It's the most wonderful time of the year! Nothing is better than the Spring Live Period!
Scouts, fans and college coaches pack gyms to catch the next great star. There are countless great events to attend, but none are more powerful and popular than the Under Armour Association, The Adidas Gauntlet and the Nike EYBL.
As media and fans we have our view point on the event, but nothing is more authentic and pure than the view of the athlete. It's only right that we hear things from the players themselves and view things through their eyes. We have selected a player on the girls and boys side each session to do a mini diary discussing their journey that weekend. The next one will be a player from the Under Armour Association on the WeR1 AAU team named Alexander Rice.
Upon watching him play, it’s easy to see why scouts are locked in. Alexander Rice is a smooth operator on the floor. Rice is KNOCK DOWN shooter, but is very smooth off the bounce. The sensational guard has also taken great strides in his ball handling and has developed into quite the floor general.
Below is the diary entry of the second Under Armour session by Alexander Rice. -as told to Christian Mordi @thedribbledrop
Hey guys,
WeR1 is a well known program on the Under Armour Circuit. We have a great legacy. Some of our most recent alumni are Quade Green and Trey Duval. We have won the 17u championship the past two years. Right now our focus is to three peat. We have an amazing team with great people involved in it.
The UAA is a very intense environment. It’s four games a weekend. All the games are high level and very intense. Everyone can really play. Venue wise, they always pick a nice location and it always get pretty packed.
There were a lot of cool coaches that I saw watching this weekend. So far I have seen Coach K, Coach Williams from UNC was at a couple of our games, Coach Larranaga or Miami was at a bunch of our games as well. It was pretty cool to compete in front of those guys.
Our first game this weekend was against Team Charlotte. It was a very intense game. Very high level. It was our only loss so far this season. It was a very physical game. Guys were all over the place. You could tell all 10 guys really wanted it. They got us at the end but I know we will see them in the end.
Our next game was against the BMaze Elite. Very high level game. They jumped out on us in the beginning, but we settled into the game nicely. We battled back into that one and Isaiah took over the game in the end. We ended up pulling out the end. One kid on their team that caught my attention was Jaden Springer. Freak athlete that could score in a variety of ways.
Our last game was against the Louisiana Elite. It was a very intense game as it decided first place in our side of the bracket. It was very physical and you could tell that everyone wanted it. We struggled a bit offensively in the early part but we found our groove. We ended out pulling out the win in that one.
Overall I think it was a pretty good weekend. A lot of great coaches reached out between the A-10, SEC and ACC. Coaches told me where I’m at and what they want to see. It was great to get some feedback from them.