I’m back for our final show of the year on The New Hampshire High School Hoop Show Saturday morning with Pete Tarrier. No guests this week…we’ll talk about the tournament games we’ve covered the past two weeks as well as what is on the horizon for New Hampshire basketball.

Joe Marchilena will join us at the end of the show to present his Male & Female Player of the Year award.
Listen online right off our website or on 610 AM on WGIR or 96.7 FM on the seacoast.

AAU basketball

 One of the interesting aspects to having covered New Hampshire high school basketball this closely for eight years is that when it comes to players & parents searching out colleges or prep schools I see it now from the coaches perspective. I’ll explain….players, and their parents, come and go but the veteran coaches around the state are around long enough to see what it all led to. After eight years of watching it was time to comment on it.

 I love the interaction I have with parents. I’ve met some great people with some of those relationships and friendships having continued on long after their son graduated. Nearly every all-state/AAU player that I’ve covered over the past eight years had a school he was going to play for. And nearly 95% do not.

 The reality is playing Division III basketball is in some ways a lot harder than playing Division I or II. You don’t have the scholarship keeping you there, you don’t have the amenities afforded to bigger schools with a larger budget and you are playing a good number of your games in front of crowds smaller than a big high school game would draw. It’s a season that starts with conditioning in September, practice in late October and runs until March. Your friends are off on holiday & spring break while you are on the floor six days a week. That is why a lot of players that are recruited end up going the intramural route.

 I spoke to a first team all-state player who graduated last year about his plans. He went to school to play but quickly decided it wasn’t for him and will be playing intramurals at UNH next year.

 Here is what you get when you go that route: You play with your friends, you play very good competition (the courts are littered with former all-state players from all over New England at any big college). You compete with those same friends to win the school wide 3 on 3 tournament where the winner advances to regionals against school like UConn & Boston College and you have the freedom of no weekend games or practices.

 Does that sound like a bad deal? You’re reading a guy who took that deal and loved every second of it.

 So why make this point? Because the reality is 95% of the players on the all-state lists we released this week are not playing at the next level for any considerable amount of time, and there is nothing remotely wrong with that. The beauty of this game is you can play with your friends until you are in your 50’s. Travel tournaments, summer leagues, 3 on 3 tournaments you name it and you can play in it. I know this because I’ve watched two full cycles of freshman to seniors come through and the coaches know it because they have seen this movie before.

 In 2010 I was a part of WGAM’s panel of voters for New Hampshire player of the year. The candidates included Pinkerton center Zach Mathieu (who broke the all-time tournament scoring record that season), Alex Burt of Dover, Cormac Fitzpatrick of Memorial, David Madol of Trinity, Sean Martin of Conant and Mike Barton of Portsmouth. Those were the top six players in the state, do you know how many played four years of college basketball? Two. Alex Burt and Sean Martin had terrific careers, Mathieu was an outstanding baseball player but only 33% of the top 6 played basketball in college.

This brings us to AAU basketball. What I wrote about The Spartans program back on 1/29 raised a lot of eyebrows and got a lot of feedback (I received seven emails, six positive & one negative). Let’s dive deeper into the point I was making. There are many, many, growing by the hour, AAU programs around. Like anything in life there are good programs and bad ones and this column is not an anti-AAU stance. I played AAU basketball and enjoyed playing tougher competition with better teammates.

 I only wrote about the Spartans because of the negative feedback I have gotten from veteran head coaches on the seacoast, where the Spartans operate out of.  I had several parents reach out to me, many of them parents of girls, to ask me what information and feedback I had gotten, because they had concerns over where to send their son or daughter. Those conversations went very well and I appreciated that the parents were concerned enough to do their due diligence.

 A typical parent likely has three main reasons why they will be writing a sizeable check to an AAU program.
 

1. I want my child to get considerably better. I want my son or daughter to learn the game. I want them to learn the fundamentals of being a good basketball player and how to be the most prepared player on the floor next winter.
2. I want my son or daughter to get a lot of exposure and in turn, interest from colleges.
3. I just want my son or daughter to play a lot of games. It’s good for them to be active and I want them involved in games with teammates. It is most important that they play lots of games.

