STOUGHTON, Mass. — The grassroots season has arrived.
If you’re a boys AAU program in New England, chances are you were at the Dana Barros Basketball Club over the weekend for Zero Gravity’s annual New England Recruiting Report Northeast Hoops Festival. The event featured hundreds of programs throughout the region, at several age and talent levels, as essentially the kickoff to the AAU season.
The five courts at Dana Barros were buzzing all weekend. From both a team and player perspective, the event served as an important starting point to the spring and summer; teams were looking for strong opening weekends in pursuit of circuit championships this summer, while recruits had their first chance of receiving exposure in their chase for a scholarship. It was also a rare opportunity for some of New England’s top AAU programs to play each other before they head out on their own circuit schedules around the country.
It was fun to get a glimpse of some familiar faces, especially rising seniors, who are looking to build on strong school seasons, and also discover a few new names. I didn’t get a chance to see everything – I’m looking forward to seeing and writing about much more over the next several months – but here are some standouts and observations that caught my attention.
