The Atlanta region has been running Ultimate Hoops leagues since 2012 with varying results. It is an area with a lot of UH history and one that has had many successful seasons across three different clubs.

Alpharetta, Woodstock and Sandy Springs have all taken turns taking time off, as it has been rare to see any of the clubs run consistently for more than a year. There are multiple factors into that inconsistency and varying success. There has been a lot of turnover with league coordinators, affecting the participation in each league. Atlanta has also been running exclusively open leagues for almost all of its history, which have proven to be more difficult to keep running due to the lack of parity.

The most recent NBA offseason can be seen as an example of why the draft leagues have become a more popular option over the past couple years in UH. People get bored easily and love all of the player movement. Each season the league is changing drastically, and it seems like something today’s fans find extremely entertaining. A draft league has some of the same sentiment, as players will end up playing on a different team, with different players, every season. Go 1-7 and get knocked out in the first round one season? That sucks, but next season you could end up on a championship-winning team. It’s like fantasy sports each season, but you actually get to play in it for real.

This is something that new Alpharetta League Coordinator, Emery Range, has experienced first hand in Arizona. Range started his UH playing career in 2015 in the Scottsdale Open League. After three years off, he returned to UH to play for three seasons in the Palm Valley Draft League in 2018.

Range then moved to Atlanta, where he started playing in the Alpharetta Open League right away.

“Before I left the state of Arizona I had made sure that I got my membership transferred over to the diamond in Sandy Springs, because that was the gym closest to me. The leagues are ran very well in Arizona, and I knew I wanted to be apart of it in Atlanta as well,” Range said.

it’s hard to compare any UH experience to what has been going on in Arizona over the past few years. They run anywhere from five to seven leagues a season, including four draft leagues in four different clubs. This all culminates into a state-wide draft tournament that features over 30 teams.

The talent level is high, but the consistency is what makes UH Arizona as impressive as it is. Atlanta is not short on talented players, as this year’s New York National Tournament showed, but the consistency has always been what the region has struggled with.

“Atlanta has a lot of talent, probably more than Arizona! The problem I’ve seen so far out here is that guys aren’t as committed like the guys in Arizona are,” Range said.

Transitioning into a draft league may be what Alpharetta needs to get that commitment. The Woodstock location turned its open league into a draft league at the start of this year and has seen three straight seasons with six teams. The last season Alpharetta had came this past winter, when they ran an open league with four teams. Range hopes the draft format will bring in more interest.

“I believe that a draft league would be successful because it would be much more competitive and you also will typically see different teams every season,” he said.

The fall season of the Alpharetta Draft League is scheduled to start on October 14. If you are interested in playing in the league, you can sign up here.