The Week That Was #6: Tournament Review

#6 posting 12.31.2006
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THE WEEK THAT WAS #6....TOURNAMENT REVIEW

TRENDS
We can start to see some developing trends with the amount of games digested now. The average possessions stand at 69.3, pp100 is a 73.92, and floor % is .362
So let's break it down by class possessions, pp100, floor%
A (6 teams) 73.2, 57.63, .287
AA (12 teams) 71.58, 74.04, .361
AAA (25 teams) 68.52, 66.55, .323
AAAA (54 teams) 69.5, 79.8, .391
So in general, the higher the class the better the teams. They take care of the ball better and have better players in more spots. This doesn't come as a surprise, but you can see the progression a bit more clearly.
I have no reason right now why AAA drops in pp100, and floor %. It might be because of the quality of AAA opponents. We will see if that holds up. I am going to be focused on covering games where teams have +.500 records from now on. I will look for the best game, in a certain area, and also if I can find two teams I haven't seen, I will go there.

How about conferences?
Lake 66.71, 83.51, .405
NW Suburban 73.38, 82.91, .400
So the Lake plays a bit more controlled game, NW Suburban a bit more running. But the Lake is slightly ahead in pp100 and floor %. I don't have enough results for the other conferences yet.

How about Calendar?
If we look at the time of the year
Nov 71.66, 70.16, .346
Dec 1-9 67.73, 73.20, .354
Dec 10-19 69.62, 78.6, .383
Dec 20-31 68.63, 75.5, .369
We see that the longer the season goes on, the better the offenses get. Not that shocking.

Now I think that there were some teams I saw in the past week that were not top flight and they dragged the pp100 and floor % down, but still it is ahead of early December, and much better than November.

Top 10 events:
Centennial has two games in the top 10 in pp100, and floor %; Benilde-St. Margaret's makes the top 10 in floor % twice. BSM has the top pp100 now with their 114.52 vs Burnsville in the 3rd place game in Hopkins. Centennial had moved to the top spot the day before with a 112.00 vs Mounds View. BSM also has the top spot in floor % with the .597 vs Burnsville in the Hopkins 3rd place game.

TOURNAMENTS REVIEWED
Best Tournament: Hopkins

Best Finishes: Hopkins, every game on Friday was within 3 with a minute to go.

Best Game Program: this was pretty close because you have photos in Rochester, but Hopkins gives you context with the games the teams have played, so the nod goes to Hopkins.

Worst food: Sartell. How can you have a big time event with no hot dogs? or Pizza? or any real food other than candy.

Best Food: media room in Hopkins with Cub delivering the goods.

Best Conference: Northwest Suburban...They won three tournaments with Champlin Park (Hopkins), Centennial (Hill-Murray) and Park Center (Brainerd) all posting championship wins. Coon Rapids (Hill-Murray) and Maple Grove (Monticello) finished second. Now the Lake Conference did not send all their teams into tournament action with by my count only four of the teams involved. Lakeville North (Rochester) pulled off the win for the Lake. The next best finish was Eastview with 3rd in Rochester.

TOURNAMENT WINNERS
FOUR TEAM EVENTS
Albert Lea: Albert Lea
Apple Valley: St. Paul Central
Bemidji: Minneapolis South
Brainerd: Park Center
Cloquet: St. Michael-Albertville
Columbia Heights: South St. Paul
Crookston: Crookston
Jordan: Stewartville
Lac Qui Parle Valley: Minneota
Lake City: Kasson-Mantorville
Little Falls: Worthington
Minneapolis Edison: Breck
Montgomery-Lonsdale: Medford
Mounds Park: Providence
Ogilvie: Mora
Orono: Minnetonka
Pierz: Crosby-Ironton
Randolph: New Life
Redwood Valley: Redwood Valley
Rogers: DeLaSalle
St. Croix Lutheran: St. Anthony
St. Cloud Tech: St. Cloud Tech
Wabasha-Kellogg: Wabasha-Kellogg
Windom: Fulda
Winona State A: Caledonia
Winona State B: Chatfield
Winona State C: Park-Cottage Grove
Winona State D: Rushford-Peterson
EIGHT TEAM EVENTS
Hopkins: Champlin Park
Hibbing: Hibbing
Hill-Murray: Centennial
Mankato Loyola: LeSueur-Henderson
Monticello: St. Francis
Rochester: Lakeville North
Sartell: Becker
Simley: Holy Angels
St. Clair: Blue Earth
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley: BGMR

If I forgot someone it was inadvertant. Drop me an email if I missed a tournament held last week.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
For winning the best tournament of the week: Champlin Park. It looks like they handled the pressure better than when I saw them earlier in the year against Winona Cotter. They came up with big rebounds when they were vital. They nailed free throws during finishing time.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the second time this year: Kachine Alexander, Benilde-St. Margaret's. She had games of 21 Hopkins, 28 Cretin-Derham Hall, 28 Burnsville and when I was there was 155.6 pp100, and .833 floor % against Burnsville. So against three top 10 teams she delivered. They did lose to Cretin-DH by one 65-64. She has been 20+ the last 7 games.

