So its no secret that the suburban schools in the Missota have been growing like weeds (Farmington, Shakopee, Prior Lake) and could be outgrowing that league when compared to New Prague, Northfield etc. With that in mind, we get the news from John Millea that Prior Lake now wants out of the Missota and may look to join the potentially orphaned 5 (4 Classic Lake and Eden Prairie). He even mentions that the Bloomington schools may join the Missota instead of the new Dakota County Conference. That's a very interesting twist and to me somewhat baffling.
Combine that with news from Red Wing that the Wingers want out of the Missota too (competitive disadvantage with metro schools) and are looking at a return to the Big 9 (now 10). So put it all together and we could end up with this. Geographically I can buy this except Prior Lake. But Prior Lake comes in over 2000 in enrollment so moving in with the big west metros makes sense.
Dakota County Conference
Lakeville North
Lakeville South
Burnsville
Eagan
Apple Valley
Eastview
Rosemount
(7 defectors from the Lake to the new league)
Missota Conference
Shakopee
New Prague
Northfield
Farmington *** Move to Dakota County Conference would put both leagues at 8 teams, makes lots of sense for scheduling and competitive balance.
Holy Angels
Chaska
Chanhassen
Bloomington Jefferson
Bloomington Kennedy
(Hutchinson, Red Wing and Prior Lake out. Chaska, Chanhassen and the Bloomingtons in.)
(Classic) Lake Conference
Eden Prairie
Hopkins
Wayzata
Edina
Minnetonka
Prior Lake
(5 left overs from the Lake + Prior Lake)
Lake Conference, your move
Labels:
2010-2011 Realignment
So the MSHSL voted unanimously today (with the Lake Conference in attendance and not speaking) to move the remaining Classic Lake conference members to the Lake Conference in 2010-2011. Now the threat of all the current members leaving and sticking Eden Prairie with the newcomers looms large. As I wrote in July, this would could start the mess all over again.
More from John Millea of the Star Tribune on the reaction here.
More from John Millea of the Star Tribune on the reaction here.
Chaska star makes Rivals Top 150
Labels:
2011 Recruiting,
Rivals Recruiting,
Ross Travis
Rivals released their post summer 2009 top 100 for the class of 2011. Chaska's Ross Travis makes the list after a big summer with 43 Hoops Carr. He comes in at #133. Rivals analyst Jerry Meyer was impressed with him in Vegas.
Here are others who have appeared locally.
#7 Bradley Beal
#16 Branden Dawson
#20 Quinn Cook
#24 Myck Kabongo - Committed to Texas
#116 Darell Longstreet
Read the entire rankings here.
Read Jerry Meyer's comments on Ross Travis in Vegas here (scroll to the end)
Here are others who have appeared locally.
#7 Bradley Beal
#16 Branden Dawson
#20 Quinn Cook
#24 Myck Kabongo - Committed to Texas
#116 Darell Longstreet
Read the entire rankings here.
Read Jerry Meyer's comments on Ross Travis in Vegas here (scroll to the end)
Fall Exposure Events Coming in Sept
Just in case fall leagues weren't enough, the weekend before fall leagues start features a couple of exposure camps where colleges (except D1) can come out and take another look at kids.
The Minnesota Comets Fall Exposure Camp is Sunday Sept 13th at Sauk Rapids High School. Registration fee is $45 early and $60 at the door. The event will be limited to 80 participants.
Hoops 24/7 and Hoops Minnesota have the 2009 Fall Basketball Showcase at 43 Hoops on the weekend of Sept 12th and 13th. Registration is $80.
Links to more details on these events or more fall basketball can be found on my 2009-2010 Fall Leagues page.
The Minnesota Comets Fall Exposure Camp is Sunday Sept 13th at Sauk Rapids High School. Registration fee is $45 early and $60 at the door. The event will be limited to 80 participants.
Hoops 24/7 and Hoops Minnesota have the 2009 Fall Basketball Showcase at 43 Hoops on the weekend of Sept 12th and 13th. Registration is $80.
Links to more details on these events or more fall basketball can be found on my 2009-2010 Fall Leagues page.
Two MN Players in Bob Gibbons Top 175
Labels:
2010 Recruiting,
Jacob Thomas,
Kevin Noreen,
Rivals Recruiting
Bob Gibbons (one of the nation's longest running recruiting analysts) just released his post summer 2009 top 175 (more like 200) for the class of 2010. Jacob Thomas comes in at 143 and Kevin Noreen comes in at 172. Other players who have appeared locally
#2 Harrison Barnes
#13 Joe Jackson
#14 Josh Selby
#34 Tobi Oyedeji
#65 Evan Anderson
#76 Trevor Releford
#93 Alex Kirk
#100 Brandon Spearman
#101 Vander Blue
#103 Cody Larson
#104 Dwight Powell
#120 Ahmad Starks
#124 Anthony Johnson
#150 Zach McCabe
#175 Jesse Berry
Read the entire rankings here
Rivals.com also came out with their post summer 2009 top 150 for the class of 2010 today. No Minnesota players in the list. Here's the list of those who have appeared locally and the comparison to where they were ranked at the start of July.
