2007 in Review

#5 posting 12.31.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

YEAR IN REVIEW
Here is a look back at significant, and ordinary events in the past 12 months. By no means is it comprehensive, but it gives you a whirlwind tour of what went on, what I saw the last 12 months.

JANUARY
No game was stranger than the White Bear Lake 51-48 win over Park-Cottage Grove on the 9th.
Winona Cotter met Crookston midway at the College of St. Benedict. Both teams were 1 and 2 in the AA polls (Crookston was #1) and Cotter came away with the win 58-56. However neither team advanced to the state tournament.
Champlin Park trailed Centennial by 17 and still managed to beat the Cougars 80-76.

FEBRUARY
The first three days in February (and the 31st of January) had the most compelling games all year. It started off with Minneapolis North upsetting South 79-76. The next day Jordan beat Norwood-Young America in a 64-60 overtime game in the Minnesota River conference. On Friday Minnetonka beat Hopkins in overtime 71-64 in the Classic Lake. The week was capped off by Holy Angels victory over DeLaSalle on Saturday 62-58. DeLaSalle would turn the tables in the section final. South would turn the tables on North a week later. Jordan would beat NYA again in the state 3rd place game. The odd thing about all four games---the visiting team was victorious.
The most crowded gymnasium was at Hayfield when Cotter came to town. Coach Teas & I got there at half time of the B game and were lucky to get a seat. Cotter won 57-47.

MARCH
Blaine pulled off the stunner against Centennial in the 7AAAA semis 73-62. Centennial is no longer in that section.
Four state champions were crowned with powerhouse St. Paul Central leaving no doubt that they were the best the state had seen in a 81-63 win over Mpls South in an all City final in AAAA, a first time happening.
In AAA Becker's Rey Robinson hit the shot that made them state champs over DeLaSalle 41-39.
AA had controversy swirling around the last shot. Pipestone won the title on a disputed three over Albany 50-49.
In class A Fulda repeated with a 42-34 win over Hancock.

APRIL
AAU Season kicked off seriously on April Fool's day in the Iowa State tournament.
Iowa Elite upset All Iowa Attack 62-60 in the semifinals. IBCA Select won the title over Elite 68-55.
Also the door swung shut on transfers. If players wanted to transfer they had to get the paperwork done before April 1, or change residences.

MAY
Controversy swirled around the seeding process at the Forest Lake event. Two of the top teams met early Saturday morning with NC Heat beating MN Stars Hested 63-55. North Tartan Larson topped the Heat in the semis in two overtimes on a three by Hannah Linz 65-64. Everyone assumed that was the championship game, but the real championship was to come and the MN Stars Borowicz shocked the world with its 62-55 win.

JUNE
The Minnesota State AAU Tournament belonged to NC Heat. They had to survive the semifinal overtime win over MN Stars Hested 80-71. NC Heat got their revenge on North Tartan Larson in the championship 77-61.
North Tartan Larson would bounce back and beat MN Stars Hested in the finals of the Summer Jam 75-53.
In Sioux Falls Courtney Boylan and the Metro Stars Black started to click. They won the Dakota Showcase with wins over the Kansas City Hustle 51-41 (Boylan had 26); the All Iowa Attack in the semis 59-51 (I only charted the 2nd half and she had 11); and a thriller overtime game against ECI Gold West 59-55 (10).

JULY
The Metro Stars Black success kept rolling into July with the championship title in the Mid American Tournament. MSB beat MN Stars Hested 59-52 to cap a wild two week ride. There were camps, summer leagues, and the last AAU tournament--the North Tartan Meltdown had a game that wasn't in the tournament brackets, but drew the most attention. North Tartan Larson beat the eventual tournament winner IBCA Select 60-50.

AUGUST
Centennial steamrolled opposition in the Sweet 16. They opened with a 70-30 win over Rogers. They beat Albany (I didn't chart that game) in the quarters. Centennial beat Becker in the semis 54-48. Then they left no doubt in the championship win over St. Paul Central 79-55.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
Fall Leagues were in operation and so were the Fall showcase events. The new trend is younger and younger commitments and Bloomington Kennedy Sophomore Shakila Boler made a verbal to the Gophers. Minnesota also picked up two big verbals with 6-7 Amber Dvorak of Hinckley-Finlayson and 6-4 Katie Loberg of Princeton. As it was there were over 54 verbals from Minnesota. From the area there were 39 for the 2008 class to D1 schools.

NOVEMBER
The season started off with a bang with #1 St. Paul Central and #2 Centennial meeting in the finals of the Hamline tournament. Centennial, behind Megan Nipe's 32 points, rallied to beat the defending AAAA champs 60-56.

DECEMBER
Teams were playing at a higher level than a year ago. The pp100 had improved across the board, but it skyrocketed in the AAAA class. Also skyrocketing were fouls. Perhaps the increase in fouls led to increased free throws which helped the pp100.
08 81.42 pp100, .396 floor %
07 78.6 pp100; .383 floor %
AAAA 08 86.71, .423 floor %
AAAA 07 83.7, .408 floor %
Also the highlights of December include the blizzard I drove through to watch one game. Other teams bailed from Fergus Falls, but I made up and back without once seeing the ditch.
2007 closed with Hopkins winning their own tournament with a 68-62 win over Minneapolis South.

Whew, what a year. Here is hoping 2008 can live up the drama and twists.

next up; 2008