Bolte to Iowa State; Bloomington Jefferson Results

#2 posting 6.18.2006
Your Daily Dose of Girls Basketball News & Information

BOLTE TO IOWA STATE
Kelsey Bolte has made a verbal with Iowa State. She is the third player from the IBCA Iowa Select I team to verbal a school. Kelsey Cermak, Norwalk, is headed to Iowa, Erin Brocka, North Butler is off to Northern Iowa. I asked Bolte herself today on this story.
VERBALS

BLOOMINGTON JEFFERSON RESULTS
Here are the results from the
17/19 division
Championship
IBCA Iowa Select I 55, MN Metro Stars 25
Prior to that in what apparently was a quarterfinal game Team WI 17 Select beat their in state rivals Green Bay Metro 17 48-44.
TW17S lost to the eventual champs in the semis.
HS Blue Division
North Tartan won by forfeit over NC Heat.
Let's take a look at the Second round (First round was Saturday night)
NC Heat beat 43 Hoops Elite 42-34
The other games results were taken down before I had a chance to look at them.
quarterfinal action
MN Metro Stars Black defeated an unknown team
NC Heat beat MN Stars Ron unknown score
Southern Minne Magic beat Total Package unknown score
North Tartan beat IBCA Iowa Select II 71-55
Semifinals
NC Heat beat MN Metro Stars Black 66-52
North Tartan beat Southern Minne Magic score unknown, rumors of 30+
Finals
NC Heat's coach Paul Hill's son was playing in the Inner City All Star game. After the semis he was on the way to that contest and no one else was able to coach the squad. The upshot was that NC Heat forfeited to North Tartan. If they would have played, it would have set up a confrontation between the two state champions of 15s--NC Heat and 16s--North Tartan.

15 Blue
The championship game was a civil war of sorts with MN Stars Schmidt beating their sister team MN Stars Antl 56-44.

I have a few suggestions to make the tournament better, much better.
1. Seeding. I don't know if it was a blind draw or not, but a North Tartan vs Iowa Select I matchup would have been something to see. The 17/19 division only had six teams. Dump those teams in the HS Blue division. Instead of 18 teams, you have 24 teams, 6 pools of 4. I also know some decent teams from WI ended up at Robbinsdale Cooper. They could have easily competed in this bracket. I also know some teams that had no business being at Jefferson should have been at Cooper if the Blue is the best and Red is second best.

2. Better pacing of games. Back to back or playing three games in five hours might be a bit taxing. At least it will tell you who is in better shape and condition, or who has a deeper bench, but it needs to be better paced.

3. hit & miss. Teams are not at full strength, & that is true throughout the AAU season so far. Prom is in the way, or another sport (volleyball, track), graduation happens, so do family obligations. Sure some kids are hurt and injured, but you never get a full deck. Even in the 15 championship civil war. Antl was missing some important parts of the puzzle. This really isn't a problem of the tournament itself, but of the whole AAU structure.

I will admit I like plopping my rear end down and being able to watch 100s of players get after the ball. I like seeing who is competitive, resourceful, who makes good decisions, consistent, and who is ready to battle.
I do think that teams are getting better at offense and that the cream is rising to the top.
But for the money these out of state teams are spending on the tournament, and hotels, and food, and shopping...there should be a better tournament structure to insure the best play the best. If they don't get it straightened out, I don't know how many will return.

AAU ROSTERS

Here is my Out & About game coverage for the next week
Monday MN Stars Antl vs Team WI 14 Select
Tuesday 2nd Half Team WI 17 Select vs Green Bay Metro 17s
Wednesday MN Stars Schmidt vs MN Stars Antl
Thursday NC Heat vs 43 Hoops Lady Elite
Friday North Tartan vs IBCA Iowa Select II
Saturday NC Heat vs MN Metro Stars
Sunday IBCA Iowa Select I vs MN Metro Stars 19s
Schedule is subject to change. Photos will be coming for all games (except next Sunday's game--my reliable source put the camera away when we had to move).

Next up: tomorrow am with Thorpe on a Soap Box and a Look at the Lynx.