Harrison Barnes #2 (no change)
Josh Selby #4 (up from #7)
Joe Jackson #12 (up from #18)
Vander Blue #22 (up from #31)
Dwight Powell #23 (up from around #50 if I recall correctly)
Tobi Oyedeji #81 (up from #108)
Trevor Releford #97 (up from #150)
Anthony Johnson #99 (down from #88)
Alex Kirk #108 (down from #106)
Brandon Spearman #115 (down from #100)
Brandon Peters #118 (new)
Ahmad Starks #131 (new)
Read the new Rivals rankings here
#2 Harrison Barnes
#13 Joe Jackson
#14 Josh Selby
#34 Tobi Oyedeji
#65 Evan Anderson
#76 Trevor Releford
#93 Alex Kirk
#100 Brandon Spearman
#101 Vander Blue
#103 Cody Larson
#104 Dwight Powell
#120 Ahmad Starks
#124 Anthony Johnson
#150 Zach McCabe
#175 Jesse Berry
Read the entire rankings here
Rivals.com also came out with their post summer 2009 top 150 for the class of 2010 today. No Minnesota players in the list. Here's the list of those who have appeared locally and the comparison to where they were ranked at the start of July.
Harrison Barnes #2 (no change)
Josh Selby #4 (up from #7)
Joe Jackson #12 (up from #18)
Vander Blue #22 (up from #31)
Dwight Powell #23 (up from around #50 if I recall correctly)
Tobi Oyedeji #81 (up from #108)
Trevor Releford #97 (up from #150)
Anthony Johnson #99 (down from #88)
Alex Kirk #108 (down from #106)
Brandon Spearman #115 (down from #100)
Brandon Peters #118 (new)
Ahmad Starks #131 (new)
Read the new Rivals rankings here
Summer Hoops Food for Thought
So recently I came across another hoops blog called The Crossover Movement. While the author appears to have a definite lean to player development, the articles below raise some of the issues that we face in the summer (how teams are built, how kids are recruited, is the schedule too much, how are kids developed). Agree or disagree, these articles did provoke some thought.
Links to the articles
Links to the articles
Welcome to Czar v3.0
Welcome to the 2009-2010 season. No major changes to the site this year unlike last year. Here's a quick overview of the updates.
- Most of the links that used to be on the left and right sides have been moved up into the new orange menu bar at the top of the page. I took the opportunity to regroup the summer links and recruiting links into a more logical setup. A link to Eric Musselman's outstanding twitter updates is included under the More Hoops menu.
- On the MN Player Rankings page, I've added links to the Minnesota Preps rankings of the top players in Minnesota.
- The Kevin Noreen Scoring tracker has been moved into its own page so that I can list every game. I'll be keeping that up to date with each game and the updated projection of when Kevin will break the record. You can find that under "MN Scoring Record" in the 09-10 season menu.
- I'm tracking who has open gyms and when this fall so if you're aware of any open gyms that are scheduled, please let me know and I'll get them added to the Fall Basketball page.
- This season I'll be tracking more than the regular season in The Czar's Season Totals. I'm also going to count the games etc during fall leagues and the AAU season.
- I've added the Holiday Tournaments page as many teams know their holiday schedule. I'll be keeping that up to date as we approach the new year.
- I've also added a page to archive previous seasons. All the menu links from my coverage of the 07-08 and 08-09 seasons can be found on that page.
Thomas drops in latest ESPN top 100
Labels:
ESPN Recruiting,
Jacob Thomas
The cycle of updated rankings begins. ESPN just released their updated rankings for the class of 2010. Jacob Thomas remains the only MN player in the rankings. In this round he drops from #75 to #89. Other players who've appeared locally include
Harrison Barnes #1
Josh Selby #8
Joe Jackson #21
Vander Blue #34
Dwight Powell #37
Trevor Releford #49
Tobi Oyedeji #80
Alex Kirk #97
Evan Anderson #100
U of M target Cory Joseph comes in at #30
Read the entire ESPN.com top 100 here.
Harrison Barnes #1
Josh Selby #8
Joe Jackson #21
Vander Blue #34
Dwight Powell #37
Trevor Releford #49
Tobi Oyedeji #80
Alex Kirk #97
Evan Anderson #100
U of M target Cory Joseph comes in at #30
Read the entire ESPN.com top 100 here.
09-10 NFHS Points of Emphasis
Here are this year's national points of emphasis for officials (read the entire document here). Simply put I'm a big fan.
1) Traveling. I especially hate the bunny hop that shooters use to get their feet set and the Robert Parish (CHIEF!) spin move in the post. The first is a blatant travel that rarely got called and the other is physically impossible to do without walking. Those and the 95 foot jump stop are included in the emphasis.
