Twin Cities Boys Hoops
Time 2021-10-25 10:10:16Web Name: Twin Cities Boys Hoops
WebSite: http://tchoops.blogspot.com
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keywords: description:Home of the Twin Cities Hoops Czar. Your Resource for Twin Cities High School Boys Basketball.
Another new school year is almost upon us and that means its time to turn the page to what we hope is a normal 2021-22 season. I'm excited to start another season in cyberspace. If you liked the Four Factors stats that I started including last season, I'm looking to expand on that this season. Some very exciting possibilities there.
The usual list of all fall events is now posted on the Fall Hoops page. If I missed yours, please pass it along.
I will be once again doing my annual season previews (see page here). No bonus previews this year so apologies to the Wright County in advance. I'll do a 3 week series starting in November leading up to the 1st day of practice. That will include 13 local conferences, the independents and my annual Season In A Nutshell preview for the casual fan. My section winner predictions for the metro area will be included in that.
We have 13 players from the class of 2022 that have already committed. That list can be found here.
For now, holiday tournaments are back. HOORAY! Here's a list of the ones I know about currently. Schedules will be added as we get closer to the games themselves.
I've also done all the usual clean up of links. That includes updating the current recruiting rankings from all the major services. See that on my Players page.
That cleanup also includes all the links on the left hand side of the main site or for those of you on mobile, check out the Resources page (always 1st in the main menu too). That includes links to anything and everything you may want to know about Minnesota hoops during the high school or grassroots seasons. It includes national sites, recruiting calendars, signing dates, records and award winners just to name a few useful things that can be found there.
We have the first open period of 2021 in the books. Now we have 2 special open periods thanks to the pandemic. Here are this week's locations.
Sioux Falls
A large chunk of the notable Minnesota teams will be in Sioux Falls for the Sanford Pentagon league finals. South Dakota Attack jumps into the league to fill some Omaha Crusaders spots. They'll provide a stiff test for Fury Wilde on Friday and Select Ohnstad on Saturday. Select Ohnstad beat South Dakota Attack by 20 in a showcase game in St. Cloud last month. Fury Wilde (undefeated) and Select Ohnstad (tied for 2nd in the league with 2 losses) meet up Friday night in what could be a preview of Sunday's championship game. Pharrel Payne had another productive weekend last weekend in Birmingham for Select. Quarterfinals begin Saturday night with the semis and finals on Sunday.
Council Bluffs
The D1 Minnesota squads will be just down I-29 in Council Bluffs, IA for the Adidas Championships. The 17s open bracket play (32 team bracket) on Friday with a stiff test against Wildcat Select with Virginia commit Isaac McKneely. The 2nd round could be against the host Omaha Crusaders and local star Josh Dix. Dix has a Minnesota offer and is a top priority for Iowa. He was outstanding at the MBCA showcase last month. Otherwise they'll play a loaded Compton Magic crew with a top 20 star nationally and 2 other high major commits.
Kansas City
Staying on I-29, we'll find the Grassroots Sizzle 2nd 17s and Real Phenom-Nick squads at the Sunflower Showcase. Solid weekend for that Real Phenom squad in Atlanta last week. MN Chill along with a Grassroots Sizzle squad will be representing the 16s as well.
Dallas
Veering south on I-35 all the way to the metroplex there are a couple of DFW events of note. Grassroots Sizzle will be in week 2 of Under Armour play. The D1 MN Prospects squad will be in the Prep Hoops event there. Mpls Flight Squad will be also there in the 16s.
Augusta
Now head east on I-20 and drive forever. The Howard Pulley 17s will be in the Peach State Select event. Next door their 15s and 16s are playing 1 game each day thru Monday in EYBL regular season play. Nike then goes right into the Peach Jam for all levels on Tuesday.
Louisville
Heading back towards home, Team GetShook and Gain Elite continue NY2LA play. Gain Elite took their lumps at 0-6 against a very tough schedule last weekend but was very competitive. A rematch with 3D Empire and star Anthony Black (70-60 loss last Sunday) could await them in the 2nd round of their 16 team bracket.
