2010 Week 3 fall league schedules

For the most part its a blah week on the fall league circuit.  Minnehaha is off this week.  Jefferson and Prior Lake on Saturday really don't look to have much.  Maybe that Waconia vs New Prague game at Prior Lake has hope.  Sunday is one of the big games of the early circuit with Eastview (Southside) playing Lakeville South.  This is round 2 as Eastview got the better of South at the Pacesetter on August 1st.  Spencer Pankonin should be back for Lakeville South after sitting out with a freak hand injury during the opening week.  MG Classic is flying under the radar at 4-0 in that league so far with a group of NW Metro kids and Totino-Grace's Tyler Fleming.  They get the real tests coming up with Eastview in the late game while Owatonna has Lakeville South.  The hangover of that early battle has the chance to make 1 of those 2 late games interesting.

Week 3 Schedule

Sat Oct 2 (Jefferson)
1 PM Jefferson II vs NYA - Ct 1
1 PM Jefferson I vs Baldwin-Woodville - Ct 2
1 PM Bethany vs Cottage Grove - Ct 3
2 PM Jefferson II vs Edina II - Ct 1
2 PM Jefferson I vs Edina I - Ct 2
2 PM Bethany vs SWC - Ct 3
3 PM Edina I vs NYA - Ct 1
3 PM Edina II vs Baldwin-Woodville
3 PM Cottage Grove vs NYC

Sat Oct 2 (Prior Lake)
11 AM Hibbing vs Prior Lake Navy - Ct 1
11 AM Waconia vs New Prague - Ct 2
1 PM Prior Lake Navy vs Waconia - Ct 1
1 PM New Prague vs Hibbing - Ct 2
1 PM Team Southern MN vs Apple Valley - Ct 3
3 PM Hibbing vs Waconia - Ct 1
3 PM Apple Valley vs Hoops Training - Ct 2
3 PM Prior Lake Gold vs Team Southern MN - Ct 3
5 PM Hibbing vs Prior Lake Gold - Ct 1
5 PM Hoops Training vs Team Southern MN - Ct 2

MBA league at Minnehaha has the week off.

Sun Oct 3 (Jefferson)
10:30 AM Panthers vs Holy Family - Ct 1
10:30 AM Eagan vs Burnsville - Ct 2
11:30 AM MTS vs Cottage Grove - Ct 1
11:30 AM Burnsville vs BSM - Ct 2
11:30 AM Holy Family vs NC Rams - Ct 4
12:30 PM Eagan vs Cottage Grove - Ct 1
12:30 PM BSM vs Panthers - Ct 2
12:30 PM MTS vs NC Rams - Ct 4

Sun Oct 3 (Concordia-St. Paul)
11:30 AM East Ridge Gold vs Wizards - Ct 1
11:30 AM Rogers #1 vs West Metro - Ct 2
12:30 PM Southern Stars vs Rochester - Ct 1
12:30 PM MDB vs East Ridge Knupp - Ct 2
1:30 PM Southside vs Lakeville South - Ct 1
1:30 PM Owatonna vs MG Classic - Ct 2
2:30 PM East Ridge Gold vs West Metro - Ct 1
2:30 PM Rogers #1 vs Wizards - Ct 2
3:30 PM Southern Stars vs East Ridge Knupp - Ct1
3:30 PM MDB vs Rochester - Ct 2
4:30 PM Southside vs MG Classic - Ct 1
4:30 PM Owatonna vs Lakeville South - Ct 2

Sun Oct 3 (Forest Lake)
1 PM Heat Black vs Forest Lake Gold - Ct 1
1 PM Jackets2010 vs Cardinals - Ct 2
2 PM Forest Lake Maroon vs Wisconsin Warriors - Ct 1
2 PM Centennial Red vs St. Paul Bulldogs - Ct 2
2 PM Zimmerman vs Heat Red - Ct 3
2 PM Irondale vs Centennial White - Ct 4
3 PM Jackets2010 vs Forest Lake Gold - Ct 1
3 PM Heat Black vs Cardinals - Ct 2
4 PM Forest Lake Maroon vs St. Paul Bulldogs - Ct 1
4 PM Centennial Red vs Wisconsin Warriors - Ct 2
4 PM Zimmerman vs Centennial White - Ct 3
4 PM Irondale vs Heat Red - Ct 4

2010 Week 2 Fall League Schedule

The schedule for the second weekend of 2010 fall leagues is at the bottom of this post.  Despite a visit to Dacha de Czar from The Emperor and Her Majesty, I will be out and about watching fall leagues this weekend (priorities you know).  Some thoughts on the weekend

Don't know if St. Paul Central will show up this week at Minnehaha as they were a no show last week.  That made for some hectic rescheduling last week (along with Como Park being a last minute dropout).  Best game of the weekend is the De La Salle  vs Duluth East game to end the day at Minnehaha on Saturday.  Johnny Woodard against the full DLS wrecking crew should be a good one as I would think Jonah Travis will be back.  Anoka's Marcus Tyus against the De La Salle defense in the DLS early game is also worth watching.  Tyus had a pair of missed dunks last week but I didn't recall him being that athletic. Having only 5 guys will hurt Anoka in that one. 

On Sunday, 6 pairs of games at the Ganglehoff Center.  Lakeville South vs Rogers at 2:30 is the best game there but Rogers will really get blown out if they play as poorly as they did in the 2nd half against East Ridge Gold last week.  Its a warmup for the big Lakeville South/Eastview showdown next week.  Blaine's Zach Romashko and Heat Black are in action up at Forest Lake along with the Wisconsin Warriors squad that features sharpshooters Connor Miller from Eau Claire Regis and Tyler Forsythe from Maple Northwestern.  My understanding is that the team strongly resembles the Wisconsin Terror team that played on the AAU circuit this summer.

