The AAU Week That Was #16: Medora?

#7 posting 7.20.2007
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THE AAU WEEK THAT WAS: MEDORA?
This week marked the first time since 2005 where I didn't post on a day. On Saturday I left for a family vacation in Medora, North Dakota. My wife's family had a reunion of sorts and Medora was the site. That beast on the left met our car in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the South unit. He was walking north as we were headed south. He kindly posed for this shot. It looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the prairie. What you don't see is the fly that was annoying him. I have plenty of photos of the scenery and animals, but this guy was one lane away on the road. At 2000 pounds I didn't want to have him charge my car.

That trip meant that my weekend foray into the gyms for tournament action was eliminated. But the fact was I wasn't going to be going to any gym if I was in town anyway.

That didn't mean there wasn't any games worth seeing, only that the time and distance prevented my watching. However area teams did well this past weekend. IBCA Select I won the Miss Basketball tournament in Kearney; Metro Stars Black ended their season with a strong performance at the Summer Showcase in Chicago. MN Stars Borowicz and NC Heat made the final four in the Showtime tournament in Atlanta. The Midtown Lady Monarchs made the Elite 8 in the 13u AAU tournament. Plus others teams were active and had success.

That meant the honors this week were from the weekday games just concluded. Summer Leagues are starting to wrap up. I traveled to Lakeville North and Concordia St. Paul for their championships. Hopkins took revenge on Eastview for the LNSL title while smaller Bloomington Kennedy took the CSPSL crown with a 2-1 win over wounded defending state champ St. Paul Central.

The other events that are going on are the camps. And I headed to St. Cloud yesterday for the Top 100 Expo.

Summer Leagues and Camps are different from the tournament scene. Different rules, different timing structures, sometimes familiar faces. Summer Leagues, for the most part, have some structure as high school coaches make use of the state high school league window. St. Paul Central is different in that they had no coach. Eastview had coach Goetz at the helm. Hopkins and Kennedy had others in charge. In general, shot selection is questionable in all situations. Most shots are rushed without regard to time/score and rebounding floor balance. What is a good shot at six seconds (from behind the arc) will probably be there again.

Camps have the struggle to mesh players from different styles quickly. The idea is that the invitational camps are a bit more competitive with higher level performances expected. But still some players, even at the invitational camps, hide and don't seize the initiative. These camps show who is aggressive and who can adjust to the faster pace quickly. Which leads us to the

TEAM OF THE WEEK
The winner this week only played this week and never will again. It is the U Conn team at the Top 100 Expo camp. The team had a heavy dose of Centennial in their line up with Emily Becken (Camp MVP), Kayla Blom and Bridget Schuneman. All three made All Camp. The Centennial guards led the team, but the rest of the players were strong performers as well. A team doesn't crack the century mark a couple of times during the week without having a multitude of weapons. UConn reached 101 in the championship game. They ran the floor, saw the floor, and delivered the ball. Awareness is undervalued and this team was aware. I saw them at 120 pp100 which is humming. The photo above is the UConn team, but since they turned in their jerseys I can't identify them all. Coach James Fassett led the squad. He coaches at Minneapolis CC during the winter and has been the coach of the MN Lady Suns 16u team this summer. This leads us to the

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
To get this award a player has to be consistent and consistently good. Taking the honors this week is Kiara Strickland of Minneapolis Roosevelt and LSU in the Top 100 Expo. The left hander has matured greatly in the last few months. She is more focused and was sizzling at the start of the championship game delivering 11 of the first 16 points. A rangy type with the ability to hit outside, she is a dangerous in the open court. She can pass which is something she likes to do too much (if that is possible). Now she is looking for her shot. Strickland always has intrigued people with potential and now is delivering nicely. She has moved from a prospect to a performer. Her team may not have taken the title, but her energy and intensity didn't waver. She is poised to be a leader this year.

To make this team I had to 1. See the player during the week. 2. the player had to meet the gold standard (100 pp100, and over .500 floor percentage). Of course winning helps. Looking at this week's first team you may dub them the Killer Bs, but there is nothing B level about their performances.



