Jim Seavey began laying the groundwork while the high school basketball season was still going. An email here, a phone call there. Some players he’d just talk to in person after games. Sometimes he’d speak to a particular player’s coach, hoping that he or she would then put the bug in the player’s ear.

Seavey, the girls coach at Greely High and a Westbrook resident, wasn’t interested in haphazardly building another also-ran AAU team. He wanted to construct the kind of squad that could challenge the New England Crusaders, a successful New Hampshire-based program that is known for pillaging the best players from Maine, Vermont and even Massachusetts.

Seavey was striving to create a team, the Maine Extreme, that top local players would instinctively choose over all the others, and he was willing to use all of his resources to do so. As the president of the Maine Coaches Association, he’s got a well-stocked address book at his disposal.

It will be at least a year, maybe more, before Seavey is able to tell if he’s on the right track, but he likes what he sees so far.

“(The response) was more so than what I was hoping because my initial plan was to get one team going this year and coach one team,” he said. “I’m coaching three teams now. I’ve got a 14-and-under team, a sophomore group and a junior group.”

The sophomore/junior team – which practices as one unit in case substitutions need to be made – has attracted local players from Westbrook, South Portland, Bonny Eagle, Thornton Academy and Lake Region, but there are also players traveling from as far away as Messalonskee, Telstar and Lawrence.

It’s not just the numbers that have Seavey excited, though. With the first big-time tournament, the Nike Boo Williams Invitational in Virginia, less than two weeks away, Seavey is already seeing the kind of chemistry he figured would develop at some point in the future, but not necessarily this early.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “We played (a) tournament together a few weeks ago, and my big question was, ‘How are they going to play together for the first time?’ It was amazing for five or six, maybe seven practices. They went out and played like they had been together for two or three years.”

It helps that Seavey targeted and ultimately attracted the kind of players who want to better themselves, who want to play beyond high school.

Lake Region’s Courtney McLean, a three-sport athlete, never really saw the point of shoe-horning AAU hoops into her already jam-packed schedule. This year was different.

“This year it was because this team is going further than most AAU teams that we have in our area,” said McClean, who, along with Renee Nicholas and Kim Rivet, is one of three Lakers on the Extreme. “We’re going to Virginia; we’re going to have a tournament in Florida; we’re going to New York. And those are all tournaments that colleges routinely go to to recruit. So I think it’s a good place, if people are interested in scholarships because you can talk about it there.”

Thornton Academy’s Melissa Small got the invite to tryout after Seavey saw her play in Greely’s holiday tournament.

“Of course, I was really, really pumped and I said, ‘Yeah,’ because I knew this was going to get me a lot better, and I was really excited,” she said.

And how about now? Is Small still enjoying it? Still enjoying the two, two-plus hour practices on the weekends?

For sure.

“It’s extremely intense, and I really like because now I’m getting pushed and it’s a lot harder for me to shine,” she said, as her face widened into a smile. “I like that.”

That seems to be the consensus, even for the girls who, like McClean are playing another sport.

South Portland’s Erin Stilphen was going right from practice on Saturday to a team run for high school lacrosse. She doesn’t mind the juggling, though.

“I think it is worth it. It keeps me in shape. I would be a coach potato otherwise,” said Stilphen, who got the idea of trying out from coach Mike Giordano after a sophomore season during which she saw limited playing time.

“I’ve heard people tell me that my game has improved, and I can feel it. I’ve become more confident, I think, playing with other girls, besides just my South Portland team members. I hope I improve because that’s what I want.”

That’s what Seavey wants too. The way he sees it, comments like Stilphen’s and Small’s are more important to the team’s growth than wins and losses.

“I’m not criticizing anybody else, but a lot of times with AAU situations people roll the ball out and let the kids play,” he said. “I’ve had numerous parents and players already tell me, ‘I’ve gotten so much more out of the first month playing AAU with you.'”

“I’ve got 13 years of varsity coaching experience at the high school level, and I’d like to think I can give these kids something so that they can go back to their high school teams and their coaches see an improvement. Then, when their coaches see that, the word is going to get around and our club’s going to blossom.”

Of course, the wins and losses would be nice, too.

At the Boo Williams Invitational, there will be 192 elite teams competing on 33 different courts. Seavey knows it will be an eye-opening experience for his players.

Will it be intimidating, though?

Not according to Cynthia Wescott, who, along with Audrey Shutts, is one of two Westbrook players on the team.

“Going down south, girls get to play outside all year and they have a lot of grit, they’re ready to go,” she said. “But going in with a group of girls like this it’s not intimidating at all, knowing you can rely on your teammates to pick up when you’re down.”