Saturday
Minnehaha
11 AM Breck vs Minnehaha – Ct 1
11 AM Blake vs BBC – Ct 2
11 AM Great River vs Hot Mix – Ct 3
12 PM Breck vs Hill-Murray – Ct 3
1 PM Blake vs Hot Mix – Ct 1
1 PM BBC vs Great River – Ct 2
1 PM Minnehaha vs Sibley – Ct 3
2 PM Anoka vs DeLaSalle – Ct 3
3 PM Central vs Sibley – Ct 2
3 PM Hill-Murray vs Duluth East – Ct 3
4 PM Central vs Anoka – Ct 2
4 PM DeLaSalle vs Duluth East – Ct 3

Kennedy (all games Ct 4)
2 PM Baldwin-Woodville vs Bethany
3 PM Baldwin-Woodville vs MTS Red
4 PM MTS Red vs Bethany

MBA at Prior Lake has the weekend off.

Sunday
Concordia-St. Paul
11:30 AM East Ridge Gold Southside Court 1  
11:30 AM Southern Stars Owatonna Court 2  
12:30 PM Southern Stars Southside Court 1
12:30 PM East Ridge Gold Owatonna Court 2  
1:30 PM Wizards Rochester Court 1  
1:30 PM West Metro MG Classic Old School Court 2
2:30 PM Lakeville South Drive Rogers #1 Court 1  
2:30 PM East Ridge - Knupp MDB HS Boys Fall Court 2  
3:30 PM Wizards MG Classic Old School Court 1  
3:30 PM West Metro Rochester Court 2  
4:30 PM Lakeville South Drive MDB HS Boys Fall Court 1  
4:30 PM East Ridge - Knupp Rogers #1 Court 2

Forest Lake
1:00 PM Wisconsin Warriors Heat Red Varsity Court 1  
1:00 PM Bulldogs St Paul Centennial White Court 2  
1:00 PM Forest Lake Marron Varsity Heat Black Varsity Court 3  
1:00 PM Zimmerman Thunder jackets2010 Court 4  
2:00 PM Forest Lake Gold Varsity Centennial Red Court 1  
2:00 PM Cardinals Varsity Irondale Court 2  
3:00 PM Forest Lake Marron Varsity jackets2010 Court 1  
3:00 PM Zimmerman Thunder Heat Black Varsity Court 2  
3:00 PM Wisconsin Warriors Centennial White Court 3  
3:00 PM Bulldogs St Paul Heat Red Varsity Court 4  
4:00 PM Forest Lake Gold Varsity Irondale Court 3  
4:00 PM Cardinals Varsity Centennial Red Court 4

Kennedy
12:00 PM Eden Prairie vs Edina I – Ct 3
1:00 PM Jefferson II vs Edina II – Ct 1
1:00 PM Eden Prairie vs Rice Lake – Ct 2
1:00 PM NYA vs Cottage Grove – Ct 3
2:00 PM Jefferson vs Holy Family – Ct 3
3:00 PM NYA vs Rice Lake – Ct 1
3:00 PM Westonka vs Cottage Grove – Ct 4
4:00 PM NC Rams vs Jefferson I – Ct 1
4:00 PM Edina I vs Burnsville – Ct 2
4:00 PM Panthers vs Eagan – Ct 3
4:00 PM Holy Family vs MTS – Ct 5
5:00 PM Edina I vs Eagan – Ct 2
5:00 PM Jefferson I vs Panthers – Ct 3
5:00 PM MTS vs Westonka – Ct 5

Week 1 fall schedule

Week 1 fall league schedules are now available.

Saturday Games
MBA at Minnehaha
MBA at Prior Lake
No games in Magic League

Sunday Games
MYAS Concordia-St. Paul
MYAS Forest Lake 

At Minnehaha, Anoka with a couple of tough games against Sibley and St. Paul Central.  Duluth East vs Central and Minnehaha vs Como Park are a couple of other games that got my attention.

A quiet weekend out at Prior Lake with only 5 games.  Apple Valley presumably with Tyus Jones and Thomas Schalk has New Prague and Prior Lake Gold in their 2 games of the day.

Southside (Eastview based) and Lakeville South highlight the entries in the Concordia-St. Paul section of MYAS on Sunday.  I'm keeping an eye on Southside vs Owatonna at 3:30.

Zimmerman, Forest Lake and Irondale in the Forest Lake section of MYAS.  Might be the 1st games on the new floor there.

Featured games in the Magic league at Jefferson on Sunday include

BSM-Burnsville Noon
BSM-MTS 1 p.m.
MTS-Rice Lake, Wis 2 p.m.
BaldwinWoodville Wis - Edina 3 p.m.
Rams-Westonka 4 p.m.
Edina-Westonka 5 p.m.

Gotta make shots, 09-10 Part 4

Here's part 4 of my making shots series (read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here).  This time its a look at the 8 games in class AAAA.