FIRST TEAM
Emily Becken, Centennial, U Conn Top 100 Expo
Kayla Blom, Centennial, U Conn, Top 100 Expo
Shakila Boler, Bloomington Kennedy
Abby Busch, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Arizona State, top 100 Expo
Kiara Strickland, Minneapolis Roosevelt, LSU, top 100 Expo
SECOND TEAM
Megan Howard, St. Paul Central
Stephanie Kruggel, GFW, Arizona State, top 100 Expo
Hanna Muegge, Hopkins
Brittany Thiesfeld, Glencoe-Silver Lake, U Conn, top 100 Expo
Mackenzie Wolter, Norwood-Young America, U Conn, top 100 Expo
THIRD TEAM
Brittany Dorsey, St. Paul Central
Erin Gadient, Goodhue, North Carolina, top 100 Expo
Macy Hanson, Crookston, Purdue, Top 100 Expo
Bridget Schuneman, Centennial, U Conn, Top 100 Expo
Morgan Simonitch, Ortonville, Purdue, Top 100 Expo

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Shakila Boler, Bloomington Kennedy
Megan Howard, St. Paul Central
Jennifer Noordmans, Hancock, North Carolina, top 100 Expo Captain
Stephanie Sension, Hopkins
Kiara Strickland, Minneapolis Roosevelt, LSU, Top 100 Expo

PAST WEEKLY WINNERS
Team...Player of the Week/D player
15: Metro Stars Black…Courtney Boylan (Chaska) Metro Stars Black/Brianna Williams (Hopkins) Mpls Lady Cats
14: Metro Stars Black....Courtney Boylan (Chaska) Metro Stars Black/same
13: Team WI Select 17.…Hannah Quilling (Eau Claire North) Team WI Select 17/Katie Bushman (Phillips) Team WI Select 17
12: North Tartan.....Jackie Voigt (Park-Cottage Grove) North Tartan/Cody Vandenheuvel (Cadott) Team WI Select 16
11: Totino-Grace....Amber Dvorak (Hinckley-Finlayson) MN Northern Lights/same
10: NC Heat.....Tayler Hill (Mpls South) NC Heat/same
9: Team WI Select 17.…Val Schuster (Wausau Newman) Team WI Select 17/Nicole Griffin (Milwaukee Vincent) Team WI Select 15
8: MN Stars Borowicz.....Kiara Buford (St. Paul Central) North Tartan/Katya Leick (Park-Cottage Grove) NC Heat
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 Hosted/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 Select I.....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
2. NC Heat
3. North Tartan Larson
4. MN Metro Stars Black
5. MN Stars Hested
6. ECI Gold West
7. Team WI Select 17
8. MN Stars Borowicz
9. Pinnacle Bank Nebraska
10. Dakota Hardwood Threat
11. All Iowa Attack
12. Nebraska Bison Judds I
13. Metro Stars White
14. Iowa Elite I
15. Quest

15
1. MN Metro Stars
2 NE Judds
3. North Tartan 15
4. Team WI Select 15
5. All Iowa Attack
6. MN Stars
7. Lakeville North
8. WI Heat
9. Southern Stars
10. MN Fury
11. MSB

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

13
1. Midtown Lady Monarchs
2. Mpls Lady Cats
3. MN Suns
4. Team WI Select 13
5. St. Paul Central
6. Farview
7. North Tartan
8. Rochester Shock
9. Olympic Ice
10. Metro Stars

Now it is the home stretch of summer. There are some major tournaments left--the 14 and 15 AAU nationals; there is the Great Lakes Shootout II; Adidas Battle of the Plains; Ames 16; the Memphis tournament; the North Tartan Meltdown; the Nike Nationals in Georgia; and to cap it all off the Sweet 16 in the first week in August.
Also the Minnesota Elite camp opens this week and more summer leagues will wrap up. There will also be team camps. Now is the time. The days are winding down. It is time to deliver.

Next up: tomorrow morning