Appleton
A brief detour before making it home sees some Minnesota teams making the shorter Prep Hoops trip to Appleton, WI. That includes Starks Elite and MN Crossfire Pederson in the 17s. They meet at 3:35 on Sunday. Crossfire Barger and MN Bounce along with 2 Magic squads and 2 Crossfire squads play in the 16s.
Ah home. D1 Minnesota has their annual local summer tournament this weekend. Despite it being an open weekend, still a respectable field with WOTN-Johnson, Heat Grow, MN Lightning Ellerbusch, MSP Elite and 2 MN Magic squads in the 17s.
0comments 2021 Great Plains Alliance Review
Back to AAU normalcy with no COVID restrictions in place at the 2021 Great Plains Alliance in St. Cloud. A large contingent of NSIC and MIAC coaches in attendance for what is one of the vastly underappreciated recruiting events of the summer. Reason being that this is the event, not those long road trips in July, that will get the vast majority of Minnesota recruits their looks.
16U Division
South Dakota Attack 16s took home the championship with a 79-59 win over WOTN Bertsch. That was a 1 point game at halftime but Attack came out of halftime on a 19-5 run. Issac Bruns with 16 of his 24 points in the 2nd half to lead Attack to the win. The big wing is definitely in the discussion for the top 2023 player in South Dakota. 3 others in double figures in the victory. JT Thornton (Lakeville North) and Anish Ramlall (Rosemount) combined for 29 first half points but were held scoreless in the 2nd half. Both players have had nice seasons for WOTN.
Really enjoyed watching the WI Crusaders 16s with their screening and cutting offense. Especially in today's pace and space nature of the game that leads to nothing more than drive and kick action.
A nice 3-1 weekend for the MN Rise 16s. They had a double digit comeback to beat MN Bounce 62-60 in the quarters before bowing out to the champs in the semis.
17U Division
WI Crusaders 17s took home the title with a 65-49 win over upstart Comets Belka. Tyler Borowski and Carter Thomas leading the Crusaders on championship day. 5 out offense with a bunch of interchangeable parts makes this a dangerous squad.
Comets Belka was the big team story of the weekend at 4-1. They took out Sacred Hoops in their showcase game and then no problems with WI Crusaders Select in the round of 16. Then a late Friday night win over Comets DLR before bouncing Select Ohnstad 66-60 in the semis. Mitchell Degen (Brainerd) and Zach Zrust (Buffalo) bright spots for the Comets. Zrust is a versatile big man who can step out and shoot it. Will be interesting to track him in July.
MN Rise was the 4th semifinalist and finished their weekend 3-1. That included a nice 55-42 win over South Dakota Attack. That 20 point loss to WI Crusaders in the semis was an 8 point game later in the 2nd half before 1 last run put the game away. Brayden Williams (Owatonna) leading the way for Rise once again.
We've talked a lot about Pharrell Payne (Park of Cottage Grove) and rightfully so. He didn't disappoint this weekend. Benard Omooria (Osseo) really helped himself with solid shooting all weekend. Kenji Scales is another PG that continues to be solid as well. Williams, Omooria and Scales part of a group of similar guards that are trying to break out of the pack.
Solid 3-1 weekend for WOTN Johnson. They beat a couple of depleted squads in Northstar Titans Terhaar (buzzer beater) and Heat MacDonald. A close loss to Select Ohnstad in the quarters where they held Pharrell Payne to 6-15 shooting and then beat Comets DLR in a consolation game. Connor Beauchamp (Lakeville South) with a solid weekend on the wing with 22 points in that Select game. Nick Burke (SW Christian) also with a productive weekend. They did that without one of their top weapons, Kyle Hrncir (Farmington), as well.