Class AAAA Games

• Hopkins +15 shot attempts against Forest Lake, won 75-51.  Hopkins loses FG% 46.8 to 45.2 but they win the rebounding battle 44-24, including 19-6 on the offensive glass for a 14-4 advantage in 2nd chance points.  Hopkins forced 18 turnovers in the 1st half to blow the game open.
• Sibley + 3 shot attempts against Eastview, won 50-47.  Eastview barely wins FG% 42.9 to 42.2.  Sibley 36-19 on the glass including 17-7 on the offensive boards.  That resulted in a 16-5 advantage in 2nd chance points.
• Eden Prairie + 7 shot attempts against Owatonna, won 61-46.  Owatonna held to 30.8% from the field to 45.7 for Eden Prairie (56.5 to 30 in the 2nd half to break open a 3 point game).  Eden Prairie 15-8 in second chance points and 30-8 on points in the paint.  35-24 EP on the glass overall.
• Champlin Park +11 shot attempts vs St. Cloud Tech, lost 55-51.  Tech with 26 turnovers for a 26-11 Rebel advantage in points.  Champlin Park shot a dismal 19.2% in the second half (5-26) and still won the half.  46.3 to 30.8 for the game from the floor in favor of Tech.
• Sibley + 15 shot attempts vs Hopkins, lost 90-82 (2OT).  Hopkins with the state record of 39-58 from the line to 18-24 for Sibley.  Hopkins forces 22 turnovers to win points off of turnovers 19-7.  Hopkins shots 48.1% to 44.8% for Sibley.
• Eden Prairie + 8 shot attempts vs St. Cloud Tech, lost 62-58.  Tech shoots 38.8% to 36.8% for Eden Prairie.  Eden Prairie 50-33 on the glass for a 15-4 second points advantage.  Tech won points off turnovers 12-0 (15-7 turnover totals).  
• Eden Prairie + 18 shot attempts vs Sibley, lost 62-53.  Sibley shoots 48.4% to 37.3% for Eden Prairie.  11-30 for EP in the 2nd half.  Sibley wins at the foul line 29-12.
• St. Cloud Tech + 4 shot attempts vs Hopkins, lost 76-56.  Hopkins shoots 46.6% to 35.5% for Tech.  Hopkins also wins at the line 19-7. 

Out of 8 class AAAA games where a team had more shot attempts, the team with more shots won the 1st 3 games of the tourney and then lost the last 5.  The team with the higher shooting percentage was 6-2.

So when you add it all up across the 4 classes here are the final results for the 2009-2010 State Tournament.

The team with more shots finished 14-16 (46.7%).  3 of those wins were by Johnson and you also had the miracle comeback by Braham vs Sibley East.

The team with the higher shooting percentage was 24-8 (75%).

Gotta Make Shots, 09-10 Part 3

Here's part 3 of my making shots series (read part 1 here and part 2 here).  This time its a look at the 8 games in class AAA.

Class AAA Games

• St. Paul Johnson + 4 shot attempts vs Hutchinson, won 80-37.  Johnson wins FG% 46-30.4%, Turnovers 25-14 for a 30-11 points advantage and free throws 25-7.
• Orono + 11 shot attempts vs Winona, lost 70-57.  Orono shot 40.7% to 69.8% for the Winhawks.  That included 15-18 in the 2nd half.
• Little Falls + 26 shot attempts vs DeLaSalle, lost 66-61.  Little Falls shot 43.3% to 67.6% for DeLaSalle. Little Falls 18-4 in offensive rebounds and won turnover battle 26-18.  DLS wins 7-2 from 3, 13-7 from the foul line.
• Benilde-St. Margaret's +19 shot attempts vs Grand Rapids, lost 70-61.  BSM shoots 40% to 58.5% (13-18 2nd half) for Grand Rapids.  
• St. Paul Johnson +9 shot attempts vs Winona, won 80-55.  Johnson wins FG% 55.6 to 37.8.  Turnovers were a wash but Johnson won the point off of turnovers 28-13.  
• Grand Rapids + 1 shot attempt vs DeLaSalle, won 57-53 (2OT).  DLS up 4 at half but they shot 32.3% in the 2nd half and overtimes compared to 50% for Grand Rapids.  Overall Grand Rapids wins the FG% battle 42-36.7.
• DeLaSalle + 4 shot attempts vs Winona, lost 48-32.  DLS shoots 29.7% compared to 54.5% for Winona. 
• St. Paul Johnson +3 shot attempts vs Grand Rapids, won 59-55.  Johnson wins point off turnovers 23-10 with a 17-13 advantage in turnovers forced.  Johnson also won 2nd chance points 14-3.  Grand Rapids shoots 46.5% to Johnson's 43.5%

Out of 8 class AAA games where a team had more shot attempts, the team with more shots was 4-4 (3 by Johnson).  The team with the higher shooting percentage was 7-1.

Gotta make shots, 09-10 Part 2

Here's part 2 of my making shots series (read part 1 here).  This time its a look at the 8 games in class AA.

Class AA Games

• Jordan + 3 shot attempts vs Plainview-Elgin-Millville, lost 45-42.  Jordan was up 6 at half but shot 6-21 (28.6%) in the second half.
• Minnehaha Academy + 3 shot attempts vs Crosby-Ironton, lost 72-67.  Minnehaha up 2 at half but shot 41.4% to Crosby-Ironton's 60% in the second half.
• Braham +6 shot attempts vs Sibley East, won 60-59.  Was outshot 50% to 35.2%.  Sibley East gave up a 20 point lead in the last 6 minutes.
• New London-Spicer + 14 shot attempts vs Windom.  NLS wins 78-60 with with a 16-5 second points advantage on 18-6 offensive rebounds.  They were outshot 52.1 to 50% from the field.
• Plainview-Elgin-Millville + 12 shot attempts vs Crosby-Ironton, lost 51-48.    PEM wins the FG% battle 38.5% to 37.5% but gets loses 18-6 at the charity stripe.
• Braham and New London-Spicer both with 58 shot attempts in the semifinals.  NLS wins 76-67 as they shoot 56.9% to 41.4% for Braham.
• Plainview-Elgin-Millville + 4 shot attempts vs Braham, won 83-51.  Braham shoots 29.6% for the game to 58.6% for PEM.
• New London-Spicer + 4 shot attempts vs Crosby-Ironton, won 62-52.  NLS wins the FG% war barely, 46.9 to 46.7.  6 3s and 1 extra free throw with a 12-2 advantage on the offensive glass.

