Utah Pump N Run Basketball

It has become a familiar summer ritual for Michael Brown. The Wasatch High School guard gathers up his uniform and basketball shoes, hops into his car and makes a 45-minute drive from Heber to Salt Lake City in order to get in some quality time on the court.

There's a good reason behind making these frequent trips from home. For Brown, it gives him the opportunity to play AAU basketball and offers an avenue to give college coaches a good look at his game.

"The best way to get recruited and the best way to get better is to go out and play against the AAU competition," Brown said. "So I decided that in the long run I could get a lot more experience and a lot more skill behind me if I make the drive here every day."

17U RED ELITE Looks to Build on Team, Individual Success From Last Week’s Best Buy Summer Classic. Other Utah Pump-N-Run Teams Preparing for Tournaments Starting This Week.

Utah Pump-N-Run 17U RED ELITE will look to build on last week’s team and individual success as they prepare for the adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas and the Best of Summer in Anaheim. Holding a number eight ranking in the West, the team has several key wins over teams that featured top prospects from all over the country. After a quarterfinal run in the platinum bracket at last weeks Best Buy Summer Classic in Minnesota, many Utah Pump-N-Run players are gaining respect as being top prospects themselves.

High school basketball championships might not be won in the summer, but that is often where championship dreams are born.

When Highland won the South Tahoe Shootout earlier this month — completing its most successful summer since 2005, which preceded the Rams’ 2006 state title — those dreams flourished.

“That’s obviously the only thing we’re thinking about because we want to win championships,” all-state point guard Sam Orchard said.

By the middle of his sophomore season, it was clear that Kyle Collinsworth was a special talent.

At that time, he was 6-foot-5, had led Provo High to a state basketball title and had done so with the kind of ball-handling and passing ability usually seen out of tiny point guards. No matter how dominant he was for his high school team, however, Collinsworth knew there would be doubts about his ability at the national level.

However, all of that changed after Collinsworth spent that spring playing AAU ball for the Utah Pump-N-Run team — a stretch of games against top national competition that introduced him to college coaches and scouts from coast to coast.

Team to Kick-Off Summer Season Against Nationally Recognized Indiana Elite with Duke Bound 7-Footer Marshall Plumlee at the Best Buy Classic in Minnesota.

Utah Pump-N-Run's 17U RED ELITE team, ranked No. 8 for Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) programs in the West by PremierBall.com, will begin showcasing the state’s premier prep athletes at summer basketball tournaments around the country. The team will have its first chance to play in front of college coaches, as the month of July marks the NCAA Division 1 viewing period. This week, the team will travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota (Best Buy Summer Classic), followed by trips to Las Vegas (Adidas Super 64) and Anaheim, California (Best of Summer) later this month.