A short PNR Spring Classic thanks to the holiday weekend but Saturday's second day was full of quality championship action. A quick lunch of a cinnamon roll is a nice way to get through hunger. It wasn't Cinnabun but having it in plastic did save a major mess. 2 straight days of Mountain Dew (warm coke was the alternative which is like drinking battery acid) was major survival.
A good weekend for Southside with their close win over the top Iowa Pump N Run team in pool play. Then they knocked out MN Magic-Tillman and SW MN Stars behind double doubles from Joey King. Quiet games from Casey Schilling and Zach Huisken in that quarterfinal loss by the Stars. Very surprising. Southside had a 15 point lead in the semis against the WI Swing. Swing managed to cut the lead to 7 at half and then the top halftime speech of the tourney and Swing dominated the second half to win by double digits. Coach Justin Litscher amazingly restrained to only get 1 T in this one with the refs calling just about nothing. He was ready to go nuts. Then they blew out MN PNR in the final. Swing's only loss this season was to Mac Irvin Fire in the NY2LA Swish N Dish final a couple of weeks ago so they Zak Showalter and both sophs Nick Fuller and Luke Fischer impressed on the weekend. Austin Arians also with a nice weekend for the Swing. Kyle Bauman from WOTN, Wally Ellenson and Sanjay Lumpkin from MN PNR, Mitchell Kuck from Heat Elite others of note from the 17U division.
IA PNR 1 gave up a 15 point lead to the Dakota Pride in the 16U final before hanging on to win a close one. IA PNR handled the MN PNR 16s in the semis. IA PNR knocked out MN Jaguars along the way. Dakota Pride knocked off a quality Ultimate Hoops squad in the quarterfinals. Saw Washburn's Nick Anderson playing with St. Paul's Finest in the silver bracket as one of many kids jumping around this weekend. I know kids want to play but program directors what message does this send to the kids who have shown up to practice, paid the money and actually committed to the full season?
MN Elite came from 4 down in the last minute to beat MN PNR in a quality final. Andrew Grosz with a 3 and a runner for the last 5 of the game to win it. PNR missed 2 FTs and had 3 late chances that didn't go in. Elite had to survive a missed front end late to hold on for the 34-33 win in a surprisingly low scoring game. MN PNR got all they wanted against MN Heat Frank in the quarters. PNR trailed by 3 with 7 minutes left and came back with a 7-0 run to take the lead and hang on. MN Elite another good performance to blow out MN Fury Black in the quarters.
Showing posts with label 2011 PNR Spring Tourney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011 PNR Spring Tourney. Show all posts
Day 1 2011 PNR Spring Classic
Labels:
2011 PNR Spring Tourney
Day 1 of the Pump N Run Spring Classic is in the books. My thoughts.
I had to partake in the $4 hot dog meal deal which was well worth it thanks to a quality selection of chips. But no pure cola available (was that true?) so I went with a very rare Mountain Dew (that's more frequent than me drinking diet though).
Plenty of blowouts to go around but some interesting games too. MN PNR 17s avoided a major upset by holding off WI Blizzard-Emery 59-54 to win their pool. PNR trailed by 3 at halftime. Carnell Sheppard came up with a clutch stretch in the comeback. WOTN got a post jumper from Kyle Bauman with 50 seconds left to take the lead and win their pool. MN Southside held off IA PNR #1 by 5 to win their pool. MN Heat Elite with a good win over WI Blizzard's top team to win their pool. @KuckyMonster (still the best player twitter ID out there), Mitchell Kuck, shot it well and productive inside play from all their bigs. Hope WI Blizzard Juac Majok is OK after going down late in their game with the Heat. He showed some nice flashes in that game.
SW MN Stars got good work from Zach Huisken as they won their pool. Ultimate Hoops 16s rolled over a respectable WI Starz squad. Love their new white uniforms with green and the blue trim. Dakota Pride 16s very impressive too. AJ Jacobsen is the real deal for a squad that has plenty of talent. He flips between ECI and the Dakota Pride. WI Swing's Zak Showalter with the best dunk I saw of the day with a 2 hander in traffic. The 6'2 guard has added some real bounce. Lefty soph star Nick Fuller played well too for the Swing. After seeing them live, I think they're too deep and athletic for their half of the bracket. I'd be very surprised if the final isn't MN PNR vs them. Great to see Wisconsin's top hoops scribe Mark Miller in the building and talk to him for a while. I grew up reading his work and he's outstanding. A real pleasure to have him on our side of the river covering the games.