Out of 7 class AA games where a team had more shot attempts, the team with more shots was 4-3.  The team with the higher shooting percentage was 5-3.  If Sibley East holds on vs Braham, the results match class A

Thoughts from the 2010 Comets Exposure Camp

I start my 2010-2011 season in force with a trip to suburban St. Cloud for the Comets Fall Exposure Camp.  87 players total and a nice turnout from the local college coaches. Tough day for the kids as today was an ACT today so there were those who had football last night, got up early today for the ACT and then made the trip to play 5 games at the camp.

From near and far, big to small, camp had a bit of it all.

• Big as in Prior Lake's Carson Shanks.  Productive day for the big fella.
• Small as in Tanner Odegaard from Brookings, SD.  At 5'8, this point guard from the Dakota Schoolers 16s was a handful all day.
• Near as in Joe Burt from St. Cloud Cathedral.  The Border Battle in January is a priority for me now to see him play again on home turf.
• Far as in the Mortel brothers from Luck, WI
• Speaking of kids of I want to see more of, add Nate Kratch of Watertown-Mayer to that list.
• Best prospect playing, TJ Okafor from Champlin Park. 
• Seth Hinrichs from MACCRAY sitting out with a bum throwing/shooting shoulder thanks to being under center in football.  But he expects to be back at it in a couple of weeks.
• Nice to see the kids follow the main instructions of move the ball and not jack 3s all day.  
• That said, always nice to see a kid who can flat out shoot it.  Today that's Buffalo's Andy Ortmann.
• Prior Lake's Jack Harrsion also hot from outside today.
• Also liked what Grand Rapids center Mike Spoden did on the day.
• Jayme Moten is back at New London-Spicer after temporarily being in St. Cloud.  He visits Texas-Pan American next weekend and then has a couple of D2 visits on tap.

Gotta make shots, 09-10 Part 1

Some readers may remember that I did a post last October titled "You have to make shots"  It was an analysis of Hubie Brown's theory that getting more shots helps you be more successful.  Turns out the 08-09 state tournament data didn't show that as I talked about in that post.

So in this first installment of a 4 part series, I bring back that same analysis but using the 09-10 state tournament data, starting with the 8 class A games.  As a refresher, here are the categories Hubie talks about.

• Offensive Rebounds
• Turnovers
• Free Throws

Class A Games

• Springfield + 5 shot attempts vs Rushford-Peterson, lost 71-63.  Springfield was up 10 at half on 59.3% shooting (7-11 from 3).  They shot 38.9% and gave up 64.7% (6-8 from 3) in the 2nd half. 
• Cass Lake-Bena + 6 shot attempts vs MN Transitions, lost 69-47.  The Panthers shot 30.5% for the game.
• Sebeka + 17 shot attempts vs Mesabi East, won 75-51.  Sebeka forced 24 turnovers to their 8.  They made 11 free throws to 5 for Mesabi East.
• Ellsworth + 3 shot attempts vs Hillcrest Lutheran, won 58-53.  2 point game with 2 minutes left that came down to free throws.  Call this one a wash.
• Rushford-Peterson + 4 shot attempts vs MN Transitions, lost 56-49.  MTS shot 60.5% for the game (including 12-16 in the 2nd half) to 38.1% for Rushford-Peterson.  Why was this one close?  RP was 11-21 from behind the arc compared to 5-21 inside of it.
• Sebeka + 4 shot attempts vs Ellsworth, won 61-60.  Sebeka was outshot 42.6% to 50% but had a 10-5 advantage at the foul line and forced 19 turnovers while only giving it up 7 times.  Sebeka makes a clutch shot in the last 30 seconds to win that game.
• Sebeka  +4 shot attempts vs MN Transitions, lost 61-52.  Sebeka was outshot 54% to 40.7%
• Rushford-Peterson vs Ellsworth for 3rd place, Ellsworth wins 70-62.  Same number of shot attempts for both teams.  Ellsworth shoots 55.3%, RP shoots 51.1%. 

Out of 7 class A games where a team had more shot attempts, the team with more shots was 3-4.  The team with the higher shooting percentage was 6-2.

The Story of Larry Bradley

First it was reported that Larry Bradley would end up at Minnehaha Academy, now reports show him enrolling at Eastview.  Lots of questions about him, so let's layout what's in the public record about the 6'5" guard.

2007-2008 Season
Freshman at Milwaukee Vincent.  #1 ranked player in Wisconsin for the 2011 class by Wishoops.  #95 in the nation by Hoopscoop.  Averages 9.3 PPG.  I saw him in person at the 2007 WBY Shootout (along with my 1st viewing of current Sacramento Kings draft pick DeMarcus Cousins) and said this "Larry Bradley (Vincent). He doesn't play like a freshman. Solid guard and you'll hear more about him down the road. Vincent ran a surprising amount of stuff for him."  I thought far more of him then than I did of Deonte Burton last season (also the state's top Frosh from Vincent).

His head coach, Wisconsin legend Tom Diener, called him the most advanced first year player he's ever coached.

2008-2009 Season
Vincent coach Tom Diener leaves.  Bradley transfers to Milwaukee suburban powerhouse Wauwatosa East (alma mater of Devin Harris).  Wauwatosa East is coming off a 24-1 state championship season and a 5 straight conference titles with a combined league record of 66-4.  WIAA denies his transfer because his parents still live in Milwaukee, but will allow the transfer when his uncle becomes his legal guardian.  That finally happens at Christmas after 7 of 20 regular season games have passed.  He was allowed to play JV but showed up late for 1st JV game.  He scores 7 points in his 1st 3 games.  Played minimal minutes in a playoff game and then didn't take part in huddles.  Leaves team after that playoff game.

May 2009
Bradley and 2 other students are charged with attempted armed robbery and false imprisonment.

2009-2010 Season
Bradley transfers to Huntington Prep.  Huntington Prep is best known for OJ Mayo and is a self-proclaimed basketball factory.  Doesn't appear to have played.

