The Week That Was #3

#8 posting 12.10.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE WEEK THAT WAS #3

This past week might as well have been labeled "the tour of the Lake Conference" with three games, and six teams for the week from that powerhouse conference. Every game is a battle in that league. Since 2000 a Lake Conference team has been in the finals with three state championships. The records of these teams will not be pretty as they cut each other, but right now Burnsville is come out of their battles unscathed. They have lived close to the edge trailing Eastview and Lakeville North by 8 in the second half this week, but finding ways to close strong and win. They play Rosemount and Eagan this week at home.
As a group the Lake schools are at 66.12 possessions a game which is down from the average of 69.69 from the 26 games I have watched. The pp100 is 76.56 compared to the 71.6 from the field; and their floor % is .374 to .350 for the field. I did not use the Kennedy game against Washburn in the mix. I have not seen two of the Lake teams: Lakeville South and Bloomington Jefferson so far this year.

Which leads us to team of the week. Again, it has to be a team I saw during that week obviously leaving out a lot of schools. However I am a firm on the gold standard of one point per possession and solid defense. Osseo therefore gets the nod for coming out hard, aggressive, crisp and sharp. They didn't let up and turned some heads on Monday. Mpls Southwest will be close to 15 wins on the year. Osseo cracked the 100 pp100 mark and checked in at .457 for floor %, also the best for the week. Their defense also held Mpls SW to .333 floor %. Osseo has athletes with outstanding speed with four players that won the state 4x100 last spring. They are no longer off the radar.

Which leads us to the player and team of the week. There won't be an Osseo kid on the list. Why? they didn't get to the 10 possession level I set forth in week one, at least kids that were past the gold standard.
I went back and forth on the player of the week selection, but not as much as the team selection. The Player of the Week is Janessa Wolff of Park Rapids even though her team was beat she was clearly the best player on her team. Just like Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the Cy Young in the National League with 27 wins on a team that won 59, Park Rapids without Wolff would be howling at the moon in the cold. The PR pp100 with Wolff was 55.6 and floor % was .254; without it would have been 34.0 and .160. Wolff faces double teams and packed in zones all the time. Early in the year she had 30 points when her team had 44 total in a win or 68% of the total.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
First Team
Maggie Bauernfeind, Rosemount
Courtney Boylan, Chaska
Katie Hofstad, Eagan
Abby Rittenhouse, Burnsville
Janessa Wolff, Park Rapids
Second Team
Kelsey Aune, East Grand Forks
Carly Blackowiak, Chaska
Melissa Fitz, Minneapolis Southwest
Michelle Hugelen, Rosemount
Laura Weber, Eden Prairie
Which leads us to the second question. Why is Hofstad and Weber on the list, but Kjersten Bradley not? After all she was trench player on Friday. To make this list you need to have +100 pp100 and +.500 in the floor %. Bradley missed on the floor % with a .417. Still she would be one I want in the trenches, but her floor % needs to improve.

Which leads us to a new feature: Defensive team of the week and player of the week.
Again, it should not come to a surprise to anyone, that player is Janessa Wolff. EGF scored on transition with Wolff behind them, or at the line when Wolff couldn't impact the play. In the half court they were pretty limited. I am just naming five for the week.
DEFENSIVE TEAM
Courtney Boylan, Chaska
Molly Duehn, Burnsville
DaNae Moore, Eastview
Abby Rittenhouse, Burnsville
Janessa Wolff, Park Rapids

THE WEEK TO COME
Clear your calendar. Here are the must see games this week in Minnesota
Monday Dec 11
New Ulm Cathedral vs MN Valley Lutheran in New Ulm; Catholics vs Lutherans in a big Tomahawk conference game. Both teams are rated in the top 10 in their class--and both are #9 Cathedral in A, MVL in AA.
Tuesday Dec 12
There are a lot of conference games out in force that are intriguing match ups
Osseo is at Champlin Park in the Northwest Suburban.
Park-Cottage Grove is at Cretin-Derham Hall who will be trying to regain its footing after losing to White Bear Lake on Friday.
Moorhead is at DGF in a cross class game. Minnetonka beat Moorhead on Friday, but lost to DGF (AA team) on Saturday.
and Minnetonka is at Rogers in another of the cross class games between ranked teams.
The menu is clear on Wednesday Dec 13.
Thursday Dec 14
In the rematch of the Hamline overtime game; AAAA powers #1 St. Paul Central is at #3 Hopkins. This is the Marquee match up of the week. Arrive early
Friday Dec 15
Centennial is at Coon Rapids in another meaningful NW Suburban match up
It is the battle of Lakeville with North at South
and Hayfield is at Winona Cotter in Hiawatha Valley action with Hayfield knocking on the top 10 door.
Saturday Dec 16
Crookston is at Hibbing in a cross class game. Hibbing took two on the chin over the past weekend.
Fergus Falls is at Detroit Lakes in a key 8AAA match
and Winona Cotter again is involved in a tough back to back game at Cretin-Derham Hall

Outside of Minnesota the big tournament is the Sacajawea tournament in Sioux City Iowa on the 14-16.

next up: tomorrow morning