"Play Their Hearts Out"

If there was such an authority, George Dohrmann's book "Play Their Hearts Out" should be required reading for all parents and college basketball prospects. It's the story of Demetrious Young, now redshirting at New Mexico, chronicling his life from middle school onward. He was once the highest-rated-in-his-age-group prospect in the country (yes, there are some adults who stoop to such a level of rankings) and his fall, along with many others including adults, from grace is starkly depicted. The book contains a lot of good, bad and ugly but ultimately is extremely informative and a great read.

Here is an excerpt from Dohrmann's book.

Here is another lengthy excerpt.

Here is one Q-and-A with Dohrmann.

Here is a second one.

Here is a strong endorsement of the book with the last line reading "It'll make you sick."

Here is another related article.

We're late to this

George Dohrmann won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the Clem Haskins - Minnesota basketball scandal some year ago and now has produced a new book -- eight years in the making -- titled Play Their Hearts Out. It's covers many subjects surrounding the upper level world of AAU/club team basketball

Here is a lengthy excerpt:

Demetrius Walker and his coach, Joe Keller, were at the Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) Family Sports Center early in 2003 when a young man Demetrius guessed to be about twenty years old entered the gym. Demetrius did not recognize him, but Keller hurried over and they hugged, and he then led the young man to where Demetrius sat lacing his shoes.

"D, this is Keilon," Keller said. "He used to play for Pat [Barrett]. He's going to work out with you."

Demetrius looked at Keilon, more than a little confused. Keilon was a man, with several tattoos on his arms and a chiseled physique. Why is he going to work out with me? Demetrius thought. But he didn't say anything. If Coach Joe wanted him to work out with Keilon, there must be a good reason...

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'Must read' is too often overused but it certainly applies to this book.

A great read on recruiting

Here's a fascinating piece by one of the best investigative reporters around, George Dohrmann. Like just about everything in life, there's the "above surface story" and the "submerged" one. College recruiting is just example #79542 of this.

It's endearing when a fan posts on a message board that "our coach ought to go after so-and-so" because "so-and-so" is often spoken for long before any official letter-of-intent can be signed. It's a prospect/parent-uncle-brother/high school coach/club team coach/family advisor/in-between "runner" equation. Did we leave anyone out?

Story behind NCAA violations in Arizona basketball program
George Dohrmann
Sports Illustrated
February 9, 2010

At first glance, the inaugural Cactus Classic in May 2006 appeared to be like any other grassroots basketball tournament. There were 32 teams in Tucson, Ariz., for the three-day event. Games were played on the campus of the University of Arizona, split between three courts in the McKale Center and three in the school's intramural gym. Teams were grouped into pools of four and played three games within their pool.

The size, setting and format of the tournament were like any other, but the Cactus Classic was no ordinary grassroots event. It was not staged or sponsored by Nike, Adidas or Reebok, like most big tournaments. The organizer was a 28-year-old Tucson resident who had never held a major basketball tournament before. Also, the tournament was in the middle of an NCAA dead period, meaning no college coaches could attend. All the usual enticements that get teams to a tournament -- allegiance to a sponsor, a connected organizer, a chance to be scouted by college coaches -- were missing, yet the 32 teams were among the best in the country. With the exception of the big shoe-company events in Las Vegas in July, there was not a better assemblage of talent west of the Mississippi that year.

The Cactus Classic was special, and during its three-year run, which ended in 2008, it was the most talked about youth basketball tournament in America -- by college recruiters, AAU coaches, and later, NCAA investigators. Yet few people know the story of how the tournament came to be, how members of the Arizona coaching staff devised a plan to gain an edge in recruiting, and then brazenly toed -- and at times may have crossed -- NCAA boundaries to implement it...

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