Giant Basketball Recruit

[Boston Pony]

My knowledge was that the AAU / Club Teams have become (or are becoming) the dominant recruiting influence with most players. That is why Stallion is right about recruiting Team Texas. The kids play on the club teams for recruiting purposes thus that coach has tremendous influence on the recruiting process. HS coaches in Dallas may still hold sway, however in many cities, it is the club coach that is becoming the major influence in recruiting.

[Stampede]

It is good that Coach Jimmy has ties to Wes Granstaff and other AAU coaches. Of course, this is correct. This contributes to Kelvin Sampson's assesment of "Dallas just got harder to recruit" when SMU hired Coach T.

[BUS]

I have some concern about the above post and the influence of AAU people in the recruiting process. A third party being involved with too much input is not good. I would rather have the high school coaches be important; at least they have a job that is accountable to the public interest.

[EastStang]

I tend to agree. These AAU coaches could quickly become "boosters" in the eyes of the NCAA especially since many of them have income supplements from NIKE, Adidas, Reebok, etc. So far the NCAA has turned a blind eye to their recommendations, but if one of them gets too over the top in recommending say a school that wears a particular brand of shoe, and a noted NCAA bad boy is involved (like SMU) they might suddenly get very interested in some booster angle.

[BUS]

I love SMU and respect the current outlook toward doing the legal thing

Go Coach Tubbs

[Boston Pony]

You are right that club coaches can fall victim to errors as there is little to no oversight. This being said, it is what it is. AAU for basketball rules with high school ball still important but having less influence. The club soccer programs for girls are more important than high school with many girls not even playing for their schools. I'm not sure why, however the assumption is that college coaches can't get everywhere thus they go the the all star tourneys to watch players i.e. AAU teams. It's not perfect, however until colleges say otherwise, it is where the players are going.

[OldPony]

Most of the time I hear about AAU coaches it is involving illegal recruiting or suspicions thereof. These guys are used as money funnels to a lot of kids. The Rush brothers at Missouri are examples.
As an aside, I talked to some people who watched the Team Texas play in this area to see what they remembered about Bamba. They laughed first and started making Manute comparisons but after they settled down, they said the kid is a project but looked to have some athletic ability. Then they started talking about his legs being about pencil size. Most thought it was a good get for SMU though. Bamba- Bring the weights, stay at the table and work hard and show'em all.