MemorialMagic

At the same time, I cannot overlook the fact that he let Ricky Bowers, the best coach in the state and MBA alumnus, walk away. Under his watch great people like Edd Caudill, Damon Regen(alumnus), and Tom Weaver(alumnus) have also left or been asked to leave. I also cannot overlook the fact the he has applied for jobs elsewhere during his time at MBA, the McCallie job being one of those. To me, the thing keeping Gioia at MBA is his ability to raise money. He is an unbelievable fundraiser. He has also continued to improve MBA's facilities substantially(although, not always asthetically pleasing to some). These are just my opinions and surely, there is more to the story than this. I can tell you this: There is a sense of unrest in the MBA community and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

The biggest disapointment out of all those people you mention is Damon Regen. Ricky - while a great coach - did not run the program with the school's true mission at heart. If he'd had his way he'd have changed the motto to athlete athlete athlete.

Gioia genuinely cares for the students. He's done a few things wrong and he's ticked off his fair share of people, but in his position it is positively impossible to please everyone. I don't know what jobs Gioia has interviewed for but I know that there have been at least as many or more that he has turned down.

I feel confident that the G-MAN will now go and hide behind the three board members that have been protecting him since he first walked onto the campus.

Which three are those?

Saw them get it on at the Vanderbilt scrimmage yesterday. They should be a good pair for the Black and Gold. It will be fun to be able to keep track of them in college from such a short distance.

I saw Brewer this weekend, and he certainly looked to be all of 6'7" if not taller. I thought he looked closer to being 6'8". He's could use a few pounds. He was skinnier than I expected.

What position will these two play in college?

I suspect that Brewer will probably play the 3, but what about Houston? Is he a 3 or a 4?

I would love to be able to rank these teams, but I haven't seen them play. This type of thing gets no publicity. I'm actually surprised there isn't more AAU info on this site.

How can I find out when and where these teams play. I know they play out of town a lot, but I would think they would have to play a fair amount in town too. I go to as many games as I can during the season, and then lose all contact during the summer. Any help with how I can find out more information on AAU - especially the Travelers - is appreciated.

On a side note, I was surprised to see that the Travelers didn't play at the Southern Invitational this weekend. I did see that the 15's played but none of the other teams. Does the same coach each age level?

Thanks for all your help.