After a year off, the MBCA camp returned in bigger fashion. Good to be back in the gym and see the D1 coaches in attendance for the 1st time in almost 2 years. The 2nd edition of the camp expanded to over 140 players and 16 teams. That's up from the 100 kids and 12 teams used 2 years ago. As the saying goes, it takes a village and that we had. 32 coaches jumping in to coach the teams and many others behind the scenes in the operations side to make everything run smoothly. Like 2 years ago, we had top kids from the Dakotas represented and this year a handful of Iowa stars attended as well.
With 4 games going on at once, it was difficult to catch everyone and with trying to see a bit of everyone, you end up really following no one. Always difficult to strike that balance. So with that in mind, I tried to stay on the main court and catch a full game rather than running around. Most of the teams did have a game there. Here's what caught my eye.
Player Notes
Impressions
As expected everything with the camp was well organized. The opening speeches, hour of 4 on 2 with 2 chasers and hour plus of skills could be cut back. Granted I did love Mitch Ohnstad's full court drive and kick continuous drill and its variations. I think giving the coaches more time to work with their team before the games to put some semblance of a system in would be advisable too. That was really reflected in the poor quality of play. Unlike 2 years ago, despite what the coaches I'm sure emphasized, the players didn't seem to buy into the idea that this was an event for coaches to evaluate. Ragged play, bad shot selection, lack of hustle and not feeding the bigs was endemic. Out of the teams I saw, I think I saw 1 team try to use a 4 out 1 in. Otherwise it was tons of high ball screen and Do Him offense. 2 years ago, it was understandable to see the 3rd game of the day have lower quality with tired kids. But this year it was 2 games Friday night and only 2 on Saturday. No real excuses. It will be interesting to see what this looks like in St. Cloud this week with the D2s out for a major viewing at the Great Plains Alliance and especially in the 3 open periods in July.
Its another weekend of online viewing on Fishbowl TV. That's Baller TV when its unusable which is far too often. I took in a list of games from the weekend at Battle at the Lakes. My focus was largely on local teams that I hadn't seen or noteworthy local vs local matchups. Here are bullet points of what I saw, in order of viewing. Then we'll add some quick bonus thoughts on a couple teams that were in the loaded Kansas City Classic this weekend.
Friday
Northstar Titans Terhaar 17s took out Quad City 53-50 in their opener. Nice passing from Chaska post Brady Nicholson in this one. He had a huge size advantage but was more of a distributor in this one. Nick Bartlett (Forest Lake) 14 points with 3 triples to lead the Titans to the win. They ran the table 4-0 this weekend.
Playmakers Showcase North 16s def Fury Hayes 50-37. Impressive outing for South Ridge post Austin Josephson who put up numbers somewhere in the 20/10 range. No answer for his size inside. But he also showed some range on a jumper. Both teams finished the weekend 2-2.
Saturday
I started my viewing with a shooting gallery display from the Fury Antl 16s. They knock down 11 triples from 5 different guys in the 1st half alone. 53-19 at the break on Playmakers Showcase Wausau as they roll to an 84-48 win. Fury also beat them handily in the Comets Shootout championship but I didn't expect this kind of result. They aren't big, but if they get it moving and clicking, this is what happens. Fury runs the table 4-0 for the weekend with all double digit wins.That allowed me to flip over to the MN Chill 16s. Don't freeze this group out of your thoughts. They beat the Madison Spartans 63-43. That's a Spartans squad that features 2 top 20 kids in Wisconsin. They get after you all game and have athletes. Only chink in the armor is they are short on shooting. But this is a team that deserves mention with that 2nd tier group of teams. They finished the weekend 3-2.