2010 AAU Season
Plays with Milwaukee Spartans (now DTA Spartans) during the early spring period.  Has nice showing at Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions over Memorial Day weekend.  Was going to join Grassroots for their July tournament here but didn't make it.  Finished the summer playing with the Iowa Barnstormers in Las Vegas.  ESPN names him their surprise player at the Fab 48.  They call him "the quintessential glue guy".

August 2010
Reports are that he'll transfer to Minnehaha Academy and reclassify to class of 2012.

September 2010
Enrolls at Eastview

Welcome to Czar Season 4

The start of a new school year means my 4th season is upon us.  This year includes 18 teams changing leagues thanks to the Classic Lake Conference shakeup and 3 schools closing in the 11 metro conferences I follow.  And let's not forget the renaming of Meadow Creek Christian Academy to Legacy Christian Academy.  Section assignments were also updated for this season despite being only 1 year old.  Makes for some interesting assignments such as a pigtail game in section 4AAAA with East Ridge moving up.

Here's an overview of the updates for this season.

• I introduce The CzarPI.  Its another ranking system for teams across the state.  I intend to publish it throughout the season.  View the 2009 Final CzarPI here.  While its not perfect, hopefully its another useful tool and discussion point for the Minnesota basketball community.
• The left side of the page now has a "Featured Pages" section where you should be able to find pages regarding items that of most current interest.  
• Is there a chance that the state's all-time scoring record falls again soon?  Andres Broman is 500 points ahead of Kevin Noreen's pace.  I've started the same tracker that I used for Kevin Noreen's record.  View the Broman tracker here.
• The 2009-2010 Season has been moved to the archive section
• 2010-2011 Season menu has been created with all of the usual pages
• The Featured Players menu has been updated with the players I'll be keeping an eye on in the 2010-2011 Season.
• With all of the metro realignment completed (for now), the Metro Realignment menu option has been removed and archived with the 09-10 season.  The league websites page has been updated to include the new South Suburban Conference and I've updated the rest of the page with the most current links I could find.
• Also in the Minnesota Hoops menu, I've created a new Section Maps page that includes a link to a MSHSL map for all 32 sections.

ESPN releases 2010 post-summer rankings

ESPN has released their post-summer 2010 Top 100 for the class of 2011. Nice new format too, good upgrade from the worldwide leader.  Joe Coleman drops from #65 to #81. But hey, at least he's ahead of Paul Jesperson (unranked).  That makes 2 of the 3 big services getting it right in my humble opinion.  Other players who've appeared locally include

#5 Brad Beal(up from #6) - Florida
#8 Myck Kabongo (down from #7) - Texas
#9 Adonis Thomas
#16 Branden Dawson (down from #14) - Michigan State
#20 Cody Zeller
#29 BJ Young
#35 Quinn Cook (up from #37)
#43 Marshall Plumlee - Duke
#47 Ky Madden
#60 Cedric McAfee
#62 Julien Lewis - Texas
#86 Aaron Ross - Arkansas
#98 Hunter Mickelson - Arkansas

Read the entire ESPN.com 2011 Top 100 here.

Minnesota shutout in the class of 2012 Top 60 but there are some names who have appeared locally
#8 LJ Rose
#21 Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell
#26 Cameron Biedscheid
#27 Marcus Paige
#29 Rasheed Sulaimon
#33 J-Mychal Reese
#38 Jordan Adams
#44 William "Shaq" Goodwin
#47 Demarquise Johnson
#59 Philip Nolan

Read the entire ESPN.com 2012 Top 60 here.

Chambers drops in new Rivals 150

Rivals just released their post summer 2010 top 100 for the class of 2012.   Hopkins point guard Siyani Chambers drops to #96 from #81.

Here are others who have appeared locally.
#17 Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell 
#20 William "Shaq" Goodwin (up from #60)
#21 Rasheed Sulaimon
#26 Torian Graham (up from #83)
#28 L.J. Rose (down from #23)
#37 Marcus Paige (down from #29)
#42 J-Mychal Reese (up from #43)
#49 Damien Wilson (up from #68)
#55 Jordan Adams
#73 Cameron Biedscheid (down from #59)
#89 Phillip Nolan (up from #92)
#108 Wesley Staten (down from #90)
#109 Cinmeon Bowers (down from #91)
#112 Arroyo Edwards (down from #97)
#145 Demarquise Johnson

Read the entire rankings here.

More money coming to the summer scene

A couple of good reads from CBSSports.com writer Gary Parrish on the return of Sonny Vaccaro to summer basketball.  Vaccaro used to be a bigtime player on the summer scene as part of his work for Nike.  One of his latest adventures was advising high school star Jeremy Tyler to leave high school and play overseas.  That concept worked for Milwaukee Bucks star Brandon Jennings (who skipped a year at Arizona) but has turned into disaster for Tyler.

The articles below talk about what shoe company might entice Vaccaro to come back to the summer scene and his potential influence.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/13809652/nearly-armed-and-ready-vaccaro-tries-to-regain-summer-throne

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/13830931/five-for-friday-qa-about-summer-camp-guru-vaccaro

End of summer rankings out for class of 2011

Rivals.com and Scout.com released their end of summer rankings for the class of 2011 today.  Joe Coleman once again left out of the Scout rankings with Paul Jesperson in.   How Jesperson can be ranked far higher when Coleman consistently dominates far better competition in the summer and winter is totally beyond me.

In the Rivals rankings, Joe Coleman drops from #111 to #116 in this round of the rankings.  Here are others who have appeared locally.