2) Closely guarded. DLS coach Dave Thorsen is going to be a huge fan of this one. Count me in that group too. Remember its exactly 6 feet from the FT line to the top of the key. That's a long way and 6 feet is the rule. Too often it was enforced as just outside arm's length (so 4 ft max).
Also if there's a switch (say on a screen/roll), the count continues as long as a defender is within 6 feet. Almost always, officials stop the count which wasn't the rule. Worth noting too that the official is suppossed to start a visual count and then if the count switches (say holding the ball to dribble), then the count switches arms. That should eliminate any misunderstandings. All in all its good for the game as its frustrating to see point guards or stars just stand out high and beat the ball to death.
3) Block/Charge. Some clarifications. An interesting one though that I don't quite get. On a pass ahead, if you catch and turn and the guy doesn't give you any room, that's a charge. Yes the guy often walks before he charges but sometimes the walk is called as a bailout. That to me is inconsistent with the case where a screener has to give a blind defender a step.
Replay similar to what we've used in Minnesota is now allowed nation wide which I'm a big fan of. The games are played in college or pro arenas with the technology, why not take advantage of it. But I hated the argument that officials are held to an impossible standard on it.
Now if we get the MSHSL to add in emphasis on slapping the backboard, we should be set.
1) Traveling. I especially hate the bunny hop that shooters use to get their feet set and the Robert Parish (CHIEF!) spin move in the post. The first is a blatant travel that rarely got called and the other is physically impossible to do without walking. Those and the 95 foot jump stop are included in the emphasis.
2) Closely guarded. DLS coach Dave Thorsen is going to be a huge fan of this one. Count me in that group too. Remember its exactly 6 feet from the FT line to the top of the key. That's a long way and 6 feet is the rule. Too often it was enforced as just outside arm's length (so 4 ft max).
Also if there's a switch (say on a screen/roll), the count continues as long as a defender is within 6 feet. Almost always, officials stop the count which wasn't the rule. Worth noting too that the official is suppossed to start a visual count and then if the count switches (say holding the ball to dribble), then the count switches arms. That should eliminate any misunderstandings. All in all its good for the game as its frustrating to see point guards or stars just stand out high and beat the ball to death.
3) Block/Charge. Some clarifications. An interesting one though that I don't quite get. On a pass ahead, if you catch and turn and the guy doesn't give you any room, that's a charge. Yes the guy often walks before he charges but sometimes the walk is called as a bailout. That to me is inconsistent with the case where a screener has to give a blind defender a step.
Replay similar to what we've used in Minnesota is now allowed nation wide which I'm a big fan of. The games are played in college or pro arenas with the technology, why not take advantage of it. But I hated the argument that officials are held to an impossible standard on it.
Now if we get the MSHSL to add in emphasis on slapping the backboard, we should be set.
New WI High School Tourney Proposal
This is generated by a Wisconsin proposal, but I throw it out for possible ideas of how to modify the Minnesota state tournament. First some background info you need to know before I mention the proposal.
1) Take the top division and split it in half so that the schools in the enrollment range of 1000 are competing against schools that are similar size at state. Educated guess is that the top division would be the top 64 teams with larger classes underneath. Whether the 2nd class would also be 64 is open for debate. Not unheard of for the top class to be very small for competitive balance reasons. South Dakota's top class is only 16 teams and North Dakota's is 18 I believe.
2) So based on #1, that means we have 5 classes instead of 4. So we'll keep 20 teams at state, but every division gets 4 teams now. That will actually cut out 1 session during the 1st 2 days of state but add an extra championship game on Saturday. But with 5 games, will they still be able to charge for 2 sessions. If they do, now the WIAA is without an entire session worth of money which could be an issue here. I'd eliminate that brutal 9 AM session on Thursday if it were me.
3) The other major change deals with reclassifying the private schools that would be in the bottom 3 classes.
Useless sidenote, Minneapolis North's enrollment is calculated at 370 yet they're playing the 4A tournament. That doesn't add up even with opt up. Minnehaha is bigger (522) and playing AA.
The new proposal will be floated to the WIAA membership this fall.
- In Wisconsin, 8 teams from Division 1 (MN AAAA) make state and 4 each from the bottom 3 classes make state for a total of 20 teams. There are 118 teams that make up D1, 116 in D2, 127 in D3, 128 in D4.
- In Division 3 (MN AA), a private school team has won the title the last 6 seasons. Private schools comprise 15% of the Wisconsin membership but in the 9 years that they've been in the WIAA, they've made up 31% of the state tournament qualifiers during that time. That disparity has made many public schools unhappy.
- In Division 1, the gap between the top and bottom enrollment is about 1400 students and there's concern that the smallest D1 schools can't compete with the biggest D1 schools.
1) Take the top division and split it in half so that the schools in the enrollment range of 1000 are competing against schools that are similar size at state. Educated guess is that the top division would be the top 64 teams with larger classes underneath. Whether the 2nd class would also be 64 is open for debate. Not unheard of for the top class to be very small for competitive balance reasons. South Dakota's top class is only 16 teams and North Dakota's is 18 I believe.
