Its Free, I never payed a dime for my AAU teams. Most are sponsored by celebrities or brands, we were Adidas.
The competition is at times tougher because coaches don’t always care about grades, or districts. Most try outs are not for a whole team, its for 1 or 2 spots. I recommend going to any try out you can to see where you stand against the other kids your age.
Funny story, on my 8th grade team we got a tecs before the game because we had guys that could dunk, not me…
Those drills are ok, but you’ll get much better actually playing against defenses. Its like shooting in game vs shooting by yourself in the gym. You can shoot 90% on your own but when there’s someone trying to stop you from scoring, the percentages DROP.
Game speed is completely different than practice speed.
I sense some bitter sarcasm. You want to show us a cool trick?
Get on a team. Unless you’re trying out for The Harlem Globetrotters or a percussion group from the '90’s no one does stuff like that in a game.
A hard truth that’s been repeated throughout this thread is that you have a miniscule chance at a professional basketball career. However, you have expressed a desire to pursue that regardless of how small the chances are, so I will answer this question with that context in mind while also trying to give advice that can set you up well in life.
Getting into a quality academic school that has a Division 3 basketball team offers you a slightly better chance of actually being on a college basketball roster and having a jersey, for many of the reasons outlined above. This is not because Division 3 basketball is easy (again, re-read the post above where I explained that the top eight players on a 13-12 Division III University of Chicago team were some form of all-state, all-league, and 20+ ppg scorers in high school) but a simple reality of the way things operate in the different levels: if you show up and try out for a Division 1 team as a totally uninvited walk-on, the odds are very high (>99%) that you’ll just be cut from the team with no further opportunity. While they won’t guarantee you playing time unless you actually earn it, most Division 3 teams will accept warm bodies for practice / end of the bench as long as you’re a good kid that shows up, does what he’s told by the coach, and doesn’t cause any trouble.
Since the first step towards this is actually getting onto a college basketball team - any college basketball team - that’s the course I would recommend. At minimum, you’ll be at a good school, get a good education, and maybe have the opportunity to play some college basketball. If you turn into the world’s biggest late bloomer and start scoring 35 points per game, then we can deal with the even longer odds of a Division 3 basketball player (no matter how successful) trying to convince professional coaches that he’s worth a shot.
You could maybe argue that the “getting into a D1 school on your academic merits and then trying to walk on to the team” may offer an ever-so-slightly greater chance at a professional basketball career, if only because the odds against any Division 3 player remain quite long so maybe there’s sort of a better chance to get that million-to-one shot if you’re actually at a D1 school to begin with, but I suspect that the most likely scenario from getting into any Division 1 school is that you won’t be permitted to try out for the team.
(BTW: a full academic scholarship to those places is probably not as easy to get as you think it us, although you will likely qualify for some sort of need-based aid or some merit-based money; this is highly variable from school to school, some lower-quality universities will offer very good packages in an effort to attract higher-quality students, while higher-quality universities are less likely to offer merit-based scholarships to pretty-good-but-not-great high school students)
So basically, D3 probably offers you a better chance at actually getting onto a college roster; D1 might offer a better chance at “going pro” if you’re able to clear that first hurdle of being allowed to try out for and make the team (which, I must emphasize, is very likely that you won’t; basically, there’s no way that Duke is letting some random kid from Chicago with a chip on his shoulder and no athleticism onto the practice court with their highly-prized recruits so you can stumble over your own two feet, trip and fall into their point guard’s knees and blow out his ACL).
It’s about college football, but you may want to read a book titled “Every Play, Every Day” by Tim O’Neill, a high school football star that walked on to the football team at Notre Dame and got into a few ballgames during his career. It might give you a little better perspective on what it’s like to be a walk-on at a Division 1 school (and since O’Neill had been a star football player for his high school, the coaches at least knew that he was coming to try out for the team).
