High School Ball and Chasing Dreams

Some players are not ready for prep or get pushed into prep school when they really do not want to. Ran into Trevon this weekend. Trevon did not go to Redemption as a post grad - Backed out at the last minute - He is back to Class of 2015. If you look back at the posts you will recall he went to Hyde School last year and lasted a couple of weeks. Classic case of a coach/parent pushing for prep and the kids not wanting it.

Just to echo.

Travon had a great run in high school. School isn't for everybody, I wish the kid luck.

There will be questions about him playing AAU this spring and not going prep, also hope he didn't ring up prep school bills that he has to pay back.

Players just need to remember EVERYONE in the basketball business is out for themselves. AAU coaches build relationships by sending kids Prep. Prep school coaches get players to make themselves look better and to fund there school. Kids get taken for the ride.

The game within the game

Central's Oumaru Kante and Memorial's Trevon Maughn in September joined Pembroke's Max Curran in the class of 2016 for a PG year at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, MA.

Curran signed a National Letter of Intent last week accepting a scholarship offer from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,  a Division 1 school in the Horizon League.

I believe you have some misinformation. As of October 26, Trevon Maughn was not registered at NDP and was not listed on their basketball roster.
There are rumblings again that the NCAA is investigating NDP again for "graduating" players who cannot meet the NCAA academic criteria when the player gets to campus. There have been two recent players who have lost the scholarship offered once on campus as they cannot meet the minimum academics. Selling kids dreams only to be crashed to the real world one year later.

NDP is on the NCAA watch list. Boston and Worcester papers ran articles last week about it. Speaking of NDP where is Pat Welch playing this year? I have not read anything about a scholarship for him in the papers or recruiting reports...

Pembroke Academy and Notre Dame Prep teammates Pat Welch and Kafani Williams have gone the Community College/Junior College path.

Pat is at South Georgia Tech in Americus, GA, and Kafani is at McCook Community College in McCook, NE.

If the apparent path that Pat Welch is taking to chase the dream of playing college basketball, it looks like the dream is turning into one expensive and odd nightmare.

$25k to play last year at NDP, and now at a small juco in GA that has produced more NAIA players than anything while paying an estimated $11K.

The admissions criteria for South Georgia Tech do not meet the NCAA minimums for the clearinghouse. I am not trying to rip the kid, but being a former DII athlete (granted now over 30 years) and having had a son and daughter play DI and DII sports (both played soccer which is harder to get scholarships for than hoops) I know the system and what happens...

This kid id lost. A small town NH kid ends up playing juco in GA after paying 25K to play prep... what's happening here? Academically he can't handle school. Otherwise, how does this kid travel 2000 miles to a juco that cranks out NAIA players after a year of prep at one of the top prep basketball programs in New England? Clearly no DII or DI schools were able to bring him in this year. This was a former player of the year in NH, a can't miss recruit in some recruiting circles, and now he will play in obscurity at a school in GA nobody has ever heard about.

Happy Holidays

The NDP website post thier tuition as $24,500 it's public knowledge. The CC he is at does the same thing, so these are facts. I have been through the recruitment process as an athlete myself playing DII hoops. My son played DII soccer and my daughter DI soccer. I know why kids go from prep to CC. It's always academics. Why else would a potential scholarship athlete waste a year of eligibility if they can play NCAA basketball at a CC after already spending a year at prep? Makes no sense. If a kid could get into a NCAA school and is scholarship eligible, they would be on campus, not wasting a year of eligibility at a no name CC.

I wish someone had mentored the kid for the academics... I am being honest, he went to a school being investigated by a second party NCAA compliance officer and is on the NCAA watch list. The kids former coach is now there ,and this kid is at a CC in the south which cranks out NAIA players at a rate 2x that of NCAA players when New England is full of JC's.
If he were good and eligible, he would be n a 4 year campus.

Happy Holidays!!!

Pat was a great High School Basketball player. Truly one of the best ever.

There is a lesson to be learned here however, and it's unfortunate Pat's name is getting used because it applies to all and has affected many high school ballers.

First Rule is people judge your character by your actions, his actions in the stat sheet were impressive but some of his behaviors hurt him in the recruiting process. (I truly believe he's a nice kid, and got some really bad adult mentoring by some questionable people.) A few other players come to mind from recent seasons.

2nd Rule is college coaches are not going to gamble on a sub 6'5" kid. They just don't need to. There are so many kids who are "about" as good Pat out there.

Hooper is right, and unless you are a can't miss stud they will not ga,ble on smaller players with some character issues. I do not know Pat but for such an accomplished player with obvious skills and ability to have nobody offer him an opportunity here says something.

Another Hoop Fan - I a simply doing the math that one of the most accomplished players in the last 20 years in NH hoops is becoming obscure and irrelevant when we have so many strong programs DIII &DII where he could play right here in New England. Even DI low to mid level DI programs are in New England where he could play. But he is not... There must be reasons and Hooper touches on the character issue, and I am guessing academics might be in question as he has gone the juco route after a year of prep. There might be other reasons, but the only reasons I have ever heard of for a kid going juco after prep is academics or off court issues.

I feel bad for any kid who has been used by the system and coaches to get wins and some $$$ in the AAU system and then is unable to fulfill thier dreams or goals. That is why with my own kids and kids I coached, I was always careful to offer the right advice about academics first, choose your college based on courses, not sports, and if the sports work into the academic part then go for it.

I have seen too. Many kids get pimped by the system. As a former high school coach, teacher, and athlete myself, yes - I do know the system. I have seen too many kids go to college with the dream of playing sports first before the dream of an education. They end up back at home real quick. They end up making poor choices in the class room and off the court. But hey Raiders AAU made thier money, PA hung thier banners, and NDP made thier money and this kid is not left to fend for himself by himself in some god forsaken juco 1500 miles from home. That's not a dream, thats purgatory.