budman0209

Shining Star Sports-Grote advanced to the final four of the Copper Bracket at the Super Showcase. Coach Grote's team beat the Florida Prospects by a score of 60 to 52. The team plays Garner Road Solomon at 915pm with a chance to advance to the final game tomorrow.

The Shining Star Sports-Price (Blue) team won their opener at the AAU Super Showcase this afternoon. The team won by a score of 65 to 57 over the Charlotte Nets. The team will play again at 625pm against RBS All Stars. Kentucky Players: Donovan Johnson of Shelby County Ryan Popp of Boone County

Shining Star Sports-Grote stayed alive in bracket play with a 43 to 35 win over the New Jersey Bulls at the AAU Super Showcase. Coach Grote's team will play again at 5pm on Friday against the Florida Prospects. Jake Thelan of Covington Catholic plays on this team.

http://www.aauboysbasketball.org

Shining Star Sports-McFarland won their opening game at the Super Showcase in Orlando. The team defeated the New Jersey Sureshots by a score of 61 to 52. The team was lead by Josh Sewell who tallied 17 points in the victory. Coach McFarlands team plays their second pool game versus Coastal Crew Rebels at 625pm tonight.

The white team lost by 5 in their opening game. Scott Schuette is also playing with the white team this week.

Was just talking with Coach Kevin Bundy of Shining Star Sports. His team opened up the 17u Super Showcase event this morning at 8am versus the Lake Norman Wizards. Brady Jolly of Campbell County hit a 40 foot jump shot at the buzzer to give the team a 1 point victory. This team includes: Brady Jolly of Bath County Taylor Maze of Bath County Jordan Armstrong of Bishop Brossart Jake Reiger of Bishop Brossart Justin Morscher of Bishop Brossart Daniel O'Conner of Scott Jacob Neidereiger of Scott Casey Sorrell of Simon Kenton Ben Watson of Highlands Nice start for Coach Bundy's team.

I speak to a good number of college coaches every year about this topic and they would disagree with you. Unless you are an elite player (Darius Miller, OJ Mayo, Bill Walker, etc.) you have to play in games that the college coaches are interested in seeing. If you have been to the NCAA sanctioned tournaments in July go visit the games in the 3rd and 4th place brackets of the tournament. See how many college coaches are watching those games. I had one college coach tell me "If a players is good enough to play Division I basketball his team will not be in the bottom bracket." That doesn't mean that a kid can't be recruited or be noticed but it is a big advantage to play with a team that attracts attention. You do that by playing in the NCAA events and make runs at championships. I bet that some of the players on the Derek Smith team are really benefiting from playing with Fant. There are a lot of college coaches that want to see him play. In turn other players get to play in front of coaches that may not have watched them otherwise. I assume you also assume that an organization such as Derek Smith and Shining Star Sports does not give a player advantage but it does. I can't tell you how many of the Shining Star 15 and 16u players I get to talk to a college coach about because they are calling about one of the 17u kids they are recruiting. These orginizations have a huge advantage because of the relationships that they have built with college coaches that have current players playing for them and because of the number of calls they receive about other players. For example the Shining Star Sports-McFarland team has 10 players on their roster that are being recruited on the daily basis. This allows us to market and discuss other players throughout the program every time a college coach calls about one of those kids. That is a HUGE advantage for us. Almost every call I take the coach is going to ask me what other kids we have that would be a good fit for their program. I know this debate has been discussed in this forum already. I don't want to take away from what other teams are doing because that is not the point. But I feel very strongly about this because I know what the truth is. I have done a lot of research on this topic and feel very strongly about what I have discovered.

Let me end my comments with this because I do not in any way want to take away from Stauffer and his skill level. As I said before I would love to have him on any team that I was coaching. He is a warrior!! He is a player that others will feed off of and play harder because of his efforts. I wish Bobby the best and look forward to seeing him play.