I have a couple firsthand stories of high school teammates and/or guys that I know who walked on to Division 1 football teams. One of them walked on at Penn State and eventually got some special teams and nickel-package playing time; he had also been our league’s leading receiver for three straight seasons, held every record for catches, yards and touchdowns and was hands-down the best player on the field in every game for a team that went deep into the state playoffs (in our district championship game, he had a line something like eight catches for 150 yards and three touchdowns while also intercepting three passes). He was an “invited” or “preferred” walk-on, which means that even though the coaches were not offering him a scholarship they at least knew that he was intending to come to Penn State and try out for the football team. I’m not sure if they even allowed “uninvited” walk-on players to try out for the team, which is almost assuredly what awaits you if you try this “go to a D1 school and see if you can talk your way onto the team” route: a polite email from the coach that says “Sorry, but we do not allow uninvited walk-on players to try out for the team” (if they even bother responding to your call/email).
Lol “bother responding”, which they probably won’t. I tried to contact the head AAU guy for Illinois, he didn’t respond, but I’ll find a way to the team.
I want to play AAU and on my school’s Summer League if the still have one, I’m not sure. I need exposure so bad. That’s the first step. All this practice is futile without it.
The thing is is that I’m not even good enough to play D3 or D1 yet, I need to get there first or else all this is just hypothetical. Like I still need to become a demon.
How will I go from ~10ppg to 30ppg in 9 months?
I was thinking of colleges to go to, since my mom has been telling me I need to get it together. Indiana University Bloomington came to mind; they once came to my school to talk about a Chinese program that they had. I was interested, as I plan on continuing Chinese in college. By the time I graduate high school I would have taken 6 years of Mandarin.
Lol you’re hilarious though on the low you made my day with some of that post.
No one else comes to the gym that early, I try to go faster and faster when I practice.
I’m running out of fucking time.
It’s kind of weird, I can put many high school players and even my teammates through a lot of the DRILLS I do and smoke them, but in the actual game, I don’t stack up how I should. The shit doesn’t translate as much as it should.
I asked my coach and he said the shit was a mental thing. He doesnt see the work I put in, but he does see me suck in game and shit when I’ve practiced with the team in the past.
He said it’s mental, but, as you all know, I’m arrogant as fuck. I need more game experience. I tried doing this drill with this player at my gym awhile ago, I call it Pressure.
In the drill you have to stay on side/ half of the court (lengthwise) and get to the other side while allowing the defender to foul/hack you hard while you’re dribbling. The rules is that you can’t turn around and try to back the defender down and that you only have 3 retreat dribbles. The point is to learn how to handle pressure in a confined space.
The benefit is that the kid I was with is extremely quick and shorter than me so it pushed me. Plus he knows all of my moves so I really have to try. We did it for 10 mins no breaks. Mentally straining.
I felt bad because he benefitted me more than I did him that day lol, because I’m slow asf and was tired because I went first. I often got blown by because he used his pivot. However we made it a rule that you can’t use the pivot initially because if you get your foot past them that’s a blow by. We only pressure initiated dribbles in the drill.
Lmao a percussion group
Do you even play in pick-up games?
Yes. I practice a lot more though. But say the court was empty, then I practice, then people come while I’m in there, I play if there’s enough people. What I hate about pickup is that people be fighting over stupid stuff sometimes and talk too fucking much. And they don’t even play hard at my gym for some reason. People will leave me open after hitting threes multiple times for some reason. No one plays with intensity at my gym. If I know it’s some people at my gym that play half ass, I might decline if they asked me if I wanted to run a 5.
But yes, I play pickup. There’s only one court at my gym anyway so often times I have no choice but to run up and down.
Pardon me if there is some other “Indiana University Bloomington” campus that I am not aware of, but that would be the same Indiana University Hoosiers that play in the Big Ten?
As some folks have been telling you repeatedly throughout this thread, you’re looking at this all wrong. You’re too worried about trying to score 30 points per game. The first thing you need to do is actually get on a team. One thing that I am trying to figure out, which seems relevant at this point: were you ever on your high school team? Did you try out and get cut? Did you make the team, but get kicked off / quit later? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a clear answer on that (my best guess from reading is that you were on the freshman or sophomore team, but got cut from the varsity after this year’s tryouts). The absolute simplest things to do are 1) find someplace to play games now (even if that’s pickup at your nearest YMCA), 2) get onto your school’s Summer League team (or wherever the kids on your school’s team are playing this summer, pickup at the playground, whatever) and 3) try out for your high school team again next year, hopefully with a better attitude.
Ya, pick-up is pick-up. It’s not usually that intense, but lots of talk. I was just curious if you were actually playing basketball with other people.