All are valid reasons. Let’s tackle them one at a time.

 In regards to #1)

AAU might not be your best route, you need to investigate the program you choose. There are development programs dedicated to skill development and fundamentals that take you to the next level. The key is the player buying into the process (as players like Ian Sistare & Kaleb Joseph have) because true development isn’t always fun. The easy way out, the fun way out, is just to say you’ll get better playing a bunch of games, but that doesn’t happen. Players need to learn the principles of defense, the fundamentals of footwork, how to manage the game clock and how to get their shot off with a 6’7 player closing out on them. That isn’t always fun, it’s work. Just like playing college basketball is work.
 
If you’re looking for this for your son or daughter there are programs like BST Basketball, Next Level Basketball or Integrity Hoops for example that focus on these principles. Rick Gorman from the New England Storm has a very good reputation as well.
 
 

• Just to be clear in case there is any confusion: I recommended these programs because I have met with the principles (Brett Sellingham, Matt Regan & Noah LaRoche) countless times to observe them and talk about their programs & beliefs. None of the three people or programs has ever paid me a nickel for my endorsement,,,I’m even pretty positive they never even paid for my $2.00 coffee when we’ve met.

 In regards to #2

Here is where we run into trouble. If a coach is telling you they are going to get your son or daughter recruited, how exactly are they doing that? If they are telling you they will play in front of scouts, what level of scouts? If you play in a National tournament at the highest level are major Division I programs there to see your son who plays Division II NH basketball and averages 12 points a game? No. Same applies for Division II (your player of the year Cody Ball was awarded a scholarship to St Anselms, last year’s POY Eric Gendron is playing at Division III Trinity… that’s a small window of scholarships being handed out).

Year after year parents pay money for their child to be seen but the reality is they haven’t developed the skills to play at the next level. They also haven’t fought through the process to make them be able to stay in a program once they got there. This is why so many players do not end up playing college basketball. When your child has done the hours of monotonous work on fundamentals they are prepared for hours of college practices and workouts more than the player who just wants to get back in a game.

If you are writing a check expecting your son or daughter to be recruited you need to do your homework. What players from this program are currently playing college basketball and what was their level of involvement in the program (kids can play in one weekend tournament and be listed on an AAU website as alumnus so you need to dig deeper than clicking a website). What college programs does the AAU program have a relationship with? A program that has a number of players coming through the AAU program and landing at that particular college program?

Here are two simple ways to find out what level your child is at (at a total cost of $0.00):
 

1. Find out when Southern N.H University (an elite 8 men’s team this season in Division II) or St. Anselms is playing pickup ball and have your son or daughter go down and run with them. How do they do? Can they compete at that level? You’ll know very quickly.
    
2. Ask his/her head coach. You’re not paying the coach, this is a person who has watched your child play countless hours of basketball. They have no agenda or motive to tell you anything but the truth. Ask their coach.

  If you ask the person you are handing a $500 check to you get what you deserve as they say. We live in a part of the country with the very best prep programs in the country, two elite Division II programs in our home state and an NCAA tournament Division III program in Keene. If you want the truth about where your child ranks, free of charge, you’ll get it quite easily.

In regards to #3)

 This is simple. You find a program that plays a ton of games and send them there. The Spartans for example are a perfect spot if this is what you are looking for. They play a lot of games and your child will be getting exercise.

  Without referencing any program in particular, the biggest complaint coaches have about some AAU programs is the kids basically are trading baskets running up and down the floor. Kids do not compete at the appropriate level because they are so used to playing four games a day and have to save their energy to do that. So they go half speed as does the kid guarding them. Who is this making better?

 If they sit in a 2-3 zone all summer they don’t learn the principles of defense and that is where they come in behind in the winter. Again…to beat the point home…there are good AAU programs and bad. I have seen Miguel Gonzalez work with kids first hand with the Rivals program and he is excellent. Go watch Pelham play and ask Matt Regan about his principles and philosophies at Next Level Hoops. Ask parents that have come from other programs to that program and find out what they have to say. They rave about his insistence on development first.

