Heat Check

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Team Forrest is sponsored by James Forrest, former standout at Georgia Tech. For those that don't remember he hit the shot with 0.8 off the in bounds to beat Southern California and Harold Miner in the NCAA tournament from about 40 feet. I have heard they are an up and coming program, they have one of the best 14u players in the country, he is top 75 in that class.

Here is link to follow the tournament AAU Boys Basketball > Results > Results Archives > Nationals I didn't know they lost, the bracket i was looking at online had King James winning by about 30, must have been a mis print and E1T1 actually won.

How good is their opponent Team Forrest tomorrow. I seen that Forrest beat CP3 and Georgia Stars but also lost in their pool to Gamespeed Nation by 27. Would love to see a Hoop Dreams & King James matchup in the final 4 tomorrow night. Seems like the better the competition the better that Hoop Dreams plays. How is the Dixson kid playing, I really liked him from what I have seen of him in addition to the usual cast they have.

Exactly, some teams lose in the 1st round of the championship bracket and can still place but you can make the sweet 16 of the championship bracket, lose in that round then lose your next game and not place at all.

What they do is following, if it makes sense reading it. At AAU If you make the Final 8 you are guaranteed a top 8 finish. The Championship bracket has 6 rounds, 1st round losers all go into the same tournament (What Derby State did this year) 2nd round losers all go into the same tournament and 3rd round or sweet 16 losers all go into the same tournament (What hoop dreams did last year). If you make the finals of each of those tournaments you are guaranteed a top 14 finish, if you make the final 4 of each of those tournaments you are guaranteed a top 20 finish. Sweet 16 losers Consolation tournament, if you make the finals, the winner of that gets 9th place, the loser gets 12th place. (Hoop Dreams lost in the Final 4 of this in 2012) 2nd Round consolation tournament, if you make the finals, the winner gets 10th place, the loser gets 13th place. 1st Round Consolation tournament, if you maket he finals, the winner gets 11th place, the loser gets 14th place. (Derby State lost in the final 4 of this in 2013) To get places 15 through 20 it is based on who you lost to. Whoever lost to the 9th place team (Houston Defenders in 2012) gets 15th place which was Hoop Dreams, if you lost to 10th place then you get 16th, lost to 11th place then you get 17th place. Then starts back over if you lost to the 12th place team you get 18th place, the 13th place team you get 19th place and the 14th place team you get 20th place. I had to have an AAU official explain it to me as it was confusing for me as well. The last two years there have been good Kentucky representation from the state of Kentucky in the 8th grade division from Hoop Dreams in 2012 and Derby State Thoroughbreds in 2013. Hopefully next year another Kentucky representative will be able to finish high and represent the state.

This years 8th grade nationals top 20 finish is: 1.) California Basketball Club 2.) Team Thad 3.) Indy Hoosiers (Got called for a foul on halfcourt shot in semi's vs California at the buzzer, got beat on FT's_ 4.) Swilling Storm 5.) Miami City Ballers 6.) Sports U Team Izod 7.) Primetime Select 8.) Birmingham Storm (Easily the most talented team in the tournament) 9.) Rens (NY) 10.) Southern Stampede Elite 11.) Enplay Elite 12.) Milbank Flyers 13.) Southern Stampede Blue 14.) Meanstreets 15.) Lauderhill Lions 16.) Wisconsin Playground Elite 17.) Cincinnati Royals 18.) DC Assault 19.) Expressions Elite 20.) Derby State Thoroughbreds

Last year in 8th grade nationals it was 1.) Dunk Dog 2.) Karolina Diamonds 3.) Team Scan 4.) DC Assault 5.) Team Penny 6.) All Ohio Elite 7.) Witts Elite 8.) CP3 All Stars (Hoop Dreams beat this team by 20 this year at the nike) 9.) Houston Defenders 10.) Heat Check 11.) Team Thad 12.) The Family 13.) Maryland Bullsyouth Club 14.) Atlanta Xpress 15.) Hoop Dreams 16.) Illinois Tigers 17.) Team Louisiana 18.) Athletes First 19.) ETU Warriors 20.) Texas Pro The Top 14 is what gets automatic bids back to the nationals the next year, but this years nationals only had 22 teams in it for the 15u division which Hoop Dreams would have played in if they had chosen to go to nationals. I would say without knowing for sure that Hoop Dreams has had the best finish of any AAU team in the 8th grade division from Kentucky with a #15 finish. 14u is usually the toughest division and biggest division in the AAU nationals.

in 8th grade division, nobody has placed top 14

Derby State ended up finishing 20th nationally, played the worst half they had played all year against Meanstreets this morning in the 1st half as they slept walk through the 1st half. They did end the game showing fight and heart and had a three at the buzzer to win it but missed it. Meanstreets won the game 60-58. The Kentucky Gators last year finishing 4th and this year 5th is two of the highest. I know Central KY storm under Maurice Garrard back in the late 90's early 2000's had a girls team finish really high nationally but I don't remember the exact finish. I also know when shawn fields played AAU I believe his 12u year the tournament was in Salt Lake City and his team finished really high but not higher than 4th. Marquise Estill and the Central KY Magic back in early to mid 90s finished high nationally in the 13u division, I believe a top 8-12 finish.

