AAU basketball, a necessary evil.

AAU ruining basketball, one of the most controversial topics in sports.

Whether it is good or bad, the pros and con of playing AAU basketball.  AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) is an organization that is for youth growth development. some people feel like it  

NBA legend Kobe Bryant feels like AAU is ruining basketball. “I hate it because it doesn’t teach our players how to play the right way,” said Bryant.

Although there is a lot bad talk about AAU some players feels like it helps them. Like Sophomore Zak Perdew plays AAU basketball and feels like he has become a better player because of it. “It gives you a good challenge playing against top-level players,” said Perdew

Perdew also mentioned how the change from AAU to high school is different. “There is less freedom in high school,” said Perdew.  

There are some players who like high school basketball better including senior Luke Ezell a returning starter. Ezell has been playing AAU since grade school and has been playing high school basketball since seventh grade. Ezell feels like AAU is stressful and includes too much traveling. “The only good thing about AAU is the college coaches get to watch you show out.” “AAU is very stressful and expensive, I rather prefer high school basketball 100 percent,” said Ezell.

In a coach’s perspective,  AAU is good for a player to improve over the summer, but it is bad because they could give them some bad habits. The boy’s basketball coach, Jason Couch feels like AAU is good and bad. Couch mentioned that “The competition is great, but it is more about winning than growing as a good player.”     

AAU basketball helps players grow over the summer, it provides good visibility to be looked at and seen by colleges.