Bad Scheduling Leads to Bad Basketball at HS/AAU levels

Most states have different restrictions when it comes to practice starting, when games start, how many games you can play, etc. Every place is a little different and I want to look into how some states do it completely wrong. I say they do it wrong and they'll say everyone is in the same situation so there is no advantage. It's not advantageous for the coaches AND the kids.

In Minnesota, we have approximately two weeks (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more) of practice before our first game. Puts coaches and players at a huge disadvantage if the coach was hired after July. Coaches only have access to coach in June and July for the offseason. They can have open gym throughout the offseason but can't specifically work the kids during those open gyms.

Minnesota is actually somewhat similar to the AAU season. Two weeks of limited practice and then play games. It rarely gives the coaches and the kids an opportunity to learn about each other and to install some sort of offense and defense in order for everyone to be on the same page.

The third week is generally the live period. So college coaches are seeing coaches and players still trying to figure each other out. It just doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be great for the college coaches to see the the kids and their teams at their best or close to it? Wouldn't it be great if the live period for college coaches got moved to the end of April and the beginning of May? More times for teams to practice together and get on the same page. Those first couple of weekends of play are usually nothing but bad basketball. In bad basketball, how exactly do college coaches evaluate properly?

One top of bad basketball, kids generally don't get a break that their body needs. All basketball players should take a week off between their high school and AAU seasons. Their body AND mind need it.

So what do we need to do to fix these issues?

In high school, I think it's a simple solution. Give the teams more times to practice before playing their first game, which would mean taking away a few games. Imagine if all coaches had three to four weeks to practice before their first game. The games would be better and the kids would be more prepared. Two weeks isn't enough time to install man offense, zone offense, man defense, zone defense, press, how to handle different presses, and everything else. Another option is to give schools two different scrimmage dates where schools can scrimmage each other and go through a bunch of different situations that they'll see over the first couple of weeks of the season.

In AAU, give each player a complete week off after the high school season. All teams have to have at least 8-10 practices before playing in their first tournament. An idea that would be good for all is to have teams play single games against each other at a neutral site. It's basically essentially scrimmaging against each other but also forces teams to play against other teams as work on the same things HS teams have to work on. Wouldn't it be fun if the sneaker company teams would play each other as well as other teams?

All in all, two weeks isn't enough time for high school and AAU to have the kids be where they should be. It's a huge disservice to the kids and isn't all of this "all about the kids?"