Iowa State’s 2014 point guard commitment Clayton Custer has switched AAU teams for the upcoming summer. After playing for the Mo-Kan Elite over the last few years, Custer has joined up with Team YOBO for this AAU season.
And if you’re wondering, Team YOBO stands for “You Only Ball Once.”
I had to ask and to be honest, Clayton had to explain it to me a couple of times before the name made sense (I’m getting old).
Regardless of the funky team name, there is a method behind Custer’s madness in making this subtle switch.
“This team kind of forces me to be more of a leader,” said Custer. “It is actually going to help me I think in the long run for when I get to Iowa State. This team puts a lot of pressure on me. If I play good, our team is going to win. If I don’t play good, we might lose. It is forcing me to be more of a leader and I am more of a scorer on it. It should help me score at the next level.”
For his high school team, Overland Park’s Blue Valley Northwest squad, Custer averaged 22.4 points, 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game in route to a state championship in 2012-13.
Custer was recently named the Kansas City Star’s All-Metro Player of the Year.
On that high school team, Custer’s role is to be a ball distributor who scores when his team needs him to. He’s a finisher if you will.
On the AAU circuit this spring and summer, Custer has to score for his team to win.
See the difference?
There is no doubt at all that Custer will play point guard at Iowa State when he arrives in Ames. But it sure is nice when your point guard is a threat to drop 20 points on any given night as well as getting the rest on the guys on the team involved too.
That is Custer’s goal this summer – to further develop that aspect of his game. To become a better scorer.
“I have always kind of been a guy that plays with a chip on my shoulder because people don’t always believe in me,” said Custer. “I always kind of go out there and am on a mission all of the time. I definitely have been trying to play better with a different AAU team this year.”
