The Week That Was #6: Comebacks, Massacres and Upsets

#6 posting 12.23.2007
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This week saw a comeback (Forest Lake vs Cambridge-Isanti), an upset (Elk River vs St. Cloud Tech), another massacre (Henry Sibley vs St. Paul Harding). I hope it is the last one I have to watch. Plus throw in some great shooting (SCL and EVW both had great shooters outside). The last regular season week of 2007 is done as we head into the Holiday Tournament break.

This week I will be seeing quite a few teams for the second time. Will they increase their pp100 and floor? Will they make a statement before the January conference schedules kick in? Who will have the legs at the end of three days? Some classic match ups are in the offing.

WHY MORE SCORING?
The pp100 has increased this year---why?
There is an increase in the fouls this year, with the point of emphasis on post defense. Out top they are calling more hand checks. As as a result the made free throws are up this year.
Here are the charts from last year to this year with MADE free throws
0607 made fts winning team 13.0
0607 made fts losing team 15.1 an increase of 2.1
0708 made fts winning team 7.8
07-8 made fts losing team 12.7 an increase of 5.2
So overall there is 7.3 more free throws made this season with the biggest increase coming from the losing side. Minneapolis South had the most made free throws in a game this year with 39 against St. Paul Johnson.
A better measure would be to track attempts and I will be doing that the rest of the way. I can go back to formulate last year's charts, I still have all the notebooks. However my time will not allow it.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
It is holiday tournament week. There are 59 different tournament going on this next week. There are 14 eight team tournaments. There are 5 schools headed to tournaments in neighboring states. I will be looking at the top 10 in the 8 team and 4 team divisions.

Not everyone takes part in the Holiday Tournament phenomenon however. Ranked teams St. Paul Central, Bloomington Kennedy, Becker, Totino-Grace, Austin, MN Valley Lutheran and Hayfield are sitting out tournaments this week.

And now the top 10 8 team and 4 team tournaments
8 TEAM TOURNAMENT
All these tournaments begin on Thursday, Dec 27 and run through Saturday, Dec. 29

10 Simley 25-31, 1 ranked team Simley *, only three teams with winning records

9 Sartell 23-29 1 ranked team Princeton * Three teams have one win each.

8 Norwood-Young America 34-24, 2 ranked teams Holy Family, Maranatha ** five teams in AA

7 Esko, 36-24, 1 ranked team Wrenshall, ** Wrenshall will be tested against AA and AAA teams.

6 Hibbing 36-19, 1 ranked team Bigfork. ** The host a deceptive 3-7.

5 Monticello 34-29, 2 Ranked teams, St. Francis, Minnehaha *** Two undefeated teams, one will have a loss. Elk River and Maple Grove, two Friday upset winners, could make the tournament interesting.

4 Hill-Murray 33-28, 1 Ranked team, Centennial *** #1 Centennial is one of four teams with winning records.

3 Apple Valley 38-27 no ranked teams **** Three teams with 7 wins, all AAAA teams

2 Rochester Rotary 4 ranked teams, Park-Cottage Grove, Lakeville North, #1 AAA DeLaSalle, Albany **** Non Rochester teams look tough. Rochester will have a hard time to put a team in the semis. Best match up in the quarters—Rochester Lourdes vs Albany

1 Hopkins 41-22 4 ranked teams, Minneapolis South, Eastview, Hopkins, Osseo ***** High powered AAAA teams with #3, 4, 6, and 9 all in attendance.

4 TEAM TOURNAMENTS
10 Willmar 15-11, 1 ranked team, New London-Spicer * Only NLS has more than 5 wins. Starts Dec. 28

9 Albert Lea 17-13, 1 ranked team, Worthington * Only Worthington has more than 5 wins. Opens Dec. 27

8 Bemidji 18-7, 1 ranked team, Kittson County Central ** KCC will have to get through the 6-2 hosts. Opens Dec. 27

7 Lac Qui Parle Valley, 17-8 2 ranked teams, Hancock, RTR ** only the hosts have a losing record. Opens Dec. 27

6 St. Croix Lutheran, 19-8 1 ranked team, New Life *** New Life opens with Mpls Roosevelt in a tough opener. Starts Dec 28

5 Alexandria 18-10, no ranked teams. *** Alex, Marshall, Moorhead, and Armstrong make a strong field. Starts Dec 28

4 Rogers 20-14, 1 ranked team, Rogers *** Forest Lake also in the field. Opens Dec. 27

3 St. Cloud Tech 21-10, 1 ranked team, Eden Valley-Watkins **** St. Cloud Tech will try to bounce back from the loss to Elk River. Opens Dec. 27

