Arne Duncan brings a special cachet to the game of basketball. The former Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama (2009-2015), the Chicago-reared Duncan is in his third year coaching with the Mac Irvin Fire, one of Chicago's best programs.

The AAU boys basketball national championships are here.

The litany of great AAU basketball teams of the modern era (from the 1980s and on) chronicles the Las Vegas Big Time Tournament champions, summer staples like the Peach Jam to the modern-day EYBL, Under Armour, and Adidas playing circuits, as well as the AAU National Championships. 

The scope of the Jr. NBA World Championship, even for an organization as huge as the National Basketball Association, is absolutely staggering: eight United States regional tournaments in eight different American cities, eight international regions on six continents, and nearly 1,000 teams competing to be one of the 32 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls basketball teams that advance to the first-ever Jr. NBA World Championship in August.