Yes, we’re all missing basketball and the AAU opener
Everybody could use a hug right about now. Except we can’t. We’re all practicing social distancing – at least we should be. It’s a term few of us were familiar with before, one we are all-too-familiar with right now. It’s unfortunate. It’s frustrating. But right now it’s life.
Normally we would be headed for a high school gym this Saturday for the first day of the AAU season. The kids would be excited. The coaches would be concerned about not having had enough practices to prepare. Us interested observers would be excited to watch new players we haven’t watched before, interested to see who actually ended up on what team, fired up to find that diamond in the rough who could be the summer’s most intriguing newcomer. Normally.
But it’s not a normal year. There’s nothing normal about it. It’s not even the ‘new normal’ yet, because we really have no idea what that is at the moment. But we’ll get through it, and Prep Girls Hoops will be here, doing what we do, bringing you news and information and analysis about the best girls basketball players in Minnesota.
New kinds of coverage are on the way
It has been a strange couple of weeks since the high school state tournament ended so abruptly on Friday the 13th. That definitely hurt. Some of us were angry. All of us were frustrated. It was sad that the kids didn’t get to see the season through to the end. Given what we know now, though, it makes sense. In hindsight it is a decision that probably saved lives. And here we are.
Over the past couple of weeks the players we write about have been doing their best to carry on amidst the chaos. The kids that really want it have still been putting in the work and staying positive and lifting each other up. I have been so impressed with how creative the athletes have been when it comes to their workouts and related activities.
One of the things many have been doing is putting together highlight videos of their just-completed high school seasons. Editing video is a valuable skill! More importantly, it has allowed them to showcase their game to a much wider audience. My good friend Chuck Thompson over at Five State Hoops has done a wonderful job tweeting about an endless string of these videos. And the college coaches have had time to watch them. Plenty of time.
Now we’re going to take that process to a new level. Beginning this weekend, after we publish a couple more wrap-up pieces from the high school season, we are going to run a series of evaluation articles that will include links to those videos. We’ll highlight and analyze prospects we are quite familiar with, and we’ll look at some kids who are new to the scene.
It will be fun and insightful and it will help fill the void until the kids are actually back on the court again. In the long term it will assist the players and coaches in achieving their objectives. It’s what we do. As it says on our home page, Prep Girls Hoops is ‘Where Players Become Prospects.’
A slice of life
One of the fun aspects of watching the videos – an unexpected bonus if you will – has been seeing where the players live. When we’re all together in the gym there are few clues about a player’s background other than the school their from, or perhaps the suburb or town they call home. The only differentiating factors are talent and skill and the size of their motor. In the videos, however, we have caught glimpses of their neighborhoods while watching them working on their games or just having a little fun.
We have seen kids do their thing in suburban driveways surrounded by some pretty impressive McMansions. We have watched players in working class neighborhoods, out on the farm, in apartment parking garages, down in the basement, in rural pole sheds and in city parks. And we’ve seen the kids lucky enough to have a court at home, both of the backyard variety and those precious few who actually have an indoor floor. Color me jealous!!
We have also seen their sense of humor. Their commitment. Their creativity. Their determination. Their adaptability. Their resilience. Those are all important skills that will serve these kids well in the future.
Much like those who survived the Great Depression of the 1920s – our elders who never again trusted banks, took a square meal for granted, who didn’t waste a scrap of clothing or a morsel of sustenance – the kids of 2020 will be different. In ways similar to those who lived through World War II – a generation that knew what it was to be fearful for the future, who knew the value of a piece of rubber or a teaspoon of sugar or an extra dollar – today’s kids will be forever changed. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
They will appreciate their freedom more. They will understand the value of preparation and putting away extra money for hard times and the importance of sound political leadership. (Oh how I’d like to rant right now about that, but I’ll bite my tongue). And they will never again take the privilege of being able to play basketball for granted.
What’s in store for AAU?
When will the AAU season start? That’s the question everyone is asking. Will there even be an AAU season in 2020? That’s a question nobody wants to ask. But they are. And it’s a possibility we all need to face.
There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that will go a long way toward answering those questions. AAU directors are meeting (virtually of course) to discuss the possibilities. They have looked at alternative dates and considered what might be coming. Based on what we know at this point (and it seems to change every day right now) the best case scenario would see the AAU season begin around Memorial Day and continue through the end of summer.
Many of the events that were scheduled to take place in April and May could be moved to July and August, including the Minnesota state tournament. We might lose a couple of events. Teams might play more of a regional schedule rather than traveling across the country. And the NCAA viewing periods, during which Division 1 coaches can scout the top players, might be shifted. Will schools even allow their facilities to open as tournament venues? Nobody knows for sure.
Worst case scenario – at least in a basketball sense – is there might be no AAU season at all. And that is a real possibility. As the casualties of the virus mount from coast to coast, as the dire predictions of mortality rates and rates of transmission and numbers of available ventilators flash across our computer screens 24-7, it is now a distinct possibility that there will be no basketball. I just don’t want to go there yet.
I’m choosing to remain optimistic, and so are most of you. We’re hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. The kids are working on their skills while slowly coming to the realization that they may not be using those abilities in an actual competitive game for a long time to come. AAU teams are holding Zoom gatherings and learning more about the game and watching classic contests from back in the day. In short, they are acting like teams, training to be champions and getting a little bit better each day.
Kids are rediscovering the joys of playing H-O-R-S-E with their dads in the driveway. They are enjoying shooting on a bent-and-netless hoop at the local park. They are learning that you don’t need to be in a sophisticated training facility to get stronger and faster and fitter.
Near where I live in St. Paul, the gigantic set of stairs next to the historic James J. Hill House has become an impromptu training center where college athletes from multiple sports are running up and down by the hour to stay in shape. As I have huffed and puffed my way up to Summit Avenue on afternoon walks, I have even seen some recognizable professional athletes who are doing work on those historic stairs. We are all adapting and adjusting and learning to cope. And that’s all good.
But we do miss the competition and the camaraderie. I think all of us miss the gym. We love it. We crave it. And the game is an extraordinarily big chunk of our collective lives. In the end, though, it’s just basketball and the world has many more problems to solve at the moment. Big problems. Problems only a select few of us could have ever imagined.
Over time much smarter people than me will figure it out. We’ll mourn. We’ll moan. Yet somehow we’ll muddle through. When the day finally comes when we do tip off the season, I know one thing: I will never again complain about spending 14 hours on a Saturday in the gym and then getting up at 5 a.m. on Sunday to write about it for hours on end. Yes, we all love basketball, but we are going to love it waaaaaaaay more when it comes back.