AAU Basketball National Championships
July 27th, 2007 Posted in AAU BasketballEditor’s note: Ron White kicks off our coverage of the AAU National Basketball Championships with his notes below. Pool play starts Friday at Orlando area venues like Disney’s World Wide Of Sports. Later on Friday, there will be a link on our LocalReplay.com home page for the AAU National Basketball Championships, and that link will lead you to a site completely dedicated to the teams that will be competing over the next week for the championship. The site will feature photo highlights, video highlights, and articles, and enable any registered (free) LocalReplay user to move the highlights to their own personal LocalReplay sites, and upload their own favorites. The first highlights will be up by Friday night.
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The North Carolina Gaters bowed out of the 2006 AAU Junior Division National Tournament with a 56-37 loss to the D-1 Greyhounds, the eventual national champions. While that heartbreak still resonates, Gaters Coach Stan Kowalewski sees 2007 as a clean slate. The Gaters, based in Summerfield, N.C., won the AAU North Carolina state championship and now stand ready to rise to the top when play kicks off Friday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
“If we play well, I think we have a good chance,” Kowalewski said. “We did very well in North Carolina. I like the cohesiveness and chemistry we have.”
It helps that the Gaters feature a multi-faceted attack. Steady 6-foot-1 junior point guard Jairus Simms has two excellent weapons at his disposal. Nick Barbour is the primary source of his dishes. Barbour, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard, is receiving considerable attention from Div. I Mid-majors as he prepares for his senior season at G.W. Danville High in Danville, Va.
“His stock continues to rise,” Kowalewski said. “Nick is a great shooter and good all-around scorer. He can shoot it deep and also take to the hole. He’s our go-to guy.”
Around the rim, the Gaters feature 6-foot-9 Eladio Espinosa, who is set to finish his prep career this winter at Victory Christian in Charlotte, N.C. “Eladio really attacks the basket. He has an incredible wingspan and great leaping ability, which makes him very active around the basket. But he can also step out and shoot the 3,” Kowalewski said.
The target this year is set squarely on the backs of the Huntington West Virginia Greyhounds, who marched past the Gaters and then trounced the Minnesota Magic Gold 62-44 to reach the finals, where they defeated Boo Williams Summer League 73-49 for the national championship. The Greyhounds are a tall tale for sure. The team features 6-foot-5 forward William Buford, a Toledo Libby senior who is bound for Ohio State, and 7-footer Kenny Frease, a senior at Massillon-Perry High in Massillon, Ohio. Freaze gave Xavier University coach Sean Miller a verbal commitment in March.
This year’s championship tournament is about more than wins and losses, however, for another team from the Southeast. The Jacksonville Lee Bulls’ roster still lists Dante Anderson, but Anderson died in automobile crash on May 19 in Gainesville, Fla. According to Gainesville Sun reporter John Patton, Anderson was considered the state’s top prep star. He was set to kick off his senior year at Eastside High. “We had a break from the court in June, and it’s been tough to get our chemistry back without our best player. It’s been very challenging,” said Bulls Coach Ryan Delafield. The Bulls will be wearing a black No. 22 patch on their jerseys during the tournament. The Bulls kick off their tournament on Friday at 9:15 a.m. in pool play against the Georgia Blazers. They face the less accomplished of two Boo Williams teams on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and finish pool play against Old Gold.
The 17U Boo Williams club, which is more accomplished than the 16U team, is in Pool C along with the Albany (Georgia) Bearcats. Albany, which lost in the 2006 semis to Boo Williams, will have a chance at redemption when they face Boo Williams Friday at 9:15 a.m. The pool also features the Spartanburg (South Carolina) Bucks, who might have a tough time in a difficult pool.
