The Week That Was #9

#9 posting 1.21.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE WEEK THAT WAS #9

six games in six days. Only one game down to the last possession.

The early theme of the week was "1AAA" with Northfield, New Prague, and Albert Lea on the viewing schedule. The later part of the week could be themed "Conference Titles at stake" with the Lake and Suburban East first place confrontations. Saturday's game was out of the blue with Braham and Grantsburg, WI.

Looking at the pp100 for the top 3 classes in MN (I only have 6 teams for A so far) it appears AAAA is the strongest, which should come as no shock
AAAA 79.5, .389 (66 teams)
AAA 67.3, .326 (34 teams)
AA 77.0, .379 (20 teams)
average last year for AAAA was 84.7 and .412
Well if we just look at the top 10 scores the numbers of course get better, but the pattern is fairly stable.
AAAA 104.0, .487
AAA 90.9, .438
AA 90.9, .430
Championship level is 97.7 and .493
There is a big difference between the speed, strength and intensity of AAAA and AAA games as was evident this week. That isn't to say AAA teams can't beat AAAA teams--after all Northfield did beat Hastings in a cross class clash on Monday, but Northfield faced a stronger Kennedy on Saturday and was soundly defeated.

Looking at section totals in AAAA
1 76.9, .382
2 78.6, .399
3 81.3, .396
6 84.6, .402
7 81.9, .397
I don't have enough data for 4, 5, and 8 to include in this list. As you can see the data says 6 is the strongest section, or at least the most efficient.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
This brings us to the team of the week. This was a pickle. I value teams that value the ball and squeeze as many points off their possession as possible. Obviously the team has to win in the game I see so that limits it to five candidates (Mpls CC not eligible). This award is for the week so the team should do well the rest of the week. Northfield lost to Kennedy by 24 on Saturday. Eastview also was beat by Kennedy on Tuesday by 20.
That leaves New Prague, Cretin-Derham Hall and Braham. New Prague & CDH both finished 2-0 this week. NP beat Farmington on Friday, CDH beat Hastings on Tuesday. Braham was 3-0 with wins over Foley in overtime on Tuesday and Rush City on Thursday. But to remain true to the idea behind this Braham has to be the choice with a ppg of 97.1 and floor % of .464, both the highest in the week against an 8-2 Grantsburg, WI team. I am not saying Braham would go out and beat Cretin-Derham Hall or New Prague. I am saying they valued their possessions during the week. Of the 10 teams, only 3 were able to crack above 81 pp100.
This marks the second week in a row a class AA team tops the charts. Albany delivered last week and they are both in section 6, Albany in the west, Braham in the east. Albany is rated in AA, Braham is not.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Again the same rules that have applied all year still apply. #1 I need to see the player, #2 Player needs 10 possessions; #3 player needs to be north of 100 ppg, and .500 floor %. This brought up a problem this week since only four players met the criteria. I like to have a 10 member team so I had to lower the ppg to 90 and the floor % as well. I didn't lower the possession count however.
So with that in mind players with an * are add ons due to either one number being lower than the other. But the player of the week was solid all week. Bri Zabel, Northfield dominated against Hastings, and had 22 points or 40% of the teams total against Kennedy.
First team
Catherine Hintz, Hastings
Miranda Kammeyer, Grantsburg, WI
Alyssa Karel, Cretin-Derham Hall*
Bridgette Kelly, Northfield
Bri Zabel, Northfield
Second team
Mollie Bjelland, Grantsburg, WI*
Hannah Dahlman, Braham*
Devin Diedrich, Braham*
Brittnye McSperron, Eastview*
Becky Theissen, New Prague*

DEFENSIVE TEAM
The defensive team, however, is just flat out how many times do you get possession for your team. No fancy formulas, just hungry, aggressive, passionate, competitve players that will get skinned knees going for the ball. Again Zabel leads this group and is captain of the squad
Mollie Bjelland, Grantsburg, WI
Devin Diedrich, Braham
Sarah Hintz, Hastings
Amanda Wagner, New Prague
Bri Zabel, Northfield

