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.

Is there a link for the tourney that shows scores???

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.

Shining Stars Blue won their first pool game by about 10 over the Charlotte Nets.

 

This team includes:

 

Donovan Johnson (Shelby County)

Ryan Popp (Boone County)

 

Shining Stars McFarland first pool game is in progress.

 

Still looking for result on Shining Stars White first pool game, including:

 

Mitch McLeash (Ryle)

Trevor Wellbrock (Covington Catholic)

Blake Bryan (Villa Madonna)

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.

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!![/QUOTE]

 

Totally bogus. You can get noticed playing one half in your first pool play game.

 

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.

I dont think Stauffer is better than any player that Shining Star Sports has to offer. But, I do think he is better than any of the 16 year old players they have that play his position. To debate Stauffer to Schuette and Gilbert is pointless because they play very different positions. But, I think Stauffer would be more of an asset to his team, just because talented, athletic bigs are harder to come by. This is just my opinion. Stauffer puts the ball on the floor better than Geisler, Brown, or Pike. He also has a better outside jumpshot than those 3 players IMO, and he still seems to be improving in that area. Geisler, Brown, and Pike are really good players, and do extremely well on the block, but the further out you move them, the more ineffective they become. I think all 4 players in the discussion can rebound the heck out of the ball, and all seem to defend fairly well. Some maybe better than others, but whatever.

 

As far as Pawsett, I dont think you can say he is a better player. He is probably more efficient around the perimeter than Stauffer, but he doesnt do as well in the paint. So that discussion is a push.

 

I dont want any of this to be misconstrued... Geisler, Brown, Pike, Pawsett, and Stauffer are all really good players in my estimation. I really like to watch pawsett because for a bigger guy, he really does well on the perimeter and rebounds good. Pike is also gonna become more dominant this school season getting more time with Dixie Heights. Same with Brown, hopefully, at Boone County. Geisler speaks for himself. Lots of minutes last year and did very well. And, I am just a spectator who loves to watch basketball. I have seen many great players and the one thing Bobby Stauffer seems to have over those guys is that "it" factor. I dont see anyone at this age level play with the work ethic, passion, and intensity that he does. Wow! Where does he get it?

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.

The fact that SS 16's have Pawsett, Geisler, Brown, and Pike is very physically dominating. The NKY Bulldogs may have struggled with the overall post game. Stauffer and Vollet are what the Bulldogs have to offer with physicality inside. And, all though Stauffer and Vollet are very tough, it's alot to ask 2 guys to bang with 4 guys. Pike and Brown were very strong in that game from what I saw. The Bulldogs have 2 other tall guys in Hodges and Stewart, but they dont necessarily play as "bigs" or "bangers".

 

Where I disagree is when you saythat Stauffer would benefit from playing with another program. We've allready been down this road. You dont have to play with an organization to get recognition. Stauffer, and the Bulldogs do just fine where they are IMO.

 

Plus, from what I have heard and saw a little bit of last year, is Stauffer playing with a SS team and he was on the bench behind Jake Thelen. Nothing against Jake, but what is up with that? Stauffer has dominated Thelen in their match-ups, even though Thelen is a good player. In this case playing with Shining Star Sports limited what Stauffer was able to do last year. Why would he want that again? Individually, and at his respective position, Stauffer is better than any player, and does more for his team than any player on the SS 16's.

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!!

Scott Schuette is good. As is Jordan Gilbert. But, are you putting them in the same class with Fucci, Fant, Barkesdale, Abell etc.??? If you are putting them in the same category as Fucci, Barkesdale, Fant... then you should certainly put Stauffer there IMO. Stauffer has a unique ability to Score, but that is just one small aspect of his game. He can rebound and defend. Not to mention that his passion to win and play the game is second to none IMO. I would put Stauffer is the same class as Fucci, Fant, Barkesdale... at his respective position. He just doesnt get the exposure they get. He is from a smaller, less public area.

 

As for Pawsett, that kid is one from the SS that I saw them in a game against the NKY BUlldogs that looked like a game changer. They had no answer for him. He hit 4 threes and had a few rebounds as well. Would be interesting to see them match up now with Montgomery on that team. A shame their season ended. I like watching the SS play a lot.

