This post started about best orgs, and here we are again talking about the alphabet.

There are lots of metrics you could select to determine best orgs: winning, RPI, size, coaches, value, training, etc.

But once you get to the stage of multiple weekends out of town every summer and fall, I’d posit that the most important metric is: “Is this org putting kids into the highest level college programs?”

The best way to measure that is by either tracking it every year (eg, Bandits and Chill websites), or seeing which orgs are consistently getting into the best tournaments.

The previous post about the top national tournaments gives a good list. IDT, T25, PGF Premier, Easton Rawlings, Team 1 / KC are on that list - probably no more than 10 true elite tournaments in the country in a given year.

How are tournaments elite? If Mike White shows up. If Patty Gasso is there. If UCLA, Oregon, Georgia, etc are showing up consistently at your complex.

It shouldn’t be disrespectful to speak the truth… that’s not a Silverhawks schedule. It sure isn’t Wasco. Sparks keeps a toe across the line largely due to legacy. One Cheetahs team has earned those entey tickets, but not the org. But it’s Chill and Bandits every single year.

The “multiple SEC on the roster” also makes sense as a benchmark. Silverhawks and Wasco may see a couple of opposing Big Ten commits in a weekend. Neither of them are seeing a lineup like you find at those elite tournaments - P4 near top to bottom, with multiple top 25 (SEC/ACC) in the lineup.

We got into this a while back - what is a “A team?” We don’t need to tread that ground again, but let me just say that Bandits and Chill have mostly A teams, are A orgs - and there isn’t another A org in the Midwest, and only a handful of potential A teams.

A teams will play late in the day on Sunday at those elite tournaments. Maybe 25 teams in the country.

Sure as hell not Wasco. That’s a million miles away…