Can a student be recruited for D3 basketball by just playing AAU and not for his high school team?
Yes. Some players are not eligible to play for their high school or who choose not to because of the schedule and conflicts. You’ll have to do all the work of getting recruited.
Yes. Unless they are nearby, the coaches usually cannot even see a HS game because the seasons align. If you play well at the AAU tournaments, have good film, great stats, then coaches will be interested.
On the girls’ side of bball recruiting, a player who only plays AAU and not HS is looked upon with skepticism. It’s very unusual to not play HS bball during HS season. Not sure how it is on the boys’ side, but I can’t think of a valid reason not to play during the HS season, outside of HS transfer issues. Can you elaborate, BBHOPEFUL?
@sanmln That’s has been my experience here in CA for both boys and girls. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I haven’t seen nor heard of any kids that don’t play HS ball. Typically, the AAU season is kinda quiet during the winter.
@sushiritto, yup, we are in CA too. Thanks for confirming it’s on the boys’ side too. It would be a huge red flag to me as a college coach to have a recruit who skipped HS ball.
There was a top recruit in California who’d done his freshman year in California, then went to a boarding school/AAU team, then transferred back to the original school. Nope. California state governing board said can’t do that. He was one of those kids who had committed in jr high or something, so was really good. I think LaVar Ball’s kids maxed out on their transfers. Snoopdog’s son did, so transferred to Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.
Some kids may go to high schools that don’t have teams, or don’t have good teams. There might be kids who can’t qualify to play on a high school team (partially home schooled, go to school in the wrong district, have another sport). And there are some kids (or their parent like LaVar Ball) who just can’t get along with anyone, including the coach. Maybe those kids shouldn’t be recruited, but maybe it’s the coach’s fault. In some states, the senior may be too old to play. That happened to a quarterback in Virginia a few years back as he’d turned 18 or 19 at the end of July and was too old by like 1 day.
I thought Snoop Dog’s kid played football and was then thrown off the Jim Mora-coached UCLA football team a few years ago.
The Ball kids all played at Chino Hills HS and they played AAU ball until the dad pulled the middle son out of UCLA, as a freshman, and pulled the youngest out of Chino Hills and they all went to Lithuania. But they played AAU and played in HS.
Snoopdog’s kid did play football but he transferred from a Long Beach school to another and then couldn’t play in California any more. One transfer only unless the parents move, and you don’t get to transfer back to original school. He left UCLA team on his own after a few weeks, but stayed at UCLA. He was always being groomed for USC, Snoop’s favorite team, but
I think the older Ball kid transferred at least once, and the youngest didn’t finish at Chino Hills. He was pulled and home schooled and I think only played AAU. Then sent to Lithuania, now trying to get into college/pros. A mess his father made.
My daughter played freshman year at a private school and transferred to a public for sophomore year. First school stopped offering her sport (not why she transferred). She started practicing sophomore year but never played. I don’t know if she would have been eligible to transfer again. We moved to another state so never tested it.
Just giving examples of why a student wouldn’t play at his high school but would play AAU.
The thread is about basketball, not football. Not sure of the relevancy, since AAU football and basketball have different usages in terms of the athletes (i.e., high school football players don’t play AAU).
The father created his own league when he pulled the youngest, LaMello, out of Chino Hills. LaMello never played AAU ball after being pulled from Chino Hills and home schooled. For at least the last 3 years, the Ball brothers played HS basketball and AAU the rest of the year. I’ve seen the Ball teams play in AAU, but not in the winter HS season. And I’ve also seen them play at Chino Hills HS the last few years.
Other than MAYBE some sort of obscure CA HS transfer rule, the HS basketball player will play AAU year round, but for their winter season season. It would be extremely unusual circumstances for the HS basketball player to JUST play AAU all year, since the winter HS AAU tournaments are almost non-existent for HS level players.
The transfer rule is not obscure. Kids get to transfer once, unless the parents move to a different district. Again I was giving examples of why a kid wouldn’t play for his high school. The OP didn’t play for his high school because he wasn’t picked for the team. Others may not like the coach or the high school may not have a team. The player could be injured during the hs season.
We had to pay $1500 per sport(private) and $900 (public) to play for the high school. Unlikely a student could afford to play AAU and not high school, but maybe the student had to pick one or the other, and the high school team wasn’t as good?
That is what I am afraid of. My son cannot stand his HS coach. Loves his AAU coach. He would love to train this winter instead of playing for HS but it looks like he may have to. Thanks
IMO, rare and obscure. I’ve been coaching AAU and HS scouting for over a decade and I may have read about a multi-transfer within a district once. But it’s an example though. And there’s an appeal process too.
This is not a rare occurrence. I hated my HS coach too. :))
Has your son tried to speak with the HS coach and determine what’s the issue? And what your son can do to resolve the issue. Are there irreconcilable differences? Can the AAU coach be hired as an assistant for your son’s HS team? I’ve seen that happen a bunch, unless the AAU coach has another job/HS team. The other kids on the AAU team, do they play for your son’s high school? Sorry for all the questions, but the coach-player relationship always interests me. No worries, if you prefer to keep it private.
BBHOPEFUL, thanks for giving more info on your son’s situation. Hating the HS coach is not enough reason not to play in HS, IMO. Your son will be hurting his chances of playing in college by skipping HS ball. Only the truly elite recruits like the Ball brothers can pull that off, and even then, the vast majority of elite recruits play HS ball. This is a great learning opportunity for your son to figure out how to make it work with his HS coach, while he continues to pursue his dream of playing in college.
We really can’t figure out the issue. My son tried to talk to him last year but nothing has changed. He humiliated certain players. My son gets so depressed during HS season. Coach makes you not want to play for him. He hasn’t been cut but we are looking into transferring him for his senior year. I’m an educator and cannot believe how he treats students/athletes. There is a way to be tough and still motivate a player but to have him be used as a punching bag is going to far.
BBHOPEFUL, I understand. My daughter weathered a toxic situation in HS. She was bullied by her teammates, and the coach was verbally abusive. We had thought about transferring, but her team was really, really good, and she liked winning championships, so she stuck it out. Her first college coach wasn’t verbally abusive, but was a liar and played favorites, so we pulled the plug real quick on that. She transferred to another college that had recruited her out of HS and is much happier there and with that coach/team.
Will your son be a senior this fall? So just one season of HS bball left? In that case, maybe it would be worth it to sit out senior year to train if he’s got some solid D3 interest already. I don’t think it would hurt him much at that point, b/c the majority of his college recruiting would be done already. If he’s going to be a junior in the fall, that’s a different story. Junior year is probably the most important one to play.
My D played all 4 years on her HS team for a coach who hardly played her the first 3 years. I would cringe when I picked her up and she would tell me “sorry I am late, I was talking to coach about how to get more playing time”. Every time the coaches reply would be “give it time.” He never gave her specifics. My D had no problem getting playing time on her much better AAU team and was recruited by several D3 LACs. In her Sr year, she got more playing time, but still less that several others. It drove me crazy. Ends up he got fired after my D’s last season. Nice guy, lousy coach who played favorites, imo. I agree with you that you can get better play with positive motivation. My D’s coach would constantly yell at and pull players from a game he felt were making mistakes, but kept his favorites in regardless. Very frustrating and many girls quit the team because of it. I don’t having a problem pulling players who mess up, but you need to be consistent and apply it to all. Best of luck to you.