justwannacoach

The NKY Legends, a bunch of future 9th Region kids, are playing in the AAU National Championship game for the 13U / D2 division. The game is being streamed live at 1230pm on Wednesday, July 8th from Greensboro Coliseum. Legends have gone 7 - 0 in pool play & Bracket play to advance to the Championship game. But, their toughest test will come on Wednesday at 1230pm. Catch the game here: Welcome to NCAAU Boys Basketball or Top Line Events

Legends continued their advance at AAU Nationals, as they beat BMORE from Baltimore, 64 - 53. This win puts them into the Championship game of D2. This game will be on Wednesday at 1230pm, and streamed live on Internet at Welcome to NCAAU Boys Basketball or Top Line Events

An update on Legends. We started AAU Nationals bracket play on Monday with a 64 - 50 win over Myld Hornets in a game that we didn't play our best basketball. But, in bracket play, you try to survive and advance. This win got us into the Sweet 16. Today, we played New Birth Warriors, and won a slugfest, 58 - 52. New Birth had scored 101pts in their opening bracket game, and we "held" them to 52. Our kids were great. We were great on defense and efficient on offense. This win puts us in the Elite 8, guaranteeing us a Top 8 finish in AAU'S D2 National Tournament. We have the quarterfinal game on Tues at 130pm against Mass. Commanders, and hopefully a Semifinal game on Tuesday night at 8pm. Love coaching this group of kids.

The Legends made it thru pool play at AAU 13U Nationals undefeated, 3 - 0. The margin of victory in each game was 35, 24, and 12, beating teams from Brookly, NY, Louisiana, and Georgia. Bracket play starts today and things will get much tougher. But, the kids have played great and look to continue playing that way.

Legends finished Runner-Up in the Midwest Youth Nationals in Louisville this past weekend. We played some good teams along the way to get to the Finals. It was a great field of teams in the tournament. Game 1 Beat CKY Magic (Lex) 55 - 51 Game 2 Beat Hidden Gems (Columbus, Ohio) 43 - 10 Game 3 Beat Ky Dream (Lou area) 64 - 20 Game 4 Beat ICE (Lex area) 44 - 40 Game 5 Beat Louisville Rising Stars 38 - 31 Game 6 Lost to George Hill (Indianapolis) 43 - 39 We had played a couple of these teams before. (we have beaten ICE 4 times on the season, but they are usually competitive games. We are now 1 - 1 vs George Hill with each of us winning by 4pts) It was good for us to play some of these teams that we hadn't played before. CKY Magic has a good group of players with real size (multiple kids over 6'3") and quick guards. Hidden Gems was a quick team. Ky Dream caught us when we played one of our best games of the season. And, Louisville Rising Stars, was easy to see why they finished in the Top 10 at 6th grade D2 Nationals last year. They were good as well. Fun tournament. Very well run tournament. Venues at Mid American & Hoops were great. Officiating was good & consistent. Games started on time. Pools were pretty balanced. My only disappointment was that we didnt get a chance to play The Ville 2020 who won D1 13U AAU State this year. They were in a separate bracket, and lost to George Hill by 6pts in the semis. They are very good, and we were hoping to get to match up and compete with them because they are so good. Good Luck to The Ville at AAU Nationals (D1) and good luck to George Hill at USBA Nationals in Atlanta.

Legends 7th grade won the GOLD bracket of the National GearUp tournament in Indianapolis this past weekend. The team went 5 - 0, beating NU Vision Ballers 50 - 21 and BBC7 56 - 33, in pool play. In the GOLD bracket play, they beat Team Teague 53 - 43, George Hill 50 - 46, and Ind Elite 2K20 52 - 42. Legends are now 53 - 9 on the season and have won 10 tournaments around the Midwest (Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati, Gatlinburg, Indianapolis, and Columbus) since February.

Legends did not play at the Kings Island tournament last weekend. We played in the Wildcat Memorial Showdown, sponsored by Ohio Basketball.com (same people as Bearcat Classic). We won the 7th grade division, beating Third ICE in the Championship game, 53 - 43. This weekend we will be at the National GearUp Tournament in Indianapolis. It is a loaded field of 24 teams with programs from George Hill, Meanstreets, All Ohio Red, Team Teague, etc. in the 7th grade division. So, this should be a pretty good event.

The kids from the Legends are all talking about going to Silver Grove together, and making a run at winning the HS State tournament as juniors & seniors.

I might have my teams mixed up as we have played so many. And, I don't follow all these other teams, scout them, or try to keep track of them. Most times, I learn about who they have played & beaten when I talk to their coach before the game. I usually worry about my own team, and know that if we play well, we are just fine. We just focus on the kids in NKY and try to make them better. But, I believe that we have played SWO Elite with a couple big kids, and we beat them by 20+ in a tournament at RG. If this is the team coached by a guy from Walnut Hills, then its the same one. We also beat SP Shooters by 20 or so in the MLK tournament earlier this year, if it is the team that has one of the guards from Highlands. We haven't played them since then. To answer the question, Legends have played Shining Stars, SWO Elite, and SP Shooters. We have not played AirKev. It is rare that we have all of our kids for a tournament because of baseball. But, when they are all there, we have lots of options both offensively & defensively. We played last weekend without 2 starters. We played the 14U State tournament without 2 starters. I haven't seen a 7th grade team yet that I would trade my team for in a 1 game MUST WIN tournament. And, I certainly haven't seen a U13 (new AAU age rules) team that I would trade my team for.

