With the growth of the AAU summer circuit it has been difficult for fans and coaches to keep track of all the action. There are few places where that has been more evident than in Las Vegas where at times there have been four tournaments going on simultaneously on dozens of courts making it impossible for someone to catch a potential superstar that everybody seems to have missed (Anthony Davis, anybody?). This year, however, there are only two tournaments to follow: the Super 64 and Fab 48 (you can guess how many teams each tournament has). If you only had one tournament to go to this weekend in Las Vegas (and how could there possibly be anything better to do in Vegas in the 120 degree dry heat?), we would suggest the Fab 48, which features the majority of the “big names” (for some reason the Super 64 doesn’t list its top players and we can’t figure out who plays for what AAU team), is NCAA-“certified” (although the Super 64 might be too), and also managed to snipe the last two Super 64 champs. Here’s a sampling of the talent (commits have the school next to their name) that will reportedly be at the Fab 48:
- PF Quincy Miller***
- PG Myck Kabongo (Texas)
- SF Adonis Thomas
- SG Wayne Blackshear (Louisville)
- SG LeBryan Nash
- SG Jabari Brown
- SG Tony Wroten Jr
- PF DeAndre Daniels (Texas)
- PF Michael Shaw
- SF Branden Dawson
- SG Quddus “Deuce” Bello
***Miller may not be at the Fab 64 (details below)
Although he is by no means the highest rated recruit (that honor goes to Miller or Kabongo depending on where Miller shows up), Bello might be the most exciting to watch as Jeff Goodman’s recent poll of 2011 recruits named Bello the most athletic by a wide margin and video below provides some pretty good evidence to back up that claim.
Although the Fab 48 appears to have the edge this year, we wouldn’t sleep on the Super 64 as it is sure to draw some top-name talent (seriously though, how do you not have a list of recruits!) and there are some reports that Quincy Miller will be at the Super 64 instead of the Fab 48 this weekend. Regardless of whether or not Miller goes to the Super 64, the tournament always has a few studs including a pair of NBA lottery picks who won the tournament MVP awards in 2004 (Brook Lopez) and 2006 (James Harden, although the official site thinks it went to some guy named James Hardin). Although we will not be in Vegas — at least I won’t; I can’t speak for the other members of the staff) — we are looking forward to hearing about some of the developments and possibly a few YouTube-worthy moments out of Vegas this weekend.