Basketball recruiting questions
I've always been a little confused on how shoe company sponsorships affect basketball recruting. I know that those companies tend to funnel AAU players to college programs who are also sponsored by that company. In the past it seemed that everyone was complaining about Adidas because they were really bad at doing that for UM. So questions:
1. Have UM's more recent recruits (Watson, Teske, Poole, Brooks, Livers) come from Nike AAU teams since the switch?
2. How much of an advantage is it to be sponsored by Nike rather than Adidas or UA in terms of recruting?
3. Is it that the best AAU teams are sponsored by Nike or that more overall teams are sponsored by Nike?
Any answers would be much appreciated!
Here is an article that talks about his comments on the subject (from 2014).
Are you implying that schools like UNC and Duke don't follow every single guidline. I thought Coach K was a god, surely the liberal media would have told me about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm3TepXcD8A for those that do not get the reference
if he hadn't had coach K's willie in his mouth for the last 30 years.
any time someone refers to the media as the liberal media, i just automatically assume they are an idiot.
No offense intended.
96% of all rocks are smarter than you! Every fact that you're ignoring says it explicitly. Critical thinking is pesky.
What do you mean you assume? They just told you!
Still waiting for someone to sponsor me based on shoes....
This stuff is very much real and it is expanding into football. It's not about the school playing dirty as much as those running the AAU team and around the player directing players to team that are sponsored by shoe companies.
The very same thing is starting to take place with high school as their schools and their coaches are starting to get more and more money from shoe companies. The result is pushing players towards that companies all-star game or camp or whatever. It is my thoughts having seen it up close that coaches are also getting getting a "cut" for each player they get to attend one of these events.
To be clear it is not the players but those around them that are the issue here.
So what happens is the AAU squad in town is basically a high school all-star team. They can recruit/pay. They travel around and play other AAU teams. The competition is better. The AAU team production is generally more important than the high school team production on a per player basis. Scouts would rather see you play against the areas best than a high school team with 5'5" scrubs.
Each AAU team has to be outfitted with gear and money to travel, etc. Here is where the shoe/apparel companies come into play. They outfit the team and pay for travel, expenses and coaches salary and/or benefits. So say your AAU squad was sponsored by Nike. Your coach is definitely loyal to them. When colleges come calling say Louisville (an ADIDAS school) or Michigan State (a NIKE school) your coach is likely going to hear from the NIKE guys who pay his salary that young talented player X should probably take a longer look at MSU.
to answer your questions:
1) Michigan doesn't really "play the game" and they recruit from teams that don't really play the game. You will see more high school kids come to Michigan than AAU stars. Always exceptions, but for the most part Michigan recruits from high schools and high school coaches.
2) I dont know the exact figures, but I would bet that NIKE has more AAU team sponsorships than ADIDAS, but it is probably not a wide margin. I don't think many AAU teams are Jordan Brand sponsored, but some are. I am pretty sure Jaylen Browns team was as he was recruited by all Jordan Brand college teams. You dont want to be an under armor basketball school.
3) Again I think slightly more NIKE AAU teams, but I dont think it's by a lot any more. It sure used to be.
Assuming UM doesn't 'play the game' because it's so shady. Glad JB still does well enough with development to counteract that though.