SaturnSweater
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Kudos to my relative in Winona for passing this along. 
http://winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/07/27/highschoolsports/00lead.txt
Looking for exposure
By Rick Solem | rsolem@winonadailynews
A few days ago, Alec Brown was playing in an AAU basketball game in Las Vegas.
Sitting on the sidelines was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Brown was guarding a player committed to Duke.
Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley showed up at halftime and gave Brown’s opponents a pep talk and then sat on their bench.
“When he got there the refs started calling everything for their team,” Brown said.
At another AAU tournament in Chicago a few weeks earlier, the Bulls’ Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah showed up.
It’s been a crazy few months for Brown, who will be a senior this year at Winona Senior High School.
And the craziest thing so far may be what happened after one of the two Chicago AAU tournaments.
Brown, who is a hair away from being 7-feet tall, hasn’t committed to play at any college yet.
But after one of the Chicago tournaments, he could have had his pick of several.
“I hadn’t gotten any (scholarship offers) before,” Brown said. “But at the end of Chicago, coming back to Minneapolis, for five or six days in a row, I got seven offers.”
The phones have been ringing nonstop ever since.
“It’s cool they’re calling and good to be wanted, but it gets annoying after awhile with all these coaches calling,” Alec said. “They’re calling me, my dad, my grandma. It’s ridiculous.”
Alec was kidding. They aren’t calling his grandma, but that’s probably only because they don’t have her number.
Alec helped the Winhawks get to the state tournament last season. Since then, he’s been playing AAU with a team out of the Cities called Pump ’N Run. As of Saturday, they were 47-6.
Along with Chicago and Las Vegas, Alec has been to Denver, Lawrence, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Des Moines, Iowa, and Minneapolis, and he’s scheduled to be on a plane today heading to Los Angeles before heading home July 31.
“I was pretty nervous playing at first,” said Alec, who didn’t play AAU ball before this summer. “I wasn’t used to how physical the game is, but I’m getting some confidence now and getting a lot better.”
Alec began the year coming off the bench, but now has been starting some games and has been playing more and more.
“It’s definitely eye opening,” Alec said. “It’s a lot of fun. I’m playing great competition and seeing a lot of the coaches you see on TV.”
With Coach K on the sideline, Alec said he wasn’t too intimidated.
“It was a small gym and when I saw him I thought, ‘No way he is here,’” he said. “I was guarding a guy committed to Duke. I was just trying to play the best defense I could on him. He was alright, but I think it was pretty even between us.”
And that’s the type of competition he faces every game.
“Not many kids get to play with that level of athlete,” said Alec’s father Orrin Brown. “Everyone on his team has Division I offers.”
There are nine players on Pump ‘N Run, including Minnesota Transitions’ Kevin Noreen, who is committed to play at Boston College.
Playing with and against that caliber of talent and going to all these tournaments is exactly what Alec needs to get exposure.
“If you have aspirations of playing at a Division I scholarship level, it behooves you to be playing during that period (in July),” said Saint Mary’s University men’s basketball coach Todd Landrum, who has been an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Division I coaches only get 20 days in July to head to these tournaments.
Landrum was at the Chicago tournament. It’s the place to be for colleges to recruit, so it’s the place to be for players to get noticed.
“There is so much talent,” Alec said. “There were 150 or more coaches at our games in Chicago. There are 80 to 100 coaches at this tournament (in Las Vegas).”
The stipulation during this time, however, is coaches can only watch. There is no contact with players or their team’s coaching staff. And college coaches can only call recruits once a month.
“This month, I have been going practically every day to some site where I can see several players maybe a couple of times,” Landrum said. “It gives us a chance to evaluate a lot of people at one setting. No matter what people think of the quality of play, it gives me a chance to see some abilities.”
Alec has no idea where he wants to go to college. He would of course love the chance to play at a big-time Division I school, but won’t be heartbroken if the call doesn’t come.
He’s already got plenty of options and he still has another year of school to showcase his talent.
