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2024 Comets Shootout Preview

Its time once again for the Daytona 500.  Teams make their annual trip to St. Cloud to open the spring and summer season at the Comets Shootout.  Here's a look at what I'll be focusing on in my 2 days at the Whitney Rec Center.

17U
As always the 17s get the night session. Its back to the old days of pool play rather than bracket play.  Its 24 teams split into 8 pools of 3.  Both pool games on Saturday with the 8 pool winners advancing to the championship bracket on Sunday.  As always its a grind for the champion with that 3rd game in a short window on Sunday.

Pool A
The top Comets squad headlines this pool.  Zeke Austin, Keller Hanson, Trey Borchers and Jake Schultz are a guard group that can really shoot it.  Sam Hondl and Spencer Swenson are versatile forwards who can also play away from the rim.  Heat Leo also starts their season in this pool.  Select Meitz has the advantage of having a week of games under their belt.

Pool B
Preston Thielke (Champlin Park) of Crossfire Young is the player I'm watching in this pool.  They're joined by SW MN Stars and Playmakers South.  SW MN Stars vs Crossfire at 2:30 gets my viewing of 17s underway.

Pool C
Heat Presbi brings in east metro guards Marquivion Beasley (Woodbury) and Anthony Giyadu (Park) to go with Deng Lueth (Roch JM).  Mareng Kang of Tennessee Prep is a wildcard.  Team X Magic has Dhal Rehan as one to keep an eye on.   Comets Schumann rounds out the pool.  Heat Presbi vs Team X Magic at 5:45 is the pool game that should decide who moves on to the championship bracket.

Pool D
Fury Wilde headlines this pool  They're a tight knit group where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  Forwards Luke Wherley, Tray Lenzen, Nik Domier and Cole Wilcek all fit their euro ball screen system as mobile skilled forwards.  Keaton Ressler, Devin Pass and Isaiah Mahal can all knock down shots.  Buffalo Legacy is a sleeper here as its a group of Buffalo juniors who have played together.  Fury Wilde vs Buffalo Legacy at 4:40 PM.  TC Elite Bock is the last member of the pool.

Pool E
This is easily the deepest pool.  Fury with a couple forwards in Hudson Greene and Wyatt McBeth who can step out and shoot it.  That goes with a solid guard group of Alex Kopetzki, James Martin, James Fager and John Schmidt.  Nate Chavez and Cooper Carlson lead the guards for Heat Academic to go with Colin Kirk and Finn Norman on the front line.  Jake Dedominces and Isaac Tollefson lead the Select Koch guards.  Emerson Droubie is a forward who can step away and shoot it for them.  I like Fury here but should be 3 good games.  Fury Shepherd and Heat Academic match up at 3:35 PM on Sat in the top game of that session.  Fury Shepherd vs Select Koch should be the top game of the 6:50 PM session.

Pool F
Northstar Titans Bertsch highlights this pool after a buzzer beating loss in Ames last week to MN Lightning Ellerbusch.  Ryan Beckwith (Farmington) is a top guard.  Nathan Johnson (Hutchinson) is a player I want another look at.  WC United Select also was in Ames last weekend.  Once again their guard play will lead them.  Cadyn Dahl (Ada Borup West) is one to watch for them.  ECI Select rounds out the pool.  This pool drew the short straw and gets their 3 pool games at the Sartell Community Center.

Pool G
Comets Allen features a couple of critical pieces from Cherry's state championship squad in wings Carson Brown and Noah Sundquist.  ECI Prospects features guards Pearce Parks, Parker Brodina and Aric Winczweski.  Ben Bye leads the West Central Wildcats.  

Pool H
Select Ohnstad highlights this pool as a heavy favorite.  This is a high powered group with the addition of shooters Brooks Johnson (Duluth Marshall) and Riley Johnson (Chanhassen).  Max Lorenson (Eden Prairie) and Brogan Madson (Mankato East) return as handlers.  All can fill it up in a hurry. They've also added Omar Kaba (Blake) as a mobile big man who I think is ready for a breakout summer and really fits this team well as a rebound and defend big who doesn't need touches.  Nothing available about their opponents MN Kings Roseman and MN Chill

17U Predictions
Quarterfinals: Comets Lewis over Crossfire Young, Fury Wilde over Heat Presbi, Fury Shepherd over Northstar Titans Bertsch, Select Ohnstad over Comets Allen

Semis: Comets Lewis over Fury Wilde, Select Ohnstad over Fury Shepherd

Championship: Select Ohnstad over Comets Lewis

16U Bracket

On the 16U side, its a 32 team bracket with 2 early games Saturday and then up to 3 on Sunday to win it all.

Top Quarter: This group features the top Comets squad.  They have Talan Witt from Alexandria, big man Isaac Asmus from Aitkin, stretch forward Maddox Lewis from Sartell and productive guard Kale Misegades from Henning.  Crossfire Thompson, ND Attack Green, WC United, Starks Elite, MN Swish Radtke, WC Wildcats and SW MN Stars round out this group.  PG Boston Cranston of ND Attack Green is one of the top 2026 PG in North Dakota.  No reason to see top Comets not moving thru this group easily.

Second Quarter: Northstar Titans Squires is a group of Becker kids including their top 3 sophomores were double figure varsity guys this season.  The bottom half of this quarter could see a Scheels league matchup between top ECI and top Heat in the 2nd round.  Winner of their game gets a fun one in the quarters vs the Titans.  WOTN Hannah, Fury Reyes, Select Brewer, Comets Aguilar round out the remainder of the quarter.