Stauffer does a ton for his team!! He is a flat out workhorse that plays with great energy and great effort. He is the type of player that I would love to have on my team. He is a strong young man that is getting better every time I see him. I think that his decision not to play football has really helped his basketball game. I really think he will peek next summer and But to make the comment that he is better than any of the Shining Star Sports players is a huge stretch. I don't think that you will get much support from anyone on that topic. Stauffer is in the same conversation with Zeke Pike and Jake Geisler. I don't think that you can argue that he is better than either of these players who both play the same position. I think that was very apparent in their head to head match up. Gilbert, Schuette and Pawsatt are all better players but play a different position. Stauffer is going to put up better numbers game to game than Pike and Geisler because he is the only interior option that the Bulldogs have. The Shining Star team has the luxury of rotating 3 players at the post which allows them to stay fresh throughout the tournament and be more effective on Sunday. Which is why I think that Stauffer would benefit from playing with a bigger and better team. It is very hard for players to play as many minutes as he does and play as hard as he does. And he needs to play with a team that is going to go deeper into the NCAA events next year. You can't get noticed if you are not playing deep into the Sunday Gold bracket!!

I would definelty put Scott Schuette in the same class with Fucci and Barksdale. Fant is probably the best of the mentioned players. Neal Pawsatt could be one of the most dominating players on this list if basketball were his first sport. He is a big time difference maker when he wants to be. In my opinion you would get the same result with Montgomery as you did the first time the Bulldogs played Shining Star Sports. I love Travis and think a lot of him and his game. He played with this group some last year and was a very nice player. Schuette was held to only 5 points (added 7 rebounds) but the Shining Star team still won by 25 points. The Bulldogs can not compete physically with Geisler, Pawsatt, Brown and Pike. Those 4 players went for 39 points and 30 rebounds at the state tournament. The team ripped 20 offensive rebounds in the game. Total mismatch. Stauffer can bang with them some but he doesn't have any help. Why would the fact that Stauffer plays in Northern Kentucky limit his visability and exposure? I may disagree with that but I do believe that it would benefit Stauffer to play with one of the top teams next summer. He would benefit from playing with the top players and his exposure would increase.

Lastly, I dont doubt you think Stauffer is a good player. But, you continuously point to Fucci (great), Barkesdale (great), and Fant (great),and you rate their teams very highly. My question is... Who is the "difference maker" for the SS 16's that makes them so great? Or... are they just a good team that has talent spread across the board, like... The NKY Bulldogs. This is a great debate IMO.[/quote Scott Schuette and Jordan Gilbert are difference makers, game changers and star players. One of the top shooting guards and top point guards in the state. Derek Smith and Shining Star are loaded from top to bottom on their roster. Depth makes a big difference for the Shining Star team. I would put Bobby Stauffer in the same class with Neal Pawsatt, Kyle King and Jake Geisler. Very good players but not game changers.

Derek Smith did not have a roster entered into the tournament. They were not even in the tournament to start. They got a call at 10pm the night before their first game and where asked to fill a spot of a team that was unable to attend. Missing Shanklin and Fant is a much bigger difference than missing Vollett. You are talking about two of the top players in the state. I am not trying to take away their victory in that tournament. The two teams squared off and the Bulldogs won. But they did not beat the top team in the state. They beat a team that wasn't prepared to play at a high level and were very short handed. My question: Do you think that the Bulldogs would beat Derek Smith when they are at full strength and not coming off an all night of travel? I don't think that anyone can make the argument that they would win. Other than that victory they don't have a win that would indicate to anyone that they are a top 5 team in the state. Have they had a final four appearance in any of the big tourneys? (State, Take 5, Hoopfest, etc..) Bobby Stauffer is a very good player and if you read previous posts that I have made I believe he plays as hard as anyone I have seen this summer. He is by far the best player on the roster and can do some very good things on the basketball court. He will only continue to get better. But I wouldn't put him in the same class with Fant, Fucci and Barksdale. Good player but not a difference maker.

I also believe that teams 3 (Charlotte Court) and 5 (Western Kentucky Elite) beat them in head to head match ups. Close games but both losses.

