TheEgoHasLanded

well, I assume some of the money goes to other AAU sports like track and field, karate, and sports that do not generate money. Also it costs a lot of money to rent out 5 or 6 locations and then pay to get referees from across the country. Those referees are flown in throughout the country so no personal bias happens. Also all of those people must stay at hotels. I worked the clock at an AAU game and got 10 dollars a game, perhaps some volunteer, I'm not sure. You are correct, they are making a lot of money though.

I would also like to know the results...I heard the Ballerz lost in the championship to the Memphis Bulldogs by about 20. I said the whole time the Bulldogs deserved respect, many of the people on this site didnt have them in the top 10 in 17's which is simply absurd when you have Cromwell, Owens, Kinnard, etc. Those three will be playing serious D-1 basketball. I believe the only team better in 17's is the YOMCA 16s (who are the number one seed for the 17U west) Bulldogs are number 2. The YOMCA team is strong even with a hurt Pierre Niles. I think the Memphis Idlewild team, which lost by 5 to the Bulldogs and 27 in the substate (didn't have 6'6 330 pound Mike Oher, a D-1 OL) for that game, would have made it had they decided to play somewhere else but instead finished 3rd in Memphis. The best AAU teams are usually from Memphis as well. Anyone want to make a wager that a Memphis team doesn't qualify for nationals? BTW- The Bulldogs and Memphis Rebels both qualified for nationals last year, but chose not to go...the Bulldogs' best players decided to go to Nike camps and the Rebels chose not to go because they did not have enough chaperones. Neither team got in trouble with using illegal players, and the proof is the fact that both of these teams, coaches, etc are still competing (The rebels are now idlewild).

How are the Bulldogs not on this list... The Memphis Bulldogs have 6'10 Rousean Cromwell, 6'7 Lawrence Kinnard, and the other 6'6 post for Fairley. All three of these players have been invited to attend the Nike Camp...Cromwell is being looked at by University of Memphis. Didn't the Bulldogs finish first or second in the AAU substate last year...I believe the four teams last year were as follows... 1/2 Bulldogs and TN Thunder 3 Rebels (now Idlewild) 4 CDF 5 Ballerz Jamont is not on CDF, so I can see why you might not rank CDF any more...but I don't see how you can't have the other teams getting serious recognition...especialy the Bulldogs. My opinion is the Bulldogs and the YOMCA team will finish 1 and 2 in the state for 17U.

Let's not disrespect any players or teams on this website... If you think a player is not very good thats fine, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that the posters on coachT (myself included) do not know more than college coaches...some of whom have won the national championship

17U Memphis... 1/2 Bulldogs and YOMCA...I don't know who won the game, but both qualified...I'd say the Y has the advantage with Pigram, Hooper, Pierre, and a great center from Jackson Southside 3rd-Idlewild 4th-Bartlett Grizzlies Can anyone tell me about these two different AAU tournaments they are doing now for this state? For the 3rd and 4th place teams...do they still have a chance of going to the nationals or are they just playing to go to the second tournament.

The best players in the state reside in Memphis TN this year. Tom Lemming of ESPN has several Memphis players in his top 100 nationally... Michael Oher-Briarcrest, OL...I know he personally has been offered by LSU, USC, NCSU, Ole Miss, OSU...also a standout basketball player. Jeff Cottam-Germantown, TE...one of the top 6 Tight Ends in the country. Saw him the other day and he is huge, but still pretty athletic...plays AAU basketball in the summer (obviously he played center ). His brother plays TE for UT. I believe he had an uncle who coached at BYU so he has a lot of connections...great attitude. Malcolm Rawls-East, OL...another big time recruit. Those three are top 100, the following have also made a name for themselves nationally... Rawls has a teammate who also is on on Lemmings list (definitely a top 150)...another OL, cant remember his name. Todd Cox, Harding, Athlete...plays any position, played on the varsity in the 8th grade, made all state in the 9th, has been offered by USC, Auburn, UT, LSU and many other schools. Lemming said that Cox and Oher both made his preseason All-American team. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/...tory?id=1782098 Those are the best players in the state...I'm sure there are many other great players because there are some tremendous programs, but these are the ones I have heard about, Lemming believes they are the best...and so do the powerhouses schools.

Todd Cox and Michael Oherr are both going to be named to Tom Lemming's Preseason All-American list. Both have been offered by LSU, UT, etc. In fact I know personally that the USC coached called Harding, it was in the Commercial Appeal, and that the LSU coach Saban, called BCS to speak to Oherr. Both players are phenomenal, and would probably be considered the front runners for Mr. Football Back and Lineman of the year.