Legends played the Eddie Ford in Lou a few weeks ago. The field was only three teams (Wisc & Ala). They had to shuffle the tournament and make it double elimination. Legends beat a bad Wisc team twice by double digits. They beat Ala by 12 the first game, and then lost to Ala by 2pts and 5pts in Championship game. The Ala team was Bledsoe Ice a very good organization out of Birmingham. While the field wasn't big, good competition was provided by ICE for 3 games. This past weekend, Legends played in the Spring Jam at Courts4Sports. The field of 11 teams wasn't great, but there was a very good Ohio Ballstars-White team that beat Legends at the buzzer in pool play. Legends played them again in the Championship game after beating Dayton-Metro & Dayton Pilots, and beat Ohio Ballstars for the Championship in a very close and exciting game. The Ballstars team actually made it to the semis in the Silver Div of the Lebron James tournament before losing to George Hill a few weeks ago. They are really good. It seems that most of the U13 / 7th Grade tournament divisions don't have as many teams as they have in the past. There are usually 1 or 2 pretty good teams, and the rest aren't as strong. Legends have won 8 of the 11 tournaments that they have entered.

We do.

The PG for Shining Stars, Mason, is a really good player. He was not there on Sunday. Likewise, two of the kids that usually start for Legends missed the semifinal game due to baseball. One of them did play in the Championship game though. I believe Legends beat ICE the weekend before in the U14 D2 bracket. This Legends team has probably changed 50% of their roster from a year ago.

I am sure they have a U14 team. I am pretty sure that they played in the Bearcat Classic last weekend. It is definitely the Legends 13U team that is playing this weekend in the D3 14U State tournament.

And some teams have kids that are turning 13 in Jan - May, and have played against kids 1 - 2 yrs older for the entire time they have been playing AAU. Now, they finally get to play against kids their same age.

Agreed. I am not sure what all the uproar is about. No matter what date you use, there will always be kids that have birthdates either right before, or right after the cut date.

I believe the WV Bearcat team added a couple kids, and is playing as NKY Squad. Could be wrong, but that is what I think.

The Legends are not playing 13U D-I because of a prior organizational commitment to play in Gatlinburg, Tenn this weekend before the dates for State AAU were announced. All of the Legends' teams (HS, 8th grade, 7th grade, girls, etc) are going to Tenn. to hang out, play some basketball, and enjoy the Smokies. The State AAU dates just didn't coincide with the plans for the team. The Bearcat is a favorite tournament as well, but it falls on the same weekend as D-II State. And since D-I had to be missed, D-II State is currently in the plans. Although, depending upon competition level and teams entering D-II State, maybe that will change. The Bearcat is using grade based eligibility, and obviously, AAU is using the new age eligibility rules. The Legends plan to play State D-II 13U and D-II 13U Nationals unless they qualify in a Super Regional as D-I. For the record, the Legends have already played 3 or 4 of the 6 teams that were mentioned in the other thread that are playing D1 this weekend. They haven't lost to a 13U team yet this season. That isn't to say they would win D-I, but they have a good group of kids and would give it a run. They are also looking to play D-III U14 as well.

I'd like to see a "Private" school side of the bracket and a "Public" school side of the bracket. It would have HC, NCC, St Henry, Cov Latin, Villa, and Heritage on one side, with Newport, Beechwood, Ludlow, Bellevue, Dayton, and Lloyd.

They actually won the first game on Saturday by 19 (72 - 53), and then beat them today in the Championship game by 13 (57 - 44). Salter has a broken hand, and hasn't played for the last 3 weeks. He will be back in a couple weeks. Like the Legends, the Rockets have good players, are well coached, and run their stuff well. The games between the Legends and the Rockets probably featured 7 or 8 of the Top 10 players at the 7th grade level in NKY.

You can add Ohio Elite and NKY Rockets (2x) to the list of other 7th grade teams that the Legends have beaten by double digits. After this weekend, the Legends are now 24 - 3 on the season. They have entered 6 tournaments, won 4 of them, and finished Runner-Up in the other 2. The 2 Runner-Up finishes were while they were playing in the 8th grade division.

92% of the Legends 7th grade team qualifies as 13U, and they will be playing 13U at the State AAU tournament. One of their players who doesn't qualify as a 13U has a broken hand, and hasn't played the last 3 tournaments with them. And to answer the other post - 1) A couple of the tournaments were "sucky" events; and 2) They don't have their share of 14U players. But, a couple of the tournaments had good fields, and Legends lost to good 8th grade teams (that perhaps could have had 15U players because these tournaments were grade based, not age based) in very competitive games. But, Legends have beaten every other 13U teams that they have played by double digits, including Wildcats Elite, Ky Elite, Ky Grind, and Louisville Focus.

What are the 7th grade matchups and times?

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He is eligible to play U14 AAU so that means he won't turn 15 until after Sept 1st, 2015.

Did the St Agnes tournament really make the BW 6th grade team forfeit because they wouldn't work around the Middle School tournament schedule? If so, that isn't a practical approach. But, BW is the best team in that tournament and playing from the losers bracket probably won't be an issue.