Hoops

Which is better for a young players development?

^Anon, I agree in part with this, however the thing about US High School is probably the exposure you would get if you were a really good player in a decent program.

You would come under the notice of College Coaches more readily than playing here in a youth league, however if development was the criteria, then yes it would likely be no less a standard to remain and play in the best junior leagues here...

Depends on who is the coach at each place, If Clarke was still at AIS Yes, Stacker well ordinary at best.
Who is coaching the new AIS?

Development may be the wrong question here, as Very Old has mentioned, it is more about preparation for the next level.

Development will have started much earlier IMO, but to answer this is not simple, agree to that...

Way too many variables to consider, but the simple fact is that to be selected the the AIS is very exclusive, so if a kid wanted to go to the USA HS system, plenty more opportunities as there are many schools open to an exchange or overseas student.

HS overseeas is a very big jump culturally for an OZ player going to the US. The US HS do not play or train Basketball year round. That is where their community or privately based AAU junior teams and local/state/nationaltournaments come in to to play. So you need to either get them linked up with both systems or get them into a specialist sports prep HS.

The other is to have your kid go all the way through the Aust state and national programs ( if they don't make the AIS as a HS age player)and then have them go to HS in the US for their final year after 18s or u20s. To do this you need to ensure that they don't actually graduate the Australian year 12, only the year 11. They can attend year 12 , just not fully graduate. That leaves them with HS eligibility in the US for the final year of HS as an exchange student.

that's the ins and outs of the possible structures, but which is best - between a relatively known process here in OZ, or a totally unknown process ( due to EXTREEMLY variable HS and AAU coaches in the US) - only a close personal knowledge of the player and the proposed US program can really determine - there is no simple answer.