The next order of business will be getting the Winhawks back to the state tournament.
http://winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/07/27/highschoolsports/00lead.txt
Looking for exposure
By Rick Solem | rsolem@winonadailynews
A few days ago, Alec Brown was playing in an AAU basketball game in Las Vegas.
Sitting on the sidelines was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Brown was guarding a player committed to Duke.
Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley showed up at halftime and gave Brown’s opponents a pep talk and then sat on their bench.
“When he got there the refs started calling everything for their team,” Brown said.
At another AAU tournament in Chicago a few weeks earlier, the Bulls’ Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah showed up.
It’s been a crazy few months for Brown, who will be a senior this year at Winona Senior High School.
And the craziest thing so far may be what happened after one of the two Chicago AAU tournaments.
Brown, who is a hair away from being 7-feet tall, hasn’t committed to play at any college yet.
But after one of the Chicago tournaments, he could have had his pick of several.
“I hadn’t gotten any (scholarship offers) before,” Brown said. “But at the end of Chicago, coming back to Minneapolis, for five or six days in a row, I got seven offers.”
The phones have been ringing nonstop ever since.
“It’s cool they’re calling and good to be wanted, but it gets annoying after awhile with all these coaches calling,” Alec said. “They’re calling me, my dad, my grandma. It’s ridiculous.”
Alec was kidding. They aren’t calling his grandma, but that’s probably only because they don’t have her number.
Alec helped the Winhawks get to the state tournament last season. Since then, he’s been playing AAU with a team out of the Cities called Pump ’N Run. As of Saturday, they were 47-6.
Along with Chicago and Las Vegas, Alec has been to Denver, Lawrence, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Des Moines, Iowa, and Minneapolis, and he’s scheduled to be on a plane today heading to Los Angeles before heading home July 31.
“I was pretty nervous playing at first,” said Alec, who didn’t play AAU ball before this summer. “I wasn’t used to how physical the game is, but I’m getting some confidence now and getting a lot better.”
Alec began the year coming off the bench, but now has been starting some games and has been playing more and more.
“It’s definitely eye opening,” Alec said. “It’s a lot of fun. I’m playing great competition and seeing a lot of the coaches you see on TV.”
With Coach K on the sideline, Alec said he wasn’t too intimidated.
“It was a small gym and when I saw him I thought, ‘No way he is here,’” he said. “I was guarding a guy committed to Duke. I was just trying to play the best defense I could on him. He was alright, but I think it was pretty even between us.”
And that’s the type of competition he faces every game.
“Not many kids get to play with that level of athlete,” said Alec’s father Orrin Brown. “Everyone on his team has Division I offers.”
There are nine players on Pump ‘N Run, including Minnesota Transitions’ Kevin Noreen, who is committed to play at Boston College.
Playing with and against that caliber of talent and going to all these tournaments is exactly what Alec needs to get exposure.
“If you have aspirations of playing at a Division I scholarship level, it behooves you to be playing during that period (in July),” said Saint Mary’s University men’s basketball coach Todd Landrum, who has been an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Division I coaches only get 20 days in July to head to these tournaments.
Landrum was at the Chicago tournament. It’s the place to be for colleges to recruit, so it’s the place to be for players to get noticed.
“There is so much talent,” Alec said. “There were 150 or more coaches at our games in Chicago. There are 80 to 100 coaches at this tournament (in Las Vegas).”
The stipulation during this time, however, is coaches can only watch. There is no contact with players or their team’s coaching staff. And college coaches can only call recruits once a month.
“This month, I have been going practically every day to some site where I can see several players maybe a couple of times,” Landrum said. “It gives us a chance to evaluate a lot of people at one setting. No matter what people think of the quality of play, it gives me a chance to see some abilities.”
Alec has no idea where he wants to go to college. He would of course love the chance to play at a big-time Division I school, but won’t be heartbroken if the call doesn’t come.
He’s already got plenty of options and he still has another year of school to showcase his talent.
The next order of business will be getting the Winhawks back to the state tournament.