Sioux Falls Washington has 1 kid playing for the top IA PNR team and 1 playing for EOTO Gold (a much improved squad by the way with Trent Pollard and Tim Gill with Dwight Anderson joining them this weekend). What's up with that? Minocqua, WI has a 6'10 kid and just down the road Tomahawk, WI has a 7 footer. New meaning to the term northwoods? Amazing crowd for that almost PNR upset. People packed on both side and even standing on the sidelines for that one. Biggest crowd I've seen watch an AAU game on 1 court in the activity center (here in MN anyway, Denver crowds are bigger)
Gold Bracket matchups
17s) RK Elite vs WOTN and Southside vs ?? in the playin games. MN PNR vs MN Heat Duberry, WI Blaze vs 1st playin, WI Swing Litscher vs MN Heat Elite, SW MN Stars vs 2nd Playin.
16s) SW MN Stars vs sleeper MN Jaguars in playin game, winner will face IA PNR #1, MN PNR vs MN Heat Altena, WI Swing-Bench vs WOTN, Dakota Pride vs Ultimate Hoops in outstanding quarterfinal at 11:20.
15s games, there are 6 pigtail games.
MN Ballers or WI Academy vs MN Heat Frank or WI Starz
Dakota Pride vs MN Heat Gene
IA PNR #1 vs WI Swing or MN Heat Weimar
MN Fury Black vs WOTN
SW MN Stars vs WI Blaze
MN Heat Select vs TNA Brown (14U) or RK Elite.
Winner of pigtail 1 plays MN PNR.
Pigtail 2 and 3 winners play each other in same half of bracket.
Pigtail 4 winner plays MN Elite (projected MN Fury Black is a great game at 1:40)
Pigtail 5 and 6 winners play each other in the other quarterfinal.
I had to partake in the $4 hot dog meal deal which was well worth it thanks to a quality selection of chips. But no pure cola available (was that true?) so I went with a very rare Mountain Dew (that's more frequent than me drinking diet though).
Plenty of blowouts to go around but some interesting games too. MN PNR 17s avoided a major upset by holding off WI Blizzard-Emery 59-54 to win their pool. PNR trailed by 3 at halftime. Carnell Sheppard came up with a clutch stretch in the comeback. WOTN got a post jumper from Kyle Bauman with 50 seconds left to take the lead and win their pool. MN Southside held off IA PNR #1 by 5 to win their pool. MN Heat Elite with a good win over WI Blizzard's top team to win their pool. @KuckyMonster (still the best player twitter ID out there), Mitchell Kuck, shot it well and productive inside play from all their bigs. Hope WI Blizzard Juac Majok is OK after going down late in their game with the Heat. He showed some nice flashes in that game.
SW MN Stars got good work from Zach Huisken as they won their pool. Ultimate Hoops 16s rolled over a respectable WI Starz squad. Love their new white uniforms with green and the blue trim. Dakota Pride 16s very impressive too. AJ Jacobsen is the real deal for a squad that has plenty of talent. He flips between ECI and the Dakota Pride. WI Swing's Zak Showalter with the best dunk I saw of the day with a 2 hander in traffic. The 6'2 guard has added some real bounce. Lefty soph star Nick Fuller played well too for the Swing. After seeing them live, I think they're too deep and athletic for their half of the bracket. I'd be very surprised if the final isn't MN PNR vs them. Great to see Wisconsin's top hoops scribe Mark Miller in the building and talk to him for a while. I grew up reading his work and he's outstanding. A real pleasure to have him on our side of the river covering the games.
Sioux Falls Washington has 1 kid playing for the top IA PNR team and 1 playing for EOTO Gold (a much improved squad by the way with Trent Pollard and Tim Gill with Dwight Anderson joining them this weekend). What's up with that? Minocqua, WI has a 6'10 kid and just down the road Tomahawk, WI has a 7 footer. New meaning to the term northwoods? Amazing crowd for that almost PNR upset. People packed on both side and even standing on the sidelines for that one. Biggest crowd I've seen watch an AAU game on 1 court in the activity center (here in MN anyway, Denver crowds are bigger)
Gold Bracket matchups
17s) RK Elite vs WOTN and Southside vs ?? in the playin games. MN PNR vs MN Heat Duberry, WI Blaze vs 1st playin, WI Swing Litscher vs MN Heat Elite, SW MN Stars vs 2nd Playin.
