BASKETBALL: Summer a busy time for area boys and girls on courts (UPDATED: more players, coach)

Baseball and softball are far from the only sports going on in the summer.
One in particular is basketball, and there is a lot of it with all of the AAU teams that exist now. For example, AAU programs with local names on the roster — and this likely isn’t all of them — include the Connecticut Passion, CT Elite, Connecticut Spirit, Connecticut Starters, Connecticut Magic, Connecticut Basketball Club and CT Select.
In some cases, local coaches or former players are involved with the AAU team. Former Crosby player Julio Vazquez signed on to the Connecticut Passion program as a coach. Sacred Heart assistant Jay Seay is a coach with the CT Elite, and former Crosby star B.J. Monteiro helps out at camps.
July is considered to be a huge month for summer basketball. Several locals went up against top competition at the Basketbull Hall of Fame Summer Finale. A CT Select team in the 11th/Open Division had DeAndre Wallace and Nyzair Rountree from Holy Cross, Jeremiah Kendall from Crosby, Roderick Jenkins from Bristol Eastern, and Shamir Johnson from Taft on the roster. Jenkins and Johnson are from Waterbury.
The Connecticut Passion had Alex Bernier, Austin Jones, Donavan Symes, Mike Palmieri, Mike Tessarzik and Tyler Arbuckle on the roster. Among those players are Bristol Central, St. Paul and Wolcott, and there was Farmington as well.
There were a bushel of local players on other teams at the Summer Finale. And to think, this was just the 11th/Open Division of the Summer Finale.
A 10U CT Select team featured locals Connor Printz (Taft), DeAndre Wallace (Holy Cross), Kerwin Prince (Crosby) and Marcellus Gomes (Holy Cross).
There’s three other Sacred Heart players to mention. Two are out of state, but they are ompeting with strong programs. Omar Rowe plays for the New York Rens 15U team, Raheem Solomon plays for the Mass Rivals, and Isiah Gaiter plays for the Connecticut Basketball Club. Freddie Feliciano, a Sacred Heart graduate, coaches with the 17U Rens team.
Other boys are playing in the Waterbury YMCA Summer Basketball League. There are teams from Holy Cross, Waterbury Career Academy, Wilby and Kaynor Tech. Still others, boys and girls, are playing in the Torrington Summer Basketball League, which has entered its third decade.
Jade Udoh of St. Paul made headlines for the Connecticut Spirit while Treasure Coleman of Sacred Heart did the same with the New York Lady Gauchos (AKA Lady Choz).
Summer basketball is a place where players get recognized by colleges and improve on their individual games.