With highly competitive basketball leagues like AAU offering a more intense level of basketball for young players has us wondering, are these leagues like AAU good or bad for high school basketball?
Clay Martin Jenks High School
I think that AAU basketball is a tremendous opportunity for kids to keep playing in the summer months and to get great exposure from colleges who attend the event. AS far as helping or hurting high school basketball, I truly think it depends on the team and the motives of the coach. I was fortunate as an AAU player to have great coaches with great motives. The Tulsa Hawks was a great organization that did things first class and made it all about the kids. I have a coach on my high school staff, Mike Haesloop who coached AAU for twenty plus years who did it the right way. As a high school coach, the only negative I see in terms of the basketball side of things is that most AAU teams are made up of "all stars". I am truly grateful for AAU coaches that provide avenues for the kids to play and improve as players.
Danny Hightower Owasso High School
As a coach I am always concerned about the instructional value of a program, find a summer team that teaches character as well as basketball. I think there are plenty of AAU groups that do a really good job and the opportunity to play with some of the kids from the Tulsa area that are not on your high school team can create new friendships as well. Basketball is a GREAT GAME, play all you can!
David Page Pawnee High School
I think AAU basketball has both sides to it. I think it's good and it's bad. But the biggest thing about AAU basketball is if a high school player wants to be seen and wants to be known and wants a college scholarship they have to play AAU basketball.
Mike Parish Edison High School
That’s a double edged sword. It’s actually done both. AAU has made the quality better by allowing kids to play all year and travel to play the best talent in the country. Today there are 5th grade and 3rd grade teams that travel and stay together. When I was coming up you only played when you were in high school. So the quality has gotten better. The bad side is that players today feel high school is less significant.
