The Week That Was: Holiday Hoopla

#6 posting 12.30.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

The Week That Was: Holiday Hoopla
2007 is over with a rush of tournaments. More unbeaten teams fell by the wayside when they matched up in the annual events. Only two undefeated teams remain standing in AAAA #1 Centennial and St. Francis. In AAA Worthington doesn’t have a loss yet. Five class AA teams remain, and three are left in A.
The structure of this year favored a Thursday-Friday-Saturday tournament which eliminated one of my choices for a tournament. Other years I made it to four 8 team events.

But now I can enjoy more that a hot dog and a diet for my dinner. I needed to take out a loan to eat in Rochester. Every tournament treated us, the new media, well. However Hopkins gets a special commendation with their hospitality. They provided a media room with sandwiches for hard working reporters. They had wayzataresults.com with down to the minute stats. CommunityHoops has 9 games with play by play, and they also have interviews. Also they were the only tournament with three referees, the others only put two on the floor.

WHICH TOURNAMENT WAS BETTER?
Looking at the pp100 and floor % for the four tournaments I attended it should come no surprise with the results. Hands down it was Hopkins. They had an outstanding field with four teams in the top 10 in AAAA. Rochester had four top 10 teams, 2 in AAAA, 1 in AAA, and 1 in AA, but the execution, even with the consolation teams but them above the board.
Tournament, ave points; possessions; pp100; floor %;
Hopkins 60.3, 67.8, 88.93, .411
Apple Valley 57.63, 68.0, 84.59, .407
2007-08 AVERAGE 57.2, 70.0, 81.42, .396
Rochester 53.7, 67.0, 80.22, .379
Mounds Park 52.75, 70.3, 75.09, .363
Discounting the Mounds Park tournament, which was a four team AA tournament, you can see that Hopkins clearly had an advantage an average 4.34 pp100 better average than Apple Valley. It is interesting to note that Rochester is under the average across the board.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BIG 9/ROCHESTER
The skill level is just not the same as the metro teams. Remember the only Rochester team to make it to the semis was Lourdes who beat a like class team (Albany) who is not a metro team. Once upon a time the Big 9 was a force in girl’s basketball. They had Rochester Mayo winning the state tournament back in ’95 and ’97. Owatonna finished second in the AAA tournament in ’99. But since then the Big 9 has been a stranger to the top 10 lists. Rochester Mayo made the state tournament in 2006, but as a whole that conference has slipped behind the Metro powers. It is not a cyclical problem either. This is a structural, systemic issue. The critical mass in the Twin Cities makes it the center of the basketball universe in Minnesota. To improve the Big 9 (and for that matter the Central Lakes Conference) they need ramp up the off season teams. I know a few are playing but the majority of schools don’t have many players on the upper echelon teams. Just playing more at a higher level is the first step. Until that time the State AAAA tournament will be a Metro Invitational.

As far as the Rochester tournament itself they probably should only have the better Rochester teams involved. Century was way over matched. If they want a Rochester team making the event, they should invite more class AA teams and eliminate the Metro powers from the field.

Also the calls had me scratching my head. Conspiracy or coincidence? The better players were saddled with fouls in the first two games. Cassie Rochel had at least one foul that was marginal, but she had to sit. Jackie Voigt had two that puzzled me. They both deserved to be on the floor, not on the pine. Beat the best with the best on the floor, not with phantom calls.

NEW TRENDS
A couple of trends were evident this weekend. #1 the platoon system (five in, five out) is now being used by more than Providence. Lakeville North uses it. Blaine went five further using 15 players in the first half. Other teams are using 10 in the first half, even if they don’t go with the wave.
Why is it happening? Perhaps to keep players interested involved, motivated and make practices much more competitive. Maybe to keep parents at bay.
Every situation is a bit different. I used the wave when I was coaching at the younger traveling levels and in the BCI. I tried to balance the units when in those situations.
This is impacting my choices for team of the week. With about 70 possessions a game for a team it seems it would be 7 players could have 10 possessions. Now, with 10 players you are looking at 7 possessions. Some players were left with their nose against the window when it comes to picking team of the week.
#3 Missing in Action. There were a couple of players missing the holiday hoop-la-la. Pamela January of Richfield was on vacation, while Marney Ferrara, a starting guard for Osseo missed the entire tournament due to a soccer camp. Both probably would have had an impact in their games, but it was also an opportunity for some players to step up and pull a Lou Gehrig (to the Wally Pipp).