PLAYERS OF THE YEAR (so far)
This should have been in last week's edition, but was not put in.
This is based on what I have seen and what the player has done for the rest of the time away from my eyes. I am only going through the three top classes, since I don't have a good quantity at the A level. These players rocked the charts on pp100 when I saw them and it still appears they are consistent with the pp100.
AAAA: Tayler Hill, Minneapolis South
AAA: Kachine Alexander, Benilde-St. Margaret's
AA: Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter

THE WEEK TO COME
Monday, Jan 22
RTR at Edgerton a 3A battle. Edgerton has been rated the last few weeks.
Hancock at Parkers Prairie. a 5A battle with a match up of two 2010 guards, and coaches daughters: Bree Holleman for Hancock and Sari Noga for Parkers Prairie.
Stewartville at Winona Cotter. It is never easy in the brutal Hiawatha Valley. Stewartville is under the radar. Cotter is a target.
Tuesday, Jan 23
Sauk Centre at Albany. A battle for the West Central North lead.
White Bear Lake at Cretin-Derham Hall. Can you spell revenge? CDH lost to WBL early in the year for their only blemish in the Suburban East.
Moorhead at Detroit Lakes. A cross class battle between NW MN powers. Moorhead won the first battle. Is this shaping up as revenge night?
Chaska at Eastview. A battle for first in the Lake. Boylan vs McSperron. Chaska lost the first matchup. It will be harder on the road.
Woodbury at Edina. Woodbury will be looking to heal after the loss to CDH. Both teams are in the top 10.
Mpls Roosevelt at Mpls South. A key city match up between neighboring schools for the bragging rights in the city.
Champlin Park at Osseo. CP eeked out a win at home last time. It is revenge night isn't it?
Northfield at Prior Lake. PL is on a roll of late winning 6 of the last 7. This is for the Missota lead.
Marshall at Worthington. SW rivals is always good theater. It was a 4 point win for Marshall at home. Revenge is the word.
Thursday, Jan 25
Cannon Falls at Concordia Roseville. a 4AA east battle important for seeding
Worthington at Mankato West. A 2AAA battle important for seeding.
Friday, Jan 26
DGF at Barnesville. A key Heart O'Lakes match up. Barnesville just picked up the win against Crookston on Thursday. Will they continue with their hot hand.
St. Louis Park at Benilde-St. Margaret's. Not only two top 10 teams, but a battle for the North Suburban and a key 5AAA match up as well.
Centennial at Champlin Park. The Marquee Match up of the week. NW Suburban lead at stake. CP doesn't want to fall two games off the pace. Also a vital game in 7AAAA seeding. The place will be rocking.
Bloomington Kennedy at Chaska. Another in the long line of rough and tumble Lake games. Kennedy has been clicking of late.
Crosby-Ironton at Detroit Lakes. A MidState battle. Tall CI is quietly picking up wins with strong defense. They will need that D against DL.
New Life at Heritage Christian. A big MCAA match up. They only play once before the conference tournament.
New Ulm Cathedral at MN Valley Lutheran. Another rough and tumble match up in the Tomahawk. Also two private schools in New Ulm battle for bragging rights.
Cretin-Derham Hall at Park-Cottage Grove. another key Suburban East game, aren't they all, and 3AAAA match up. No one wants to be the 4th seed in this section
New Prague at Prior Lake. PL gets another tough Missota opponent at home.
Winona Cotter at Rochester Lourdes. It seems Cotter is on this list all the time. Do they ever get a break? Lourdes won't be easy and they are tough at home.
Rogers at St. Michael-Albertville. Rogers looks for revenge in a Mississippi 8 battle. Shouldn't this game be on Tuesday?
St. Paul Johnson at St. Paul Central. This is a very interesting match up with subplots and minor subplots. Players on each team played for the other team in the past.
Saturday, Jan 27
Nicollet at Cedar Mt.-Comfrey. A 2A battle. Both teams have been in the top 10.
Grand Rapids at Hibbing. 7AAA match up that will go a long way in the seeding war.
Moorhead at St. Cloud Tech. A matinee for 8AAAA foes. It is a chance to see teams without driving 4 hours.
whew

next up: tomorrow morning