2) So based on #1, that means we have 5 classes instead of 4. So we'll keep 20 teams at state, but every division gets 4 teams now. That will actually cut out 1 session during the 1st 2 days of state but add an extra championship game on Saturday. But with 5 games, will they still be able to charge for 2 sessions. If they do, now the WIAA is without an entire session worth of money which could be an issue here. I'd eliminate that brutal 9 AM session on Thursday if it were me.
3) The other major change deals with reclassifying the private schools that would be in the bottom 3 classes.
- If you are a private school located in a city that has more than 1 public high school, you get bumped up a class.
- If you are a private located in a city with only 1 public high school AND that public school is in the top 30 in the state in enrollment, you get bumped up a class.
- BUT a private school is exempted from being bumped up a class IF they are in the bottom 30 in enrollment in their current class.
Useless sidenote, Minneapolis North's enrollment is calculated at 370 yet they're playing the 4A tournament. That doesn't add up even with opt up. Minnehaha is bigger (522) and playing AA.
The new proposal will be floated to the WIAA membership this fall.
The 2010 Prospects Poll
Unfortunately it appears that a small set of the readership decided to ruin the poll of the top MN prospect in 2010 so I had to stop the poll early. The votes for Cole Stefan the last 2 days appear to be done just to stuff the ballot box as he was trailing Kevin Noreen by a couple of votes before the vote totals exploded. Before I get ripped, let the record show that I picked Cole last spring as the top prospect.
I was really surprised at the number of Other votes (especially early). If not the set of 6 given, then who got left out of the list? But there is a grain of truth there with those other votes in showing the depth of the 2010 class.
The 3 big man prospects got no love in the poll which was a minor surprise. All 3 of these guys are ahead of where Patrick O'Bryant was and look how he turned out.
Here are the final results of the poll (mostly worthless thanks to the ballot box stuffing)
I was really surprised at the number of Other votes (especially early). If not the set of 6 given, then who got left out of the list? But there is a grain of truth there with those other votes in showing the depth of the 2010 class.
The 3 big man prospects got no love in the poll which was a minor surprise. All 3 of these guys are ahead of where Patrick O'Bryant was and look how he turned out.
Here are the final results of the poll (mostly worthless thanks to the ballot box stuffing)
Alec Brown | 8 (3%) |
Chad Calcaterra | 6 (2%) |
Jake Kreuser | 11 (5%) |
Kevin Noreen | 25 (12%) |
Cole Stefan | 68 (32%) |
Jacob Thomas | 40 (19%) |
Other | 49 (23%) |
Benilde wins National Youth Basketball Championship
Benilde-St. Margaret's made the trip to Las Vegas for the National Youth Basketball Championships this week. Its put on by Vision Sports, the same group that puts on the famous Main Event. Despite being the only high school team in the 24 team event the Red Knights finished 7-1 and won the tournament. This is the 8th trip west for BSM over the years and their 1st tournament championship. They return late tonight just in time to see one of next year's AAAA favorites, Stillwater, in the Pacesetter Sweet 16 tomorrow morning.
Is July too much
So now that we've gone a summer where only July has been available, what impact did that have on recruiting? For a perspective on this, here's a column from ESPN's Andy Katz. Highlights include April probably staying as is and a great point on the quality of play after the kids have been on the road for 9 days. A fun side note to that was a coaches comment about wanting more time back on campus to work with the players already on the roster.
Consistent theme of more fundamentals as the USA continues to get battered on that in international play. Yes we win with great talent, but the international teams stay competitve because they are much more fundamentally sound. That comes from the US emphasis on playing rather than working on skills. But with the pressure on coaches to win and limited practice time, how does it get fixed?
Consistent theme of more fundamentals as the USA continues to get battered on that in international play. Yes we win with great talent, but the international teams stay competitve because they are much more fundamentally sound. That comes from the US emphasis on playing rather than working on skills. But with the pressure on coaches to win and limited practice time, how does it get fixed?
The Czar's 2009 Summer Awards
So now that the spring/summer season is almost over (and I'm done seeing games in it), its time to give out my awards for the best things I saw.
Most Valuable Player
Carlos Emory - Minnesota Pump N Run
His athleticism on the wing took PNR to another level and his dunks changed games.
Most Impressive Team
43 Hoops Carr. They played a brutal schedule and had an outstanding record. 2 deep at every position with all 10 guys able to make big contributions.
Biggest Stock Raiser
Ross Travis - 43 Hoops Carr.
From nowhere last year due to injury to D1 interest now is impressive. Best athlete on that team and when his jump shot gets consistent, he's a prototype 3 at the next level.
Most Improved Player
Matt Sellers - Magic Black & Big Game Sports
Impressive alone that he pulled double-duty this summer. On top of that he went from looking out of place at DeLaSalle last year to being a productive inside presence for both of his summer teams. At 6'10, whoever gets him for the high school season is going to be very happy.
