AAU Superlatives Leading Up To the First Certified Weekend
The first NCAA certified period is starting on Friday evening and runs through Sunday afternoon. Scholarships will be earned and trophies will be handed out. Looking ahead, I thought it would be fun to hand out some superlatives leading into the weekend.
Most Likely to get their First High Major offer: Dontaie Allen, M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs. Allen had a great high school season that landed him on every First Team All-State and is primed for a blowup in the AAU season. Kentucky recently watched him workout at Pendleton County and Allen has a throng of coaches following him this weekend in DC with the Mustangs.
Most Likely Team to go Undefeated this Weekend: The Ville 17u. The Ville has a long and athletic group headlined by David Johnson. They have quality depth and a top 50 player with David. The Ville ran through the competition last weekend on the Association and went 4-0. Don’t be surprised if they go undefeated again this weekend. They’re considerably better than your typical Adidas Silver team and should me a statement this weekend.
Most Likely 2020 Player to Get Their First Offer: Ksuan Casey, We All Can Go (TN). There are likely to be a handful of kids in 2020 who get their first offer in the next few weekends. Casey has the size and skills that coaches covet and will be on the EYBL platform where he’s going to get exposure. If Ksuan plays up to his ability, he should claim offers soon.
Most Likely 2021 Player to Get Their First Offer: Trey James, Team Manimal 17u. Trey is huge and decently mobile and skilled. Playing up 2 grade levels with Manimal, he has a chance to show he can compete against other bigs who are much older and stronger. Don’t be surprised if a coach or two likes him well enough to throw him his first offer.
Most Likely Player to Rack Up Offers this month: KyKy Tandy, Team Thad (TN). Tandy has a bunch of offers already but if he can prove he’s a high major point guard and not just a high major scorer, he’s going to get offers from a bunch of Power 5 schools. Tandy has all the weapons to be an elite recruit. These next two weekends can carry him into a top 100 national ranking and a slough of high major offers.
Most Likely to Score the Most Points in a game this weekend: Ben Johnson, M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs. Johnson is known to get hot and score a ton. This weekend he’ll be playing for a Mustangs team that is short on players due to injury so he’ll need to shoulder a significant scoring load for his team to have success.
Most Likely to Dunk on Someone this Weekend: Boogie Girton, Manimal 17u. Girton is a big time athlete whose vertical is off the charts. He’s at his best getting downhill and attacking the rim. If anyone sees Girton’s frame and thinks they can jump with him, he’ll put them on a poster.
Most Likely to Get Hot and take over a Game: Scotty Draud, Louisville Magic. At the Bearcat Classic, Draud put on a show in the second half after being down big in the first half. Draud hit several 3s and lived at the foul line for a while. Another candidate here is TreVon Smith of M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs 17u. Smith is like a high school Jamal Crawford with his ability to go on hot streaks.
Team With the Most to Prove: Louisville Magic 17u. Despite being an Adidas Gold 17u team, the Magic don’t have a single Top 20 2019 player in Kentucky (based off our rankings) and have built their team mainly around out of state players. You know the Magic will be athletic and play hard. They always have talent and may run away from some Adidas opponents this weekend.
The Unanswerable Question: Why do so many of Kentucky’s top players leave the state for AAU? The top ranked player in 2019 (KyKy Tandy), 2020 (Ksuan Casey) and 2021 (Zion Harmon) are all playing out of state. Two other top 5 players (Kyle Rode and Michael Moreno) in 2019 are with Indiana Elite. Two of the top 6 (Kelly Niece and Kale Gaither) are playing for Indiana Adidas programs in EG10 and Indiana Elite. So why do so many of our best kids leave the state for AAU? I can offer up some theories but ultimately it’s up to the coaches and programs to provide a good enough platform to show that kids can get the same exposure in Kentucky that they do with out of state programs that may be more established.
If you have theories on why so many leave the state for AAU, tweet them @PrepHoopsKy or respond in the comments below!