Last week, the New York Times ran a great, insightful article about Renardo Sidney, a 6′10″ star basketball player who is one of the top big men in the Class of 2009. Sidney has become a household name in the recruiting world, but his path to recognition illustrates the growing importance of summer basketball. From the article:
He didn’t even join a high-school team until his sophomore year, and caused a minor stir when he told The Washington Post that high-school ball is “not that important.”
Renardo Sidney built his reputation on the AAU/summer circuit of tournaments, including the Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia, which provides a stage for more than 100 of the top players in the country to compete and show off their skills. Stories about players like Sidney and Thomas Robinson, who attended a Reebok Headliner Camp, show that AAU and summer basketball events are just as/if not more important than high school basketball in the recruiting process these days.
Here’s a video of Renardo Sidney from Ball Is Life if you’re interested in seeing how he plays:
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November 7th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
It is very sad that the “student” is being taken out of “student-athlete” As a coach, I have the philosophy that “student” is first and foremost. Money eventually will destroy this game.