TEAM OF THE WEEK
For the first time this year we have a duplicate winner—Hopkins. They survived a challenge from feisty Burnsville in the quarters. The Royals straightened out for the semis and then faced a new section rival Minneapolis South with their ferocious threesome guard, Hill, Holmes and Smith. They withstood the heat, maintained their composure and showed grit themselves in the upset 68-62 win in the championship. The Hopkins bench stepped up and did what they needed to do. There is a great chance these two will meet in March for the right to go to state. This is a good confidence booster for the battles to come. The shame of it is it will be a section game and not a state tournament contest.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Stephanie Sension of Hopkins was a difference maker inside as the Royals took their own tourney title. She was named MVP of the event. Sension ended up with 19 points and 8 boards. She also did a good job of finding the open perimeter when being doubled down. She attacked the basket with authority. Her feet and hands help give her an edge over other posts. Her ball handling is another asset. She started her basketball career as a guard. She would like to step out and face the basket, but she importance inside can not be overstated. Defensively she is getting more physical in the lane and changes a lot of shots.

WEEKLY TEAM
Rule #1--I need to see player during the week. And the player may have had great games when I wasn’t watching. Or they may have not shined when I was there. The only important factor---produce when I watch.
Rule #2---Player needs to have a minimum of 10 possessions. I talked about this earlier today.
Rule#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.

Now with the multitude of games I can make four teams this week.
FIRST TEAM
Tayler Hill, Minneapolis South
Brittnye McSperron, Eastview
Sarah Nohrenberg, Park-Cottage Grove
Stephanie Sension, Hopkins
Taylor Young, Edina
SECOND TEAM
Aaryn Booker, DeLaSalle
Molly Duehn, Burnsville
Serenae Levin, Eden Prairie
Laura Melquist, Rochester Lourdes
Sarah Wiens, Burnsville
THIRD TEAM
Molly Geske, Cretin-Derham Hall
Meme Hudnell, DeLaSalle
Kristen Luebbe, Rochester Lourdes
Carissa Wolyniec, DeLaSalle
Samantha Zopfi, Providence
FOURTH TEAM
Ruby Harvey, St. Paul Arlington
Arianne Johnson, Tartan
Abby Kenealy, Farmington
Chiamaka Okonkwo, Osseo
Olivia Rowland, Providence

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Captain of the defense this week is Meme Hudnell of DeLaSalle. She has the quickness and intensity and played with control and fire. She didn’t pick up fouls and remained composed.
Meme Hudnell, DeLaSalle
Sam Larsen, Albany
Laura Melquist, Rochester Lourdes
Jamie Noonan, Richfield
Mandy Poke, Richfield



NEWCOMER
Ruby Harvey is a sophomore at St. Paul Arlington. She is a rangy, lean, athletic perimeter. She runs the floor very well. She also has 3 range. She has good basketball instincts. Her passing is snappy, deceptive and she has a flair for the game.

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

Player of the week
6 Hannah Linz, Eden Valley-Watkins
5 Brittnye McSparron, Eastview
4 Rachel Banham, Lakeville North
3 Courtney Boylan, Chaska
2 Megan Nipe, Centennial
1 Tanika Massey, NDSCS CC

Defender
6 Anne Berner, Forest Lake
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
6 Erin Schmeling of St. Croix Lutheran
5 Yaasmiyn Salahu-Din, St. Paul Como Park
4 Hannah Frost, Mahtomedi

THE WEEK AHEAD
With New Year's Day on Tuesday it eliminates Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday from viewing this week. Here is the first options in 2008
THURSDAY, JAN 3
Eveleth-Gilbert at Grand Rapids. Cross class battle on the Iron Range.
Northfield at Red Wing. RW has yet to lose to a Minnesota team. This is a Missota Conference battle. Northfield is now in class AAAA.
Esko at Wrenshall. A big Polar Conference battle.
FRIDAY, JAN 4
New London-Spicer at Albany. Both had disappointing losses in the tournaments. This game will go a long way to determine the West Central North Conference and seeding in 6AA East
Winona Cotter at Rogers. Cross Class Clash with Cotter's inside game against the Rogers perimeter duo.
SATURDAY, JAN 5
Rochester Lourdes at Austin. A cross class clash with Melquist traveling to Austin.
Edina at Cretin-Derham Hall. the winner of the Apple Valley tournament sees the 7th place finisher in Hopkins.
Mpls Roosevelt at Eden Prairie. The city goes to the suburbs.
Holy Family at LeSueur-Henderson. A Minnesota River conference battle
and in the big contest of the week---
Long Beach Poly will play St. Paul Central at the Target Center at 10 am. LBP is a top 10 national team.

SEEDING THE STATE
Seed, team, (section)
AAAA
1. Centennial (5)
2. St. Paul Central (4)
3. Hopkins (6)
4. Eastview (3)
5. Bloomington Kennedy (2)
6. St. Francis (7)
7. Elk River (8)
8. Rochester JM (1)

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

Thanks to the readers for the patience the last few days. The sheer amount of games meant that I had to give bare bone coverage. I have back filled the defensive wraps from yesterday. I hope to add the photos coach Teas later this week.

Next up: tomorrow morning