AAU Recap: River City Reign Team Hill 17U

Despite being the program’s “B” team, Reign Hill competed with top tier programs up and down the east coast, and beat teams that didn’t looked much more talented on paper. An undersized but scrappy group, they fought and clawed their way to stay close deep in games, and their unselfish style was hard to guard as everyone was able to score the basketball and nobody cared who did. They defended and played with grit, and never let their status of being the programs “other” team show when they played.   All quotes are courtesy of Head Coach Chuck Hill.   Overall Record: 28-13   Top Tournament Finishes: Big Shots Myrtle Beach Silver runner up (Sessions 1 and 2), Zero Gravity Richmond final four   Notable Wins: SEBL, NC Court Kings, Durham Hurricanes Elite, WCBA Elite MVP: Robbie Osborne. “Robbie averaged a double-double all season for us, leading us in rebounds too. He’s only 6’4, but he is the hardest worker in all of AAU.”   Defensive MVP: Johnnie Harrison. “He guards the top players in the country, and held Dennis Smith to only seven points. He’s a very aggressive wing defender at only 6’1.” Biggest Surprises: Anthony Taylor and Jamaal Newton. “Ant Taylor came off the bench in July and gave us great athleticism and scoring ability, and Jamaal Newton from Henrico knows how to play pesky defense and hit big shots when we needed it. His experience starting on the top team last summer brought us a winning attitude.”Coach's Take“We played DC Thunder, Loaded VA, Loaded NC, Boo Williams, Spectrum and Brand X and all of the games came down to the last few minutes. We lost those games but they gave us sort of a buzz. Jhalen Thomas, Marcus Burwell, Aaron Fowlkes and Raquan Waller were consistent all summer and all of the kids really got on board with what we wanted to do. We made the final four in every tournament this summer, and when you watched us play we didn’t look like a B team all year."