Michael Crotty still remembers the message his college coach Dave Paulsen gave his team at Williams more than two decades ago. The Ephs were coming off a Division 3 national championship in 2003, and Paulsen wanted to put it in the past.
“(He) said, ‘We’re not defending anything,’” Crotty recalled. “We’re not the defending champs, we’re attacking another title, and we’re going to do it game by game. And I love that idea.”
Now the director and head coach of the Middlesex Magic AAU program, Crotty applied that lesson this spring to his 17U squad, which won the Under Armour Association national championship last year in just its second season on one of the top circuits in the country.
“I said to them, ‘Hey, people are going to call us the defending champs. We’re not defending anything. That thing’s in the trophy case, no one can ever take it from us. That’s ours,’” Crotty said. “What we need to do is go attack another title.”
Crotty believes his team took that to heart this year, and it showed on the court. The Magic had a 12-3 record against UAA teams this spring, and they’ll try to repeat as champions this weekend in Chicago as one of the best teams on the circuit. They’ll begin tournament play Friday night, needing four consecutive wins to claim another trophy.
“The group has played just really good basketball the whole year,” Crotty said. “We got everybody’s best shot.”
Crotty has a loaded squad with a rare case of depth. The Magic boast 10 Division 1-caliber players – including three who have already committed and seven more who hold at least six offers – that will make them a favorite in Chicago this weekend. They’re headlined by sharpshooter Ryder Frost (Beverly, Mass.) – who’s been one of the biggest stock risers nationally this spring – and Daithi Quinn (Quincy, Mass.), but the strength of their team is in their sacrifice.
“I’m super proud of them for the way they handle and share the ball, share the glory,” Crotty said. “They don’t care who the leading scorer is, they don’t care about any of that stuff. They’re really just focused on winning.”
Three players – Frost, Quinn and Jay Jones (Brookline, Mass.) – were on last season’s 17U championship team. Two more – Ryan Altman (Brookline, Mass.) and Barrett Loer (Millis, Mass.) – were on the Magic’s 16U team, and Luke Soden (Bedford, N.H.) has been part of the Magic’s program for years, so they know what a title looks like. The rest are newcomers who have fit in perfectly.
The Magic are riding high after a strong weekend that included a pair of standout performances in which they held two teams – including Arizona Select, one of the best teams on the circuit – under 30 points. There’s plenty of reason to like their chances for this weekend’s finale.
“There aren’t holes on the team,” Crotty said. “I love marching out there with that team. I’d go play anybody with them and we’d give them hell and try to win the game. That’s our goal going into Chicago. We’re just going there, all hands on deck, however we can get four wins, one at a time.”
Here are some other teams with New England connections to monitor during this weekend’s AAU national championships.
Expressions Elite
The famous Nike Peach Jam will crown a champion in Augusta, S.C., this weekend, and Boston’s only Nike squad could have something to say about it. Expressions Elite's 17U has a deeply talented roster that includes Dwayne Aristode, Jaylen Harrell (Roxbury, Mass.) and London Jemison (Bloomfield, Conn.) and they can certainly give a higher seed some trouble. Expressions sat in second in Group D entering Thursday’s matchup against Team United, with their final pool play game on Friday, needing a top-2 finish to advance to the tournament on Saturday.
Oakland Soldiers
AJ Dybantsa (Brockton, Mass.) – the No. 1 ranked recruit of the 2025 class – and his Oakland Soldiers squad are among the favorites to win Peach Jam this weekend. The Soldiers haven’t looked unbeatable in pool play – they had to overcome a double-digit deficit to beat UPlay, led by 23 points from Dybantsa, earlier this week – but remain undefeated atop Group C. They boast the No. 1-ranked recruits of both the 2025 and 2026 class with Dybantsa and Tyran Stokes.
City Rocks
The New York-based program features New Hampton stars Keyshuan Tillery and Mason Blackwood, and they’re sitting pretty in Group A at Peach Jam, in sole possession of second place with a 3-1 record. A win over Nightrydas Elite on Friday would assure them a place in the final eight. Tillery has led the way with averages of 17 points and 5.5 assists through four pool play games.
New Heights Lightning
Another program based in New York, the Lightning have two top New England-area players in South Kent’s Badara Diakite and Brewster Academy’s Preston Fowler (Bolton, Conn.). They’re 3-1 and tied for second in Group B with WhyNot (CA), with a matchup against them on Friday that will decide a place in the Peach Jam bracket.
