Thursday, July 17, 2014

SMAC U Places at D-I AAU Nationals

SMAC U-AAU Nationals 9th Place Finishers 
Five Ohio based teams made the trek to Orlando, Florida to participate in the D-I 8th grade AAU Nationals, and by the end of the tournament on Wednesday, only the Cleveland based SMAC U had placed among the top 14 finishers.  SMAC U finished 3-0 in pool play and was cruising through the championship bracket until Sports U Izod upended them (68-43) in the 3rd round. Once relegated to the 3rd round consolation bracket, SMAC U got hot and ran off 3 straight wins on their way to a 9th place finish. To get to the medal game, SMAC U took down Hughley Elite Blue (81-71), 916 Select (67-62) and the powerful Kentucky Gators (62-72).

SMAC U is no stranger to success as evidenced by their 50-5 overall record this season.  Also, their run at the nationals was accomplished with a short roster of only 8 players.  According to Head Coach Gene Ready; the team’s success can be attributed to overall team play. “We took 8 guys down who were all incredibly unselfish,” Ready said. “We had 4 different guys leading us in scoring over the 9 games,” Ready continued. Ready also was proud of the play of point guard Sincere Carry who held Damon Hodge, one of the top PGs in the country, to only 4 points. SMAC U will finish the 2014 season with a return trip to the Gym Rats Nationals in Fort Wayne, Indiana in a couple of weeks. The SMAC U roster includes: Sincere Carry, Garrett Houser, Phil Jurkovic, Gavin Blunt, Greyson Green, Jaret Pallotta, Luke Brand and Tadas Tataranus.

The only other Ohio team to make it out of pool play was the Queen City Prophets (QCP).  After finishing 2-1 in pool play and making it into the championship bracket, QCP dropped their first game to Team Texas Elite (72-51).  From there, QCP defeated Hoop Heaven Elite (63-55), but was dispatched from the tournament after a 63-45 loss to Hughley Elite Blue. In the next round

The Ohio Hoopsters (2-1), King James (1-2) and All-Ohio Red (1-2) all failed to make it out of pool play and were forced to continue their run in the Classic bracket.  Once there, the Hoopsters got by Shooting Stars NY (63-58) and Atlanta Blackout (66-50) before being edged out by instate rival King James (59-57).  King James advanced one game further before going down to Baltimore’s Finest (61-46).  All-Ohio Red won their opening round Classic game against the Georgia Stars (72-45), but headed home after a 48-45 loss to CFL Magic 2018.


For the record, Georgia United Elite defeated Sports U Izod (47-41) in the championship game to take home the title. We All Can Go, MB1, Texas Select, NC Running Rebels, San Antonio Hardwork and LA-ATR Xplosion rounded out the final eight. Ohio has a long history of success at national tournaments, so placing only 1 team in the medal count has to be a bit disappointing. However, congrats to SMAC U for insuring we had at least 1 team “in the money.”

13 comments:

  1. Congrats to SMAC U. Recognize Sincere Carry and Greyson Green, who are the other kids on the roster and what high schools will they be attending?

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  2. Great job guys! Keep up the good work!

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  3. No luv from Columbus about the Shining Stars and Dayton Metro finishing 5th and 7th respectfully in D-2 8th grade AAU nations. These Ohio based teams made the trip to Orlando, FL and participated in the D-2 8th grade AAU Nationals the same week and placed among the top elite finishers for the second year in the row. Both teams finished 3-0 in pool play and cruised thru the championship bracket until losing close games just short of the final four. Only the Dayton Metro has finished 4th in 12, 6th in 13 and 7th this year’s D_2 nationals.

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    1. Both those teams have done a good job keeping their players together...That's why they are so successful.

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  4. Dayton Metro and Shinning Star both should have played in D1 tournament truth be told.

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    1. They could have, but why? most of those teams are flying kids in from all over the country.

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  5. Saw SMAC play in the qualifier in Cleveland. They don't have any "wow" factor in warm-ups but once the game starts they are fun to watch. Great ball movement and they have have some kids who can really shoot it. Great to see a local team do well down at nationals.

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  6. "Truth be told" guy is a classic example of sour grapes. I've seen this many, many times over the years. His team either A) wasn't as good as the teams mentioned above and is jealous of their success B) he didn't have the balls to send his team to Nationals or C) both. There is no right or wrong here. Each team needs to make their decision based on their team and parents. To say any team "should" go D1 or D2 is wrong. The only exception here is the real premier teams (Izod, Georgia United, We All Can Go etc) should go D1.

    Metro, Shining Stars, Queen Coty Prophets, Buckeye Prep, etc are all very good teams but none of them had any shot at winning D1. If you choose to go D1 thats fine, but you run the risk or getting in a tough pool and going home really early. There are some really bad teams in D1 and there are some really good teams in D2. It's your choice. These teams played some really good competition and had a realistic shot (if they played really well) of winning the D2 championship. It didn't happen for them this year but overall, my guess is that all of their teams had a great expeirience and nobody should critisize them for that.

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  7. Smac finally took there talents out of Cuyahoga

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  8. Back row: phil Jurcovek, Luke brand, jaret poletta, robby Carmody
    Front row Greyson green, Gavin blunt, Garrett houser, sincere carry. All are Ohio kids except Jurcovek And Carmody. Smac picked them up from a Pittsburgh team. Great team!

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  9. did smack u ever play excel this year ?

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  10. نقدم لك حل طبيعي وسهل للتخلص من البقع والحل هو استخدام الخل والصودا للتخلص من كافة انواع البقع حيث يمكن التخلص من بقع الدهون وبقع الزيت سواء كانت على الجدران والحوائط أو كانت على الأرضيات والأسطح باستخدام محلول الصودا والخل الذي يفتت البقع ناهيك عن كونه يعتبر معقم قوي وفعال لقتل البكتريا وبالأخص عند إضافة سائل التنظيف معه، فللتخلص من البقع
    شركة تنظيف منازل
    ويجيب على تساؤلات عملائنا الكرام خبراء على أعلى مستوى حيث يقوم خبراء شركة تنظيف بيوت بالرياض والمتخصصون في مجال التنظيف والصحة العامة على تقديم إجابات وافية على استفسارات عملائنا وتقديم حلول للشكاوى المقدمة وسط الحرص على استخدام أحدث التقنيات وبالاعتماد على مواد طبيعية تحافظ على صحة الإنسان ولا تكون عبء على ميزانية المنزل.

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