Fury Wilde def Tulsa Hawks 76-56. Fury blows open a 13 point halftime lead to win by mercy rule. Jackson Loge (Morris) leading the way with 19 points. He was terrific all weekend and picked up a Toledo offer in the process. Great balance on offense with 5 in double figures. They also did a nice job on Tulsa star shooter Parker Friedrichsen. 14 points and 4 3s for him but only 1 2nd half field goal.D1 Prospects 17s lost a heartbreaker to Breakaway. D1 missed a late free throw to extend the lead to 3. Breakaway pushed the ball back the other way and hit a 3 at the buzzer to win 69-68. In the showcase game of the weekend, D1 Minnesota def Select Ohnstad 63-58 in 17s. D1 played without Camden Heide. D1 had a double digit 2nd half lead that Select was able to trim all the way down in the last minute. Ultimately D1 got a good defensive stop up 3 at the end and sealed it at the charity stripe. Good outings for Kenji Scales and Leo Torbor of Select. D1s athletes making it tough for Select to generate any good offense. Tamin Lipsey makes such a difference for D1. 0-4 without him in Chicago but D1 has been 7-2 with him back. Kendall Blue, Josh Ola-Joseph and BJ Omot also with notable games for D1. D1 Minnesota 3-1 on the weekend. Select Ohnstad 2-3 on the weekend, 13-4 overall.
WOTN Bertsch blew out Select Emge in the 2nd half on the way to a 63-36 win. WOTN had a 25-4 run before 3 late Select FTs came before the mercy rule. I continue to like JT Thornton of Lakeville North for WOTN. WOTN Bertsch finishes 3-1. Select Emge was 1-4
I just caught the end of the Fury Zurn 15 game where they lost to WI Playground Club 72-67. 5'8 PG Jaquan Johnson (a top WI frosh) went absolutely nuts with 45 points for PGC. Fury had no answer for him late or at any other point. Fury finished 2-2 in the top pool but didn't get a game vs D1 Minnesota sadly.
MN Bounce suffered their first loss of the season vs Team 1848 by a score of 44-39. Offense hard to come by for both teams in this one. Bounce held a 35-30 lead before Team 1848 finished the game on a 14-4 run. Bounce's lack of size saw them get beat up inside and on the offensive glass. MN Bounce finishes the weekend 2-2 to be 10-2 overall for the season.
Speaking of size, WOTN Johnson used their size to knock off Northstar Titans Barker 62-41. Titans had this game within 6 early in the 2nd half. Nick Burke (SW Christian) 16 points to lead WOTN. Also saw flashes from Miles Hettinger (Stewartville) and Dayne Wojcik (Goodhue). WOTN finishes the weekend 3-1, now 5-3 overall. Northstar Titans Barker finishes 2-2.
SundayFury Wilde def D1 Prospects 58-51. Prospects had a 45-39 lead but couldn't hold it. Big plays late from Maddox Alipate (Benilde-St. Margaret's) to put Fury over the top. Ahjany Lee in and out of the lineup due to injury but still ended up in double figures. Fury 3-1 on the weekend. D1 Prospects finish 0-4.Fury Narum ran the table 4-0 by finishing the weekend with a 63-55 win over Gain Elite. Gain Elite's front line of Kabine Kaba and Jamal Ambrose very productive. Ambrose has to project as next year's Henry Shannon for Eastview. Kaba was a solid player for Park Center this year and is very active inside. Cam Holter (AHA) and Quinten Snell (Shakopee) came up with critical bucket and plays for Fury Narum to put them over the top. Gain Elite finishes the weekend 2-2.
Kansas City Bonus Thoughts
Since I didn't have anything on the Saturday night session, I went back and found the Pulley 16s vs CP3 game from Kansas City. CP3 with 3 top 100 kids on the 16s, enough said. But Pulley hung around for a long while before losing 73-66. Pulley finished 1-3 on the weekend against a stacked pool with 4 other EYBL teams. 3 of those ranked in the top 10 nationally. Will Underwood (Mahtomedi) and Nolan Winter (Lakeville North) lead that squad and I'm high on both. Underwood controlled the offense with around 20 points but a quiet day for Winter in the game I saw. Pulley with no real size and CP3 took advantage. Solid weekend for the 15s as they went 2-2 vs 4 shoe teams. The 17s ran the table 4-0 but were not in one of the top pools. Team GetShook actually played more EYBL teams (2) than Pulley did (1). GetShook was 0-4 losing all 4 games by double figures.
