AAU Wrap-up: What we learned
The AAU season is now over and we are all looking forward to the high school season starting very soon. However, this AAU season was great for the state of Arizona. This AAU season gave us a lot to think about, while also giving us a lot to look forward to in the coming years. Here are three takeaways from the AAU season.
1. Arizona has national level top talent
Look around at Arizona’s top talent, what clubs are they playing for? Nico Mannion, Kyree Walker, Jovan Blackshear, Jaelen House all play for big club organizations outside of Arizona. While any AAU team in Arizona would love to have any of these guys, this is actually very good for the state of Arizona. These players are Arizona’s top talent and now they are taking their talent on the road. Whenever college scouts/coaches see all of this talent coming out of Arizona, they are naturally going to become curious about what else AZ has to offer. This brings a lot more respect to the Arizona basketball scene.
2. The competition is heating up in the desert
This AAU season has shown that there is not one dominant AAU team in AZ. There is a lot of competition at all age levels. PHH, Factory, Team Harden, the list goes on and on. All organizations have some high quality talent and make for some amazing games whenever they are matched up against each other. This competition will only continue to grow as Arizona continues to develop top talent.
3. The class of 2020 and 2021 are loaded
Go to any gym, any tournament. My best bet is that some of the best players you’ll see in the gym are from the classes of 2020 or 2021. This is so great for the state of Arizona because we will consistently have high quality players coming through. Look at the class of 2020: Kyree Walker, Evan Nelson, Zay On-Tay Boothman, Kiimani Holt, Xavier Dusell, the list could go on and on. The class of 2021 are no slouches themselves. The class of 2021 has talent like DaRon Holmes, D’Marco Dunn, Jason Elder, Ty Ty Washington, and Matur Dhal. It is pretty safe to say that Arizona will continue to produce national talent.