16s) SW MN Stars vs sleeper MN Jaguars in playin game, winner will face IA PNR #1, MN PNR vs MN Heat Altena, WI Swing-Bench vs WOTN, Dakota Pride vs Ultimate Hoops in outstanding quarterfinal at 11:20.
15s games, there are 6 pigtail games.
MN Ballers or WI Academy vs MN Heat Frank or WI Starz
Dakota Pride vs MN Heat Gene
IA PNR #1 vs WI Swing or MN Heat Weimar
MN Fury Black vs WOTN
SW MN Stars vs WI Blaze
MN Heat Select vs TNA Brown (14U) or RK Elite.
Winner of pigtail 1 plays MN PNR.
Pigtail 2 and 3 winners play each other in same half of bracket.
Pigtail 4 winner plays MN Elite (projected MN Fury Black is a great game at 1:40)
Pigtail 5 and 6 winners play each other in the other quarterfinal.
2011 PNR Spring Tourney Early Thoughts
Labels:
2011 PNR Spring Tourney
Some early predictions for the 2011 Spring Tourney. Easter weekend hurts the field but still a good group of teams. Games are Friday and Saturday only.
Pool A
Minnesota Pump N Run highlights the top pool with Wally Ellenson. 2nd WI Blizzard team (Emery) and a lower MN Heat team (McDonald) are in the pool. That Heat team is very Richfield based so with Howard Pulley off, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jared Noonan join the Heat again like he did in St. Cloud. If so, that's makes that team much more dangerous.
Pool B
One of the major contenders is the WI Swing top team led by Justin Litscher. Very balanced with quality guard play from Zak Showalter, Josh Mongan and David Neis. Austin Arians is a quality wing. Then 2013 stars Nick Fuller (wing) and post Luke Fischer also appear. MN Premiere and EOTO Gold (winner of Spring Jam last week). Tim Gill and Shawn Atkins from Mpls Henry highlight that squad.
Pool C
The SW MN Stars make the trip with a hopefully healthy Zach Huisken. With the Dakota Schoolers off, I would expect Casey Schilling to appear with this group as well. Jake Holt and Mitch Weg add to a group with great size. Brandon Tyler leads the Fox Valley Fire in the pool . Heat Biwan in the pool with their own nice size. Very balanced pool.
Pool D
Team GetShook showed well in St. Cloud. They have quality size up front and should be a factor in the pool. 6'5 forward Elijah Hinze is a scorer who can fill it up for the Wisconsin Blaze. The 2nd IA PNR squad rounds out the pool.
Pool E
Very little on this pool with RK Elite (WI), QC Elite (IA) and Magic Maroon all here.
Pool F
MN Southside and Joey King is the big name in the pool. But they won't have it easy as the top IA PNR team is also here. Hopefully no travel delays for them this week. Guards Rudy Bentley and Kwame Latimer are 2 notables for WI Streak Select.
Pool G
The MN Heat Elite team is here along with EOTO Black. The top Wisconsin Blizzard team is here. One name of note for Blizzard is 6'5 Juac Majok. 6'4 Dylan Heemstra is another to watch.
Pool H
The 2nd Wisconsin Swing team is here along with pleasant surprise WOTN and the Iowa Heat.
Pool I
WI Starz make their annual trip. While they've been known for guards in the past, this year's squad is known for their size. Heat Duberry again lurks in this pool.
Pool J
Very little known here as well with St. Paul's Finest (though they had a surprise or 2 on the roster this fall), IMPACTT Basketball from Iowa and MN Magic Tillman.
17U Bracket guesses
I expect Southside to come through and make the semis against the Swing top team. MN PNR should come through to the semis in the top half to play Team Get Shook. I'll take Swing over MN PNR in another epic final between these teams (see 2 years ago here)
16U Thoughts
Minnesota Pump N Run should be a factor with their versatile lineup. Duez Henderson's top IA PNR squad with twins Michael and Steven Soukop will also be a factor. Dakota Pride with Moorhead's Aaron Lien will win their pool. Keep an eye on Ian Taylor of the WI Starz. Ultimate Hoops opens their season in tough pool F with the Starz and EOTO Gold (3rd last week at Spring Jam). Ultimate Hoops lined up to meet Dakota Pride in an outstanding quarterfinal. Winner of that should make the final. MN PNR vs IA PNR in a possible semifinal would be a fun bragging rights game between PNR organizations.