With so many games and teams I saw this week it was pretty hard to come up with a list and leave some worthies off, but the rules are always the same: #1 I had to see the player during the week in question; #2. Player had to have 10 possessions; #3 player had to be +100 pp100 and +.500 floor %. So without further ado
FIRST TEAM
Kachine Alexander, Benilde-St. Margaret's
Natalie Gigler, Champlin Park
Brianna Mastey, Becker
Megan Nipe, Centennial
Kaiya Sygulla, Lakeville North
SECOND TEAM
Ashlynn Fuller, Champlin Park
Jackie Hiebert, Hopkins
Laura Melquist, Rochester Lourdes
Abby Rittenhouse, Burnsville
Camille Stenhaug, Rochester John Marshall
HONORABLE MENTION
Molly Geske, Cretin-Derham Hall
Alyssa Hames, Blaine
Corey Lof, Detroit Lakes
Anna Nordby, Mounds View
Stephanie Sension, Hopkins

DEFENDERS OF THE WEEK
These players made an impact with their hustle, on the floor after loose balls, key defensive rebounds.
Chelsea Lyons, Coon Rapids, Captain
Kachine Alexander, Benilde-St. Margaret's
Alyssa Karel, Cretin-Derham Hall
Katie Loberg, Princeton
Briana Mastey, Becker
SECOND TEAM
Kelly Berg, Annandale
Jackie Hiebert, Hopkins
Brittnye McSperron, Eastview
Maija Schmelzer, Rochester John Marshall
Kaiya Sygulla, Lakeville North

THE WEEK TO COME
Games get back to conference games. And things look to start off a bit slower paced.
Tuesday, Jan 2
Cannon Falls at Farmington. This is a rematch of the Albert Lea semifinal where Cannon Falls gave Farmington its first loss of the year. Two top 10 teams. 3 stars
Fulda at Minneota. Both teams won a tournament last week. Minneota has many athletes that were part of the A Volleyball championship. Fulda won the A basketball championship in 2006. 2 stars.
Wednesday, Jan 3
Minnetonka at St. Louis Park. both teams have winning records. Both teams were in the Classic Lake until St. Louis Park left. one star.
Thursday, Jan 4
St. Cloud Tech at Fergus Falls. Both teams won their own tournaments last week. Big Central Lakes match up. Both teams have one conference loss. Three stars.
Fargo South at Moorhead. Border battle with two strong teams. Moorhead won the Alexandria Tournament this past week and only has one loss. Two Stars.
Friday, Jan 5
Chisholm at Barnum. Two 7A powers from north and south. Barnum is undefeated. Chisholm picked up two losses last week in the Hibbing tournament. two stars.
Burnsville at Bloomington Kennedy. Burnsville is 6-1 in conference, Kennedy is 4-2. Best matchup in the Lake this week. Features two big posts: Burnsville's Abby Rittenhouse and Kennedy's Tara Steinbauer. Three stars. and Marquee Match up
Minnetonka at Eden Prairie. big 2AAAA match up for seeding purposes. Two stars.
Eastview at Lakeville North. A rematch of the Rochester tournament semifinals. Also important for the Lake Conference title. two stars.
Saturday, Jan 6
Woodbury at Owatonna. Woodbury will try to bounce back after giving away 70 in their own tournament. Owatonna lights it up. Something has gotta give. Interesting cross section game. Two stars.
Austin at Rochester Lourdes. Austin has been doing well lately handing Red Wing a loss. They go to Lourdes which is always a tough place to play in a cross class match. Two stars.
Rogers at St. Cloud Tech. Another cross class match up with strong guards on both sides. Two Stars
Coon Rapids at St. Francis. An important 7AAAA match up with St. Francis winning the Monticello tournament and Coon Rapids finishing 2nd in Hill-Murray.

I will be back filling when I get a chance the games from last week. but it will be brief synopsis,

Thanks for your patience, Thanks for your help.
May all my readers have a safe, prosperous and successfull new year.
May your pp100 reach 200.

Next up: tomorrow morning.