The Czar returns after a very entertaining spring coaching experience during the spring period. The July 2014 recruiting season opens tomorrow with Minnesota teams spanning the midwest to no fewer than 6 locations. Here's where you can find our local teams. Many will start play later in the week (Ames, St. Louis and Chicago in particular)
Windy City Classic - Chicago
D1 Minnesota 16s and 17s
Grassroots 17s
Billy Wampler expected to be out for D1 as he'll be at the Adidas Unrivaled camp.
Game of Note:
D1 MN 16s vs Martin Brothers 16s Sat 11:30 AM. Jordan Bohannon and Iowa commit Cordell Pemsl lead Martin Brothers.
Chicago Summer Jam
All Howard Pulley teams
Game of Note:
Howard Pulley vs Mac Irvin Fire at 5:20 on Saturday
Also of note, the D1 MN 14s and Howard Pulley 14s could meet up in bracket play.
Adidas Invitational - Indianapolis
Heat Bui and Heat Vang are both super pooled. That means that Heat Bui will get 2 tough Adidas programs Indiana Elite and Brookwood Elite along with Team Work. The Heat also have 2 more squads, Calistro and Berndt, attending. MN Phenom also in the pools.
Heat Vang and Heat Schwarz represent the 16u division. Heat Vang gets Indiana Elite, Team Work and Detroit Showtime Select in their super pool.
NY2LA Next Level Invitational - Milwaukee
The 17U division at NY2LA has a large number of MN teams. 7:40 Thursday night features Net Gain taking on WI United with MN natives Donnell Gresham, Marshawn Wilson and Jeremy Johnson. tMBA has both their teams attending. tMBA Brown will play WI commit Brevin Pritzl, Drake commit Nick McGlynn and the WI Playground Warriors at 11:30 AM on Thursday. Comets Lewis will play Marquette commit Matt Heldt and the Milwaukee Spartans at 8:50 PM on Thursday night. SW MN Stars play WI Blizzard and star Cody Schwartz. Fury Meier has Playground Elite with Marquette signee Nick Noskowiak and former MN D1 stud Henry Ellenson. WOTN Nicols has Damontrae Jefferson and the Milwaukee Rebels. Heat McKee and both Select teams also in the 17U bracket.
In 16U, MN also well represented with a ton of teams. Net Gain, SW MN Stars, tMBA, Fury Peterson and Fury Sand, MN Suns Wilson, top Comets, both WOTN teams, Heat East and Heat NW, MN Select has 2 teams and Airborne Elite all in that bracket.
In 15U, its a bit lighter. Fury Coleman, MN Warriors, SW MN Stars, MN Suns Johnson, Select and WOTN Herber in that bracket.
Mullen's High Profile - St. Louis
In St. Louis, Fury will have all of their Sanford teams and the MN Cyclones will be in attendance again as well. The Cyclones could end up with an entertaining game against the Dakota Schoolers in the 2nd round. Its a tough field with KC Run GMC, Team YOBO, OK Wizards, Omaha Crusaders, Arkansas Wings and the St. Louis Eagles in the field.
Midwest Summer Slam - Ames
In Iowa some of our lower level teams make the trip
17U
TC Runnin Rebels
Triple Threat
Heat Carlson
Magic Black
Comets Moser
16U
Comets DLR
Heat Schumann
Heat Slick
Heat Errickson
15U
Heat Nord
Heat Nelson
Heat Crandall
Magic Vatsaas
Then locally in the 2nd period, we have the D1 Summer Classic. Talk is that national recruit Skal Labissiere will attend that event with M33M. Expect MN to take a look at Billy Wampler at some point during that tourney as well. Howard Pulley and Net Gain will be in the Southeast for Nike and Under Armour championships. Then the month ends with most of our teams off to Las Vegas (some to Kansas City like tMBA and Howard Pulley). New format for the Adidas Super 64 this year (Adidas teams only) means that teams move to the Bigfoot Hoops tourney or the split off of the Super 64, Vegas Finals. I'll be in live and in color in Vegas for the 4th straight summer. Nothing like trying to bounce from gym to gym to gym.