I also managed on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to take in a little bit of highly touted Mikey Williams. He joined top 5 ranked Chris Livingston and the We All Can Go squad for the games in the loaded Kansas City event. A total circus surrounding him. WACG split the 2 games I watched but the viewing was AAUBingo galore. In fairness, with all the attention on him and joining a brand new team for a week, very hard to manage all of that.
0comments 2021 Battle at the Lakes Games to SeeA notable event on the May schedule is back as Battle at the Lakes returns. Lots of Minnesota on Minnesota crime as expected here. Its a pools only schedule, no brackets. Here are games that stick out to me in schedule order. All games are on Baller.TV but good luck getting that to work.
17U
PM North Showcase vs Select Mantey Fri 6:00
MSP Elite vs Select Mantey Sat 9:05
Fury Wilde vs Tulsa Hawks Sat 11:15
D1 vs Select Ohnstad Sat 12:20
MSP Elite vs PM North Showcase Sat 12:20
Northstar Titans Barker vs MN Lightning Ellerbusch Sat 12:20
Comets Belka vs MN Magic Premier Sat 2:30
Heat Grow vs Comets Elite Sat 5:45
WOTN Johnson vs Northstar Titans Barker Sat 5:45
D1 vs WI Playground Sun 9:05
D1 Prospects vs Fury Wilde Sun 10:10
Select Ohnstad vs Tulsa Hawks Sun 10:10
Select Ohnstad vs WI Playground Sun 12:20
WOTN Johnson vs MN Lightning Ellerbusch Sun 12:20
Fury Narum vs Gain Elite Sun 2:30
The highlight here is 11-1 Select Ohnstad taking on D1 Minnesota in the top pool. D1 Minnesota started their season 0-5 but won their last 4 games in Kansas City 2 weeks ago. Ahjany Lee and Joe Hurlburt vs Pharrell Payne is the highlight matchup in that one. Lee and Hurlburt are high major guys, Payne is emerging quickly trying to jump into that same conversation. (Czar's Correction: Lee plays on the D1 Prospects squad). WI Playground also in that pool with star Jeffrey Brazziel amongst others. Fury Wilde is in the 2nd pool with the Tulsa Hawks and the D1 MN Prospects. 2 very good games there. Select Ohnstad gets a crossover game with the Hawks as well.
I was hoping we'd get Northstar Titans Terhaar rather than Northstar Titans Barker in the WOTN Johnson pool to go with MN Lightning Ellerbusch. MSP Elite (Spring Lake Park crew including Logan Kinsey who just got a MN-Moorhead offer) gets a couple Minnesota opponents in their pool with Select Mantey and Playmakers North Showcase. Heat Grow vs Comets Elite and Fury Narum vs Gain Elite stick out to me as games to show where you really stand.
16U
Gain Elite vs Heat Pratt, Fri 6 PM
Playmakers North vs Fury II 8:05 Fri
Fury Antl vs WI Playmakers Wausau 3-1 Sat 10:10
Comets Elite vs Playmakers North 12:20 Sat
WOTN Bertsch vs Select Emge 1:25 Sat
MN Bounce vs Team 1848, 2:30 Sat
Select Emge vs MN Lightning Ellerbusch Sat 7:55
Comets Elite vs Fury II Sat 9 PM
Heat Pratt vs MN Chill, Sun 9:05
Fury Antl vs WI Playground Sun 10:10
WOTN Bertsch vs MN Lightning Ellerbusch 11:15 Sun
Gain Elite vs MN Chill Sun 1:25
In Pool B, Fury Antl gets WI Playmakers Wausau in a rematch of the Comets Shootout championship game that Fury won big. Fury Antl also gets top WI Playground squad. Max Shikenjanski off to a hot start for Fury including a 39 point outburst last weekend vs the Pentagon Schoolers. Good matchup in Pool D as you have 8-0 MN Bounce vs Team 1848. Team 1848 was 3-1 in St. Cloud losing to Heat Pratt in the 1st round. MN Bounce ran the table in the 2nd bracket in St. Cloud and won all 4 games in Atlanta last week. Top WOTN and Select squads get together. MN Chill has been on the road in Prep Hoops events and has played well. Now a big weekend for them with quality local opponents in Heat Pratt and Gain Elite all in the same pool. Fury Hayes, Playmakers North and Comets Elite all together in a pool as well.