 Understand that for most programs the goal is to bring in as many players as they can to take in as much revenue as possible. If you take your best team and put them in the highest AAU tournament division with players that are going to Kentucky, Louisville and Duke next year they are going to go 0-5. If you put them in the second division there is a good chance they don’t fare any better. How does that make your program look? Isn’t it easier to sell to parents that you went to the final four in the fourth level division?

 I want to share a quote from Golden State Warriors head coach and 5-time NBA champion Steve Kerr on AAU Basketball:

 ‘Even if today's players are incredibly gifted, they grow up in a basketball environment that can only be called counterproductive. AAU basketball has replaced high school ball as the dominant form of development in the teen years. I coached my son's AAU team for three years; it's a genuinely weird subculture. Like everywhere else, you have good coaches and bad coaches, or strong programs and weak ones, but what troubled me was how much winning is devalued in the AAU structure. Teams play game after game after game, sometimes winning or losing four times in one day. Very rarely do teams ever hold a practice. Some programs fly in top players from out of state for a single weekend to join their team. Certain players play for one team in the morning and another one in the afternoon. If mom and dad aren't happy with their son's playing time, they switch club teams and stick him on a different one the following week. The process of growing as a team basketball player — learning how to become part of a whole, how to fit into something bigger than oneself — becomes completely lost within the AAU fabric.’

The most common answer I hear from parents in regards to AAU is that they don’t know any other alternative. When they are told their child is a Division II or Division III player and that never materializes the check has already cleared and they simply more forward.

 Take the time to investigate the proper program just as you would any college or prep school. If you simply want your child playing games then it’s easy, a schedule will make the decision for you. But every year I have parents telling me where their child will be playing and six months later they’re not. Every parent wants what is best for their kids and that is why I love the conversations I have with parents. Making the best decision is a big part of that guidance.

This and that…………

Do you realize three of the four championship games came down to the final second? All four were outstanding games and three of the four played to packed houses (when the north country isn’t involved in the Division IV final attendance suffers). This also was the first time in our 8 years of covering high school basketball that all four players of the year won their title……..This summer we will have our second Coaches Show hosted by Pete Tarrier & myself on video at a location to be determined. People seemed to really enjoy the hour long show the first time around featuring Doc Wheeler, Jim Mulvey, Lorne Lucas and Buddy Trask. We are excited to name the four coaches who will participate in the second show sometime this summer. Tim Goodridge of Merrimack, Keith Matte of Lebanon, Eric Saucier of Conant and Trevor Howard of Littleton will be our coaching panel in a show we are excited to bring you..stay tuned for the date…………….everyone worried about the effect of the new hand check rules but I thought the officiating was pretty good this year, the Pelham/Gilford quarterfinal game was really well done by the crew that night. Both teams were allowed to be physical without it ever getting out of control. Well done………Crowd noise during free throws…the smaller division fans don’t see how silly it all looks from the higher divisions. When you cover all four divisions like we do you see a perspective fans & parents do not. For example when you cover a Division I or II game the students are up chanting and cheering during free throws and no one cares. It’s a part of the game just as it has been for 50 years. I then attended a Division III game where a parent literally stood up and filmed the opposing student section like it was the Zapruder film the day of the Kennedy assassination. Another Division III program felt the need to tweet out how rude the fans were for not falling to complete silence during foul shots like Bubba Watson was standing over a putt on 18 at Augusta. It’s all ludicrous people…when teams get to the final four noise is made during free throws and no one seems to care. A crowd making noise is a part of college basketball at all levels so kids can handle it at 19 years old but not at 18?? Central, Londonderry and Nashua South kids can handle it but kids from lower divisions couldn’t? You wonder why kids never go to high school games anymore…………….down one with the game on the line in the final seconds I’ll choose Keith Brown to take that shot but I’d also be very happy with Jordan Litts, Issaiah Chappell, Joey Martin, Darian Berry, Kabongo Ngalakulondi or Bryant Holmes taking that shot….The All-Glue guy team (you can’t win without glue guys..) Brock Paquette of Spaulding, Cam Taylor of Pembroke, Dylan Richardson of Merrimack, Keenan Caron of West, Kyle Gaudet of Gilford, Dylan Silvestri of Pelham, Zach Whalen of Newport, Andrew Smarse of Campbell, CJ Bilodeau of Conant, JOHN ZAVALA OF COLEBROOK!!, Griffin Lamp of Derryfield, Will Pollard of Kennett, Dan Abrahamson of Woodsville, Tommy Bullock of Epping, Dustin Moore of Berlin, Spencer Feng of Keene and Ryan Brown of Bedford………..it was terrific meeting our readers at the three final four venues and gyms around the state…we love talking to people about the kids and the games we cover and that’s why we are having our first ever season ending party next Thursday night at the Southside Tavern in Manchester starting at six o’clock. All of our readers are invited and we will be playing the Division III, II & I championship games (in that order) on the big screen with Pete Tarrier’s play by play. We will also be debuting our 2014-15 Season Highlights Video on the big screen as well…Free appetizers and cash bar & dinner menu…. Just please don’t ask McIsaac about his wrestling career we want to have a fun night…..