Next Year's Top 5 17U Teams
Worst Looking but Most Effective Shooting Performance
tie - Chris Monter at the Sabes Invite with his "what hand did you shoot that with?" style that seemed to go in from everywhere. Also me for making 6 FTs in a row in street clothes at 43 Hoops in June with my "Michael Adams doesn't shoot more than 30% from 3" style.
Best Food
This one is cheating as I loved the pork sandwiches at the TNL SuperRegional, but I'm going with the catered Famous Daves for the refs and media at the Mr Basketball MN Showcase in Mankato.
Surprises
Officials calling goaltending for slapping the backboard. I saw this called half a dozen times this summer. See Slide 38 in this powerpoint presentation to see where I got the info from or read below.
"Rule 4-6: Basket Interference occurs when a player: 1) touches the ball or any part of the basket (including the net) while the ball is on or within either basket; 2) touches the ball while any part of the ball is within the imaginary cylinder which has the basket as its lower base."
Note that there is absolutely no mention of the backboard in that rule.
Here's the text from the slide
"Officials must determine if slapping the backboard is:
"By definition, this backboard contact cannot be basket interference"
Also from Scott Weinzierl who officiates the MN state tourney each year.
"First off, it's never goaltending no matter how much the backboard and/or rim move. As for being a technical, it is not a technical if the player was making a legitimate attempt at blocking the shot. If the official does not feel the slap was part of the block attempt then it could be a technical but at this point it's the officials discretion as to the intent of the player."
It really bothers me because its one thing if its a judgement call like block/charge. In that case, the rule was correctly enforced as the official saw the play. But in this case, its implementing something that's not in the rule book and it directly puts points on the scoreboard.
Now that I've got that out of my system once and for all, I think it should be basket interference like it is in the NBA. It'd be much simpler for the officials to call and better for the game as it would get rid of the explosion of backboard slapping that we've seen in recent years.
Most Valuable Player
Carlos Emory - Minnesota Pump N Run
His athleticism on the wing took PNR to another level and his dunks changed games.
Most Impressive Team
43 Hoops Carr. They played a brutal schedule and had an outstanding record. 2 deep at every position with all 10 guys able to make big contributions.
Biggest Stock Raiser
Ross Travis - 43 Hoops Carr.
From nowhere last year due to injury to D1 interest now is impressive. Best athlete on that team and when his jump shot gets consistent, he's a prototype 3 at the next level.
Most Improved Player
Matt Sellers - Magic Black & Big Game Sports
Impressive alone that he pulled double-duty this summer. On top of that he went from looking out of place at DeLaSalle last year to being a productive inside presence for both of his summer teams. At 6'10, whoever gets him for the high school season is going to be very happy.
Next Year's Top 5 17U Teams
- 43 Hoops Carr
- Minnesota Pump N Run
- Howard Pulley Black
- MN Heat Elite/MN Comets Elite (tie)
- Riley Dearring - MN Static 15U (Hopkins)
- Joey King - MN Southside (Eastview)
- Jack Klukas - MN Wrath 16U (Eden Prairie)
- Ashton Erie - Team Cannon 17U (Goodhue)
- Bryan Sprang - MN Heat Black 16U (Irondale)
- (Czar's Note 8/4/09, how did I not mention Cole Olstad of PEM)
Worst Looking but Most Effective Shooting Performance
tie - Chris Monter at the Sabes Invite with his "what hand did you shoot that with?" style that seemed to go in from everywhere. Also me for making 6 FTs in a row in street clothes at 43 Hoops in June with my "Michael Adams doesn't shoot more than 30% from 3" style.
Best Food
This one is cheating as I loved the pork sandwiches at the TNL SuperRegional, but I'm going with the catered Famous Daves for the refs and media at the Mr Basketball MN Showcase in Mankato.
Surprises
- Interesting how outside of the Sabes Invitational, nobody talked about Howard Pulley.
- How injuries decimated the top MN Select team. Imagine if they would have had a fully healthy starting group of Jesse Briggity, Jordan Jackson, Alex Koch, Sami Onsomu and Jake Kreuser. Granted 3 of those 5 weren't with them at the start of the season.
- Not AAU ball here, but the rivalry between Sibley and Hopkins at the Breakdown tourney in June was surprising. But its fun to see kids get jacked up to play regardless of the time of year.
Officials calling goaltending for slapping the backboard. I saw this called half a dozen times this summer. See Slide 38 in this powerpoint presentation to see where I got the info from or read below.
"Rule 4-6: Basket Interference occurs when a player: 1) touches the ball or any part of the basket (including the net) while the ball is on or within either basket; 2) touches the ball while any part of the ball is within the imaginary cylinder which has the basket as its lower base."
Note that there is absolutely no mention of the backboard in that rule.
