The Week That Was #11-Working Overtime

#9 posting 2.4.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE WEEK THAT WAS #11
Six games in six days, 4 down to the last shot. 2 overtimes.

This week had rallys, overtimes, dramatics, and better basketball as a whole as teams are gearing up for March.
The themes could have been dynamic duos: Mpls South; Jordan; Minnetonka; Another theme the MN River conference; Catholic Schools with DeLaSalle, Holy Angels, and Holy Family.
Also the play is getting better. The pp100s are going up. When a losing team (Mpls South) gets 107.5 pp100 and a floor % of .507 you know you are watching a classic.

What was evident in the last part of the week was the playoff atmosphere in the gyms with the large crowds; players getting floor burns going after loose balls, and both teams realizing every possession mattered. When I have to park in the street and have to walk about 3 blocks to the gym during the JV game, you know it is a big contest.

INJURIES
They are taking it's toll. Kachine Alexander will be out for a while for Benilde-St. Margaret's and that changes the complexion of the AAA defending champs. Other teams have been hit by the injury bug: Burnsville with Rittenhouse; Hopkins has had Caitlin Rowland out, now she is back; Jazmin Townsend for Coon Rapids was out and now is back; Megan Eul for Rosemount has been in and now is back out. Eden Prairie recently lost two players. How teams respond to adverse circumstances, if they look the situation as an opportunity to rise above the problem, will eventually succeed. If they feel sorry for themselves, their season is basically over.

DISTURBING TREND
Coaches being ousted in mid season or late in the season is not a good trend. It happened at Nicollet early in the year. Eagan changed this week and Hudson, WI is the latest to change on Friday. This is to close to professional ball and no one will benefit from the turmoil.

PP100/FLOOR % TRENDS
The numbers continue to sway AAAA's direction. Here is the class breakdown
AAAA 81.03, .395
AAA 70.97, .342
AA 78.09, .383
I have no reason for the drop in AAA. So let's look at the Top10 performances only in each class.
AAAA 105.29, .498
AAA 96.56, .462
AA 93.77, .441
And that looks better. The explanation on the gap could be I saw some sub 500 AAA teams during the Holiday Tournaments and they brought the Class Average down.

How about Top Section in AAAA?
6 86.4, .411
7 83.2, .403
2 82.02, .410
3 81.27, .396
8 81.10 .396--only four teams seen
1 76.9, .382
4 73.3, .361
5 77.1, .374

How about the top Conferences. I had to see at least 10 games for the conference to be considered
Classic Lake 85.6, .428
NW Suburban 85.0, .411
Lake 82.9, .398
Suburban East 74.9, .375
North Suburban 73.89, .360
A few more conferences are right on the edge. The Classic Lake has five teams and that is one reason they have high levels. The other is that every game is a battle. Last year the last place team in that conference (Armstrong) won the Section 5 tournament.

HOW ARE THEY DOING
Last week we looked at the 2006 class, today 2005.
First the numbers are less than 2006 20 to 28. I am counting players like Ellis-Milan and Ohm with the 2005 class since that is when they graduated.
Only 3 of the 05s are starting: Ashley Ellis-Milan at Minnesota (St. Paul Central); Michelle Kaus at Creighton (Eastview); and Talicia Jackson at American (DeLaSalle). The 06s are starting five right now.
Only four are playing more than 20 minutes with Lauren Dybing, Drake (St. Croix Lutheran) joining the party. The 06s have six.
No one is over 10 ppg. The closest is Ashley Ellis-Milan with 9.8.
The one stat that the 05s do better at is they have sent six to the BCS/big six conferences. The 06s sent 3.
Again the AAAA class sends the most to D1 with 7, but AA also sent 7. AAA sent 4 and A did send 2. The top conference for this year was the Suburban East with 3; The Lake had 2 and so did the TriMetro.
The top five players/scorers would look like this
Ashley Ellis-Milan, Minnesota, St. Paul Central 9.8
Michelle Kaus, Creighton, Eastview 7,7
Talicia Jackson, DeLaSalle, American 4.9
Lauren Dybing, St. Croix Lutheran, Drake 4.9
Katie Ohm, Elgin-Millville, Minnesota 5.0


TEAM OF THE WEEK
For their dramatic win over previously unbeaten South and for their progress from a pp100 of 55 at the start of the year to xx now---Minneapolis North. They are not the same team from Thanksgiving. Their star is ascendant. They have the guard, they have inside toughness. North isn't under the radar any more.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the first time in a few weeks I had too many players to pick from. Some players that made the cut offs on possessions (10) pp100 (100+) and floor % (.500+). That is a good situation. Also there were great performances to take the top spot. But for the upset at South I am going with Maurika Hickman for her leadership and poise.

