Mandatory AAU Basketball Rant: Tournament #2

I don't know whether or not I appreciate this staggered approached to the AAU season, having only competed in two tournaments thus far, when some programs have already played 20+ games, but I am certain of one thing: the level of competition has been much better.  

Last weekend we finally got a chance to play at the hallowed Spooky Nook complex in Manheim, Pennsylvania.  I guess 29 basketball courts weren't enough, because they found some sort of space to add two additional courts!

The previous weekend at Spooky Nook was a 40-team AAU East Coast showcase event, three 13-hour days of basketball with elite high school-aged teams from as far away as South Carolina, Wisconsin, and even Canada in attendance.  This was all on top of a normal tournament set-up for the younger age groups with the usual Mid-Atlantic teams and brackets chocked full of previous tourney winners.  A lot of the results were surprising and shook up the unofficial power rankings.  

Compared to that tournament, this weekend's wasn't as marquee, but they were few slouches in the brackets.  

Millie's 5th Grade age group was set up into two separate division, with five other teams brave enough to be but in the Gold group with her Clutch team.  Her team had the odd luxury of not even playing until 3:30 on Saturday, and still managed to roll through two well-established programs.  There was still a stutter when the five new girls were subbed in the first game, but by the end of the game, everyone was acclimated to the expected level of play, and I think every player, coach, and parent were grateful for the extra height we've recruited, and of course, the ability to give everyone plenty of minutes, but also plenty of rest. 

On Sunday, Millie got a revenge win for Maja against a Western PA Chaos team (more on that to follow below), and prepared for a championship game against the Glen Arm Gladiators.    Glen Arm had come to play, knocking off my expected favorite, Team Thrill Black, 38-37, in perhaps the most exciting game of the tournament.  The lead was traded back and forth the entire game, and the Team Thrill had a chance to tie it up with five second lefts after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt, but the player only made two out of three foul shots.  

The championship game was a grind.  Yes, Millie's team won 40-22, but it was heavyweight prize fight to get there.  Lots of physicality and jump balls stopping the clock made us fear it would turn into another two-hour championship game like they had against the Delaware Swarm last year, but the ability to give the girls a rest AND showcase the grit and ruthless aggression of some of the new girls, 

8-0 after two tournaments isn't too shabby at all.  

Maja's 7th grade team had few problems, even if you just mention the 8am Saturday start.  While 5th grade is at the top of pecking order for their age group, 7th grade is not, but they continue to be placed in the top/elite bracket for seeding.  This is absolutely fine with all the players, coaches, and even the parents, as no one paid to go to tournaments and beat up cupcakes for a trophy, medal, or t-shirt.  Out of the 28 7th grade teams, Maja's team was placed in the 12-team Black Division, chock full of undefeated teams looking to make their mark outside of their local tourney scene.  

That 8am game was rough, playing an undefeated team out of Altoona that lived up to the hype.   No one player in particular stood out, just solid defense, good fundamentals, and spot-on shooting in their 40-16 romp of them.   While absolutely no fault of the team, the Altoona girls were also part of two pool games that weekend that witnessed the refs calling a grand total of two moving violations (walks/travels/double dribbles.).  I get wanting the kids to play, keeping the clock running, etc, but only two calls is ridiculous. 

Maja's second game was against the 7th grade version of the previously mentioned Western PA Chaos program.  They too came cross-state to show their mettle, with a bit more questionable resume (more of their opponents were one-tournament cupcakes I couldn't find participating in any other games).  

Unfortunately, they came as advertised.  Our starters couldn't adapt to their aggressive, all-press, in-your-face style and before your knew it, they were down 23 and the mercy clock kept ticking off seconds.  

The one advantage of mercy is that the team up by 20 needs to play half-court defense, and that bit of breathing room allowed them to knock the lead to under 19 (and stopped the mercy rule).  Then an amazing bit of play occurred.  The coach put in Maja and her three Jr High teammates, and not only did they beat the re-applied press, but went on a 12-2 run against the first team to get within nine.  With two minutes left, they subbed in the usual team and they ended up losing 44-32.   

That would have been the newsworthy portion for everyone, but for me it was the full dirty play of the Chaos players towards Maja.  During that late run, not only was Maja's head stepped on by one player in particular, but she was double-kicked in the chin.... then punched in the handshake line!  

That would be a foot mark.  

Yes, the coach gave a half-assed apology, and film was sent over the tournament organizer, which marked with the ejection of the 5th grade girls coach might ban them from that particular brand of tournament, but Spooky Nook has tourneys run by five different companies, so it's an easy run-around.  

Maja did what she could, namely cheer on the hated Chargers from last Fall, as they slowly pummeled Chaos into the ground on Sunday, to knock them out of the playoffs.  It's no surprise that the player in question got a technical and fouled out of that game.  It's the little victories.  

Speaking of little victories, Maja's team did score a huge 44-15 win in the consolation game.   They're far better as the aggressor and the starters fare better not under 24/7 pressure.  They'll try to do better next week at tournament #3. 

And know that I've made an investment in time, no reason not to continue the power rankings, at least through the month of May.  

Collegeville and York Thunder's A-Team were both idle, but since the RPI index formula benefits from opponents (and their opponents) doing well, their ratings increased to allow them to keep up with the Joneses.  WPA Bruins (Pittsburgh) and Northeast Elite (Connecticut) jumped up in the index, due to quality tournament wins.

All Day Hoops was the Altoona-based team Maja faced.  Not only did they win the entire Spooky Nook tournament, but they beat the previously undefeated Chaos team, but gave first losses to current #3 BuxMont and "the hated" #4 Chargers.  That's how you secure a power index rating of .644!    I did find some additional New Jersey tournament data to enter, as well researching anything else for DC Premier, and their separate National GUAA team, which ran havoc over the competition last weekend.  

... and as much we "hate" the Chargers, it's simply because "we" haven't beaten them yet, not because one of them punched Maja in the face.