#7 Brad Beal - Florida (down from #6)
#13 Branden Dawson - Michigan State (up from #25)
#15 Adonis Thomas
#18 BJ Young
#20 Cody Zeller
#24 Myck Kabongo - Texas (down from #11)
#27 Ky Madden
#28 Quinn Cook (down from #23)
#74 Cedric McAfee
#82 Marshall Plumlee - Duke
#96 Julien Lewis - Texas
#98 Hunter Mickelson - Arkansas
#99 Jerome Seagears
#118 Josh Oglesby
#123 Jeremiah Davis
#126 Andre Hollins
#129 Paul Jesperson (up from #140)
#147 Aaron Ross - Arkansas
#150 Jarrod Uthoff - Wisconsin

Read the entire Rivals.com rankings here.

Read the entire Scout.com rankings here.

Open Gyms and random news

I was out at Minnetonka open gym last week.  Unfortunately it was a night too late as Joe Coleman was destroying people and Mike Bruesewitz was in attendance.  Did get to see Mike Rostampour and Tor Anderson show up though.  Anderson is a good get for Montana St if he likes it there.  Like what Nick Latzke did on the night.  Showing he's more than a shooter.  He has an offer from Air Force on the table.  And who can forget the 2 point, 8 rebound and 1 steal from Pump N Run 16s coach Clarence Bethea.

A couple of nice concepts from the night.  No 3 point line.  Amen to that.  I said all summer I would abolish the 3 point in AAU ball because every non-shooter on the floor thinks they can make that and when they get lucky and make one, that's license to shoot 10 more.  Really hard to watch that.  Winner's and loser's courts with the loser's courts playing to 9 and winner's court play to 11 to keep things moving along.  Nice to have an extra competitive element to it.

Speaking of open gym, how about the run of both Noreen brothers, Rodney Williams, Jacob Thomas, Kevin Thompson et al at MN Transitions.  They go early but clearly some game there.  Kevin Noreen has put on 15 pounds of muscle already at West Virginia and they look to double that before the season.

News from the Osseo Basketball twitter site that Terez Van Pelt is transferring there from Park Center.  Memories of Zach Peterson doing the same thing a few years back dance in my head.  Sophomore Mike Fernando is now at Minnetonka after spending last year at Eden Prairie.  He spent time with the Pump N Run 15s this summer.

Shelby Moats comes in at #100 and the top ranked Minnesota player in the MaxPreps 2011 top 100.  Shelby comes in at #3 on my Minnesota list as he's in the top tier of guys with Joe Coleman and Ross Travis.  Jonah Travis is the best of the rest coming in at #4

Getting all the charters back together

Now that conference realignment is done, there isn't much in the way of conference proposals.  But the charter schools (i.e the old Metro Lakes) needs to be fixed.  I know there's the Eastern Minnesota Conference but that's not quite the match.  Here's my proposal.

Metro Lakes Conference (western group)
International School
MN Internship Center
Ascension
Four Directions
Prairie Seeds
Spectrum
PACT
FAIR Downtown
Dunwoody Academy
Calvin Christian

Eastern Minnesota Athletic Conference (eastern group)
AFSA
Great River
Community of Peace
Hmong Academy
Math and Science
MN North Star Academy
St. Paul Prep
North Lakes
Liberty Classical Academy
St. Croix Prep
Vessey Leadership Academy

These groupings would save travel which is huge these days.  Not to mention, it would build rivalries and give these schools something to play for besides who pounds them in the 1st round of section play.  I would joke that all the EMAC games could be played at St. Bernard's to put that gym to good use (similar to using Arlington for St. Paul City games, St. Paul coaches, make that happen!).  You could even build some rivalries like St. Croix Prep vs Math and Science.  MN North Star and Hmong Academy are right next to each other.  Community of Peace and Great River are close in St. Paul and St. Paul Prep is right between them in the heart of downtown.  Ascension and Four Directions are right next door in the west half.  Depending on who fields teams in a given year due to the small size of these schools, there are still enough schools to rearrange a league schedule.

Note I didn't include MN Transitions as they've earned their way out of these leagues.  CHOF and probably PACT I could let play independent schedules due to past performance.  Or better yet, put CHOF in the MCAA and split that league into 2 divisions.

Minnesota Players in new Hardwood Elite rankings

Hardwood Elite just released their post-July 2010 rankings for the 2011-2013 classes.  Here's how the Minnesota kids came out and then my commentary.  The full rankings can be found here.

2011
Joe Coleman #76
Ross Travis #87

Others that have appeared locally include
Brad Beal #3
Adonis Thomas #10
Myck Kabongo #14
Cody Zeller #17
Branden Dawson #19
Ky Madden #23
Quinn Cook #24
BJ Young #51
Todd Mayo #56
Paul Jesperson #66
Jarrod Uthoff #79
Cedric McAfee #80
Hunter Mickelson #81
Josh Oglesby #91


2012
Isaiah Zierden #94

Others that have appeared locally.
Marcus Paige #22
Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell #25
Rasheed Sulaimon #27
Jordan Adams #28
J-Mychal Reese #29
LJ Rose #30
Cameron Biedscheid #33
DeMarquise Johnson #35
Jordan Price #37
Shaquille Goodwin #38
Torian Graham #49
Junior Lomomba #73
Cinmeon Bowers #74
Philip Nolan #80

2013
No Minnesota Players.  #7 Peter Jok and #9 Deonte Burton have both appeared locally.

The Czar's Commentary
Another analyst picks Paul Jesperson above Joe Coleman.  I think Coleman has consistently done more and been flat out dominant against better competition both in the summer and during the high school season.  Its a fun problem of rankings.  You have Coleman (the athlete), Jesperson (the shooter) and Josh Oglesby (the most well-rounded of the 3).  Oglesby is the most ready of the group and he finishes lowest in the rankings out of the 3.