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.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever undersell the Ice. IMO they are one of the best Ky teams ever. My response to the comment above is that once a team has a roster entered into a tournament, that is your team. If a guy is missing, gets hurt, etc. that is still your team. The Buldlogs beat DSAS. DSAS was missing a player or two, but so were the Bulldogs. WKY Elite and Charlotte Court beat the Buldlogs. Now, if you add a player, your team has now changed. You can become considerably stronger. Teams do it every year for nationals and so forth. The Buldlogs new team is the one that beat DSAS with Montgomery. All of the losses occured pre Montgomery. Would it make a difference? I like to think so, but that is just my opinion. All I know is that the Bulldogs lost some very close games early on. They made some roster adjustments and have won some big games. Also, they played in the same bracket as the Ice in the Take 5. The Bulldogs went gold.

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 respect your opinion, but what is your reasoning for the NKY Bulldogs not being in your top 5 in the 16U? None of the teams 3 through 5 in your listing have done anymore than them.

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 respect your opinion, but what is your reasoning for the NKY Bulldogs not being in your top 5 in the 16U? None of the teams 3 through 5 in your listing have done anymore than them.

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?

I think that Charlotte Court deserves some respect and attention. There kids are always competitive and they look for situations to help them out when they are not playing. Three or four of their ballers are going to Vegas with other programs. There 16U team won the silver division at the Addias Take 5, and the 15U team won the Championship at the Mississippi Summer Jam this past week in Jackson, MS. The staff/coaches for the CC do an outstanding job and they are definitely in it for the right reason.

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?

AAU is where the majority of the players get coaches attention. Not playing on a good team and attending the big tournaments dramatically decrease the looks from college coaches. Getting into the platinum/Gold brackets and going deep in the tournaments just increase the looks the players will get. Also being on the teams with the so called "Elite" players brings the coaches to those games first.

 

Since the NCAA is not allowing college coaches attend tournaments in April and May, the month of July is crucial! Playing with a good AAU team and attending NCAA Certified tournaments like the Adids "It Takes 5ive", the Hoopfest, Harley Davidison Hoop Group Classic, Adidas "Mid-summer Classic, and Vegas or Orlando gets these boys a ton of looks. For those that are performing well, they will get offers and invites during the month of July and August and eary fall.

 

The Senior to-be division 17U is the most important group because it's their last year to be seen by the hundreds of coaches that attend these events. I talk to a-lot of coaches and this is where they see the players and do most of their evaluating. These events have the D-1, D-1 Mid-Major, D-2 and top NAIA program coaches in attendance.

 

From what I've seen, there are only two programs that consistently put their team or teams in these venues, that's Shinging Star Sports and Derek Smith Allstars. I will guaranty a "higher percentage" of the players that play with these two organizations will play at the next level for free, when compared to the players that don't play for them. Now there are other teams that may attend these events, but as far as consistency from year to year, these are the two KY organizations that are usually there.

 

The elite players are already on the coaches "radars" the one's that really benefit from these events are the very good players that are not considered "elite" or major D-1 material.

 

Most of the time if you see college coaches at a high school event, it's because they already have a player that they are interested in and they came to specifically watch that player. Even at a huge tournament like the "King of the Bluegrass", LIT or the event at Marshall Co. you don't see hundreds of coaches there evaluating and recruiting. JMO

: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.

I did see that a King had a nice game against a team called Camp Daryll. If that was Kyle, I cant be sure. He and his brother are tough to tell apart for a spectator. I didnt see him get a whole lot of PT in other games that I watched. But, that might just be because I was watching at the wrong times. There were so many games to watch and walk around too. King is a nice player. Will he be playing with anyone else the rest of the summer?

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.

Glad to hear that SS performed well. I am all about any team from KY making some noise in these national tournaments. I had the opportunity to watch some of their games and Gilbert, Smith, and Schuette were performing pretty well from what I could see.

 

One of the Shining Stars programs I watched got beat pretty good, but Im not sure who was on this team. They took like a 20 something point loss.

 

I have heard of this Team Takeover and from what I understand they have a couple of players that have recieved D1 offers. They also won that tournaments Gold bracket if I understand that correctly. So, a loss to them isnt the worst thing that could happen.

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.

Is this the Shining Stars team that Vance Hall plays for?

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.