2 Winona State Group B, 24-10, 1 ranked team, St. Paul Johnson **** all four teams have winning records. Cotter is looking to get back in the top 10. Starts Dec 26

1 Crookston, 23-2, all four have been ranked, three teams are currently ranked, two #1s Ada-Borup in A, Crookston in AA. Also involved Hawley, and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. ***** Bar none the top flight tournament this season. Last year Crookston beat Hawley 67-58. They open against each other. Opens Dec. 27.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Maybe this should be called team of the half. Forest Lake came back to beat Cambridge-Isanti on Thursday on the road 68-57. Things looked bleak for FL at halftime as they trailed Cambridge-Isanti by 12. Their offense was sputtering, key players were resting on the bench with fouls. They also suffered their first loss of the week at Park-Cottage Grove. But the Rangers were resilient and played much crisper, efficient ball in the second half. The offense was firing at 110.5. Point guard Abigale Iverson turned around her game in the second half to lift FL. But it was the defense that delivered the win. With 6-4 Anne Berner dominating the paint, and Gina Lange staying away from second half fouls, FL had the inside game locked up. The defense did their job suffocating CI with a 52.6 pp100 in the second half.

Photo: Forest Lake players from l to r, Kasey Kolnberger #33, Gina Lange #31, unknown, #11 Molly Steele, #20 Anne Berner. Photo by Teas

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Hannah Linz of Eden Valley-Watkins. Linz is the record setting scorer now at EVW and has over 2000 points plus she is only a junior. The lefty is a pure shooter with a quick release. She generates most of her points behind the arc on catch and release. She also has deep range--one shot was from behind NBA distance. She is also quite deceptive on her passing. She put the ball right on the money in the blink of an eye a variety of times. Linz also looks for teammates streaking down court. With her firepower EVW will be one of the teams in the hunt in 5AA.

photo by Teas

WEEKLY TEAM
Rule #1--I need to see player during the weekRule
#2---Player needs to have a minimum of 10 possessionsRule
#3---Player needs to be north of 100 pp100 and .500 floor %, If no one can make that level, I start dipping down.Rule
#4---winning helps.
Warning #1--This is performance ratings and not necessarily that Player A is better than Player B. However during the course of the year the cream will rise to the top and the better players will deliver day in and night out.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Not all the players made the criteria above. I had to bend the bar this week to fill 10 spots.
FIRST TEAM
Katie Ahlstrom, Henry Sibley
Anne Berner, Forest Lake
Christina Gruenhagen, HLWW
Hannah Linz, Eden Valley-Watkins
Erin Schmeling, St. Croix Lutheran
SECOND TEAM
Eleanor Garcia, Henry Sibley
Britta Hall, Elk River
Kayla Hulsebus, St. Croix Lutheran
Jordan Vavra, Cambridge-Isanti
Ellie Wessling, HLWW

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Anne Berner, Forest Lake, Captain any time you dominate the paint with shot blocks and defensive boards like Berner did, it is not even close to making the decision on who should be the captain of the defensive team. At 6-4 she cast a long shadow in the lane.
Kayla Hulsebus, St. Croix Lutheran
Amber Junker, Eden Valley-Watkins
Tess Milczark, Cambridge-Isanti
Tempestt Wilson, Elk River

Photo by Teas

NEWCOMER
Erin Schmeling of St. Croix Lutheran. A freshman guard, sturdy took a lick, but kept standing. Delivered down the stretch. Scored from behind the arc, on transition, and at the line.

photo by kja

PAST WINNERS
Week, Team
5 Richfield
4 St. Paul Central
3 Mpls South
2 Hopkins
1 NDSCS CC

Player of the week
5 Brittnye McSparron, Eastview
4 Rachel Banham, Lakeville North
3 Courtney Boylan, Chaska
2 Megan Nipe, Centennial
1 Tanika Massey, NDSCS CC

Defender
5 DaNae Moore, Eastview
4 Brianna Mastey, Becker
3 Sarah Hintz, Woodbury
2 Madelyn Houser, North Iowa Area CC
1 Whitney Glazier, Central Lakes CC

Newcomer
5 Yaasmiyn Salahu-Din, St. Paul Como Park
4 Hannah Frost, Mahtomedi

SEEDING THE STATE
AAAA
1. Centennial (5)
2. Mpls South (6)
3. St. Paul Central (4)
4. Eastview (3)
5. Bloomington Kennedy (2)
6. St. Francis (7)
7. Rochester JM (1)
8. Elk River (8)

AAA
1 DeLaSalle (6)
2 Minnehaha (4)
3 Becker (5)
4 Worthington (2)
5 Totino-Grace (3)
6 Austin (1)
7 Fergus Falls (8)
8 Grand Rapids (7)

Next up: tomorrow morning. Also tomorrow another special guest writer.