Most of us remember the disaster of Roy trying to make John Henson a 3-man. Truth is, the ultimate source of that madness was AAU. Now don't get me wrong --- John was a great kid. Still is. . but think about being a 15-16 yr-old kid and having "adults" you trust in AAU telling you that your NBA future was playing a certain position (whether it made sense or not)? Bottom line is Roy had to promise Henson he would have a legit shot as being a 3 to get him to come to Carolina. How sad is that?... but that's where we are these days.
Fact is, the idea that Henson could have ever been a wing was absurd on its face... and I'm sure Roy knew that, but he is a man of his word, and gave it a shot.
I bring this up because of the discussions I see on here about 2015 recruiting... in particular some of the ideas I've seen advanced on here about Brandon Ingram. I would love to have Ingram at UNC but the idea that he will ever be anything resembling a 2-guard --- at ANY level --- is patently absurd. I can only hope that some "adult" in AAU hasn't convinced him of such absurdities, but these days, who knows?
While I have nothing against AAU per se, it has degenerated into a de facto combine for shoe salesmen and handlers. To his credit, Roy has sometimes rejected coveted players because of "handlers" (e.g., John Wall), and the biggest factor that ran Gary Williams out of basketball was the corruption of AAU in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The fact that Roy was able to secure great kids and elite players like Joel Berry, Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson is, in itself, impressive. Keep this in mind as we go forward.
Let me add one thing on the other side. I have a couple of buddies who still coach in AAU and do it for the love of the game and to help theirs and others' kids. They will tell you though how sketchy many programs have gotten. There are still good guys like them (and Jerry Stackhouse) who are the exceptions to the rule these days, which gives hope that players like Ingram come out with a more level head, but again, there are far too often more people trying to get in these kids' heads with their own agendas.
This post was edited on 4/12 10:36 AM by gary-7
Fact is, the idea that Henson could have ever been a wing was absurd on its face... and I'm sure Roy knew that, but he is a man of his word, and gave it a shot.
I bring this up because of the discussions I see on here about 2015 recruiting... in particular some of the ideas I've seen advanced on here about Brandon Ingram. I would love to have Ingram at UNC but the idea that he will ever be anything resembling a 2-guard --- at ANY level --- is patently absurd. I can only hope that some "adult" in AAU hasn't convinced him of such absurdities, but these days, who knows?
While I have nothing against AAU per se, it has degenerated into a de facto combine for shoe salesmen and handlers. To his credit, Roy has sometimes rejected coveted players because of "handlers" (e.g., John Wall), and the biggest factor that ran Gary Williams out of basketball was the corruption of AAU in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The fact that Roy was able to secure great kids and elite players like Joel Berry, Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson is, in itself, impressive. Keep this in mind as we go forward.
Let me add one thing on the other side. I have a couple of buddies who still coach in AAU and do it for the love of the game and to help theirs and others' kids. They will tell you though how sketchy many programs have gotten. There are still good guys like them (and Jerry Stackhouse) who are the exceptions to the rule these days, which gives hope that players like Ingram come out with a more level head, but again, there are far too often more people trying to get in these kids' heads with their own agendas.
This post was edited on 4/12 10:36 AM by gary-7
