North Tartan Larson Exposed

#3 posting 8.29.2007
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NORTH TARTAN LARSON EXPOSED

North Tartan's 17U team, coached by program director Bill Larson, had the opportunity to play in the three top exposure tournaments in the nation this past spring and summer. These tournaments included the Boo Williams Invitational in Virginia Beach Virginia (April), The End of The Oregon Trail Tournament in Portland Oregon (early July), and the prestigious Nike Nationals in North Augusta South Carolina (end of July), a tournament in which only the top 24 Nike sponsored teams are invited each year. These 3 tournaments not only attract the best players and teams from across the country, but they are also attracting hundreds of college coaches, from the top college programs in the nation. The Nike Nationals had over 400 college coaches in attendance viewing 24 teams on 4 courts in one building.

The North Tartan team had the chance to play against many of the highest ranked teams and players in the country, and did extremely well representing the North Tartan program and the state of Minnesota. At the Boo Williams Invitational in April the team had the opportunity to play against Team Essence out of Florida (ranked #1 nationally by hoopgurlz.com). This is a team that features April Sykes (#1 ranked guard 2008 class, #2 overall by hoopgurlz.com), and Tiffany Hayes (#4 ranked guard 2008 class, #11 overall by hoopgurlz.com and committed to play at UConn), as well as Chelsey Lee (#6 ranked forward 2008 class, #36 overall by hoopgurlz.com). North Tartan played this team in the Silver Bracket quarterfinals and lost a hard fought game 59-53. Also, during pool play in this tournament North Tartan played DFW Elite Gold out of Texas (ranked #5 nationally by hoopgurlz.com) featuring Brooklyn Pope (#4 ranked wing 2008 class, #9 overall by hoopgurlz.com), and Destini Hughes (#2 ranked point guard 2008 class, #17 overall by hoopgurlz.com).

At The end of The Oregon Trail Tournament in Portland, North Tartan again represented themselves well, making it to the championship game of the Gold bracket. In this game, North Tartan played against Tennessee Flight Silver (ranked #2 nationally by hoopgurlz.com). In this game, North Tartan gave "The Flight" everything they could handle and then some, losing an extremely exciting game in overtime by a score of 61-60. The Tennessee Flight is loaded with major Division 1 prospects including LaSondra Barrett (#2 ranked forward 2008 class, #12 overall by hoopgurlz.com), Candace Wood (#16 ranked guard 2008 class, #49 overall by hoopgurlz.com committed to play at North Carolina), and Natalie Novosel (#13 ranked guard 2008 class, #43 overall by hoopgurlz.com and committed to play at Notre Dame). North Tartan played several other nationally respected programs at this tournament, including the East Bay Explosion Black team out of the California Bay area, which features several committed Division 1 prospects.

To end the summer AAU circuit, North Tartan was invited to play in what is regarded as the best tournament of the summer both from an exposure standpoint and a level of competition standpoint - Nike Nationals. This tournament is made up of 24 of the top AAU programs in the country, with teams being placed in one of 4 pools of 6 teams, where every team in your pool would be picked as the favorite to win most other tournaments. North Tartan's pool may very well have been the toughest from top to bottom of any of the 4 pools. In pool play, North Tartan competed against Boo Williams Summer League (ranked #4 nationally by hoopgurlz.com) featuring players such as Lynette Kizer (#1 ranked post 2008 class, #5 overall by hoopgurlz.com committed to play at Maryland), She'la White (#8 ranked point guard 2008 class, #45 overall by hoopgurlz.com committed to play at North Carolina), and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (5 star rated guard prospect class of 2009 by hoopgurlz.com). North Tartan nearly pulled of the upset of the summer, leading Boo Williams most of the game before falling in overtime. In other games, North Tartan played Cy Fair Shock 90 out of Texas (ranked #8 nationally by hoopgurlz.com) featuring Nneka Ogwumike (#1 ranked forward 2008 class, #6 overall by hoopgurlz.com), All Ohio Black (ranked #13 nationally by hoopgurlz.com) featuring Ayana Dunning (#3 ranked post 2008 class, #14 overall by hoopgurlz.com) and Amber Stokes (#21 ranked guard 2008 class, #63 overall by hoopgurlz.com) and the New York City Gauchos (ranked # 20 nationally by hoopgurlz.com) featuring the highly regarded 2009 prospects China Crosby and Markel Walker. North Tartan made it out of pool play at Nike Nationals to qualify for the Sweet Sixteen in the Silver bracket. They lost in bracket play to eventual Silver Bracket Champion New York City Gauchos in a close, hard fought game 44-37. By making it to the Sweet Sixteen, North Tartan assured itself of an automatic invite to next years Nike Nationals.

The North Tartan 17U team had a tremendous summer from April to the end of July. By playing a schedule like the one this team did, not only did the team and program receive exceptional exposure in front of hundred's of college coaches, but each player became better by playing against the best. Many of the players these young ladies competed against will be the ones basketball fans will be seeing on television in the coming years competing for national collegiate championships, Olympic gold medals, and even WNBA championships.

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