STOUGHTON, Mass. — The AAU season is officially here.
The spotlight shined brightly this weekend at the Dana Barros Basketball Club, where many of the region’s top clubs competed at Zero Gravity’s New England Recruiting Report Northeast Hoop Festival. This event annually serves as an unofficial kickoff to the boys grassroots season, and this year’s edition gave us another rare opportunity to see many of the region’s top clubs play under one roof before they take off for an eventful spring and summer of travel, circuit showcase weekends, live periods and championship pursuits.
The weekend, unsurprisingly, delivered. We were treated to some fun matchups between marquee programs that we rarely see; we saw Middlesex Magic vs. Mass Rivals and Team New England vs. Expressions Elite in heavyweight 17U battles, and Middlesex Magic and BABC’s top 16U teams squared off in a double overtime thriller, among others. New York Rens – featuring Top 20 2027 recruit Anderson Diaz – Lu Dort Elite and WeR1 were among the talented out-of-region programs that made an appearance, too. With dozens of the best New England prospects playing, there was no shortage of star power in Stoughton.
With five courts of games active simultaneously throughout both Saturday and Sunday, I focused my viewing attention on as many of the 17U and 16U shoe circuit programs as I could since there are more limited opportunities to see them compete locally throughout the spring and summer. But I also made time to check in with some other teams that I’m excited about. There’s plenty of time over the next three months to see everyone, but this was a fun first look at what should be another fascinating grassroots season.
