU teams. The fees for these events are outrageous, but its a price to pay.



Once again I think they are both important, but I dont like the crossover where AAU recruiters are bringing their "recruited high school team" and dog-walking over people. We got to ask ourself. When players are recruited are we dealing with a high school team. Its a broken record, but has merit.

EXCELLENT post, couldn't have said it better myself. Another thing about AAU is that players learn a LOT of bad habits that have to be corrected when they get to their high school team, (no defense, being the center of attention, etc., things that are really hard to break them of a lot of times!!)