Derby State Thoroughbreds beat Team Nelson (PA) this morning then SMAA Trojans (FL) this afternoon to advance to play on the final day of the AAU Nationals. Derby State will play Meanstreets from Chicago tomorrow morning at 9:20 AM, if Derby State is able to beat Meanstreets they are guaranteed a top 14 finish.

Derby State 14u held the lead most of the way including a 49-40 lead late in the 3rd quarter. Team Penny went on a 12-2 run and was able to hang on in the 4th as it went back and forth. Penny went 6-6 from the FT line down the stretch and beat Derby State 72-67. Derby State can now place as high as 11th which would be the highest for a Kentucky team at 8th grade nationals.

Derby State Thoroughbreds led by 15 with 3 minutes left and 9 with 53 seconds left but Houston Elite battled back this morning and tied the game and beat Derby State in overtime, 56-53. Derby State moves onto the championship bracket, plays Team Penny at 9:20 AM tomorrow.

Derby State Thoroughbreds clinched a spot in the championship bracket of the AAU nationals tonight with a 49 point victory (77-28) over the other 1-0 team in their pool, Alabany Elite Tigers.

Derby State Thoroughbreds fought through foul trouble and rust to pull out a 63-58 win over Richard Hamilton's sponsored Rip City (PA).

Here is the link, you can look at divison 1 or division 2 nationals or other tournaments. The 7th grade nationals was last week and the Kentucky Gators finished 5th in the country, last year they were 4th. MATTS Mustangs and Spiece Gators are in the division 1 8th grade with Derby State and the 8th grade division 2 has Derby State Colts, Louisville Lightning, Kentucky Select / Tarheels I know for sure from Kentucky in it, there might be a couple more. Haven't looked at the D-2 brackets yet but was reportedly to be about 150 teams in it. AAU Boys Basketball > Results > Results Archives > Nationals

8th Grade AAU - D1 State Champion Derby State Thoroughbreds will participate in the 14u nationals in Orlando, FL this week. Thoroughbreds open up play Friday night vs. Rip City from New Jersey. They are also pooled with Albany Elite Tigers from Georgia and Houston Elite from TX. Houston finsihed 12th last year. Official Derby State Basketball Athletics Website

Didn't know what their contract status with Adidas was on being at the Nike event when a big Adidas event was going on. If you are a 15u-17u team, North Augusta is definitely the place to be if you want to be seen this week.

The Peach Jam you have to be on the circuit. The Peach State is another tournament that coincides with the Peach Jam that has open registration. The Peach Jam is only for 16u & 17u teams, the 17u teams qualify for the Peach Jam through the EYBL evens, the 16's participate in different "Nike Qualifiers" throughout April and May and if you finish high enough in those events you make the Peach Jam, if not you play in the Peach State if you are a Nike team. Essentially in the 16's division, a team that isn't Nike sponsored can qualify for the Peach Jam event through a qualifier such as the Boo Williams in April or the Norman Parker over Memorial Day. The Peach State was open registration on mylineageofchampions.com but they also do reach out to certain teams to invite them to the event that have not registered. Manimal had a choice of going to the AAU nationals in Little Rock which only had 22 teams sign up or the Peach State where 95% of division 1 colleges in the country will have a team present. Easy choice for Manimal and a smart choice. I was kind of surprised to see them at the Peach State which coincides with a Nike event rather than being in Indianapolis at the Adidas Invitational being that they are an Adidas team to an extent.

A certified teacher has three years to complete KTIP once they begin teaching, most do it in their first year but technically they are still certified and have three years to do the KTIP program which takes one school year.

THis isn't true, some districts maybe but a lot it isnt, especially the smaller districts.

Indiana Elite Jazz not Indiana Spiece Jazz but Indiana Elite Jazz are #2 this week in the rankings behind DC Assault.

Yes he plays for Western Kentucky Sonics. Everyone is trying to get him, Indiana Spiece Jazz (#1 in the country) Hoop Dreams, Manimal, Travelers all are trying to get him but he has been loyal to his team thus far. I am going to guess that Travelers get him if anyone does.

Cole VonHandorf made the top 40 all star game in addition to finishing 3rd in the three point contest

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