Third Quarter: This quarter is headlined by the top Select crew.  Select Altenhofen is very well rounded with a guy in Brady Lam out of Wayzata who I need to see.  Breuer Wolff gets overshadowed by his teammate Ryan Krueger at Faribault but he's very good in his own right.  Hamze Yusuf can run the show with shooters Carson McMichael and Tanner Rose plus the athleticism of JP Musoke.    The potential quarterfinal matchup is with MN Swish Dahl.  Belle Plaine lefty wing Ethan Martin and Norwood-Young America forward Micah Fenney are 2 names I've seen on this roster.  Martin is a guy many teams wanted and he had a terrific HS season.  Looking forward to seeing him again.  Lakes 16U, Fury DLR, ECI Select, WOTN Kranz, Comets Petermeier, Mid MN

Bottom Quarter: Fury Antl is the big prize here.  The guard play is loaded with Isaac Olmstead, Will Kirsch, Bennett Skinner and Luke Gustafson.  Casey Fliehe and Alex Schroepfer are skilled wings.  Not much size or physicality but like last year, they can really execute and shoot it.   MN Splash is on the opposite side of them.  Cameron Cramble (Irondale) is a nice big man pickup for that squad that I look forward to seeing.  Select Michaels also solid here.  Northstar Titans Martinson, MN Chill, WI Playmakers South and Northern Elite also in this group.

16U Predictions
Semis: Comets Elite over Northstar Titans Squires.  Fury Antl over Select Altenhofen

Championship: Fury Antl over Comets Elite

2024 spring season hits overdrive

Its week 2 of the 2024 spring and summer season.  Its the Daytona 500 this weekend and that traditionally means most everybody is playing (despite it being an ACT weekend).  That being said, we have as many teams as ever that will be on the road elsewhere in the midwest.  I'll have more on the Comets Shootout later but for now let's talk about the group of teams not playing in St. Cloud this weekend.

Chicago (Prep Hoops)
D1 Minnesota will have their 2nd teams in Chicago to start their season.  Sizzle also has at least 1 lower level team there.

Rockford, IL (Puma Circuit)
Powerhouse and Real Phenom stay on the road and join up in Rockford for week 2 of Puma action.  Real Phenom Nick 17s and the Powerhouse 16s each ran the table 4-0 last weekend in separate Puma events.  Real Phenom Nick with 1 close win and 3 others by 15 or more.

Madison, WI (ROCK Spring Classic)
A premier event in God's Country and my old stomping grounds that I'd love to get to but it always matches up with the Comets Shootout.  MN Lightning Ellerbusch and King will be there in 17s.  Back to back weekends on the short stretch of I-94 for the Lightning King squads who were in Milwaukee last weekend.  Teams get a placing game to start and then into bracket play.  The event has a handful of UA Rise teams in it plus WI Playground Club from the UA circuit and a couple of New Balance teams in the 32 team platinum bracket in 17s.  MN Lightning Dahl looks to continue their undefeated season there in the 16s bracket.  They won the tourney in Ames going 5-0 last weekend.  MN Spartans have 15s and 16s there too. 

Des Moines, IA (Heartland Showcase)
Howard Pulley, Gain Elite and MN Rise all start their seasons in Iowa.  Northstar Titans have 1 16s there too (other 2 are in St. Cloud).  Howard Pulley and Gain Elite could meet up in the 17s semis on Sunday. Rise 17s are on the other side of the bracket. They could play Iowa United Gold in the 2nd round.  That Iowa United Gold team lost to JSizzle Adidas 17s by 2 last weekend in the Swish N Dish quarterfinals.

Council Bluffs, IA
Adidas gets the 1st full blown shoe event of the 2024 season with all of their teams coming into the Omaha area.   D1 Minnesota 17s easily swept 4 games in Denver last week but they'll get a super tough test in their Friday afternoon opener against the loaded Utah Prospects/Team Kessler.  JSizzle part of that event as well.  They play Jalen Green Elite (California) on Saturday night and then Michael Redd's new team MR22 in their final game Sunday morning.

2024 Spring Season Opens

We're 2 weeks out from the 2024 high school state tournament and as always that means no rest for the weary.  While many locals will open their season next weekend with the traditional Comets Shootout opener in St. Cloud, many of our Minnesota teams hit the road this weekend to kick off their spring/summer seasons this weekend.  Here's a list of who is where.

Milwaukee (NY2LA Swish N Dish)
Sizzle 2 17s
MN Lightning King 15s and 17s
JSizzle 15-17U Adidas teams

JSizzle 17s get Under Armour squad Illinois Wolves in a shoe vs shoe opener.

Denver (Prep Hoops Spring Kickoff)
D1 Minnesota 15-17U Adidas teams
The D1 17s end their 4 game schedule with a Sunday afternoon matchup vs Mountain Stars of the Under Armour circuit.

Ames (Spring Tuneup)
In 17s, Northstar Titans Bertsch and All Iowa Attack 17U EYCL are on 1 side of the top pool.  MN Lightning Ellerbusch, West Central United Select and All Iowa Attack 16U EYCL are in the half of that top pool.

Titans, Lightning and West Central United also have teams in other 17s pools.

Omaha, Nebraska (Puma Circuit)
Powerhouse MN has their 15-17s in Omaha to open Puma circuit play.

Grand Rapids, Michigan (Puma Circuit)
Real Phenom has their top 2 17s teams opening Puma circuit play in Grand Rapids

Powerhouse and Real Phenom will be in Rockford, IL next weekend to continue play on the Puma circuit. Then they're home for Prep Hoops to end the month and Battle at the Lakes in May.