Here's the text from the slide
"Officials must determine if slapping the backboard is:
- Unintentional - part of a legitmate attempt to block a try for goal = LEGAL
- Intentional - venting frustration or drawing attention to him/herself = TECHNICAL FOUL"
"By definition, this backboard contact cannot be basket interference"
Also from Scott Weinzierl who officiates the MN state tourney each year.
"First off, it's never goaltending no matter how much the backboard and/or rim move. As for being a technical, it is not a technical if the player was making a legitimate attempt at blocking the shot. If the official does not feel the slap was part of the block attempt then it could be a technical but at this point it's the officials discretion as to the intent of the player."
It really bothers me because its one thing if its a judgement call like block/charge. In that case, the rule was correctly enforced as the official saw the play. But in this case, its implementing something that's not in the rule book and it directly puts points on the scoreboard.
Now that I've got that out of my system once and for all, I think it should be basket interference like it is in the NBA. It'd be much simpler for the officials to call and better for the game as it would get rid of the explosion of backboard slapping that we've seen in recent years.
AAU Nationals update #3
MN Heat Elite 16s defeated Drive4Stardom this morning 66-50. Max Watts with 7 triples and 31 points in the victory. The Heat defeated United Stars 62-51 last night to advance to today's game. Quarterfinal game is at 4 PM (eastern) against Triad Trailblazers who have won 4 games to get to this point.
MN Glory went 0-3 in pool play and play tonight against Velocity Boys Black in the classic bracket.
MN Glory went 0-3 in pool play and play tonight against Velocity Boys Black in the classic bracket.
DiLoreto and Stefan Updates
Labels:
2009 Recruiting,
2010 Recruiting,
Cole Stefan
Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News featured Anthony DiLoreto (former Hopkins center) and Cole Stefan in a recent look at Las Vegas action. (Read it here). Stefan for the 2nd straight year was hot in Vegas. Very different than the struggles I saw from him in Denver back in April. Scout.com's Dave Telep views Stefan and Jacob Thomas as mid-major guys.
Speaking of rankings, what's with the huge number of votes for "Other" on the poll for best 2010 prospect? Throw some comments on this post to chime in with who you think is the best of the MN class of 2010. Do we have an outstate riot for not listing guys like Marshall Bjorklund, Taylor Filipek or Dyami Starks? How about other guys from the metro like DJ Peterson or Mike Rostampour.
As to DiLoreto, the article references a scholarship offer from St. Louis despite court proceedings that are scheduled for next week. What I find interesting though is that all the writers I've seen refer to DiLoreto as a lefty and I seem to recall he was a righty. I can understand the potential confustion though since all he shot in high-school were lefty jump hooks. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Take your pick.
Speaking of rankings, what's with the huge number of votes for "Other" on the poll for best 2010 prospect? Throw some comments on this post to chime in with who you think is the best of the MN class of 2010. Do we have an outstate riot for not listing guys like Marshall Bjorklund, Taylor Filipek or Dyami Starks? How about other guys from the metro like DJ Peterson or Mike Rostampour.
As to DiLoreto, the article references a scholarship offer from St. Louis despite court proceedings that are scheduled for next week. What I find interesting though is that all the writers I've seen refer to DiLoreto as a lefty and I seem to recall he was a righty. I can understand the potential confustion though since all he shot in high-school were lefty jump hooks. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Take your pick.
Pacesetter Sweet 16 Preview
Each year the MN Basketball News selects who they think will be the top 4 teams in each class for the upcoming season and puts them all in 1 big 16 team tournament. St. Benedict's in St. Joseph is the host as always. With that, here are the entries.
Class 4A: Hopkins, Minnetonka, Tartan and Stillwater. Tartan over Henry Sibley is a nice discussion starter.
Class 3A: Benilde-St. Margaret's, Little Falls, Cloquet and Rocori. Nice to showcase Chad Calcaterra from Cloquet (along with RaRa Jones, one of the best names in the state), but I'd rather have Grand Rapids. But the big omission here is St. Paul Johnson.
2A: New London-Spicer, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Staples-Motley and Crosby-Ironton. I would have liked to see Minnehaha here, but I can't argue with the 4 choices.
A: Sebeka, Ellsworth, Maranatha, Minnesota Transitions. Maranatha was one of the more overrated teams in class A all of last year (sorry Basketblogger). Very solid and well coached, but Josh Hanson isn't the star that David or Stephen Hanson was. MACCRAY was the team that really got left out here.
My predictions (full schedule can be found here)
Round of 16 games
NLS over Maranatha. NLS is too big and physical inside in this one. As much as I like Darian Pittman at the point for MCA, I'd definitely take the NLS backcourt of Jayme Moten and Erik Tengwall here.
Hopkins over Little Falls big. Hopkins is still Hopkins. Dan Kornbaum is a mismatch problem for Hopkins, but Hopkins with all of their young talent (Chambers, Stahl, Dearring, Coleman, Singleton) is too much.
Rocori over Crosby-Ironton. Its the summer and Rocori will still run The World's Worst Offense to perfection.
