The 2023 AAU Season is going to be electric, crazy and just flat-out intense. Once March arrives in the US, over 1000 teams are going to be going for the same goal, all the practices, all the hardwork, the sweat and the tears are all going to lead up to one thing... a National AAU Championship. Plenty of teams are going to rebound from last years postseason losses, teams that include the California Dream Vision, who lost the AAU National Championship in a heartbreaking 7-game series to the Defending AAU National Champion Springfield Falcons. Teams like Strive For Greatness and the Oakland Soldiers who underperformed in the playoffs are going to look for a bounce back season, and they hope to really make a big splash next season, they hope to finally claim the National Championship that they both won in prior seasons. And after all of that, here are your 2023 AAU Boys' Basketball Power Rankings!

1. The California Dream Vision (Compton CA)
Last season's loss for the Dream Vision in the National Championship was devastating. After gaining a 3-1 advantage on the Springfield Falcons, the Dream Vision and mainly Stephen Jones, the leader for most 3's made in AAU History went cold, his performance in Games 5-7 was flat out bad, and give credit to the Springfield defense which really locked down and allowed for them to come back in that series. This season is different for the Dream Vision, normally they either win the Championship or they get beat in a tough series, but losing a 3-1 lead is something they've never been dealt with. Look for Stephen Jones and the rest of the team to really have a chip on their shoulder for this upcoming season.

2. Strive For Greatness (Sierra Canyon CA)
A healthy Lebron James Jr. is going to be really important for a team loaded with talent. Strive For Greatness got knocked out in the Conference Semifinals last season because of health, after dominating the regular season, the team underachieved in the postseason and were knocked out. This season is going to be a lot of the same, hopefully minus the injuries. Strive For Greatness is going to be a top seed again in the Western AAU Conference, but they are going to have to stay healthy if they have a chance of making a deep run late in June in the National Tournament.

3. The Oakland Soldiers (Oakland CA)
The Soldiers of Oakland came within one shot of having a very different ending to their season last year. After a very physical series with the Springfield Falcons in the Eastern Conference Championship, the Falcons were able to win in 7, and move on to the Championship. After that series was finished, it was pretty clear that the Oakland Soldiers defense was very good, but there offense is very below average and its a struggle to pick up points some times. Even though Oakland hasn't added anybody to the team over the offseason, it seems to be the Soldiers are going to rely on Terrance Butler to take that next step into Stardom and really bring the Soldiers to the top.

4. Team Thad (New Jersey NY)
Team Thad battled with the Springfield Falcons in a brutal 7-game series, but just came up short in the Conference Semifinals. Yes, injuries played a big part in there loss, but there ability to go stone cold from beyond the 3-point line was another reason they lost. The Falcons just shot more 3's and just made more, plain and simple. Team Thad really hasn't done much in the offseason to get any help from beyond the arc, but getting 2 of there starters back in the lineup who can at least shoot it a little will help. Team Thad will be another tough out in the regular season and really aren't a team your going to want to face in the playoffs.

5. Atlanta Celtics (Atlanta GA)
The Atlanta Celtics are the most pure athletic team on this list, they are all athletes and they fly up and down the court with there speed, a bit of controlled choas if you want to call it that. But, that comes with some severe problems, first the Celtics aren't that smart in their decisions, and there lack of being smart and taking care of the basketball has lead to some bad losses. Sometimes just being more athletic than the other team isn't going to always work. The Celtics are just missing a playmaker, someone who can create plays in the halfcourt and give them some sort of efficent offense, but for right now #5 is a good spot to place them.

6. Houston Hoopers (Houston TX)
The Houston Hoopers are a real back to the basket and simple team. Led by the star of Collin Allen, who is a massive guard who reminds me a lot of Larry Bird and now Luka Doncic. Allen is a real hooper and was able to carry his team to a #4 seed in the West last season. Now with the additions of some good quality bigmen, the Houston Hoopers rise up to #6 on the power rankings, over taking some over teams that I just don't think made enough improvements last season in the off-season to move up. But Collin Allen does have to stay healthy, or else the season for the Houston Hoopers will come raining down very quickly.

7. The St. Louis Knights (St. Louis MZ)
The St. Louis Knights are a very intriguing team, and a team I have a lot of fun watching, they have the shooters, they have the playmakers, and the defense, but there just lacking one thing. That of course is that guy who can put the ball in the basket when it truely counts, the Knights just don't have a go-to scorer, and it really hurt them in the playoffs last season. You don't just naturally find a go-to scorer on the market anywhere to pick up, meaning the Knights are going to have to try and breed a natural scorer out of who they have already, and that is way easier said than done.

8. Yander's Law (Lawrence KS)
Yander's Law is a team that is here just because they have been a steady team over the past 4 seasons, and this team isn't going to be any different this season. The team out of Kansas is going to look to try and get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time. Over the past 3 seasons, they have found themselves playing against the Dream Vision of Strive For Greatness in the first rounds, which are teams they don't have the talent to beat. The team this year is going to look and try and get a higher seed, and just hope for an upset in one of the first rounds to finally get over that hump.

