Must Read Story in SI on AAU Basketball Corruption

[Deleted]

I just received my 8/25/14 issue of Sports Illustrated. There is a must read story on p. 41 on the conviction of nationally known AAU basketball coach Curtis Malone. Here is a sample from the story "Malone ran the vaunted D.C. Assault AAU program......"he was the godfather of D.C. basketball," says Gwynn Park (MD) High School coach Mike Glick...."If you wanted to recruit in the D. C. area, you had to go through Curtis Malone".

The story goes on:" Beneath the vaulted ceiling of Courtroom 23, Malone's drug and basketball empires both officially crumbled. Court documents and recordings from police wiretaps reveal two illicit - and booming - operations: a large cocaine and heroin ring that law enforcement officials estimate generated $80,000 a month in profits, and an AAU program that operated through favors, threats and backroom deals".

Three of 10 recruited scholarship players on the Duke roster in 2010-11 were from D.C. assault. Duke coach Krzyzewski denies any knowledge of the illicit activities. Interestingly enough, a few Big Five players have come out of the D.C. Assault program, including Kevin Lyde (Temple) and Mark Karcher (Temple).

No wonder Coach G finds it challenging to recruit players for a clean program.

[coqui900]

I read that article, too. A really telling tale of how all of that unfolds. Was Jermaine Thomas a DC Assault kid? Or Paul Johnson?

There's a terrific good called Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann. It follows an AAU team from Southern California. It's largely focused around Demetrius Walker, who was named the best 8th grader in the country and ended up bouncing between a few schools out west. A lot of the other kids in the book played in college -- the most well-known is Darius Morris from Michigan.

It's a really detailed look at how insane AAU is. There are so many side deals and plays for coaches and the like to get paid by shoe companies and etc. Kids will just get tossed off teams if they aren't helping whatever AAU coach move up the ladder. A lot of AAU coaches are that in name only and really have no idea what they're doing on the court in terms of X's and O's, too.

But there is something positive about AAU. It lets the best kids in the country play against each other on the regular. Unless you get to go to one of the real elite prep school programs, you'll still play a lot of really weak teams. Even vaunted programs like St. Anthony's or Mighty Mighty Chester have to still play awful public school teams or small private schools without any talent. That's why a lot of coaches recruit the AAU circuit -- it's a better way to see talent in a lot of ways, but you sadly have to deal with scum to do so.

[coachd]

No wonder Speedy hated the AAU aspect of recruiting.