2022 PH Hard Work Region Finals 16U thoughts

I was able to take in some action from this weekend's Prep Hoops Hard Work Region Finals.  I decided to mostly take in 16U games at Bloomington Kennedy.  Here are some notes from what I saw

In the Silver bracket.  MN Rise had a nice outing from JWP gaurd Memphis James as they beat Dubuque Intensity in their opener.  Nice workman effort from New Ulm's James Osborne in that win as well.  Dubuque forward Jacob Williams with a nice effort in the loss.

Heat Dedina knocked out 212 Degree Basketball Academy 59-45 in an early round game.  Fun game for me with a bunch of small school metro kids playing.  Cristo Rey's Patrick Akoussan with 13 points to lead a balanced Heat attack in that one.  Fun to see the improvement from Josh Balami of Math and Science as well.  He looks poised for a breakout high school season in the EMAC.  We all know I can't resist a chance to mention the EMAC if possible.

Now to the main bracket.  Fury Zurn got off to a very slow start vs Waterloo Salvation trailing by 8 midway thru the 1st half of their 1st game.  But a 1-2-2 press generated turnover after turnover.  Fury would use that to finish the game on a 59-10 run in their blowout win.  East Ridge teammates Parker Wellman and Charlie Bern combine for an off the backboard assist and dunk for a highlight moment off one of those turnovers.  Charlie Theis 14 points with 6 others scoring between 8 and 11 points in a balanced offensive attack.  Coach Zurn's group would come from behind to win a tough round of 8 game vs an Omaha Elite crew that had been blowing people out as well.

Eastview's Jonathan Mekonnen continues to be a dominant force for Heat PBJ.  That Heat crew blew thru the bracket with all running time wins to setup a championship showdown with Fury Zurn.

Forward Asher Wade and star wing Caden Wilkins carried the Iowa Barnstormers in their games.  Wilkins with a 20 point game in their round of 32 blowout win over Titans Brodeur.  Point guard Kyler Gerardy is also a player I continue to like for the Barnstormers.  

Mounds View forward Joey Fretheim carried the Titans Brodeur offense in that loss with 22 points.

Minnesota Select Altenhofen and Minnesota Rush played a classic in the round of 16.  Select took a 14 point lead in the 1st half.  Rush would come from behind thanks to their pressure defense and take the lead.  15 seconds left and Rush missed a free throw that would have extended their lead to 4.  Lakeville South's Damarcus Burks buried a straight away 3 to tie with 10 seconds left.  Rush pushes it back the other way and turns it over.  St. Thomas Academy's Luke Dobbs takes it the other and his layup just beats the buzzer.  Select dead and buried after blowing the lead comes out with a 60-58 win.  Fun to watch Osseo guard Timmy Denedo lead that Rush team.

A fun matchup that turned wild ends our list.  Minnesota HS hoops legend Joel Pryzbilla was in town coaching his son's Milwaukee Trail Blazers team.  Yes they used the old Portland Trail Blazers logo as you'll remember Joel had his best years there.  They took out Minnesota Chill in the round of 32 67-65 in overtime.  Crazy game with an official being replaced during the 1st half.  

Officiating
It not something that one wants to talk about but it was a big storyline of the weekend so it needs to be mentioned.  The group of officials doing the 16U games I saw was frankly brutal.  Guys not moving, not understanding basic officiating mechanics and no ability to manage the game.  This wasn't 1 court or a small group of officials.  This was the norm for all 8 courts I saw over 2 days most of the time.   And it wasn't isolated to just the games I saw.  I heard similar stories from the 15U and 17U brackets.  At the end of the day it was embarrassing and paints a wonderful event in a bad light.

It would be easy to point fingers at Prep Hoops.  Once upon a time, I probably would have done that.  However, the harsh truth of this is that we as fans and coaches have now reaped what we've sown.  Considering all the stupid and senseless yelling and screaming that goes on at these refs, can we really wonder why we're running into a major shortage of officials at all levels?  Who wants the job any more?  In events like this, and I've seen it in Las Vegas during the old open periods as well, there are too many games and simply not enough qualified refs to go around. 

This is entirely on the crazy fans and coaches and players and media pinheads like me for how we treat officials.  Yes we need better training for handling situations.  Would it also help with not scheduling these refs for 8 straight games and by paying them better?  Absolutely, but you can't pay these people enough for the abuse and that is entirely understandable.  Until that happens, we're going to continue to see situations where we have refs who are working games that they aren't ready to work.

Frank Martin's perspective on all of this hits it right on the head (watch it here)

Let the Players Play
Let the Coaches Coach
Let the Officials Officiate