15U Thoughts
I love that 4 top teams are here (MN Elite, MN Heat Select and MN Fury Black with hosts). The home team gets a break as the other 3 are all on the opposite site of the bracket. Fury Black and MN Elite are lined up to meet in the quarters which is a shame since that's a championship caliber game. The winner then likely runs into MN Heat Select who has won 2 straight tourneys. That's another outstanding game. Expect MN PNR to steamroll to the final and then win it.
Pool A
Minnesota Pump N Run highlights the top pool with Wally Ellenson. 2nd WI Blizzard team (Emery) and a lower MN Heat team (McDonald) are in the pool. That Heat team is very Richfield based so with Howard Pulley off, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jared Noonan join the Heat again like he did in St. Cloud. If so, that's makes that team much more dangerous.
Pool B
One of the major contenders is the WI Swing top team led by Justin Litscher. Very balanced with quality guard play from Zak Showalter, Josh Mongan and David Neis. Austin Arians is a quality wing. Then 2013 stars Nick Fuller (wing) and post Luke Fischer also appear. MN Premiere and EOTO Gold (winner of Spring Jam last week). Tim Gill and Shawn Atkins from Mpls Henry highlight that squad.
Pool C
The SW MN Stars make the trip with a hopefully healthy Zach Huisken. With the Dakota Schoolers off, I would expect Casey Schilling to appear with this group as well. Jake Holt and Mitch Weg add to a group with great size. Brandon Tyler leads the Fox Valley Fire in the pool . Heat Biwan in the pool with their own nice size. Very balanced pool.
Pool D
Team GetShook showed well in St. Cloud. They have quality size up front and should be a factor in the pool. 6'5 forward Elijah Hinze is a scorer who can fill it up for the Wisconsin Blaze. The 2nd IA PNR squad rounds out the pool.
Pool E
Very little on this pool with RK Elite (WI), QC Elite (IA) and Magic Maroon all here.
Pool F
MN Southside and Joey King is the big name in the pool. But they won't have it easy as the top IA PNR team is also here. Hopefully no travel delays for them this week. Guards Rudy Bentley and Kwame Latimer are 2 notables for WI Streak Select.
Pool G
The MN Heat Elite team is here along with EOTO Black. The top Wisconsin Blizzard team is here. One name of note for Blizzard is 6'5 Juac Majok. 6'4 Dylan Heemstra is another to watch.
Pool H
The 2nd Wisconsin Swing team is here along with pleasant surprise WOTN and the Iowa Heat.
Pool I
WI Starz make their annual trip. While they've been known for guards in the past, this year's squad is known for their size. Heat Duberry again lurks in this pool.
Pool J
Very little known here as well with St. Paul's Finest (though they had a surprise or 2 on the roster this fall), IMPACTT Basketball from Iowa and MN Magic Tillman.
17U Bracket guesses
I expect Southside to come through and make the semis against the Swing top team. MN PNR should come through to the semis in the top half to play Team Get Shook. I'll take Swing over MN PNR in another epic final between these teams (see 2 years ago here)
16U Thoughts
Minnesota Pump N Run should be a factor with their versatile lineup. Duez Henderson's top IA PNR squad with twins Michael and Steven Soukop will also be a factor. Dakota Pride with Moorhead's Aaron Lien will win their pool. Keep an eye on Ian Taylor of the WI Starz. Ultimate Hoops opens their season in tough pool F with the Starz and EOTO Gold (3rd last week at Spring Jam). Ultimate Hoops lined up to meet Dakota Pride in an outstanding quarterfinal. Winner of that should make the final. MN PNR vs IA PNR in a possible semifinal would be a fun bragging rights game between PNR organizations.
15U Thoughts
I love that 4 top teams are here (MN Elite, MN Heat Select and MN Fury Black with hosts). The home team gets a break as the other 3 are all on the opposite site of the bracket. Fury Black and MN Elite are lined up to meet in the quarters which is a shame since that's a championship caliber game. The winner then likely runs into MN Heat Select who has won 2 straight tourneys. That's another outstanding game. Expect MN PNR to steamroll to the final and then win it.
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