Very interesting to see Zierden coming in before Howard Pulley teammate Siyani Chambers (Chambers is #81 in the Rivals 2012 rankings as I write this).  I think Chambers performance at the Pacesetter Sweet 16 definitely elevated him.

As to Deonte Burton, I saw him twice at the East Metro Showcase in January.  Didn't average double figures against the top 2 St. Paul teams (and Central may have been the most overrated team in the state last year).  Nice player with some upside, but I saw Peter Jok in 2 events this summer and Jok was a man amongst small children.  Definitely didn't see that from Burton.

Let's give Hardwood Elite credit for showing up for the Best Buy Summer Classic unlike the rest of the national media.  Shame on the national services for sending your entire staffs (basically) to the Peach Jam when they already attended Nike event after Nike event after Nike event after Nike Event after Nike Event.  Its a flat out crime that the Best Buy Summer Classic had 25 top national players and couldn't get any kind of real national publicity.  Yet, the same folks could attend all 4 of the Nike EYBL events.

Pacesetter Sweet 16 Thoughts

Here are my observations from the 2010 Pacesetter Sweet 16

Love the setup at St Ben's.  The 4 court activity center gives plenty of room to move around and watch games.  Not the cramped atmosphere we see on the AAU circuit.  Have to like the pizza too.  Lots of players coming down with ankle injuries this weekend though.  Not good.  Its hard to beat a quality look and one of the players from Waterville-Elysian-Morristown was sporting the blonde hair and a yellow headband.  Hard not to mistake him for evil Johnny from The Karate Kid.  With the black uniforms, WEM = Cobra Kai? 

As to my predictions.  6-2 in the openers.  2-2 for winner's semis and I get the 1st and 3rd place finishers right.  10-4.  1-7 in the consolation bracket puts me at 11-11 for the weekend.

Saturday didn't feature much in the way of competitive games.  However, it did have the story of the weekend, huge individual performances.  I took in all of Ellsworth vs Orono.  Jordan Smith goes off for 8 triples and 32 points in Orono's easy win.  Casey Schilling with 31 points doing what he wanted for Ellsworth.  Best game of Saturday that I saw was Lakeville South vs St. Cloud Apollo.  Apollo comes from 10 down in the 4th quarter to take a 51-49 lead but Lakeville South moves on with a 62-54 win.  Best story of the weekend is Alex Richter returning from Pump N Run's tournament in Los Angeles at 1:30 Saturday morning and thinking he wasn't going to play.  But then he read my preview where I picked Apollo and decided to play.  Coaches, if you need bulletin board material, please contact me.  Braham took on Ellsworth in the opening round of the consolation bracket and what a shootout.  Tyler Vaughan with 48 for Braham.  Casey Schilling ices the game late at the foul line and finishes with 46.  When talking about the state's top shooters, Vaughan needs to be in that discussion.

To Sunday and what a way to start my day with Hopkins vs Apple Valley.  No Marvin Singleton as he suffered a high ankle sprain yesterday and may be down for 2 months.  Apple Valley with 3 quick 3s thanks to a pair of Tyus assists and they lead 11-6 at 6:15 of the first quarter.  Hopkins dominates the rest of the quarter for a 28-17 at the end of the first quarter.  Jones with a pullup at the 4 minute mark that cuts the Hopkins lead to 36-33.  46-42 Hopkins as we go to the break.  Apple Valley already down 1 big guy and Dustin Fronk's 14 points (4 3s) won't play the rest of the way as he came down really hard on his back just before halftime.

Joe Coleman goes for 14 points in the 3rd quarter.  Jones struggles with a handful of forced shots in the quarter thanks to Thomas Schalk being in foul trouble all game.  Hopkins goes to the 4th with a 70-54 lead.  Then the Tyus Jones show starts.  He scores 19 of the 1st 21 Apple Valley points in the quarter.  That cuts the Hopkins lead to 81-75 with 4 minutes left.  Jones with another 3 with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to 2 but Apple Valley gets no closer.  Hopkins moves on to the title game with a 96-89 win.  Jones goes for 24 of his 40 points in the 4th quarter.  12-29 from the floor, 14-16 from the line with a pair of 3s.  6 of his 7 turnovers were in the 1st half.  Coleman finishes with 32 points but very little from outside.  He had 1 triple and maybe 1 other jumper.  Everything else at the rim.  Siyani Chambers with 27 points and 5 assists.

MTS took on Ellsworth in the consolation bracket final.  MTS gets off to a quick start to lead 20-9 after quarter 1 as Ellsworth can't buy a bucket.  But they comeback to close the margin to 40-38 at halftime.  56-50 MTS after the 3rd quarter and they pull away in the 4th for a 82-63 win.  Casey Schilling with 17 points in the 1st half but a very quiet 2nd half with only a pair of triples.  Rodney Owens 20 points and Kyle Noreen with 23 points.  Noreen a glue guy for this MTS roster with Owens creating the offense off the bounce.

Hopkins took on Eastview in the championship bracket final.  This one all Hopkins and once again Joe Coleman getting to the rim at will.  He finishes with 28 points and 8 rebounds.  Siyani Chambers only 10 points, but he was outstanding distributing the ball for 7 assists.  Joey King with a double double of 12 points and 12 boards.  His shooting was off this weekend but he was wearing different contacts due to an eye infection.  Shane McSparron is your classic slasher and he topped Eastview with 15 points.  Nice work by a couple of unheralded bigs inside in Jacob Peterson of Hopkins and soph Ben Oberfeld of Eastview. 

Other finishes in the championship bracket.  Apple Valley def Lakeville South 84-77 for 3rd.  Benilde-St. Margaret's 84-77 over Orono for 5th.  Windom 64-53 over Plainview-Elgin-Millville for 7th.

Consolation bracket finishes include St. Cloud Apollo def Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa for 3rd.  Waterville-Elysian-Morristown over Braham 74-56 for 5th, Waconia 91-83 over Sebeka for 7th in the consolation bracket.

