April means showers, taxes and the start of AAU basketball season. Teams from coast-to-coast begin to fly all over the country, many via sponsorships from basketball's big three shoe makers (Nike, Reebok and Adidas). Hot on their heels are the college coaches with their evaluation goggles on. It's a tiring job, but someone's got to recruit these prospects and their "advisors," right?

Here is the latest rundown of the top three in-state teams as well as a listing of the major events for the month of April.

Michigan Mustangs – AAU veteran coach Norm Oden looks to make a mark again this summer with a team full of talented players. Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel, Kelvin Torbert, Jason Richardson, Antonio Gates (San Diego Chargers) and reigning Mr. Basketball David Kool all played under Oden's watchful eye on the AAU circuit.

Oden has a talented squad of players this summer and should be in the thick of every tournament they take part in.

Josh Southern (Saginaw High)

Paul Crosby (Holt)

Draymond Green (Saginaw High)

Anthony Ianni (Okemos)

Brad Redford (Frankenmuth)

KD Bell (Kalamazoo Central)

Chase Simon (Detroit Community)

Austin Thornton (Cedar Springs)

Laval Lucas-Perry (Flint Powers)

Deonte Wesley (Saginaw High)

The Family – Detroit's top AAU squad features loads of talent once again. Coach Speedy Walker has three of the state's top players, Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and Corperryale "Manny" Harris, leading the way so expect them to make noise all summer long. They begin play this weekend at the Boo Williams in Hampton, VA (see below).

"We have about 9 or 10 practices under our belt now," Durrell Summers said Thursday afternoon. "We are getting a good feel for one another."

In addition to the big three of Summers (Redford Covenant), Lucas (Orchard Lake St. Mary's) and Harris (Detroit Redford), The Family's roster includes Devin Searcy (Romulus), Marvin Skipper (Detroit Pershing), John Tassin (Orchard Lake St. Mary's) and Jordan Crawford (Detroit CMA).

Last year, this group of players began the AAU campaign on the 16U (incoming junior) squad because the 17U team had players named DeShawn Sims, Ramar Smith, Leon Freeman and Tajuan Porter in the lineup. With those players now on their way to college, Summers, Lucas and crew are now the top dogs.

"Because there is so much talent on this team, you know you don't have to do anything you're not capable of," Summers said. "But on the other hand, it will be up to us to make sure that no one tries to step out and do too much either."

As far as looking at his own development this summer, Summers is keeping it simple.

"I'm just going to try and stay focused and work on the little things," he said. "It's going to be a couple of months until the (July) individual camps start. There will be plenty of time to show what my individual skills are then. Right now we just have to play as a team and work hard to win some tournaments."

Michigan Hurricanes – Alex Legion has decommitted from Michigan and Detroit Country Day, but he still suits up for the Hurricanes. Darquavis Tucker (Saginaw Arthur Hill), Anthony Crater (Flint Southwestern), Kelvin Grady and DeMarcus Grady (East Grand Rapids) are also returning from last season's roster which lost two high DI commits, Tom Herzog and Tory Jackson, to graduation.

This Michigan Mustangs' sponsored event is one of the bigger in-state events this month.

The always-competitive Boo Williams starts the AAU season with a bang. The event is the major spring gathering for Nike travel teams and it's always loaded with talent. Boo has typically been a spring board for major prospects like Sherron Collins (Kansas), Kevin Durant (Texas), Tywon Lawson (North Carolina), Nic Wise (Arizona) and Andrew Bynum (Los Angeles Lakers).

Last year this event had Thaddeus Young's team (Georgia Tech) defeat Greg Oden and Mike Conley's (Ohio State) Spiece Indy Heat crew for the title. College coaches cover Fayetteville religiously in what is one of the biggest events of the summer as teams from California to New York make the trek to SEC country.

This tourney is now in its 12th year and has become the largest weekend basketball tournament in the United States. In 2005, over 500 teams from across the USA, Canada, Australia, and the Bahamas participated, and over 300 college coaches were in attendance. Many coaches use this one as their coming out event and they make themselves seen but not heard.

The King James Classic, named after hometown hero LeBron James, is entering its first season. They have pulled out all the stops to make this rookie major event. Fox Sports will nationally televise the 17U championship game and it's a certified college event for the coaches, so many will surely be in attendance.

Dru Joyce, who coached James in high school (Akron's St. Vincent-St. Mary's) and on the AAU circuit, will act as the tournament director.