Sunday 2nd Round Game Thread

canderson

Mr. Brightside
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
39,431
Harrisburg, Pa.
AAU hoops - I think others can explain better, or call me out for being wrong, but AAU basketball in many ways deempasizes fundamental basketball team play for more individual styles of play. Players are more interested in making an individual mark during these AAU leagues (some camps are like this too), especially since much recruiting is done in these venues, with high school season being less of a factor for that

Not to say there aren't good team hoops coaches in AAU (I've heard some really good things about the off season AAU training programs for training fundamental skills), or that high school hoops don't have shitty coaches - plenty of that going around. But some basic do not dos seems to have happened quite a bit at the end of these games today.

Again, this is an opinion and somewhat anecdotal, but based upon discussions with people I believe know what they are taking about.
This isn't an AAU thing.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,847
Lonzo Ball has been REALLY good this second half. He's up to 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists, with ALL the assists in the second half.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,765
Pittsburgh, PA
I give up. No idea what this means
In the early days of the MH370 Malaysian Air disaster/mystery/clusterfuck, Manila (RIP) was doing his thing, and DukeSox at some point replied, with the snarky air of scoring some internet points, "hey, it's a big ocean." Someone replied dripping with sarcasm thanking him for this insight, and "it's a big ____" became a bit of a meme around here. Hence, e.g., the recent thread announcing George (Manila)'s death was titled "It's a big beyond: RIP ManilaSoxFan".
 

McBride11

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
22,109
Durham, NC
In the early days of the MH370 Malaysian Air disaster/mystery/clusterfuck, Manila (RIP) was doing his thing, and DukeSox at some point replied, with the snarky air of scoring some internet points, "hey, it's a big ocean." Someone replied dripping with sarcasm thanking him for this insight, and "it's a big ____" became a bit of a meme around here. Hence, e.g., the recent thread announcing George (Manila)'s death was titled "It's a big beyond: RIP ManilaSoxFan".
Excellent explanation. Thanks for saving me the typing on a marginal joke.
 

HomeRunBaker

bet squelcher
SoSH Member
Jan 15, 2004
30,096
AAU hoops - I think others can explain better, or call me out for being wrong, but AAU basketball in many ways deempasizes fundamental basketball team play for more individual styles of play. Players are more interested in making an individual mark during these AAU leagues (some camps are like this too), especially since much recruiting is done in these venues, with high school season being less of a factor for that

Not to say there aren't good team hoops coaches in AAU (I've heard some really good things about the off season AAU training programs for training fundamental skills), or that high school hoops don't have shitty coaches - plenty of that going around. But some basic do not dos seems to have happened quite a bit at the end of these games today.

Again, this is an opinion and somewhat anecdotal, but based upon discussions with people I believe know what they are taking about.
I'll go so far as to say it is much worse than this too. Kids of 30 years ago spent their summers in multiple camps tied to popular players and coaches. Most were one-week some of which were overnighters where we played and talked basketball literally 24/7. The days were filled with fundamental drills that my high school coaches never even ran us through, footwork drill after footwork drill, ballhandling drills teaching us how to protect the ball and ways to create space with our pivots. Then a couple weeks later we'd go to another camp and do it again with some variations. This is still how it's done in many countries overseas which is why we see much more fundamentally advanced players coming over at young ages.

AAU ball has destroyed these camps instead kids travel the country while the stars are catered to leaving those kids who would otherwise be improving in camps either sitting on the bench or standing on the court watching the star player drop 50. Then the next day it's on to the next game. Game after game after game.....no camps, no drills, no fundamentals. You have say a 10-man travel team on the road all summer......you've got say 2 stars who put up the majority of the numbers, what are the other 8 kids doing? They sure aren't improving or working on their game. I won't even touch upon the silly individual rankings that are a product of the AAU culture.....all they do is lead to selfishness as the stars need to "get theirs" to support their ranking or to move them up the ranking.

Then there are the AAU coaches who may or may not have the kids best interest at heart. They may be in it like say Lamar Odom's AAU coach who came to Rhode Island as an Assistant along with Odom then was handed the head coaching gig complete with a guaranteed 2-year contract despite his only coaching experience being at a mid-level junior college to "maybe" convince Odom to return for another year which he didn't. URI went 12-48 in those two years with most of those wins coming against the pre-season sisters of the poor. This is only one of countless examples of favors being made to AAU coaches to lure the kids to their school.
 
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Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,447
Someone important moves to Greenville SC and Duke loses to Univ of SC in Greenville. Coincidence? I think not, I know not.

Long live that someone important.
Long die Duke basketball


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Nice second half defense Duke. 65 points. Yowza

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Why does every USC school play better in the second half than in the first?
 

Average Reds

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 24, 2007
35,330
Southwestern CT
In the early days of the MH370 Malaysian Air disaster/mystery/clusterfuck, Manila (RIP) was doing his thing, and DukeSox at some point replied, with the snarky air of scoring some internet points, "hey, it's a big ocean." Someone replied dripping with sarcasm thanking him for this insight, and "it's a big ____" became a bit of a meme around here. Hence, e.g., the recent thread announcing George (Manila)'s death was titled "It's a big beyond: RIP ManilaSoxFan".
Stunning display of site history from a new member ...