MTS vs Minnetonka. MTS won't get a shot at the big boys during the regular season so here's their chance. Jerrell Washington went off for them in last year's Pacesetter, will another star emerge. Tonka with no answer for Kevin Noreen, but will MTS keep Nick Latzke and Cole Stefan from turning the game into a shooting contest? I take Minnetonka in this one.
In the bottom half we start off with Staples-Motley vs Tartan. Tartan with more weapons and better defense wins a perimeter battle. Staples PG Jordan Riewer will be a handful for Tartan to deal with. Then again, Staples doesn't have enough perimeter weapons compared to the Preiner twins and Manani Beavers.
Cloquet vs Ellsworth. Outstanding matchup of D1 bigs as Chad Calcaterra goes against Trevor Gruis. That's the biggest 1st round battle that I see. I like Ellsworth's guards better so I'll take them to win a close one.
PEM vs Sebeka. The Olstads make an appearance on the summer circuit. Joey Cuperus is the contrast for Sebeka with his inside play. Sebeka will be there in class A, but I'm taking a very good PEM team in this one.
We end with a quality metro matchup of Stillwater vs Benilde-St. Margaret's. Stillwater returns everyone from last year and features PG Paul Franklin and huge C Ryan Duxbury. I'm interested to see what new coach Randy Jordan (formerly St. Cloud Tech) has them do here. BSM returns wing Peter Crawford and a bunch of young talent in Evan Battle, Isaiah Zierden, Will Dunn, Trent Pollard etc. Shooter Darren Glover has been out for the summer with a bad knee, I guessing he's out for this as well. Give me BSM here.
Quarterfinals
Hopkins over NLS, Minnetonka over Rocori, Tartan over Ellsworth, BSM over PEM to make an all metro group of finalist.
Semifinals (10:20 AM Sunday)
Hopkins over Minnetonka but except some of the rivalry to show up in that one. BSM over Tartan in the other semifinal.
Championship
Hopkins over BSM as Hopkins still has the best team in the state.
Class 4A: Hopkins, Minnetonka, Tartan and Stillwater. Tartan over Henry Sibley is a nice discussion starter.
Class 3A: Benilde-St. Margaret's, Little Falls, Cloquet and Rocori. Nice to showcase Chad Calcaterra from Cloquet (along with RaRa Jones, one of the best names in the state), but I'd rather have Grand Rapids. But the big omission here is St. Paul Johnson.
2A: New London-Spicer, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Staples-Motley and Crosby-Ironton. I would have liked to see Minnehaha here, but I can't argue with the 4 choices.
A: Sebeka, Ellsworth, Maranatha, Minnesota Transitions. Maranatha was one of the more overrated teams in class A all of last year (sorry Basketblogger). Very solid and well coached, but Josh Hanson isn't the star that David or Stephen Hanson was. MACCRAY was the team that really got left out here.
My predictions (full schedule can be found here)
Round of 16 games
NLS over Maranatha. NLS is too big and physical inside in this one. As much as I like Darian Pittman at the point for MCA, I'd definitely take the NLS backcourt of Jayme Moten and Erik Tengwall here.
Hopkins over Little Falls big. Hopkins is still Hopkins. Dan Kornbaum is a mismatch problem for Hopkins, but Hopkins with all of their young talent (Chambers, Stahl, Dearring, Coleman, Singleton) is too much.
Rocori over Crosby-Ironton. Its the summer and Rocori will still run The World's Worst Offense to perfection.
MTS vs Minnetonka. MTS won't get a shot at the big boys during the regular season so here's their chance. Jerrell Washington went off for them in last year's Pacesetter, will another star emerge. Tonka with no answer for Kevin Noreen, but will MTS keep Nick Latzke and Cole Stefan from turning the game into a shooting contest? I take Minnetonka in this one.
In the bottom half we start off with Staples-Motley vs Tartan. Tartan with more weapons and better defense wins a perimeter battle. Staples PG Jordan Riewer will be a handful for Tartan to deal with. Then again, Staples doesn't have enough perimeter weapons compared to the Preiner twins and Manani Beavers.
Cloquet vs Ellsworth. Outstanding matchup of D1 bigs as Chad Calcaterra goes against Trevor Gruis. That's the biggest 1st round battle that I see. I like Ellsworth's guards better so I'll take them to win a close one.
PEM vs Sebeka. The Olstads make an appearance on the summer circuit. Joey Cuperus is the contrast for Sebeka with his inside play. Sebeka will be there in class A, but I'm taking a very good PEM team in this one.
We end with a quality metro matchup of Stillwater vs Benilde-St. Margaret's. Stillwater returns everyone from last year and features PG Paul Franklin and huge C Ryan Duxbury. I'm interested to see what new coach Randy Jordan (formerly St. Cloud Tech) has them do here. BSM returns wing Peter Crawford and a bunch of young talent in Evan Battle, Isaiah Zierden, Will Dunn, Trent Pollard etc. Shooter Darren Glover has been out for the summer with a bad knee, I guessing he's out for this as well. Give me BSM here.
