Thursday, March 24, 2005

Throwback - BJ Elder on the AAU Circuit

Ran across this BJ Elder reference:


By this time, it'll cost at least a couple of hundred dollars on eBay to watch North Carolina State's Julius Hodge and Michigan State's Kelvin Torbert play ball in the NCAA regionals this week, but savvy basketball fans in Las Vegas have never had to reach that deep into their wallets to watch guys like them hoop it up.


Hodge and Torbert are just two more graduates of Las Vegas' AAU summer basketball tournament circuit, Hodge having starred for the New York Ravens and Torbert for the Michigan Mustangs, two of the Big Time tournament's traditional powers.


Hodge still holds the Big Time record for field goals made (91) and with 218 points, trails only Carmelo Anthony (Baltimore Select, 227 pts.) on the all-time tournament scoring list.


Both Hodge and Torbert made the 2000 all-Big Time team. As did Kansas' Wayne Simien (Kansas City 76ers), Syracuse's Gerry McNamara (NEP AAU, Fla.), Georgia Tech's B.J. Elder (Atlanta Celtics), North Carolina's Shelden Williams (Athletics First, Okla.), Mississippi State's Lawrence Roberts (Houston AAY) and Oklahoma's Kevin Bookout (Athletics First).