The worst beating I ever took was during a pick up basketball game.
This made me laugh. OP, do you realize that you’re talking about the top D1 school in the state that produces the most NBA players per capita?
Why don’t you find a different gym with more competitive people?
That’s because your drills are the equivalent of a circus act or something you would do in a talent show. You’ve learned how to juggle. I played baseball at a very high level, but I am utterly terrible at playing pepper and hitting off a tee. There are guys who are great at both of those, but can’t play at a high school level. Those ‘drills’ are just that, drills. They are to make you better at the game, but the point should never be to be great at the drills. There are plenty of elite batting practice hitters, but can’t hit a curveball.
Seriously, no one gives a fuck how good you are at drills. I stopped reading after 'In the drill…"
I guarantee you, as old and unpolished I am now at basketball (have not played in over a year), I could stop you on defense. The reason? Every move you made in the video, you stayed within a 3x3’ box. You do not make up ground with your moves, so even if you fooled me with quick feet and moving, I take half a step and stretch my arm and I’m still covering you. YOU HAVE TO MAKE UP GROUND.
As far as shooting goes, you are too short to have a low release point. You release the ball at eye level. Further, your shot is too slow. If I was 4’ away from you, saw you pull up, I could block your shot with my head, like a soccer player.
You need to jump more (vertical, lateral, two feet, one, etc), work on ladder drills and overall agility.
EDIT: I made all these determinations based on my very little basketball knowledge (I only played in HS). For someone who says they have a high basketball IQ, you’d think you would know this about yourself.
I remember when I got my national merit scholarship, to qualify as a national merit semifinalist, you had to score at what equated to around a 1470. And then you had to score similiarly on the SAT as a senior, basically to ‘prove it’ to achieve finalist/scholarship status. Is that still the case?
1250 will get you into a lot of schools, but the GPA and SAT scores alone won’t get you much money at all. I went to school on a full scholarship because I actually got a perfect score on my SAT. I knew a few people who got big scholarships off more borderline National Merit scores. But the people who REALLY got the big money, and got accepted everywhere, were the people who were at least at that borderline National merit score (somewhere in the 1400s was good enough), AND had a shit ton of stuff going for them outside of the basic academics. The Mandarin thing should serve you well, but I also highly suggest joining clubs, doing community service (and documenting it), basically anything you can get involved in. DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP ABILITY AND THE ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS. It’s late in the game at your age, but you can still do a lot in the next 9 months or so to prove yourself that way. Basketball has plateaued for you, but the things I’m talking about are areas where you can really excel beyond what you’ve done to this point. If you want to ‘prove yourself’, get yourself an awesome scholarship to an awesome school that way.
this is a point you’ve been misguided on. It doesn’t translate well for you because it doesn’t translate well for ANYONE. What is required to improve is a combination of the drill practice and in-game experience. You won’t get better at playing in games if you don’t play in games. We’ve told you this. You’ve honestly likely gotten past the point where these drills will benefit you at all without getting game experience pretty much every day.
I compete in strongman. I was utterly humbled in my first competition. I knew I was strong for my weight class. I was stronger than everyone I competed against in that show. I came in last. I came in last because all my experience was with dumbbells and barbells, and I had essentially no experience with the actual sport of strongman. It was essentially what you’re dealing with. I had run a lot of drills, my fundamentals were good, my base strength, but I didn’t know how to perform on contest day.
Over the next couple years, I gained access to actual strongman equipment. Logs and frames and kegs and stones and such. I practiced them. I practiced the events I would be doing, under contest conditions. I competed against my friends under these conditions. It took me about a a year and a half after getting access to this equipment and REALLY learning to train for strongman to win a show. Now I’ve won 5 I think.
The moral of the story is what I said above. Get that game experience. Every day if you can. Against quality opponents. Nothing else will make you better.
Bottom line, you have to play competitively, man. It’s that simple.
^^ This is the difference between a rec league shooter and someone who wants to play at a high level.
I know others have touched on this, but this should be an indicator that what you’re practicing needs to be revised. If the drills aren’t transferring to the court, you need to change your drills. I understand the importance of being able to dribble proficiently with both hands, but if you’re spending HOURS dribbling with both hands, but are weak everywhere else, do something else. You’re never going to dribble two balls on the court. Use it as a warm up and move on.
