Recruiting

It's AAU Season, Let the Games Begin

The college basketball season is over but the fun on the recruiting trail is just getting started. The signing period for 2010 recruits begins next Wednesday (April 14th) and the first major AAU events of the year tip off this weekend.

Michigan 2010 target Trey Zeigler will be playing this weekend as well. Zeigler is participating in the Kentucky Derby Festival All-Star game. The game will be played Saturday night at 7PM at Freedom Hall and you can stream the game online.

Zeigler is not expected to announce his decision on Signing Day but a decision date is expected to be set shortly after he returns from the All Star game in Louisville. In related news, Ernie Zeigler has reached a verbal agreement on a contract extension with Central Michigan.

Update: Tim Hardaway Jr. will also be playing in an All-Star game this weekend, the Florida vs USA Senior Showcase. The game is on Saturday night at 7PM and it will be televised on on Bright House Sports Netowrk which appears to be channel 47 around the Orlando area (it also might be streamed online). More information at the official website. You might notice that former Michigan wing target Casey Prather will be playing for the USA team.

Coaches aren’t allowed on the AAU circuit yet but scouts across the country will be out in full force. There are three tournaments that Michigan fans should keep a keen eye on this weekend: Boo Williams, The Motown Showdown, and The IndyBall.com Shootout.

Boo Williams

The biggest AAU event of the weekend is the Boo Williams tournament in Virginia. This is a Nike event so all of the elite U17 Nike teams from across the country will be playing. Nike has actually redesigned their tournaments so that many of them are just round robins with the finals being at the Peach Jam.

The Family will be playing at Boo Williams so this is Carlton Brundidge (2011 commit) and Amir Williams‘ first chance to shine on the national circuit.

6-foot-8 wing forward Eric Katenda will be playing with the Albany City Rocks at Boo Williams. He has put up monster numbers in high school play and is drawing significant Michigan interest but it will be interesting to see if he explodes on the AAU circuit. Other wing targets like Rod Days (Team Florida) and Markus Crider (King James) should also both be playing at Boo Williams.

Motown Showdown

Almost all of the Michigan talent that isn’t playing with The Family at Boo Williams will be playing in the Motown Showdown. The Showdown is hosted at Oakland University by the Michigan Mustangs. A few of the headlining teams are Team Detroit, Team Pride, the D3 Heat, and of course the Mustangs.

Patrick Lucas-Perry, Tommie McCune, Dwaun Anderson, Darren Washington, Trey McDonald, Gary Harris, Matt Costello, and Jordan Hare are just a few of the guys on the Michigan radar that are expected to play at the Showdown.

Joe will be on the scene to catch some of the action and see who stands out early on in AAU play.

IndyBall.com

The third tournament taking place this weekend that Michigan fans will want to keep an eye on is the IndyBall.com event in Indianapolis. Indiana Elite is one of the top AAU clubs in the country and they feature 2011 big men Marshall Plumlee and Cody Zeller.  However, Plumlee and Team USA have advanced to the semifinals of the Albert Schweitzer tournament and still have games to play today and tomorrow, so I wouldn’t expect Plumlee to participate in the IndyBall tournament.

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