Two Black Eyes for AAU Basketball
With a summer basketball recruiting overhaul that limits AAU/Grassroots basketball being proposed, two appalling events occurred this week that bolsters the case for the NCAA to go full steam ahead with sweeping changes. Instead of allowing Division I coaches to attend AAU and Grassroot events like EYBL or Adidas, the NCAA is proposing to sponsor regional camps during the July live period in conjunction with USAB, NBA and NBPA.
The Regional Camps would give way to a National Camp in which 1200 rising seniors, 900 rising juniors and 300 rising sophomores would be selected to attend. Since D-I coaches would only be permitted to attend these camps, these changes which are proposed to occur in 2019 substantially diminish AAU or Grassroots organizations significance from a recruiting perspective.
The reasoning behind these changes are in an effort end clean up the corruption, payola and wild, wild west that the AAU is purported to have become. Unfortunately, two back to back event this weekend lends credence to that stereotype.
Last week during an event in Atlanta between R.A.W. Athletics out of Chicago and the Houston Raptors devolved into a fight where players were attacking referees. Accounts of what happened vary with some saying the players attacked the refs unprovoked while others saying that it was a referee who threw the first punch.
While the event was promoted as AAU sanctioned, the Amateur Athletic Union released a statement saying, ““The incident at the non-AAU basketball event in Georgia is unfortunate. The AAU organization takes the safety and well-being of our athletes, coaches and officials very seriously. Any such behavior is never tolerated at licensed AAU events and, for those groups who fraudulently represent themselves as AAU, we will pursue all legal remedies.”
On Saturday, a disagreement over officiating at a Richmond, VA basketball tournament escalated to a point where a coach fired a gun at a parent in a parking lot after the game. A police investigation is ongoing. According to Salesian College Prep officials, the gym had been rented out for an AAU basketball tournament.
These two incidents are the exception and not the rule when it comes to off-season basketball events however bad news travels twice as fast as good news. While both events may not be AAU sanctioned, the perception is reality. To many, AAU basketball is defined as everything other than high school basketball. It will be interesting to see how AAU and Grassroots basketball looks to correct the narrative.
With the NCAA well on its way to controlling high school amateur basketball recruiting, the question becomes, will this be a new play or merely the same play with a different cast of characters?