Mason... You are wrong. I can't vouch for the Bulldogs but the Memphis Rebels decided not to attend the 16u AAU nations because of lack of funding. All the kids wanted to go, but unfortunately they didn't have enough drivers. None of their players were illegal, and if you really want I can show you which teams they are playing for now. You would think if they were illegal players, they wouldnt' be playing on teams now wouldn't you? I think Gomab would back me up on those allegations, since his team decided to take their spot at nationals.

Gomab, I don't know much about the teams...but I do know that the Memphis Idlewild team won the 7th annual USC jamboree which featured #1 Memphis Bulldogs, #5 Pump N Run. The team lost to pump n run in the first game without a lot of players like PG peyton, they beat them the next day when they had the PG. They still haven't played with 6'6 Jumaine Dailey from Millington (all state honorable mention) who has been taking JC visits to Three Rivers CC...he is arguably their best player and definitely a force inside. I'd say they should be ranked alil higher if they beat the #5 team and won a touranment that the #1 team was in (The number 5 team beat them).

I'm not a WSHS fan, alumn, supporter etc. They still have talent there though with J.P. Prince (apparently a U of Memphis assistant goes to every game just to watch him) and 6'6 Colin Cunningham at Shooting Guard. There was talk about a certain "other" team who reloads every year. They might do that, but not like White Station does. I mean they had Robert O' Kelly, ACC freshmen of the year graduate, and then they just put in 10th grader Earnest Shelton, who now is one of the best players for Alabama. They have 3 or 4 seniors this year going to play college ball and they have also had kids sign with schools like ETSU every year. That team reloads. I've heard their 9th and 10th graders are pretty weak, but the future is always bright. They are in a great area of town and have great academics, which are two things prospects are always looking at...well the quality prospects that WSHS has anyway.

Bradshaw was starting at the end of the year. Not too shabby in my opinion for a freshmen. He also has Scooter, it would be smart to get that pipeline thing going, he does have Jackie Butler coming in, so hopefully that will happen.

We talk about the audacity of posters on this site, who love to ruffle feathers and cut down others because it makes them feel better about themselves.

Gosh Baconbreath, I didn't realize royalty got on this website... You must be, after writing a message like that. Shawne Williams has enrolled at a prep school in NC in order to get his GPA up. Otherwise, he will not be attending the University of Memphis...you look pretty bad assuming things that everyone knows won't happen. Ever heard of Anfernee Hardaway? He sat out a year at Memphis State, wouldn't you have thought he would have gotten in and immediately played as a freshmen?

That might be the most ignorant thing I've ever head. White Station's talent is NOT because of an unstoppable coaching staff, it's because of the the talent flow through that school year in and year out. Rolltribe, I have to agree with Opperman. They have a lot of talent, but so do many other schools, they just happen to have the best coach there is. Their coach won a title in 86 at Trezevant, the year before he got there in the early 90's they won 1 game. What does that say about what he's done there? Ridgeway has much more talent with Michael Rice, Jordan Mincy, and Pierre Niles. Raleigh Egypt has more talent as well with Kinnard, Joyner, Seay, . The kids there at WSHS are good, but the best player in the city Shawne Williams, doesn't go there. Ridgeway had the best player three years ago when Derrick Byers was there...the other good player was Memphis' Jeremy Hunt. The only year that WSHS had the clear cut best player in the city was the year they had Earnest Shelton who nows plays for Bama. Even when they had Robert O' Kelley, he still wasn't as good as Tony Harris who went to UT or possibly even as good as Corey Bradford who played for Wake. The next year, 97 (I believe) the best player in the city and second best player in the state was Paris London who signed with Memphis. I know it looks like they have all this talent, and they do compared to the rest of the state, but they don't compared to most of the AAA schools.

He's taught in the city school system for over 30 years. I don't know how much he would make at ECS but most D2 teachers in Memphis make around 36K-42K...which is much less than city school teachers. He would receive money from the city for teaching though. Coach Netherland at Germantown did the same thing, and now is over at St. George's I believe.

I said the exact same thing boroman, great minds think a like. I'm non bias, I don't root for any of those teams actually but BWright is the best.

