Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2023 Rant - Weekend #3

With my birthday last Thursday, and just Maja having a tournament this past weekend, I had come up with the bright idea of taking a relaxing Friday off, with the only thing on my schedule getting over to Maja's track meet at 4:30. 

I'm lucky I was under that delusion, as Maja's team was actually going to their first ever showcase, a huge all-girls event that was even bigger than the normal 30-court Spooky Nook facility.  

Did I mention her first game was 10:20am on FRIDAY and my wife had host of appointments and personal events scheduled for the weekend?  So I woke up an hour earlier than normal, grabbed both kids and headed down to Lancaster.  

With the usual co-ed tournaments, grades 4-11, all 30 of the regular courts at Spooky Nook, plus two additional courts they built, which are regulation but were reserved for the younger kids.  For Maja and Millie, their grades usually had 8-12 teams in pool play Saturday, then Sunday morning, with play-in and championship games after lunch. 

"Live at the Nook" was a showcase event for girls teams, grades 6-11.v Maja's 8th grade division had 80 team alone, divided into multiple pools, and just a guaranteed four games Friday-Sunday, with no championships.  The largest division was "Varsity/11th grade" with 187 teams!  And these were not just your usual Mid-Atlantic team.  A scan of the entries plotted teams as far north as Minnesota and Canada, as far west as Nebraska and Texas and as far south and east as Puerto Rico!

The 8th grade division was set up in 10 pools, and Maja's team was placed in H for their first go at things.  Less likely to pull the powerhouse teams from Minnesota, New York City or Boston, their first game was a national touring team a few miles down the road in Harrisburg.  The program is known for multiple teams in the regular tournaments, teams that are average at best.  

We feared a single team in the tournament, under their "UA" designation would mean a challenging travel team, but after the usual slow start, they ground out a 9-point win, 44-35.  

The second game was against a team in Maryland that was known to upset a few quality programs last spring.  They jumped out early, the bench poured a few more points on, and they finished the day winning 50-28.

Done by lunch, and with no games until 4pm Saturday, we went home and chilled.  

Saturday, I picked Millie up from practice early (6th grade plays next week, so practice it is) grabbed Maja at the house, and got down to Franklin & Marshall, one of the auxiliary sites for the tournaments.  Spooky Nook not only used the "kid's" gyms for "real" play, but they added two courts in their banquet area for courts 33 & 34, plus used two courts at Franklin & Marshall and two more courts at Millersville University to fulfill demand.

After playing a tight game for the first five minutes against a team from Syracause, Maja's crew went on a 13-0 run and never looked back, winning 51-35. 

Sunday, we had a 3pm game, which meant a bite to eat, and a little meandering to get to Millersville's campus.  On the way, we did some in-car role-playing with characters they made for the Character Creation Challenge (Days 9 and 14), but using TWERPS for resolution.  It was far easier to roll a d10 in a Chessex dice container than to lose dice under the seats.  The game ended as we pulled into the gym parking lot, with some fun complications for the future.

Sunday's game was against the Mid-Atlantic Heat out of South Jersey.  They were 15-4 last year according to my power rankings, but with zero quality wins and two quality losses, and two losses against mediocre teams.

But they certainly played with fire.  Shooting 2 for 14 to start the game, the Heat went up 13-5.  At that point, the girls kicked it into high gear (the bench no less!), hit a 10-point run, and was leading 20-15 at halftime.   The second half continued more of the same, as they won 45-31.

We entered the weekend with zero expectations.  Expecting a higher level of quality from the teams, zero wins with a high level of playing was not out of the realm of possibility.  Referencing my handy-dandy power index, Maja's team was ranked #12 with three or more tournaments (Out of 100).  The Harrisburg team was #92, Syracuse #66, Maryland #28, and the Heat, even with their record, was #26.  The organization should have requested a higher bracket, and when they go to one next month in Atlantic City, I anticipate they won't be going 4-0.  

My wife has been griping about playing time with Maja.  She's definitely been part of the B team and sometimes sits longer than we're accustomed to.  Unfortunately, I don't support the griping because (a) her AAU coach is her Freshmen team coach, who started her almost every game this winter and (b) her stats are light years above her AAU stats from last spring... when both of us had the same issue.   

Team has played 47% of the games they played last year, and Maja has already exceeded her point totals from last year.   More points than last year, she's shooting 54% vs 15% last year, her turnovers are way down, and every stat save steals and blocks would be vastly improved if her level of play simply continues through the season.

Millie's got a tournament in Scranton next weekend (Maja may have a high-ranked scrimmage at the same site, more to come.)  Both revisit Spooky Nook May 6-7, get a weekend off, then we're gambling on another one of these showcases for both girls May 19-21 in Atlantic City. 

School Update:  Thursday night, the new Varsity coach was announced, causing only a minor clamor.  She's an assistant coach with the Wilkes-Barre high school, and if I've done my research, she's been made interim head coach of the girls varsity program three times as the head coaches have bailed.  In all three instances, she took over the reins and had winning seasons, only to be overlooked in the hiring process.  Hopefully she keeps that chip on her shoulder, but also keeps the junior high coach, the only one that remains with the program.