First Team
Alyssa Benson, Minnetonka
Brittney Chambers, Jordan
Maurika Hickman, Minneapolis North
Tayler Hill, Minneapolis South
Maggie Slawson, Holy Angels
Second Team
Leah Dietel, Holy Family
Rebecca Friestleben, Holy Family
Kayla Huether, Brainerd
Elle Queen, Minnetonka
Chaundera Riley, Minneapolis North

DEFENSIVE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Brittany Chambers, Jordan
Brianna Edwards, Mpls North
Elle Queen, Minnetonka
Maggie Slawson, Holy Angels
Liz Traxler, Holy Family captain

SEEDS AT STATE
My weekly poll of how I would seed the state
Seed, team, section
AAAA
1. St. Paul Central #3
2. Champlin Park #7
3. Mpls South #6
4. Minnetonka #2
5. Lakeville North #1
6. Osseo #5
7. White Bear Lake #4
8. St. Cloud Tech #8

AAA
1. Becker #4
2. Mpls North #5
3. Detroit Lakes #8
4. Holy Angels #3
5. New Prague #1
6. Rogers #6
7. Marshall #2
8. Hibbing #7

AA and A do not seed their tournament.

THE WEEK TO COME
Monday, Feb 5
Wrenshall at Barnum. two 7A teams that were ranked at the beginning of the year. Barnum picked up their first loss on Friday. Barnum is 19-1, Wrenshall 14-4.
Tuesday, Feb 6
Eden Prairie at Bloomington Kennedy. EP is in 3rd, BK is in 2nd. both are chasing Eastview.
Hopkins at Edina. Two neighbors that are extreme rivals.
Cannon Falls at Goodhue. Goodhue is 18-3. CF is the defending AA Champs.
Barnesville at Hawley. Barnesville has a half came lead over Hawley and won by 10 at home.
Minneapolis South at Minneapolis North. Civil War part II. North squeaked one out on South's court. Will lightning strike twice? Give this rematch the Marquee match up.
Owatonna at Rochester Century. Big Nine title is on the line. Century has a 1/2 game lead.
Wednesday, Feb 7
North St. Paul at Cretin-Derham Hall. perimeter vs perimeter.
Thursday, Feb 8
Hermantown at Duluth East. two 7AAA powers battle it out. Hermantown won the section last year.
Friday, Feb 9
Hopkins at Cretin-Derham Hall. Does Hopkins ever have a night off?
Moorhead at Eastview. Cross section battle between two teams that have been in the top 10 this year.
Wayzata at Edina. Revenge is on Edina's agenda.
White Bear Lake at Park-Cottage Grove. Revenge is on the mind of PCG.
Benilde-St. Margaret's at Totino-Grace. BSM has a two game advantage even though they are dinged up.
Tartan at Mahtomedi. Classic Suburban title at stake.
Saturday, Feb 10
Valley Conference Championship at Nicollet games at 2, 4, 6, and 8

OTHER STATES
Monday, Feb 5
SD Mitchell Christian vs Sully Buttes at Huron, SD. #1 vs #2 in the SD Bs. Jill Young on her Quest for the top scorer in SD history.
ND Bottineau at Mohall-Langford-Sherwood. Powers in 6B meet.
Tuesday, Feb 6
IA/SD Sioux City North, IA vs Sioux Falls O'Gorman, SD. #1 vs #1. This will be big.
IA Cedar Rapids Washington at Iowa City. Mississippi Valley conference
SD Sioux Falls Roosevelt at Brookings. Two powers at the SD AA level.
Thursday, Feb 8
ND Dickinson at Bismarck. Two WDA powers try to keep pace with Mandan.
Friday, Feb 9
WI DePere at Ashwaubenon. Two Bay rivals that have won the last two D1 state titles.
WI Oak Creek at Franklin. Southeast battle. Oak Creek won the first meeting by 13.

Whew. If this upcoming week is like this week, it will be a very good week.

Next up: tomorrow morning.