Haha, You can put them in it if you want, they have been in the TSSAA competing in state touranments for an astounding 5 years. They have never gotten past the first round of the West Region tournament held annually. Obviously they have never played in a state tournament, sectional tournament, or region championship. Actually, they have never been ranked better than third in the small school division for west region D2. SBEC is in southaven, which is not Memphis. The title of the thread says Memphis has the best high school teams. Actually, SBEC is not even in Shelby County. But if you want to put them in to this argument, even though they have been in the TSSAA for 5 years, they aren't in TN, they aren't in Shelby Co., they aren't very competetive in basketball, and they don't compete in A, AA, or AAA then do it. I just don't see how that makes or breaks the argument either way, a school with less than 100 people per grade.

I've seen Bwright and Willie play 3 times...I've actually seen willie play since he was 12 in AAU, imagine how phenomenal he was then... I've seen Jamont play as well, and Shawne Williams who was rated the #6 best player in the country and signed with Memphis... I won't comment on Shawne cus he is a senior but Brandon Wright is the best sophomore there is. He completely changes a game with his defensive play and no one can hold him. Willie is good, but Brandon is the second best sophomore in the country... Actually Pierre Niles for Ridgeway, and Thaddeous Young were ranked higher than Willie as well.

Waco, there is no school in Arkansas that plays in Memphis. SBEC is located in Southaven, MS which is a good 2 minute drive from the TN border...that is a D2 school which has no place in this argument. It really is 2 minutes from there, I go down there about 10 to 15 times during the summer.

I think both lives are very hard, let's not try and compare/ contrast hard work. My father played basketball for 6-7 hours a day in the summer in Memphis. He played in some of those Community centers which really help kids get better. Many of those centers are still open and are getting rennovated.

Kid just didn't grow...I think he worked real hard on his game... I rememeber seeing him and his 15U AAU team that had Shawne Williams (Memphis) Jerrell Houston (Miss State) and other really good players like Carlos Taylor of Lausanne, Charles Hampton (Byrne) etc. He was the floor general and they played White Station in the summer, it was a complete war, he was trying to post everyone up...He just didn't grow, I'm sure his attitude could have been better. I don't think he has the ACT score to get in any where as of now...apparently he was being recruited by Tech, Louisville, but wanted to walk on at Memphis...I'd sure like to see things work out for him.

Yes, I realize shelby is the biggest county, but it is not bigger when you compare it to Davidson and Williamson together is it?

Shelby Co is smaller than Davidson, Williamson and whatever other counties are around Nashville. Memphis has 1 county, how many does Nashville have 2,3? Waco, I know it's real cute and funny to add or subtract letters from each others names, but no one else is doing that to you, so I'd appreciate you not doing it to others. I'm sure you can survive without making fun of people...the only reason I ask, is I don't want everyone doing that to others, because some don't handle it as well as others, which results in more insults, profane language, etc. which diminishes this website.

Umm, Waco, what are your reasons that White Station is dominating, you seem to admit that Memphis and the rest of the schools are winning, but I haven't heard your excuse about why you believe that is happening. (I could have just missed it, I am a dumb moderator as well) The only two reasons I have heard are: 1) Population 2) Facilities that allow them to practice 24/7 The first one is reasonable, yet Nashville has more people in it, but Memphis still is winning. As far as facilities, I would be willing to bet there are places that kids go to shoot in Nashville at all hours of the night...

Open enrollment has essentially ended in the city of Memphis. My dad is a broker and my mother works for the largest realtor firm in the state, Crye-Leike. They get many calls from parents wanting to know about schools that are nearby, they have said that for now, it's very unlikely to get to in to whatever school you want to get in to. Many used open enrollment for things not associated with athletics. White Station has a program that is geared towards students with hearing disabilities, it's one of the best in the state. Their honors program is also exceptional, in fact, if you took only the ACT scores of the honors students there, it would be incredibly high. It was in the top 25 in the entire country when I graduated. Part of the reason Memphis does so well is because they have a large enrollment. Most of the reason is the fact that they practice year round. My brother for instance, has played AAU since he was 12. Not many kids have that many AAU teams to choose from...most of the time it's just a dad doing it for one of his sons. I don't know where any of these 24 hour gated security courts are at. I know there is one on Mt. Moriah that might be open for awhile, but I wouldn't go to that place past about 5pm, and I'd only go there cus it's right behind the police station. D2 was dominated by the Memphis Schools. BCS, CBHS, Bishop Byrne, all made it to the final round only to lose to BA. All D2 schools are open zoned and give financial aide...so even on a level playing field...Memphis was the best from top to bottom.