Showcase Saturday

#2 posting 9.29.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SHOWCASE SATURDAY
Hopkins was the center of the girls basketball world, or at least Minnesota, as two events took place at venues 10 minutes apart. North Tartan ran their event at the 43 Hoops facility while the MN Stars held theirs at Hopkins High School.
Not only Minnesota players, but some from South Dakota and Wisconsin came to showcase their talents and abilities. The North Tartan/43 Hoops had 7 teams, while the Stars had 16 teams.

I will say in general the action was fast paced. Players that tended to be more aggressive stood out more (ie getting after rebounds). Team play was haphazard at best. Throwing strangers together on the fly is difficult. Players quickly learn who can do what, and who can't be relied upon. As the day wore on the action slowed down. Fatigue mistakes and decisions started to catch up with players. Some benches were pretty thin as not everyone showed up due to conflicts with other sports and other events.

As far as the college attendance the local area was represented, but also a national presence was felt as the youngsters (09 & below) seem to be hot commodities.

I saw six games today and will try to get them up in an orderly fashion. I also plan on seeing one or two tomorrow in the fall leagues so the menu is full. I would give you a run down of who won, but it really wouldn't make sense with Team 1 beating Team 2----there is no context. At both venues I picked a court and at both sites I did not have a duplicate team. I obviously didn't see all players, but a good chunk.

The only bad news of the day was at the Stars event when Kelsie Ammann of Lakeville North went down with what appeared to be a knee injury. UPDATE: Kelsie Ammann does not have an ACL Injury or a Fracture and will see an Orthopedic Doctor next week. Doctors are indicating that it may possibly just be bruised as she went knee to knee with another girl. That left her team with only five bodies. They were able to gain another player later in the day.

I will have my reports up starting tomorrow. I have to crunch some numbers. Until then I have one verbal to list.

Next up: that verbal.