The AAU state tournament has been down the last few years at the 8th grade and below levels. This is a shame because it was always a very fun and exciting weekend that teams used to look forward too. I firmly believe this is due to the new AAU rules and the addition of age based and grade based divisions. It waters down the entries. I am a big supporter of age based at the younger levels. Not that I agree with the 9/1 date specifically , but I do prefer apples to apples until high school. That being said, you have these teams that are built to participate on all of the circuits where some, not all, but some do allow for players to be a great deal older and do not qualify to play aau certified events. You will still have your elite players not attending, but I think if the rules were adjusted some you could get a much better draw of teams. You should notice that once the high school aau events begin, a lot of the better teams will show up. Even in a watered down tournament, there were still some very good teams at the state tournament this past weekend and some very good games were played. I think teams are really missing out on a great experience by not attending.