The AAU Week That Was #8: Forest Lake

#5 posting 5.25.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE AAU WEEK THAT WAS #8
The seeding controversy was a moot issue as MN Stars Borowicz upset the apple cart with their 62-55 win over North Tartan in the finals of the Forest Lake AAU junior girls tournament last weekend. The weekend started off with NC Heat opening with MN Stars Hested, the conventional wisdom said these were two of the top three teams at this age level. NC Heat won 63-55 and advanced to the Gold bracket. MSH won the rest of their games and took the Silver championship. NC Heat had an epic battle with North Tartan in the gold semis and NT came back from 10 down to beat NCH in two overtimes 65-64.

What happened next stunned the community as MN Stars Borowicz swooped in, came out on fire and held on to beat NT 62-55. This reminds me of the 1996 AA (there were only two classes back then) semifinals between Osseo and Rochester Mayo. Both teams were considered the top two teams in the state. Williams Arena was packed with the biggest crowd in years. Governor Arnie Carlson was there, Clem Haskins and many of the Gopher men's team was there (Osseo's Joy Thomas' brother John played for the Gophers). The conventional wisdom said this was the state championship. One of the Twin City Dailies said it was the championship. Osseo won the emotional, intense game Friday night. On Saturday Hastings, overlooked, won the championship 54-52. Osseo came out a bit flat, not as focused as Hastings. Hastings hung around and grabbed the advantage when it presented itself.

These are the great lessons from the weekend. #1. teams need to be ready to play despite emotional draining victories previously. #2 The championship game is the final game, not the semifinal game (or quarterfinal).

STATE SEEDING
On MINNESOTAAAU.ORG the seedings for the Minnesota District AAU Championships are published. Three criteria were used in determining seedings:
1. Coaches’ ratings – collected by email.
2. Competition from May 19-20
3. Past finishes in District Championships
4. Consideration is also given when brackets or pools are determined to have clubs with multiple teams playing each other in the first two rounds.
In the 16s the top four seeds are:
1. North Tartan
2. NC Heat
3. MN Stars Hested
4. MN Stars Borowicz
The 15s the top four seeds are:
1. MN Metro Stars
2. North Tartan
3. MN Stars
4. Lakeville North
And the 14s:
1. North Tartan
2. MN Metro Stars
3. MN Suns Gold
4. MN Fury
brackets should be out later next week.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
This should come as no surprise: MN Stars Borowicz. They have improved at the line and in their offensive execution. More importantly they believed they could compete and found a way to win. They played a gritty, gutty game and handled the intense pressure to prevail.
In the two previous games I watched MSB's pp100 was 64.8 and floor % of .344. This weekend it was 91.1 and .455. That is improvement.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
There were plenty of great choices this weekend. But for consistency, and just plain stepping up her game it goes to Kiara Buford. She played possessed. She delivered in all three games I watched. She will North Tartan back into the game against MN Stars Borowicz by scoring 8 points in a run in the early part of the second half. She looked like a leader, she looked in command. She wanted to win. This is the best I have seen her. In the past she has played hard enough to win. That is not a knock in my estimation. At Central it was Angel Robinson's team. Someone had to step up and take the banner for NT. Buford grabbed the banner and ran up the hill. The rest of NT followed her. Buford also was strong on defense and involved the rest of her teammates. It was a tour de force. I think Buford will turn heads with this kind of performance this winter.

To make these teams some guidelines need to be met: #1. I had to see the player during the week. #2. The player needs to have +100 pp100 and +.500 floor %. #3. the amount of possessions need to be close to 6 possessions a game. #4 if I saw multiple games the average bears out. This was a strong group this weekend.
FIRST TEAM
Kiara Buford, North Tartan (St. Paul Central)
Leah Dietel, MN Stars Borowicz (Jordan)
Becca Friestleben, Quest (Holy Family)
Tayler Hill, NC Heat (Mpls South)
Briana Mastey, MN Stars Hested (Becker)
SECOND TEAM
Kiara Allums, MN Stars Hested (Centennial)
Brittany Chambers, MN Stars Borowicz (Jordan)
Hannah Draxten, North Tartan (Fergus Falls)
Hannah Linz, North Tartan (Eden Valley-Watkins)
Megan Nipe, NC Heat (Centennial)
THIRD TEAM
Melissa Fitz, Quest (Mpls Southwest)
Molly Geske, North Tartan Crosby (Cretin-Derham Hall)
Alex Montgomery, MN Stars Hested (Cannon Falls)
Kate Thompson, MN Stars Borowicz (Wayzata)
Amanda Viehauser, North Tartan (Armstrong)

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Brooke Dunsmoore, Swish (St. Cloud Apollo)
Sarah Hintz, MN Stars Borowicz (Woodbury)
Katya Leick, NC Heat (Park-Cottage Grove) Captain (second time this summer)
Hannah Linz, North Tartan (Eden Valley-Watkins)
Brianna Mastey, MN Stars Hested (Becker)

PAST WEEKLY WINNERS
Team, Player/D player
7: MN Metro Stars Black....Courtney Boylan (Chaska) MN Metro Stars Black/Kayla Hirt (Bemidji) Gym Rats 14
6: MN Stars Hested.....Theairra Taylor (St. Paul Central) MN Stars Hested/Cassie Rochel (Lakeville North) Lakeville North 15
5: NC Heat....Tayler Hill (Mpls South) NC Heat/Katya Leick (Park-Cottage Grove) NC Heat
4: MN AAAA All Stars....Angel Robinson (St. Paul Central) AAAA/Janessa Wolf (Park Rapids) AAA
3: Team WI Select 17....Katie Bushman (Phillips) Team WI Select 17/same
2: Mpls Lady Cats..... Sarina Baker (DeLaSalle) Mpls Lady Cats/Aubrey Davis (Blm Kennedy) Mpls Lady Cats
1: IBCA SelectI.....Indy Uhlenhopp (North Butler) IBCA Select I/same

POLLS
19
1. Metro Stars
2. Gym Rats
3. Southern Minne Magic

16/17-Junior Girls
1. IBCA Select I (This is an Iowa team. They won the Iowa State AAU tournament on April 1, see my links on the right on the out & abouts AAU 2007).
2. North Tartan 17
3. NC Heat
4. All Iowa Attack
5. MN Stars Hested
6. Team WI Select 17
7. MN Stars Borowicz
7. Randolph
8. MN Metro Stars Black
9. East Metro Elite
10. Iowa Elite I
11. Quest
12. Total Package
13. MN Stars Antl
14. MN Stars Smith
15. MN Metro Stars White

15
1. MN Metro Stars
2. North Tartan 15
3. MN Stars
4. Lakeville North
5. WI Heat
6. Team WI Select 15
7. Southern Stars
8. MN Fury
9. 43 Hoops
10. MSB

14
1. North Tartan 14
2. MN Metro Stars
3. MN Suns Gold
4. MN Fury
5. MN Suns White
6. 43 Hoops
7. MN Stars Red
8. Gym Rats
9. MN Stars Blue

13
1. Mpls Lady Cats
2. Midtown Lady Monarchs
3. St. Paul Central
4. MN Suns
5. Olympic Ice
6. Metro Stars

THIS WEEKEND
The tournaments this weekend are Saturday only pools at Kennedy in the AAU, and Osseo in the MYAS for the older girls. Many teams are taking the weekend off due to the Memorial Day holiday and teams didn't want three straight tough weekends.
Wisconsin with the Viking Club will hold tournaments this weekend in Menomonie.

Next up: tomorrow morning, later tomorrow a Look at the Lynx vs Chicago.