2021 / 16u Boys AAU basketball

As I posted earlier, Team Factory Gold won the  Prep Hoops Circuit Hard Work Region Finals 16U Platinum division over Minnesota Heat Tauer last Sunday.  There were a number of upsets leading up to that final, with favored SW Illinois Jets Orange knocking off Team Flyght Ohio in the quarter fiinals and then getting knocked themselves by an upstart ABC Young Lions Black squad from Milwaukee that I considered to be their second team to Teal.  Black gave Tauer a run for their money before losing by 9.  So the ratings don't necessarily reflect the final placement in this tournament, but the teams performance throughout the entire year.  That puts Orange in second position and Flyght in third with Tauer close behind.  Hope that is clear as mud. I have included the Gold division teams in Italics but did not include them in the tournament statistics.  The tournament was above average with a team average rating of 104 and a top ten rating of 119.  A real...

So, who is the best St. Louis Area 16U AAU boys basketball team?  I guess it's Bradley Beal but we will never really know for sure because I don't think they ever showed their face in town.  All  of their tournaments, if I am not mistaken, were on the road.  SW Illinois Jets Orange, Larry Hughes, Gateway and Team Ramey, all threw in their support for local tournaments but I didn't see Beal in a tournament here.  If I am wrong, please correct me.  I was hoping that maybe they would show up for Three Stripes Alliance or Arch Challenge.  Didn't happen. I think that the Jets Orange or a healthy LHBA (was there ever a fully healthy LHBA squad this year?) could have taken on Beal in a good game.  We need to have one tournament where we can settle bragging rights for the area, don't we? So, I have to base the rankings on all of the out-of-state results around the nation and Beal, while taking a beating early in the year, has come on strong of late an...

Bradley Beal won the Jayhawk Invitational, running away from the field, with a close Friday night game with Marcus Denmon Elite but blowing them away in the championship game.  Here's the final ratings.  The tournament itself was just so-so with an average of 107 for all teams and 116 for the top ten. Note:  I have KC Run GMC rated a 123 but in 4th position.  They earned a 123 rating over the entire year but played poorly in this final tournament.  Denmon, who has been in the 116 range, jumped up to the 120 rating with a great showing in their final tournament.  Gauntlet also dropped down from a 123 rating, losing to an improving Missouri Basketball team that is only rated at a 104. Jayhawk Invitational Final 16U Rankings RANK TEAM STATE RATING 1 Brad Beal Elite MO 128 2 Marcus Denmon Elite 2021 MO 120 3 OSA Crusaders Gauntlet NE 120 4 KC Run GMC MO 123 5 ...

I have got a month of tournaments to calculate from this past weekend before I can post my final team ratings.  There were so many great tournaments around the country that I would have to work three days straight, 24 hours a day, to get the algorithm cranked up for all of these tournaments.  I would be as tired as all these 16 year old kids after a month of playing four weekends in a row, five or six games in a weekend.  You have to wonder, Earl Austin, Jr., is it a little too much?  We certainly enjoy watching them compete and the coaches get plenty of opportunities to see them play, but are they really competing at 100% if they are playing on fumes the last couple of weeks?  Especially, if you have already have a short squad, like Larry Hughes Basketball Academy, with 5 guys at Hardwood Classic this past weekend, playing 32 minutes a game, because two guys went down in the opening half of the first game?  More about that later... Prep Hoops Hard Work R...

How do the Prep Hoops Circuit Hard Work Region Finals Platinum teams look up in Bloomington, Minnesota this weekend?  Well, SW Illinois Jets Orange, winners of the RecruitLook Finale and one of my favorites, will face some stiff competition from Team Flyght Ohio, who won down in Chicago, and Team Factory Gold, a strong team from Nebraska, along with West Central United and Wear Out the Net Bertsch, both local Minneapolis teams.  And don't forget about the Milwaukee teams including ABC Young Lions Teal and Black and Wisconsin Playground. Should be a real barnburner with lots of close games. Enjoy the tournament. Prep Hoops Circuit Hard Work Region Finals 16U Platinum Teams Jul 26-28, 2019   TEAM STATE RATING Team Flyght Ohio (3) OH 123 SW IL Jets Orange (14) IL 122 Team Factory Gold (1) NE 121 West Central United Select (16) MN 121 Wear Out t...

Howard Pulley, a great 16U Minnesota squad, pulled out the championship in the 37 team session I field at the Hardwood classic in Lawrence last week beating Marcus Denmon Elite by 5 in the championship.  The field averaged 101 rating with a top ten of 115, just so-so for an end of year event, compared to the great tournaments held down in Georgia recently.  Still Howard Pulley played some good teams and their win was legit. Session II begins today for another 22 teams, including Larry Hughes Basketball Academy who just came off a big championship in the Three Stripes Alliance over a great Team Ramey Red squad last Sunday.  Unfortunately, LHBA is missing their top scorer and another good defender and might be challenged by several great teams including Mokan's Select team.  Good luck to all. Here are the rankings from session I and the pre-rankings for session II: Hardwood Classic Session I          ...

NO ONE, absolutely no one, in their right mind, is ranking the top 3000 teams in the 16U AAU age group right now but if you want to accurately rate each team you take the good with the bad.  When I rank a Boo Williams EYBL, I have to take a Team Showtime MD ranked at a 44 who happens to be in the same tournament and gets beat by 88 points because their comparative score will help me build on the algorithmic formula for Boo. So here is the top 2800 or so teams. Enjoy 2021 / 16u BOYS AAU BASKETBALL    RANKINGS July 23, 2019 Rank Team State RATING 1 Philly Pride PA 135.6 2 Altantic Celtics Gold GA 135.3 3 Team Griffin OK OK 134.0 4 DC Premier Douglas MD 133.9 5 Vegas Elite 2021 EYB (BS) NV 133.8 6 New World Gold MD 133.3 7 Team Takeover (DC) DC 133.2 8 MOKAN Elite (KS) KS 133.1 ...