Trae Young visiting today

[campbest]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop with the straw man.

You guys are painting with a broad brush here, all I said is more opportunities exist today, and you took it as I am pro-AAU/prep school everything. I've been a vocal antagonist of both situations and where applicable (not all are equal). I don't agree with all of the methodologies, if you do a post search you will see I am "pro" European soccer academies which highlight training and skill development over the number of games played...especially pre-high school. A combination of the two routes is best...pooling the very best players, having strong skill instruction and select amount of competitive games. Trae Young isn't going to gain anything by attending the OBU team camp and playing against very mediocre Oklahoma high school competition. That's not a jab at Oklahoma, it's reality.

Understand high school coaches not liking prep schools, their best player leaves the high school high and dry. Coaches are measured on wins to keep their job, so I get it, it sucks when a potential McD's bolts for Oak Hill. But there are also HS coaches who don't want a shot clock because it will be more difficult for their teams to win. Everyone has a personal agenda here...Nike, Barkley, Pitino, HS coaches, the parents and the player.

A kid making an educated decision to try and play against elite competition, improve his chances of making a living playing a game, in an environment which doesn't hurt his academic standing, should never be criticized. To sit back and say the the talent pool has not not widened over the past 20-30 years is ignorance. The combination of size and speed for a lot of these players has never been seen and will continue to evolve.

 

[campbest]

Go to an EYBL event and it's a whole different ball game. The PGs at these events would be playing center in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa. The state of Oklahoma can never simulate that type of Senario for Trae Young.

Exactly, but very few will actually attend and understand this. Are a lot of the coaches clowns? You bet, but until USA basketball regulates the elite teams (which will eventually happen) or parents stop wasting money for coaches/skill sessions (not likely), it will be an issue. However, it's better than the alternative.

 

[WTSooner]

I don't understand the AAU argument in terms of practice. AAU is basically "summer league", or out of season basketball. I'm not THAT old, and back when I was in HS, basketball players weren't doing ANY practicing or playing of games. There was some really, really unorganized school leagues that had a little practice and a few games, but nothing really.

Want to know what basketball players were doing in the summer 20 years ago? Playing baseball. Or getting ready for football. Or playing pick up games at the local gym. Or just being kids.

Like campbest said above, there are a lot of broad comments being made about AAU ball. I don't hear anybody saying the travel leagues are hurting little league baseball.

 

[JBaker]

We lost the Nike Global Games.....

Huh?
Everything I've found is that the USA was divided into 4 separate teams, and after each one beating every single international team, USA South beat USA West in the championship.

Granted, there were no European teams even in it, so it seems a bad representation of the point in several ways.

 

[Ouhoops23]

Trae didn't dominate the competition last year in Oklahoma. Let's see him do it in 6A first before he makes the jump to prep school

 

[DenverSooner]

It's not.

Take the 10 best Americans and the 10 best players from any country in the world, and we beat them. Probably by double digits.

Take the 60-70th best American players and the 60-70th best players from any country in the world, and we would probably double them up if not worse. It would be a shellacking.

Doesn't that ignore population? We are the third largest country with a population of about 325,000,000. The two countries with larger populations are China and india. Most of the countries with populations that are within 200,000,000 million of the US or larger are third world countries. The bulk of the population simply doesn't have time for sports, they are too busy trying to stay alive and/or cannot afford to expend money and energy on luxury things like sports.

To suggest the top 10 kids in the US can beat the top 10 kids in Germany doesn't mean a lot. It is like saying the best kids in Texas can beat the best kids in Oklahoma. That is going to be true almost every year simply because the US and Texas are so much larger. Now if Blake Griffin happens to be in Oklahoma or Dirk happens to be in Germany, things might be different one particular year but statistically the larger populations are going to produce the better talent.

If you want to compare the top 10 US players to Europe you need to let Europe use an all-star team comprised of countries with a total population that is about the same as the US (approximately 325,000,000). So that might be Germany (81,000,000), France (66,000,000), Italy (60,000,000), Spain (46,000,000), Serbia (7,000,000), Croatia (4,000,000), Greece (11,000,000), Lithuania (3,000,000) and you can add another 5 or so countries with a population of 10,000,000 per country. I don't know if my source for populations is particularly accurate but it really doesn't matter. The point is still valid.

 

[brettromar]

I don't understand the AAU argument in terms of practice. AAU is basically "summer league", or out of season basketball. I'm not THAT old, and back when I was in HS, basketball players weren't doing ANY practicing or playing of games. There was some really, really unorganized school leagues that had a little practice and a few games, but nothing really.

Want to know what basketball players were doing in the summer 20 years ago? Playing baseball. Or getting ready for football. Or playing pick up games at the local gym. Or just being kids.

Like campbest said above, there are a lot of broad comments being made about AAU ball. I don't hear anybody saying the travel leagues are hurting little league baseball.

WT when did you graduate, I think it was close to me. The team I played on was much more organized than that in Tulsa, however in the mid to late 90's it was the only real AAU team in Tulsa.

 

[Smash Williams]

He's been offered by every school in America. Easily can become a MCAA at NN. Selfish or scared of not winning it all when you are suppose to in Oklahoma.

It reminds me of those selfish kids who abandon their high schools to go to OSSM, even though many of them can get into every school in America and easily become National Merit Scholars at their home high schools. Selfish or scared of not winning it all in academic bowl when you are suppose to in Oklahoma.

 

[CoachTalk]

It reminds me of those selfish kids who abandon their high schools to go to OSSM, even though many of them can get into every school in America and easily become National Merit Scholars at their home high schools. Selfish or scared of not winning it all in academic bowl when you are suppose to in Oklahoma.

Lol.