People to thank…………..from people I’ve spoken to it was pretty apparent how hard it was for me to ask for help from our readers. We made that video though because the alternative was not continuing our coverage. We have so far received donations from about 8% of our readers so next year we may have some changes people will need to be ready for. I personally have corresponded with every person who donated to our team’s efforts but I want to name those people again because we are truly so thankful for their support. Steve & Lisa Cote, Jim Ball, Terry Relihan, Sam Natti, Lewis ‘Big Smooth’ Atkins, Keith Matte, Nick Rizos, Jay Darrah, Bill Grimes, Buddy & Mary Trask, Mark & Louise Collins, Scott Houde, Christine Brown, Jim & Binny Mulvey, Kirk Palladino, Brian Pafford, Scott Currier, Mike & Brooke Sullivan, Amy at The Black Frog Company, Dan Bryson, Ed & Holly Tenney, Debbie & Alan Ball, Mike Boehm, Cole Etten, Mike Heaney, Benjamin Curran, Joe Martin, Paul Coveney, Eric Saucier, Brian Gadwah, Tim Malinowski, Matt Regan, Wade Graham, Dave Chase, Jolene Chappell, John & Sandra McGonagle, Dennis Ordway, Eric Frank, Rob Bradley, Paul Greenlaw, Sean Young, Steve McDonough, Gary Ford, Jamie Timbas, Mike Smith & Ron Grandison, Mascenic Boys Basketball, Chuck Bergeon, Hoagy Higgins, Jerry Trudel, Trevor Howard, Jamie Walker, Kevin Wilson, Exeter boys basketball, Dave Sokolnicki, Brandi Litts, Deb & Gerry Couture, Ben Wheeler, Kendra Vedrani, Stacey Morris, Michael Romick, Matt Corsetti, Bill Olson & Judi & Savannah Carberry. On behalf of our team I cannot thank you enough..

As for the final thank you I want to thank the team I’m privileged to work with. I started this website eight years ago having no idea where it would go or if it would catch on at all. You do a ton of work without knowing if anyone is even reading and that’s how any new venture begins. So to now work alongside Pete Tarrier, Jennifer Chick, The Great Jon Kesty, Justin McIsaac, Eliot Bless and our newest colleague Mike Pezone reminds me every day how lucky I am. These are people with families and full time jobs that spend countless hours covering high school sports when they could be doing anything else with their free time, and getting a lot more sleep. The best business advice my father ever gave me was surround yourself with really good people you can trust and enjoy being with. You are all incredibly lucky they love high school sports as much as you do and I’m lucky to be associated with them.
Seacoast Tournament starts next weekend and we will cover a game or two and be tweeting out updates on @nhsportspage

Thank you all for reading…….