I think that the Bulldogs are a good AAU team but not in the top 5 but probably in the top 10. The teams listed 3 through 5 all have an elite player that makes them special. Lexington Ice have Ryan Fucci. Charlotte Court has Marcellus Barksdale. Western Kentucky Elite has Josh Stroud. I like what the Bulldogs have done but I think they lack a difference maker that the rest of the teams on this list have. They have good players but don't have a stud that puts them in the elite. While I do believe that they are a very good team I think that the one signature win is not as good as it may appear. They beat a Derek Smith team that was very short handed, very tired and not prepared to play because of long travel. In normal circumstances I believe that if Derek Smith and the Bulldogs played 10 times that Derek Smith wins all 10. But that is the case with most teams that would play the current Derek Smith team. They are loaded. That does not take away from what they have accomplished. They have had a very successful summer and have played some very good basketball. I really like some of the players on their roster and wish them the best. But in my opinion they are not in the upper tier of teams in the state of Kentucky.

My updated rankings, I knew I would miss some: 17u Teams 1. Shining Star Sports-McFarland 2. Central Kentucky Storm 3. Derek Smith 4. Kentucky Players 5. Kentucky Gators 16u Teams 1. Derek Smith 2. Shining Star Sports-Pittman 3. Charlotte Court 4. Lexington Ice 5. Western Kentucky Elite 15u Teams 1. Derek Smith 2. Hoop Dreams 3. Truth 4. Shining Star Sports-Pittman 5. Charlotte Court

Why the forfeit?

Charlotte Court is one of the top teams in Kentucky. Here is how I would rank the Kentucky programs. Help me out because I know I am missing someone. 17u Teams 1. Shining Star Sports-McFarland 2. Central Kentucky Storm 3. Derek Smith 4. Kentucky Players 5. Charlotte Court 16u Teams 1. Derek Smith 2. Shining Star Sports-Pittman 3. Charlotte Court 4. Lexington Ice 5. Hoyas Elite 15u Teams 1. Derek Smith 2. Hoop Dreams 3. Truth 4. Shining Star Sports-Pittman 5. Charlotte Court Thoughts?

:notworthy::ylsuper:

I had an opportunity to watch Bobby Stauffer and Jake Thelen play at the Hoopfest. Bobby dominated the matchup. Jake really struggled with Bobby on both ends of the floor. I would consider Jake the better offensive player overall but Bobby is a much better defender and rebounds that ball as well as anyone. I was very impressed with Bobby and the energy that he plays with. I am sure this will not be the last matchup for these two yound men.

Kyle is a starter with this team and plays a high number of minutes. He has had a fantastic summer. He has improved his defense to the point that I would consider him somewhat of a stopper. He can guard big and small. Kyle is one of the better guards in his class. He is a strong young man who has the ability to get to the basket on about anyone, very good free throw shooter and a decent three point shot. He can score points in bunches. I feel that this team has 4 of the better guards in their class. Jordan Gilbert, Kellen Smith, Scott Schuette and Kyle King. All four of these guards play at a very high level. As Kyles jump shot continues to improve he will become an even better player.

The one individual that doesn't get much talk is Kyle King. He had a fantastic tournament in Louisville. Very strong guard that gets to the rim and finishes as good as anyone on the roster. Kyle really had a very solid July.

The Shining Star Sports-Pittman team finished with 5 wins and 1 loss for the Hoopfest. They eventually loss to Team Takeover out of Canada in the final four. Does anyone know anything about the Team Takeover program? They are loaded!! I was told by one of the parents that their power forward is going to Villanova. The team got great efforts all weekend from their entire roster. The team finished the season playing great basketball. Zeke Pike was not playing this weekend because of a prior committment to football training.

Yes it is. That team looked very good yesterday. They really shot the ball very well and played great team basketball. Casey Jackson was stroking the 3 ball yesterday.

The Shining Star Sports 15u team finished 2 and 0 in pool play this afternoon. They rolled the Alabama Heat and then won by one in overtime versus Club Ohio. The Shining Star Sports-Pittman 16u team won 89-25 versus Camp Darryl. Kyle King had 16 points and Scott Schuette finished with 15 points. The Shining Star team finished with 15 three pointers for the game. They really shot the ball well.