D6SN: A Very early lookahead to 2013-14 District Six Hoops

[Crimson's Ghost]

http://www.d6sportsnetwork.com/2013/03/ ... r-2013-14/

[WPIAL~Titan]

Nice early preview, but A LOT can happen in 8 months until the season begins. Some teams and players improve, some stay the same, and some even regress. The skill and strength/conditioning/weight room work can make a real difference. Playing on the A A Me circuit is always interesting as well, but is virtually meaningless unless you have a kid who is a potential D1 recruit, which is about 2% of all athletes in the watered down A A Me tourneys and showcases. Got a daddy with some money? Start an A A Me team to showcase you. What a joke.

[psycho]

Titan, the sad fact is that AAU is the ONLY chance a kid from what has become a pathetic district 6 will ever have to earn a D1 scholarship. D1 coaches simply will not waste their time coming to Bumfart Egypt to watch a kid play against glorified intramural piss ant school competition. Sure there are some bad AAU organizations, but the good ones that focus on fundamentals and seek the best out of area metro competition will forever be the only way a kid from this area with almost zero D1 talent will be able to be evaluated by D1 coaches. This was not always the case as back in your day there was alot of D1 competition and D1 talent in western PA and AAU wan not needed. I remember a JHS v Peabody game back in mid seventies at the War Memorial with Bob Knight, Dean Smith and Gale Catlett in the stands.

Few kids from the Johnstown area have received a D1 basketball scholarship the last 20 years, but those who have were evaluated and offered through AAU. This is hard to take as a HS coach, but many have become nothing more than babysitters in the new world and system that has evolved where everyone has to be a winner. A system that rewards kids for showing up (not for achievement), promotes mediocrity, and cannot impose discipline, prevents HS coaches from coaching and demanding committment, responsibility, accountability and excellence -- especially at small schools where coaches have to kiss kids arses just to get them to come out so that they can field a team. There are a few notable exceptions, however, they are a tiny minority.

It is the world we live in titan. You should get with the times.

[say_oww]

Kids don't earn D1 scholarships in any sport. They are blessed with a certain body type or a high level of athleticism. You can be great player, but if you aren't big or fast enough, you aren't going D1. In order to play any sport in college, you have to play some kind of travel ball so that the D2 and D3 coaches can see you. Sadly, Titan is right, the kids with money are the ones who make up the bulk of the players on these teams.

Local competition has nothing to do with scholarships. If those coaches were in the stands, it was to watch a certain kid they already knew about. Not to check out the game. Rich Rodriguez, Jim Tressel and a number of other big time football coaches weren't at Jeannette high school a few years ago to watch Jeannette play. They were there to woo Terrelle Pryor.

[Crimson's Ghost]

You earn them based off of size or athleticism? Hey I watched FGCU's point guard, who is no more than 5-11 175 drop probably 14 assists on San Diego State last night. I'm sure he played AAU, and I'm sure he didn't play in a conference like the WestPac. I'm not captain AAU at all, but it is the state we are in. I don't embrace it, I just accept it.

[usatf oldguy]

Psycho you really need to give some credit to the area. They had a very good year in the PIAA playoffs this year. We had some outstanding teams make deep runs in the playoffs. A high school basketball coach's job isn't to turn out div 1 athletes. You get the best outta what you got. The district 6 and 5 area won't ever get a ton of div 1 athletes, the population just isn't there. The big urban areas, pittsburgh , philly, and harrisburgh will always out do our area. The constant bashing of systems around here is just terrible. Perhaps you should take some of your knowledge and show us on here how to develop all these div 1 athletes!

[sppawfan]

aau gives you a chance to play with great talent from all over the big cities and with a, aa, aaa, and aaaa players which gives you better talent to play against instead of like the west pac teams. I like it and seen great players get better just playing against competition you can't get around here. It gives you looks from college coaches also if you want to continue to play beyond high school. Camps are other ways to get better and looks.

[FadingStar]

Back to the actual preview, which this is really all about...I like Ferndale's chances moving forward. I was able to go and see a few of their games last year, and I think they have a chance to compete next year. Ray Hinton is very good, but I also think Isaiah Sajatovich (spelling??) will be someone to watch out for. I saw him play in their playoff game vs. BG and he had a heck of a game. Their problem looks to be like many other teams in the area...size down low. What do you guys think??

[Crimson's Ghost]

Ferndale seems to be on the rise. Ryan Durham is very popular among his players, and he in return gets a lot out of what he has. They do have some nice athletes. There is no reason why they cannot keep moving forward as a program.

[say_oww]

You earn them based off of size or athleticism? Hey I watched FGCU's point guard, who is no more than 5-11 175 drop probably 14 assists on San Diego State last night. I'm sure he played AAU, and I'm sure he didn't play in a conference like the WestPac. I'm not captain AAU at all, but it is the state we are in. I don't embrace it, I just accept it.

Yeah, I saw the highlights. The kid has a super amount of athleticism. Unless his AAU coach has a secret formula, he didn't give him his unique athleticism. So what's your point? He got that good by playing tough AAU competition? The same AAU where nobody plays defense? I don't get what point you were trying to make unless it is simply to disagree with me.