I will greatly agree with watered down. I remember when you had to win a qualifier to get into the WWBA tournaments. Then it meant something. Coaches would show up knowing it was some of the best teams in the nation and it was one of the few where all the big teams were at. You also knew as a player that you had to show up every game. It was a struggle just to get out of the pool play into the real tournament.
Now every parent thinks their player should be playing in the big tournaments. I think tournament/showcase ball as a whole has been watered down. Parents are wasting money, big money, on these tournaments that they have no business going to. You do not get better playing great teams. You get better getting ready to play big teams and many players should never be playing the big teams.
I read an article about about a basketball team that played a national powerhouse last week. The coach kept saying we competed our butts off from start to finish. I wanted to rebuttal him but there was no where to rebuttal. It was 0-23 after the first quarter and the powerhouse team did not even play their starters the second half and won by 56. Coach, you did not compete at all, much less from start to finish. You were in over your head before the tip was thrown up. That is how I also feel going to watch the WWBA and other big tournaments in pool play now.