This weekend was setup to be the 2nd NCAA open period of the spring. With the NCAA shutting down D1s until June, we don't get that. But that doesn't mean teams stay home. This weekend most Minnesota teams hit the road. There are a couple small local tournaments as well. As it was to be an open period, I'll focus solely on the 17U teams here.
Kansas City
Prepare for a traffic jam on I-35 going south during the day on Friday and coming home Sunday afternoon. 23 17U teams from Minnesota will make the trip south, not to mention all the other levels. Feels like this year's midwest version of Las Vegas.
15 of those teams are in the Prep Hoops event. That includes both teams from D1, Fury, Select and Magic plus 4 Heat teams including their top 2. MSP Elite, Northstar Titans Terhaar and Real Phenom (not sure which team) make up the rest.
Games of Note
Fri 8:10 SD Attack vs Heat MacDonald
Sat 1:25 D1 vs Power5 3SSB
Sat 6:50 D1 vs Team Lavine 3SSB
Sun 9:05 D1 vs Dallas Showtyme Elite
Sun 9:05 Fury Wilde vs Iowa Barnstormers Gold
Sun 12:20 D1 vs Team Impact UAA
Sun 1:25 D1 Prospects vs Tulsa Hawks
A couple of fun regional games with Heat Mac taking on South Dakota Attack and Fury Wilde getting the top Iowa Barnstormers squad. I wish we did more of those (similar to what we saw in Ames last July). If only my dream of a 16 team regional championship could ever get off the ground. D1 Minnesota's top team struggled last week going 0-4 in Chicago. They get more shoe competition and a Dallas Showtyme group that was undefeated last week. The D1 Prospects can get revenge for the top team against the Tulsa Hawks. The Hawks were one of the teams to beat D1 last week in a 5 point game.
In the Recruit Look Kansas City session, Grassroots with their top 2 teams and Howard Pulley get their seasons underway. Hustle Hard, Real Phenom (again not sure which team), MN Lightning Ellerbusch and 2 Minnesota Suns teams round out the local delegation.
Games of Note
Sat 4:05 Howard Pulley vs KC Run GMC
Sat 5:10 Grassroots-Weston vs Nebraska Supreme
Sat 7:20 Grassroots-Caldwell vs Kingdom Hoops
Sun 1:55 Grassroots-Weston vs Colorado Hawks
Howard Pulley doesn't have to wait until their tournament for their annual meeting with KC Run GMC. Grassroots-Weston gets fellow Under Armour member Nebraska Supreme and Isaac Traudt. That Nebraska Supreme team is a merger between the Team Factory and Lincoln Supreme programs that were so good the last couple of years. In the Sunday game, the Colorado Hawks feature top 5 2023 big man Baye Fall.
For those with Baller.TV, the games from both tournaments will be live there.
The Rest
NY2LA teams will be in Louisville for a gigantic 3 organization event. Long time AAU followers will probably recall the old Eddie Ford event that went on there. That event includes the MN Comets, Team GetShook and Gain Elite. A few other teams will make the trip to Sioux Falls. West Central Wildcats, Crossfire-Pederson, SW MN Stars, MN Rise, Comets Belka and West Central United are all in the top bracket there. A little mid Minnesota crime there as WC United gets Comets Belka at 6:30 on Saturday night.
Locally
Minnesota Select and D1 Minnesota both have small tournaments in town this weekend. E1T1 with 2 teams and Starks Elite in the D1 tourney. Howard Pulley's other teams are playing up in the Select tourney. Northstar Titans Barker and Rip City amongst the others in that 17U bracket.
11/1: Independents
11/2: EMAC
11/3: MCAA
11/4: Skyline
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