Quarterfinals
Hopkins over NLS, Minnetonka over Rocori, Tartan over Ellsworth, BSM over PEM to make an all metro group of finalist.
Semifinals (10:20 AM Sunday)
Hopkins over Minnetonka but except some of the rivalry to show up in that one. BSM over Tartan in the other semifinal.
Championship
Hopkins over BSM as Hopkins still has the best team in the state.
AAU Nationals Update #2
MN Glory are 0-2 with losses to the York Ballers and Aim High Georgia by 9 and 13 points. Their last pool game is later this afternoon.
MN Heat Elite 16s lost their last pool game by 13. They were down 13 early and came back to lead before losing. 6 Technicals and 2 flagrant fouls on the Heat in this one (the Heat would tell you only 1 T was deserved). WOW! From what I know of the Heat kids and coaches, hard to believe 6 Ts were all earned. The Heat won their first bracket game 70-56 over Hoopsdreamz BBall. They continue bracket play against the United Stars tonight.
MN Heat Elite 16s lost their last pool game by 13. They were down 13 early and came back to lead before losing. 6 Technicals and 2 flagrant fouls on the Heat in this one (the Heat would tell you only 1 T was deserved). WOW! From what I know of the Heat kids and coaches, hard to believe 6 Ts were all earned. The Heat won their first bracket game 70-56 over Hoopsdreamz BBall. They continue bracket play against the United Stars tonight.
AAU Nationals underway
MN Heat Elite 16s are in Orlando for AAU Nationals. Here's what they've done in their 1st 2 pool games (last one is later today)
Game 1 vs Team Breakdown. Team Breakdown is the 3rd ranked 16U team in Florida according to a Florida publication. They gave the Heat a warm welcome by opening up a 20-2 lead after 4 minutes. Heat fought back to 8 going to the 4th quarter. Rob Daul with a hoop to tie it and then an assist to Spencer Pankonin for a 2 point Heat lead with 1:10 left. After Team Breakdown tied it, Riley West called for a charge (tough call). Team Breakdown scores again but Max Watts with a clutch jumper to tie the game. Clock says .1 seconds left but the officials set the clock to 1.5 seconds. Team Breakdown inbounds to halfcourt and fires a prayer for the 56-53 win. Ouch.
2nd pool game was a 77-46 blowout of Team Hope (Louisiana).
Last pool game for the Heat is today against 2-0 Wave Basketball from Virginia.
MN Glory 17s open play today as well.
Game 1 vs Team Breakdown. Team Breakdown is the 3rd ranked 16U team in Florida according to a Florida publication. They gave the Heat a warm welcome by opening up a 20-2 lead after 4 minutes. Heat fought back to 8 going to the 4th quarter. Rob Daul with a hoop to tie it and then an assist to Spencer Pankonin for a 2 point Heat lead with 1:10 left. After Team Breakdown tied it, Riley West called for a charge (tough call). Team Breakdown scores again but Max Watts with a clutch jumper to tie the game. Clock says .1 seconds left but the officials set the clock to 1.5 seconds. Team Breakdown inbounds to halfcourt and fires a prayer for the 56-53 win. Ouch.
2nd pool game was a 77-46 blowout of Team Hope (Louisiana).
Last pool game for the Heat is today against 2-0 Wave Basketball from Virginia.
MN Glory 17s open play today as well.
Redhawks take Gold 2nd in Kansas
The Mpls Redhawks finished 2nd in the Gold division in Kansas to start the late July period. They were 2-1 in pool play.
During Gold bracket play, the Redhawks easily won their opener over KC Premiere Select.
In the final 8, the Redhawks trailed for most of the game, but Parker Hines made both ends of the bonus with 10 seconds left to secure a 3 point win.
The Redhawks took out the Queen City Prophets in the semifinals despite going up against a pair of lanky 6'10 shot blockers.
The championship of the gold bracket was a rematch with Texas Future. Texas Future won the pool game 67-58 at the start of the tourney. They were too much in this one too as the Redhawks lose by 4 in the Gold bracket championship game.
The Redhawks finish 5-2 with the 2 losses to the same team by a total of 13 points. A very nice tournament for them.
During Gold bracket play, the Redhawks easily won their opener over KC Premiere Select.
In the final 8, the Redhawks trailed for most of the game, but Parker Hines made both ends of the bonus with 10 seconds left to secure a 3 point win.
The Redhawks took out the Queen City Prophets in the semifinals despite going up against a pair of lanky 6'10 shot blockers.
The championship of the gold bracket was a rematch with Texas Future. Texas Future won the pool game 67-58 at the start of the tourney. They were too much in this one too as the Redhawks lose by 4 in the Gold bracket championship game.
The Redhawks finish 5-2 with the 2 losses to the same team by a total of 13 points. A very nice tournament for them.
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