AAU Season Review: Six Players Who Taught Us Lessons This Summer

We learned about several new prospects this AAU season on the road. Sometimes you have situations where the prospect didn't play too much during the high school season but they play every minute during the AAU season or vise versa. As an evaluator, you just have to roll with the punches and make things happen when you can. Below we highlight six players that taught us some lessons this Summer as a whole while they competed. Some of those were general lessons in the sport and some of those were lessons about who they were as hoopers.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    After watching Fuller compete the last six months it's safe to say that she is a college level prospect. The way she cuts off of the ball, how she can hit an open cutter herself with a pass with either hand for an assist at the rim, her consistent movement on both offense and defense, this all combines together with someone with impressive athletic ability for their height. We saw Fuller make some winning plays off of the ball at Valley and I expect we are going to see more of that this Winter for her Junior campaign. Fuller has taught everyone watching the last few months that as long as you are in shape, as long as you can keep moving, and as long as you understand the game from a strategic level, than you can EAT in this day of age as a prospect. It sounds a lot easier than it is but Fuller is the shining example.     Smith did a good job of working within her new AAU team's system this year as their PG/SG. She played a sound role on both sides of the floor each possession when she was competing and she demonstrated that she can be a standout, especially on the defensive end, when she wants to be. If you want to be a great PG, you have to be someone that is willing to dish out assists at high rates. That's just a part of it but it's a big part and Smith plays that way, always trying to give the credit to someone else on the team as she hits them for a bucket. Smith taught us this season that you can produce without having to score on every possession like some might think. When you play your role and play it well, you will still standout while doing a lot of winning in the process.     If you are a college coach and you are looking for a player that works hard, that shows up each time they compete in the stat book, and someone that could get better with age/experience than you might want to take a look at Lauren Schmaltz of DSM Christian. Schmaltz has been consistent over her high school career. She is usually one of her team's top rebounding forces, while also showing up as a shooter from deep, and someone that creates chaos with a ton of steals on defense. She mainly scores from deep, launching off of the catch from others creation, shooting at a high rate a majority of the time. Last season as a Junior at DSM Christian she was just under 37% from three and just under 40% from the field in total. This AAU season Schmaltz taught up who she REALLY is. She competed with some dedicated ball and showed out. Now I can't wait to see how she follows that up this Winter as a Senior.     I have always been a fan of the type of game that Cici Fate plays with. In reality she is a smaller Guard but her court sense is 10 out of 10, she can command her team's systems coming down the floor off the rebound, she can score and attack from all three offensive levels with adequate timing, she plays off of two feet, she is always looking to make the extra pass when the defense collapses, and she is a good defender against the PG position in her own right. We learned this season from Fate that you don't have to be the biggest player to go into the middle to scrap it up. Fate is ALWAYS one of her team's leading RPG when she hoops and she stands at 5'3, showing that she just wants it more. Plain and simple. She has been grabbing right around 4RPG on average the past year of play in general and that's noteworthy. This just proves that when you compete with that type of tenacity, anything is possible and we are seeing that first hand in this conversation with Fate.     There is a lot of future potential with Maggie Reber of Woodward-Granger High School and AIA AAU. Reber saw spot minutes last season as a Freshman because of her Varsity team's upperclassmen-heavy lineup. There were several, cooks in the kitchen, per se and the players who had been in the program were looking to shine with all of the hardwood they put in. Nothing wrong with that but now it's time for others to step in. Players like Reber will be looked upon and I think she could make her mark this Winter. She has a steady shot from deep and better than average hand-eye coordination, we saw that this Spring/Summer. As long as she can continue to build off of that, watch out.     You might be hearing the name Kayley Ambrose several times this Winter at Underwood High School. Ambrose is a length SF/CG, that can move between the inside and the outside of the lane. She is efficient as a scoring threat on each block and she can also step out to hit a three ball if the defense is sagging off. Defensively, she works hard to control what is happening between the blocks. She communicates well with those around her and she is always competing with maximum effort. Ambrose taught us this AAU season that less is more. There has been a lot of opportunities where Ambrose could over-dribble or take a bad, forced shot but she doesn't. If she could have a wide open layup next to the hoop each time she shot it, she would do it, no questions asked and not many kids nowadays would say the same thing sadly.

We learned about several new prospects this AAU season on the road. Sometimes you have situations where the prospect didn't play too much during the high school season but they play every minute during the AAU season or vise versa. As an evaluator, you just have to roll with the punches and make things happen when you can. Below we highlight six players that taught us some lessons this Summer as a whole while they competed. Some of those were general lessons in the sport and some of those were lessons about who they were as hoopers.