#7 posting 7.27.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information
THE AAU WEEK THAT WAS #17: A Bit of Everything
As the summer builds to a crescendo this week had a bit of everything: high school teams in the Rogers tournament and in the Champlin Park Summer League; All Star Camps; and the high powered Summer tournaments.
High School events, like the Rogers tournament, give HS teams a chance to work out some kinks, test combinations, and work on basic/fundamentals. The drawback is that not everyone is there in attendance. So this isn't the full team you will see in the winter. Not every player that plays in the summer will be getting to smell the court come winter. Teams use and experiment with a lot of players. By winter only a handful will make the rotation. Any more and rhythm is disrupted.
The summer leagues are all very hit and miss. Loyalty is to where the most money is being spent. Last night at the Champlin Park summer League the whole undefeated Osseo team was at the Gopher team camp. Maple Grove wasn't at full strength either. A gritty, gutty performance by the younger Osseo players made for compelling viewing.
All Star camps feature players that have a general higher skill level than what you see in the general HS games. The top players are thrown together and a new team is born. It is rare in these situations that teams click and hum with efficiency. It takes a while to learn names, much less tendencies. That is why top pp100 are in the upper 80s generally. Not because of awesome defense, but because players are unsure, or don't know what their teammate is going to do. The more aggressive players will thrive and take over in these situations. However it can be too much one on one, trying to do it all by themselves. The trick is to see the player that can lift, help, inspire, and encourage their teammates in these camps. They are the true leaders and players flock to be part of their teams and hang with them.
The elite, heavyweight teams and tournaments are a different matter. Some players think that this is the best level of competition and in a sense they are right. They are facing the better players from other states and (hopefully) will have practiced to get the nuances of their own team down. But if they think this is how college ball is they are wrong. College is more like the winter HS season when you have a conference so you know your opponent inside and out, and you are NOT playing five games in two days.
Summer tournaments and programs exist to sell players to colleges. The motivation is different than in the winter. There is no such thing as a "national" tournament in girls basketball anymore. An AAU "National" tournament without one team from California? To be truly national every state in the union should be there. And it doesn't really matter to the colleges if it is a national tournament or not. They want to see players. The tournament season is so fragmented and teams are so fluid. A team changes every week. It is like looking at a kaleidoscope with different combinations.
Again loyalty follows the money. And there is money. Improving a players skills are a secondary result. However I think this season the execution in summer ball is better. That isn't to say the players are better than last year, but there is an improvement in team play.
OTHER ACTION THIS WEEK
The Battle of the Plains in Lincoln was won by the Nebraska Bison Cornhusker Shooting Stars. Other tournaments this week included the Super 16 girls tournament took place in Ames; The River City Classic in Memphis; and the AAU Nationals were on going with North Tartan 14s moving along to the quarters.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The heavyweight tournament season ends this week with events like the AAU Nationals; the North Tartan Meltdown; the Nike Nationals in Georgia; the USJN Summer Final in Chicago; and USA Summer Slam in Cincinnati.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
To make team of the week the team simply has to execute. Centennial won the Silver division in the Rogers Breakdown tournament last Saturday with a pp100 of 108. They were hotter than the heat index outside. Luckily for me the Rogers gym is air conditioned. Centennial has plenty of talent. Three of the players (Emily Becken, Kayla Blom, and Bridget Schuneman) were coming off a successful camp week at the Top 100 Expo in St. Cloud. The trio also had successful weeks at the MN Elite camp this week. All three were on the all star teams, plus Megan Waytashek was added to the all star roster. That made four Centennial players, the most of any HS team there. On the weekend Kiara Allums was involved. Megan Nipe, another in the stable of talent was not there. If you check the three teams of the week down below you will see three Centennial players. That makes six honors in two weeks for Centennial.
In the championship game at Rogers they faced Albany, a team that finished second in the AA State tournament and returns key components. It was a competitive hard fought game 67-61. Artistically the best of the bunch all week (Albany checked in with a pp100 of 98.4). Centennial had seven player that hit the gold standard for that game. Centennial's season didn't end the way they wanted last season. They will be on a mission this season to grab the gold ring.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
With a lot of different looks, the player the week this goes to Shelly Stemper. She always played with abandon at camp and made a difference. She was on the appropriately named Fire this week. She plays with fire and will burn you if you give her an opening. She can play in and out. She has been a guard in her younger days and can play outside. She has the size to do damage inside. She is assertive and aggressive after the ball. I have seen her on the floor going after loose balls constantly. Stemper plays this way all the time. She doesn't back away from competition. She is relentless.
How to make the team? This week all five players were north of 140 pp100 and that included two games each for Jacobson and Stemper. That is hard to do. So, for those that are unfamiliar are the rules:
1. I have to see the player
2. Player has to make the gold standard of 100 pp100 and a floor % over .500.
3. Player has to have more than six possessions in summer ball.
4. I take the combined numbers if I see more than one performance.
FIRST TEAM
THIRD TEAM
PAST WEEKLY WINNERS
Team...Player of the Week/D player
16: U Conn (Top 100 Expo)…Kiara Strickland (Minneapolis Roosevelt) LSU/Jennnifer Noordmans (Hancock) North Carolina Top 100 Expo
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
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
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
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. NC Heat
4. IBCA Select I
9. Nebraska Bison Judds I
15
1. MN Metro Stars
14
13
1. Midtown Lady Monarchs
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