In which I question Sam Eifling’s logic

December 20th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanR

A somewhat flawed idea proposed over at Slate by Sam Eifling: stop following college basketball and get on the AAU train.

Seriously. That’s what he proposed in this column entitled “The Death of College Basketball.”

OK, let’s talk about this here and shamelessly rip FireJoeMorgan.

Here’s how far college basketball has fallen: Fans and pundits are going gaga over 7-foot super-prospect Greg Oden, a guy whose career at Ohio State will last less than a year. The NBA’s new age threshold means that high schoolers can’t jump straight to the pros. Still, for immortal players, college will be nothing more than a one-year way station on the path to a huge payday.

Well, isn’t it better for college hoops to get Oden for at least one year, then not to get him at all? I’d think so.

And how can you say college basketball has fallen because of people’s enthusiasm for Greg Oden? He’s one of the best players to come around in years, there’s going to be excitement for a player like that at any level. Yeah, Oden will probably only stick around for a year, but, if the rule hadn’t changed, he’d be banished to the Toronto Raptors right now. And we wouldn’t see him on national television once this year. Not once.

So by going to college, he’s doing far more service to a basketball fan then he would in the pro ranks. If you catch my drift.

But why should you care? For starters, check out a list of former AAU players who made it to the NBA: Amare Stoudamire, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Shawn Kemp. Every great player—even those who for the past decade have bypassed college—signs up. A hard-core AAU fan would have already seen Greg Oden for years, just as he would have been well-acquainted with the last such phenom. (LeBron James’ AAU team from the age of 10: the Shooting Stars.) The AAU circuit has also given us a tantalizing glimpse at the game’s famous flameouts. Don’t you wish you’d seen, say, poor Leon Smith as a 16-year-old, to know what all the hoopla was about? Or Kemp, back when he gave a crap about basketball?

Wow Sam. Amare Stoudamire, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal and Shawn Kemp all played AAU ball? Great. Two of them also played college ball as did oh, about 1,000,000 other NBA players. Which, I won’t chart here, because the list would go on for days.

And no, I really wouldn’t have liked to see Kemp when he ‘gave a crap about basketball.’ I don’t know if the man ever ‘gave a crap about basketball.’ Although, I’d like to think his years with the Sonics were rather productive.

And no way would I want to see Kemp as a young teen over Greg Oden playing this year in college basketball. No way. I can sit on my ass at home and watch Greg Oden’s magic. I would have had to drive myself all around Northern Inidana to catch up with Kemp when he supposedly gave a damn.

Another point in AAU’s favor is that the talent is homegrown. Rooting for State U is pretty much the same as cheering for a pro team, considering that your favorite school’s roster is more likely to be stocked with guys from Croatia than with instate kids. Let’s say you live in Atlanta. Does it make more sense to root for the Atlanta Celtics—an AAU program that recently produced Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, and Randolph Morris—or the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, whose top players of recent vintage are all from out of state? There should be no debate: If you want to support local hoopsters, then go with AAU. These teams comprise boys and girls who attend your church and bag your groceries. You know them, and they know one another: It’s not for nothing that Jalen Rose’s 13-and-under AAU squad was called Team Superfriends.

Well why root for any local NBA team then? Are the Utah Jazz going to solely be comprised of polygamist Mormons? Are the Lakers going to only have actors and girls with boob jobs on their squad? No and no.

If we applied this logic, AAU and high school teams would be about the only level of competitive basketball fans could root for because they truly comprise ‘hometown’ talent.

And hey, how bout this one Sam? That same Josh Smith team you are referring to beat one of the Postmen’s loyal and trusty commenter’s AAU team by around 50 points in Hawaii a few years back. Man, that must have been a great game to watch. A bunch of NBA stars beating up on kids from Iowa. Cool. And furthermore, the AAU tournaments are about the only thing worth watching. Are you telling me all the Atlanta fans made it to Hawaii to see the tournament, probably the only way they could actually see one of the games? No way, buddy.

Team continuity leads to superfriendships and super basketball. AAU teams stick together for years. Elite college teams stick together for a semester. Which do you think have a better understanding of how to play as a unit? Jim Calhoun, the Hall of Fame coach of the University of Connecticut, posited last season that the increasing parity in the college game is a result of high schoolers improving by playing AAU ball against one another. Then Calhoun’s vaunted Huskies went out and lost to George Mason, a team made up of Marylanders who grew up playing AAU ball with and against each other. The LSU Tigers, another of last year’s Final Four upstarts, are stocked with four players who won an AAU national title together as 15-year-olds.

OK, first. ‘Elite college teams’ do not stick together for a semester. They have off-season workout sessions that take place before official practice starts in October. Then games run from November to March. I’d say elite teams fall under a year of togetherness, not a semester. And remember Florida? Yeah, almost its entire core is back for another run this year.

And sure, the argument can be made that AAU teams play together as a unit. But are you trying to say college teams don’t?

Let’s take the Illinois team that made the championship game a few years back. They were an ‘elite team’ that stayed together. That squad comprised of two future NBA draft picks (Deron Williams, Luther Head) and three guys on an NBA roster (Roger Powell, Dee Brown and James Augustine) played together perhaps better than any basketball team, NBA, college or AAU-wise in the last decade.

I don’t buy your logic here at all, Sam.

One reason that NCAA basketball has survived for so long is the idea that the players we’re watching are getting an education. No one really believes that college ballplayers go to school to learn—not when the latest figures show that only 59 percent of male Division I basketball players get their degrees. Fans have swallowed the false promise of college athletics (learning + sports = wholesome fun!) because, if you want to watch amateur athletes, it’s the only game in town. That’s where AAU comes in—it’s the NCAA without the sanctimony. You can watch up-and-comers play basketball without having to pretend they’re suiting up to get free books and room and board. AAU confers no degrees upon its matriculants. It’s all about basketball.

Sam, you are contradicting yourself here. Earlier you said: ‘Admittedly, AAU basketball doesn’t have the best reputation. Chances are you know the AAU best as a sink strainer for the money launderers and crack dealers who dole out cash and goodies to up-and-coming teenage ballplayers. And sure, the organization is a feeding ground for unscrupulous agents.’

And now you are saying the AAU ranks are ‘all about basketball’ and AAU ball is the ‘NCAA without sanctimony.’ What? Huh?

And I’ll let you slide on the education thing because you say it’s ‘one reason NCAA basketball has survived so long’ not the only reason.

But really, that’s why I love college basketball so much - the student-athlete moniker.

Nevermind whatever it is they do out on the court there, with the dribbling and the shooting and all that. I like college basketball because the players are getting an education, damn it.

OK, I’m done with this. I have a college basketball game to watch tonight.