Photo. Tim TadderIn between the annual All-American games (Jordan Brand, McDonald’s, etc.) every spring, the summer AAU tournaments are where you can find the best collections of high school all-star caliber talent. Over the years we’ve seen some loaded squads storm through the circuit, featuring multiple NBA players and big-time college ballers alike, usually brought together for only one or two summers before going their separate ways. One year ago we said the SoCal All-Stars, coming off of an undefeated summer run, ranked as the best high school AAU team of all-time (Dime #26). But you can argue for a few other contenders for that title …
Long Island (N.Y.) Panthers, 2001
Starring: Charlie Villanueva, Curtis Sumpter, Taquan Dean, Jason Fraser.
Why they’re here: The Panthers took the coveted adidas Big Time Tournament in Vegas, beating a loaded Tim Thomas Playaz squad in the ‘chip. Charlie V and Fraser (who went on to have an injury-riddled career at Villanova) were hands-down the most dominant big men on any one team that year.
Atlanta Celtics, 2000
Starring: Jonathan Hargett, Donnell Harvey.
Why they’re here: Named the best team of the ‘00 summer by pretty much every recruiting publication that matters, the Celtics took almost every tournament they entered. You probably remember Harvey from his college days at Florida and a brief NBA career, but some of you younger readers are probably like, “Huh? Jonathan Hargett?” The explosive A.I.-like guard had a short run at West Virginia, but off-court troubles kept him from being a household name.
Spiece Indy Heat (Indiana), 2004
Starring: Greg Oden, Josh McRoberts, Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook.
Why they’re here: With two national Players of the Year in their respective classes (McRoberts in ‘05, Oden in ‘06) and four McDonald’s All-Americans, Spiece dominated the summer. Simply put, lots of heads were dunked on, lots of ankles were broken, and lots of shots were tossed into the stands.
Riverside (N.Y.) Church, 1995
Starring: Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Speedy Claxton, Erick Barkley.
Why they’re here: Maybe the greatest collection of high school talent ever assembled, this could be a decent starting five in the League right now. (A little small in the backcourt, though.) Riverside lost just one game all summer — to a Cali-based team led by Baron Davis — which they later avenged in a 20-point blowout.
SoCal All-Stars, 2006
Starring: Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, Renardo Sidney, Taylor King, Daniel Hackett, Malik Story.
Why they’re here: Undefeated throughout the entire summer and a lot of experts’ pick as the top AAU squad of all-time (including ours). SoCal’s impact will be felt throughout the college game in the coming years and likely in the pros. K-Love is going into his freshman season at UCLA, Jennings is the best PG in the high school class of ‘08, Sidney is arguably the best overall player in the class of ‘09, King is scheduled to drop buckets at Duke this year, Hackett was starting at the point for USC by the end of his frosh campaign, and Malik Story will join him in the Trojans backcourt come ‘08.
Best of the rest
* D.C. Assault (1998) — DerMarr Johnson, Keith Bogans.
* Michigan Mustangs (1998) — Jason Richardson, Kelvin Torbert.
* New York Ravens (2000) — Francisco Garcia, Julius Hodge, Curtis Stinson.
* Atlanta Celtics (2003) — Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Randolph Morris.
* New York Gauchos (2003) — Russell Robinson, Sundiata Gaines, Ronald Ramon.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Jrite says:
Dont forget the Sam Rines team that featured Kobe Bryant, Tim Thomas, and Vince Carter…..or the gauchos teams that had Feliple Lopez….good job though kyle…1
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Austin says:
That’s why we call him “Wikipedia.” He knows everything about high school ball.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Kyle aka "The Air Down There" says:
That Sam Rines team was only put together for a few tourneys, they were not a fixture of a team. If they were they were definitely going to be on the list.
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
dank says:
lol. Wikipedia? and the self-dubbed “air down there”? hilarious. good list though. that 95 team looks pretty legit though. i didnt even know those 5 were on that same team. thanks Wiki
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Eric says:
The 1995 Long Island Panthers, consisting of Speedy Claxton, Lamar Odom, Maliq Allen, Tavoris Bell, Karim Shabazz, Nolan Johnson, and Brian Resnick were a strong squad. Lamar and Speedy would just jump to Riverside for the tournies during that season.
Have a good weekend Dime crew.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:39 pm
JC says:
What about the 1997-98 EBO (Fresno) Squad? They had Carlos Boozer, Matt Barnes, Drew Gooden, Deshawn Stevenson, Chris Jeffries, and Ray Young. All were NBA players with the exception of Young…
June 23rd, 2007 at 1:28 am
Kyle says:
How many big tourneys did they play in together and won?
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:24 pm
JC says:
I know they played in all the big west coast adidas events (LV big time, pump n run end of the summer, etc.) that year they were the top rated team at the big time, but eventually lost to an Al harrington led brooklyn beast team.
June 23rd, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Kyle aka "The Air Down there" says:
I think the Michigan Mustangs took the chip at bigtime that year. They were led by Kelvin Torbert and Jason Richardson.
That EBO squad no doubt had talent but I don’t think they won any major tourneys like that.
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
JC says:
so would you base the top teams on tourney wins, # of NBA guys, or name at the time? I’m from the west, so i can remember teams that were packed with guys that were “the next best thing” (the 95′ SCA team featuring Schea Cotton comes to mind…) that may not have panned out for some reason or another. Some weren’t huge before some point/event (Matt Barnes was a name but not a star, & didn’t “blow up” till this season w/ the Warriors).
June 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Kyle aka "The Air Down There" says:
It’s both big tourney wins and big name players. Most of the time teams with big names win the most tourneys. A stacked team doesn’t get any credit for crushing teams at the local YMCA tournament.
That 95 team with Schea Cotton and Baron Davis was pretty good. They were the only team that beat that 95 Riverside Church team that’s number two on the list, then Riverside saw them again later that summer and crushed them.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:09 am
trevor says:
I’m from Seattle, but in the future you might have to consider Friends of Hoop from two years ago with Martell Webster, Spencer Hawes, Jon Brockman, Isaiah Thomas, and Jamelle McMillan. They did beat DC twice who had Durant and Lawson, not to mention and EBO team with 4-5 D1 players. What do you think?
June 25th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Austin Burton says:
Micah Downs was on that team too, wasn’t he? And Mitch Johnson I think…
July 5th, 2007 at 1:59 am
Philly FInest says:
Sam Rines had Kobe Bryant, Rip Hamilton, and John Linehan on 1 team. Then came right back with Matt Carroll, Rasual Butler, and Hakim Warrick with Dwand Robinson as the PG. All this over a 4 year period.