My All-Tournament Team

• Joe Coleman - Hopkins (MVP).  Most dominant player of the weekend
• Siyani Chambers - Hopkins.  Coached his group along with leading the way from the point and adding scoring from his point guard spot.
• Tyus Jones - Apple Valley.  He may have pressed when Schalk was out of the game but 24 points vs Chambers with Schalk in the game and almost single handedly bringing his team back by scoring instead of passing is a huge step for him.
• Rodney Owens - MTS.  Only loss was to runner-up Eastview.  His play was the major reason MTS won the consolation championship
• Casey Schilling - Ellsworth.  Had very little help all weekend but was a huge force in at least 3 of their 4 games.  Great work at the end of the Braham game making sure he had the ball in his hands to make 9-10 FTs late to seal that victory.

Also have to mention the Eastview defense as they allowed only 44, 44 and 53 points in their 3 wins.

More Orlando Results

SW MN Heat lost to The Truth/DS All-Stars yesterday afternoon but won a head-head tiebreaker to win their pool at AAU D2 Nationals.  They play VA Storm Orange this morning in the round of 32.

MN Glory def Midstate Ballerz 62-57 and then lost 75-65 to Spiece All Indiana in the round of 64 classic bracket.

MN Fury 1-2 in LA.

MN Pump N Run rolling along as they won their pool 3-0 and won 3 all championship bracket games to make the final 8.

Isaiah Zierden playing well in Wisconsin Dells as BSM is playing in a NCAA event with a bunch of Wisconsin teams including the Playground Warriors.

2010 Pacesetter Sweet 16 Preview

The 2010-2011 season gets a preview this weekend as the Pacesetter Sweet 16 takes place at St. Benedict's college just outside of St. Cloud.  Always a fun event with 4 of the top 4 teams from each class thrown together in a 16 team tournament format.   See the full bracket here.

Day 1 features the round of 16 games at 10 and 11:20 AM with the quarters at 3:20 PM  Semifinals and championship are Sunday.

Hopkins vs Waconia - Hopkins just too much here.  I think they hound Ben Korteum to limit his 3 point looks.  Marvin Singleton vs Shelby Moats is arguably the best interior matchup of the tournament.

Windom vs Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.  The Holt twins give Windom size inside and they're 2 of 4 top returnees for the Eagles .  Windom only allowed 51.9 points per game last year.  BBE was 25-4 last year and was #11 in offense at 71.9 points a game with a top 10 finish in point differential.  I'll take BBE.

Apple Valley vs Braham.  Guard play on display here as a pair of Howard Pulley teammates go at it.  Tyus Jones lead Apple Valley in against Braham's Tyler Vaughan.  But these teams aren't 1 man bands.  Thomas Schalk is the other major Apple Valley threat.  Ben Thiry was a 16 point a game scorer behind Vaughan's 26.7 a night.  Expect a fast paced fun game in this one with Apple Valley being too much.

Orono vs Ellsworth.  A pair of teams looking to make return trips to state.  Jordan Smith leads the way for Orono along with Brady Wohler and the versatile Jeremy Borg.  Despite the loss of Trevor Gruis to South Dakota, Ellsworth still has Casey Schilling who had a very nice summer for the South Dakota Heat and shooter Dalton Huisman.  Look for Borg to matchup on Schilling.  I'll take Orono with their dribble-drive style.

To the bottom half of the bracket and that brings us to Eastview vs Minnesota Transitions.  While Kevin Noreen is gone, you may think he's in a different jersey as Eastview has a similar type of player in forward Joey King.  While it'd be interesting to see Kyle Noreen or Rodney Owens guard him, MTS is known for nothing but zone and I don't expect anything different here.  Tough game to pick but I'll take Eastview with their depth.

Benilde-St. Margaret's loses a stellar senior class but their junior class is loaded.  Isaiah Zierden leads that cast of many against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.  WEM was 27-0 last season and then lost in the 2nd round of section play causing many to wonder if they were for real.  They may be this year, who knows, but BSM is just that good so I take them to win.

I love the bottom quarter of the bracket.  It starts with Lakeville South vs St. Cloud Apollo.  Apollo looks to break the Little Falls curse and make a run for a state title with an entire cast returning this year.  That includes bull Blake Maslonkowski inside.  Lakeville South has their own bull in wing Alex Richter.  2 guys that are very tough to stop when they want to get to the basket.  Jon Christenson and Spencer Pankonin will have their hands full defending Maslonkowski and Simon Krych in the post.  I like Apollo in a very good game.

Plainview-Elgin-Millville vs Sebeka in a matchup of teams that made state last year.  Sebeka returns 3 of their top 5 including John Clark.  I hope he gets matched up with Cole Olstad.  Hopefully Cole plays well on Saturday with the last day of colleges being able to watch.  Another game where pace will be an issue.  PEM was tops in AA in points against last year.  Sebeka was #6 in points scored in class A.  I think Olstad along with PEM's defense put them over the top.

Here are my picks for the rest of the bracket.
Winner's Bracket
Hopkins over BBE
Apple Valley over Orono
BSM over Eastview
Apollo over PEM

Hopkins over Apple Valley (love the idea of Chambers vs Jones)
BSM over Apollo (battle of 2 of 3A's best)

Hopkins over BSM for 1st
Apple Valley over Apollo for 3rd

Consolation Bracket
Waconia over Windom
Braham over Ellsworth (don't we wish that would have happened with Isaiah Dahlman and Cody Schilling)
MTS over WEM
Lakeville South over Sebeka

Braham over Waconia (big style contrast there)
Lakeville South over MTS

Lakeville South over Braham to win the consolation bracket
Waconia over MTS for 3rd in the consolation bracket