9. Miami International (Miami FL)
Once again, Miami International is another AAU team that is just missing that guy who can put the ball in the basket when it really counts. The supporting pieces around that missing star are there, and it's the reason they are top 10 in the power rankings. However, there is a player I want to mention real quick, and that is the lefty, Jaiquan Smith, a pure slasher who can really get himself to the rim at high levels and get to the free throw line. His only issue is that he can't shoot from the outside, and the floor spacing around the rest of the team is really lacking that spacing when they need him to put the ball in the basket.

10. Wisconsin Playground Elite (Milwaukee WI)
The Boozer twins are going to be Juniors playing a senior league next season, and they deserve to be there. The team this year is just flat out going to be inexperienced at this level, but that isn't a bad thing for the future. Beyond the Boozer twins are a bunch of shooters, stretching the floor and creating the spacing that a team like Miami International does not have. Miami is ahead of Playground Elite due to there long experience in the playoffs, and they just have a more complete team at the moment, but this is one of my dark horse teams that I think can really make an impact at this level next season.

11. Minnesota Comets (Minneapolis MN)
Where to even start with the Comets this season, they lost some players who were very big to there team last season, as well as gaining some new players, who we really haven't seen before. The Comets were almost impossible to place just because I don't know and we don't know who is going to contribute and who isn't, and having that problem at this level in 2023 is almost an impossible thing to overcome. On the otherhand, this team does have a lot of veteran leadership and could be another surprise team late in the playoffs.

12. Team Get Shook (Charlotte NC)
Kevin Edmonds has been a great scorer in the AAU for the last several years, but this season seems to be different. Edmonds dealt with injury after injury last season, and was only able to return just a week before the AAU Playoffs began, in which Team Get Shook was swept and knocked out by the Springfield Falcons in the first round. Now a lot of that wasn't Edmonds fault exactly, but he really didn't play nearly up to the standards we are used to seeing him play at. This season doesn't seem to be any different, a team who has a dynamic scorer in Kevin Edmonds and sort of just a black hole around him, which isn't going to bring success.

13. Mac Irvin Fire (Chicago IL)
J.J. Taylor and Dai Dai Ames, both Division 1 college commits to Memphis and Kansas State as mentioned. These two are absolute beasts on and off the ball and are able to pretty much do anything on the court on both sides of the ball. Now you might be asking, why is this team so low on the power rankings? Well they lost some other starters to the market and really didn't pick up anybody, now with the Falcons trailing off over the summer, Mac Irvin may think that Ames and Taylor are good enough to win State and make a deep run into the National Tournament, but who knows in the AAU, anything can happen and anything is possible.

14. Detroit Wolverines (Detroit MI)
The Detroit Wolverines have sort of just been floating off in space for a while, mainly the last two seasons to be frank, and it's not clear as to why. After they lost a tough 7-game series vs the Springfield Falcons in the 2020 Semifinals, the Wolverines haven't seemed to regain their own confidence in themselves and it shows on the court. In the regular season they aren't playing with pressure and play loose and open with each other, but once the playoffs start up, they pressure builds up and the team just seems to crumble under the pressure, something they didn't do before 2020. Don't expect much more from this team this year, unless they really figure out their postseason problems.

15. Illinois MeanStreets (Chicago IL)
James Brown out of St. Rita is the star off this team. This team reminds me a lot of the current Philadelphia 76ers. James Brown is the Joel Embiid, the one in the paint dominating and really leading this team. On the otherhand Nojus Indrusaitis is like the James Harden, a kid who played out of his mind from 2016-2019 and was ontop of the league. After some injuries plagued his 2020 season, he left the Mac Irvin Fire and went to the MeanStreets where is going to try and revive his career. This team this season isn't going to beat the Mac Irvin Fire in the State Championship and probably won't qualify for the playoffs, unless Indrusaitis finds his stride again.

16. Springfield Falcons (Springfield IL)
Where to even begin with the Defending National Champions. First of all, Chandler Dawes arguably the most unknown basketball talent on the planet is now off the team, his brother Charlie is gone, dynamic 2-way scorer and also veteran Paul Hammond is gone. Head Coach Will Jenkins who will easily go into the AAU Hall of Fame and is a 3x Coach of the Year award winner is sort of unknown. He is undecided if he is going to return, nobody really knows where he is to even ask him any questions. But if Jenkins does return next season, expect him to bring the Point Guard Conor McCaffrey out of Springfield Lutheran who really showed out in the State Playoffs last season and was denied access into the National Tournament by the California AAU Committee. The Falcons this season come in with true uncertainty and nobody really knows whose on the team and whose not right now, but they will get it figured out.