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Un-sponsored NY Dragons slay with college commitments

There are a lot of good AAU programs that consistently puts student-athletes in a position to get a free education. A lot of them are on the shoe circuit where they have a platform that allows their kids to get exposure from nearly every college coach in the country.

Albeit, impressive when any program is able to place 10-plus student-athletes at the college level, but even more impressive when it comes from a program that doesn’t have a shoe sponsor.

The New York Dragons, an AAU program based out of New York, put a record number of players in college this year and have shown little signs of slowing down.

Before the AAU period even begins, the coaches are on the phone working to get college coaches to their events. The Dragons bounce from JUCO, Division I, Division II and more, to make sure their players are properly placed at a level where they can succeed. It’s exactly why a lot of their players are being highly recruited and continue to improve.

“It’s all about the commitment and connection with college coaches,” Dragons AAU coach Everton Browne Sr. said. “We understand that as a program we are here to work for the kids. It’s all about the kids.”

This year from their program, the Dragons placed Payton Hudson (Iona), Marlon Adams (Maryland Eastern Shore), Alex Ennis (Southern), Zahir Porter (New York Tech), Souleymane Gueye (LeMoyne Owen), Craig Phillip Jr (Co-Lin), Aaron Sanchez (Southwestern Oregon College), Ransford Ntow Jr (Southwestern Oregon College), Ismael Valdez (North Idaho College) and Justin Evans (Odessa) at the next level.

“There is one thing about the kids that we are sending out, they all want to be better,” Browne Sr said. “It’s not just better on the basketball court, they want to be better people too.”

The culture within the New York Dragons is exactly what a lot of programs pay lip service to but have a hard time trying to maintain. The Dragons take on a lot of kids who are given up on. They take pride in the development side of the players, and genuinely want to help them get to the next level.

“We want to make sure they go to school for free,” Browne Sr said. “If they have the grades, we try to get them into a [Division I] or [Division 2] school.”

“We make sure that every child that comes to our program gets the opportunity to go to school for free.”

The Dragons had a very good run this past AAU season. They made the championship at Elevate Hoops, the Elite Eight at NY2LA and the Final Four in Vegas at the Fab 48. They beat up on a lot of programs with shoe sponsors and put a lot of their student-athletes in position to be recruited.

Not to mention, despite losing 10 players that accepted college scholarships, the Dragons still have a lot of young talent spearheaded by their prospective Division 1 student-athletes, Gavin Thompson, Jai Smith and Everton Browne Jr.

“We have some really good ones coming up,” Dragons 17u coach Jamel Thompson said. “I’m excited for the future of the Dragons. To be a non-sponsored team, we beat up on all the giants.”

Sustaining that level of excellence could be problematic due to the new NCAA calendar that limits the amount of live sessions. Being a non-sponsored team during this time is tough, but the Dragons have plans.

“It definitely makes it tough for us, but we are going to fight through that and make sure we still give our kids some opportunities,” coach Browne Sr said.

The Dragons are expecting to stay loyal to the events that helped expose their 10 scholarship kids, possibly having two 17u teams, and working hard for their ultimate goal.

“Our ultimate goal is to be sponsored,” Browne said. “But not getting a sponsorship doesn’t stop us from what we are doing. I think the program is going to keep rising.”

The same motto that helped them get coaches in front of their players are exactly what they plan on doing in reaction to the new NCAA calendar, as well. Coach Browne has taken forward Jai Smith to Rutgers, where he received an offer from the program. He has also taken his son, along with Smith to Harvard, and many other elite camps, and Pangos in Canada to continuously get the players exposure.

It’s something that he knows will help the Dragons program get closer to their ultimate goal, while also staying true to exactly what the Dragons are all about.

“We are working right now for the kids. It’s not about making money because we don’t make money doing what we do. It’s all about the kids,” Browne said.

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