Many of the major figures in Baltimore AAU basketball were on hand for the State of Baltimore Basketball Summit Thursday night at the Baltimore Rowing & Resource Center.

The event, organized by bmorehoops.com publisher/editor Shawntrá Spence and the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, brought coaches and officials from Baltimore Select, the Baltimore Stars and others to discuss the most pressing issues in AAU basketball in the city.

There was nothing extraordinarily groundbreaking that took place, but there were three notable quotes that I thought summed up the evening.

“We’re getting so caught up in this territorial thing … we just need to represent Baltimore in the tournaments.”

-- Baltimore Select coach Keith Goodie, voicing his concern that the city AAU programs need to worry less about which kid belongs to which team, and be more concerned with representing Baltimore positively at tournaments.

“We shelter these kids … they don’t play outside anymore. On the Rec & Park side, we’re very limited in our resources.”

-- Tarik Brown of the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, responding to a criticism on the lack of suitable gym options for kids in the city.

“We’re trying to get kids in school. Our goal is to get kids exposure so they can get college scholarships.”

-- Baltimore Stars coach Troy Franklin, stating what he believes all AAU teams should be most concerned with.

Franklin’s quote sums it all up. The coaches need to work together to get as many Baltimore kids recruited as possible.

Shawntrá Spence deserves a ton of credit for putting together the event and making sure these issues were – and continue to be – adequately addressed.

Leftover links

• Maryland running back target Kevin Whaley had a pretty decent season opener.

• Football is all in the family for Terps offensive line target Rob Gumbita.

• This will probably be the last Sean Mosley link for awhile, but it’s a good one. PressBox examines the significance of Maryland landing a Baltimore kid.