Forming AAU basketball teams in the summer has become a trend amongst high school friend groups in recent years. But for one group of Long Beach friends, it’s become an opportunity for basketball players across the Moore League to conjoin into one team to get work in during the offseason.
The 562 Select was created in 2022 by Cyrus Farzad and Jeremiah Graham, a pair of friends who were inspired to form their own AAU team after seeing the idea across social media. The team has since grown into a mixture of players across the Moore League, and they recently picked up a tournament win last weekend in Sports Academy’s Crossover Classic in Seal Beach.
“We had seen a group of friends make a team on Tiktok. We started talking about it and thought we should make our own team and that’s how it started,” said Graham, Wilson’s starting guard coming off of his sophomore season, where he posted 11 points per game. “Obviously, it’s for fun and with friends, but we’ve been wanting to get a championship for a while now. It took us a couple tournaments, but we finally ended up winning one last weekend.”
Alongside Graham and Farzad, coach Ethan Supernaw has been with the team since 2022, and the three take pride in welcoming their friends to join the team regardless of basketball experience. The 562 Select roster has a variety of skill levels from lower level high school players all the way up to All-Moore League standouts such as Poly’s Giovanni and Nana Ofoegbu, and Austin Unegbu.
“It’s a lot of big guys from Moore League, but it’s also guys who maybe haven’t had the opportunity to play basketball elsewhere,” said Supernaw. “In the past AAU has been something where you pay coaches to play with guys you’re unfamiliar with or don’t go to school with, but with us it’s just run by us and our friends and it’s just for the love and experience of the game.”
“It’s been fun for all of us to just work on our game,” said Jojo Ofoegbu. “(I just try to lead some of the inexperienced guys) and I just try to tell them not to keep their heads up and to never get down on themselves. That is something I’ve learned from some of my older teammates in the past.”
Jojo Ofoegbu helped the team in their tournament win last weekend as he has all summer, averaging 19 ppg and eight rebounds per game while also lifting the team up with a handful of elusive dunks. Nana Ofoegbu has contributed 17 ppg this summer, along with four assists per game and five rpg. Unegbu has also averaged 12 ppg and five rpg, while Graham has averaged 16 ppg, four apg, and five rpg.
“I went to school with Nana, Jojo, and all of them and I’m used to competing against them,” said Graham. “We’re still friends and it’s good that we’re able to play together and get better.”
“Growing up with those guys we always played together so it was fun to get back together with them and make that team,” said Ofoegbu. “And with me Nana and Austin it helps with our chemistry going into the season so we can play and work better together.”
The team went undefeated in their two games of pool play on the first day of the Crossover Classic earning themselves a bye week in Sunday’s bracket play. The 562 Select followed it up with a victory over Team So Cal and a championship win against PTBA.
“I think the championship we just produced is a product of the comradery and commitment to the team,” said Supernaw. “I think people see us and our social media page and overlook us, but we’ve just let our basketball talk. We put everything into the team and it’s come out of all of our own pockets to produce this team but we get the enjoyment from winning games like last weekend.”
The 562 Select will participate next in the Focus Basketball Fun in the Sun Tournament on July 20-21.Roster: Coach Ethan Supernaw and players Nana Ofoegbu, Jojo Ofoegbu, Austin Unegbu, David Nichols, Cyrus Farzad, Jeremiah Graham, Will Waldrop, Alex Herrera, and Nolan Billoups.
