The Week That Was #10: Undefeateds, Wrong Turns, Greeks

#11 posting 1.20.2008
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THE WEEK THAT WAS #10: Undefeateds, Wrong Turns, & Greeks

This week we saw three Greek warriors, two undefeateds, made two wrong turns, one team breaking a streak, and one team continuing a streak. The Spartans and the Trojans played on Saturday, but the Spartans also played on Tuesday. GHEC and Centennial stayed unblemished, Centennial in a convincing, statement like manner. Alexandria broke their five game losing streak. Kennedy lost their fourth in a row. And wrong turns did eventually get us to St. Clair and also to the Alex Middle School. We did make it by a whisker for the start (thank goodness).

CONFERENCE CALL
Here is a look at which conferences are the top level, which are struggling. Of course this is only with games I have seen, and I limited it to 5 or more viewings.
Conference (#of teams seen), pp100, floor %
Classic Lake (5) 95.91, .474
Suburban East (7) 88.94, .434
Lake (14) 88.68, .421
Minneapolis (7) 87.87, .402
Classic Suburban (7) 87.78, .422
NW Suburban (12) 83.2, .399
TriMetro (9) 79.17, .377
Missota (5) 74.64, .376
Big 9 (6) 73.59, .357
St. Paul (7) 68.92, .355
Clearly with 80% of the teams in the Classic Lake with winning records, and with the top two (Hopkins, and Armstrong) with a record of 31-2 it isn’t hard to see why this conference is tough. Armstrong went to Lakeville North and won this week.
If you want to measure conferences by state titles (since the four class system) in the AAAA level the Lake has won four titles and have finished second another four times.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
Here is the tab on my unending quest to see the best and brightest in Minnesota---Looking at the teams with winning records in AAAA I have 3 more to go of the 37 teams. In AAA I have 14 to go. On the MaxPreps top 50 list I have now seen 82%. This week looks like I will see at least 10 different teams as the days start to get longer, if not warmer.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Any time a team doubles up a top 10 team, that is worthy of attention. Centennial didn’t play all that well against Elk River on Tuesday. It looked as if they focused on improving their defense during the next two days. It showed in a 83-40 win over #10 Osseo. This was an important game for the NW Suburban lead, and for the 5AAAA top seed. Centennial gets down the floor fast. They have multiple weapons and depth. Even with a strong performance on Friday night , I can see that they can be even better. The Osseo guards disrupted some transition action, but the pace left them gasping for air. As you can see below Centennial has two players on the first team, plus three that were just knocking on the door.

Centennial swarms Osseo's Danielle Mangen in the lane. #23 Kayla Blom, Bridget Schuneman, and Kiara Allums. photo by Teas.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
This player is unfamiliar to most fans, but since I go to community college games too, and they are included in my evaluations, Becca Swalla of Riverland gets the nod this week. For those that haven’t seen her she is a guard that can pop from the 3 range. Competitive, a battler, and likes to win. She is also a clutch performer. When Riverland trailed 47-45 with under 1:20 to go she stepped up and delivered. She tied the game at 47. She then made a key steal on the next Anoka-Ramsey possession and made a free throw. AR went back in front and again, for the third straight possession she stepped up scored. She made a game winning basket “&1” on an out of bounds play.

Swalla played her high schooll ball at South Hamilton in Iowa.

This is the 8th guard to win the honor out of 10 weeks, and the second Community College player.

This is actually photo by kja. Teas is busy on Wednesdays.

FIRST TEAM
Kiara Allums, Centennial
Ephesia Holmes, Minneapolis South
Megan Nipe, Centennial
Becca Swalla, Riverland CC
Ashley Walterman, Granada-Huntley-East Chain
HONORABLE MENTION
Sarah Luse, Orono
Bailey Lund, Bloomington Kennedy

A small contingent this week. That is because my rules eliminated many.
#1 I have to see the player.
#2. Player needs at least 10 possessions. That takes at least five off the table right away.
* one too few possessions
Emily Becken, Centennial
Kayla Gill, New Prague
Libby Kruse, Orono
Bridget Schuneman, Centennial
Megan Waytashek, Centennial
#3 player needs to be over 100 pp100.
* too low pp100
Maggie Weiers, New Prague
#4 player needs to be over .500 floor %.
* too low floor %
Angela Christianson, Alexandria
Alexis Holt, Bloomington Kennedy
Kassie Robinson, Simley

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Kiara Allums of Centennial has turned it up a notch on defense. And she did it by playing smarter and avoiding fouls. No one doubts the physical abilities she possesses. She was assigned 5-2 Dani Mangen and she is definitely big enough to alter her shot, but she is also quick enough to stay with her on drives. Allums is playing with maturity and wisdom this season on D.

Kiara Allums, Centennial
Angela Christianson, Alexandria
Jessica Cichy, Anoka-Ramsey CC
Kassie Robinson, Simley
Ashley Walterman, GHEC

photo again by Teas.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Becca Swalla (see above)

PAST WINNERS
Week, Team
9 New Life Academy
8 Long Beach Poly, CA
7 Hopkins
6 Forest Lake
5 Richfield
4 St. Paul Central
3 Mpls South
2 Hopkins
1 NDSCS CC

Player of the week
9 Lauren Barber, Owatonna
8 Alison Johnson, St. Louis Park
7 Stephanie Sension, Hopkins
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
9 Charmaine Cross, Minneapolis CC
8 Jasmine Dixon, Long Beach Poly CA
7 Meme Hudnell, DeLaSalle
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
9 Brittany Monio, Minneapolis CC
8 Hope Sevlie, Red Wing
7 Ruby Harvey, St. Paul Arlington
6 Erin Schmeling of St. Croix Lutheran
5 Yaasmiyn Salahu-Din, St. Paul Como Park
4 Hannah Frost, Mahtomedi

THE WEEK TO COME
MONDAY, JAN 21
Barnum at Wrenshall. Barnum is one of the three A undefeated teams left. Wrenshall has one loss. This is a Polar battle. However both teams are in different sections.
TUESDAY, JAN 22
Owatonna at Austin. The second meeting between the two. important for supremacy in the Big 9.
Hinckley-Finlayson at Braham. For first in the Great River conference.
Bloomington Kennedy at Chaska. These two played the best pp100 game so far this year. Kennedy has had a rough schedule of late with four straight losses. It doesn't get easier.
Jordan at Holy Family. Two top 10 AA teams. The second meeting that could decide the Minnesota River championship.
Simley at Richfield. Simley can't afford another loss in the Classic Suburban. Richfield one of the most improved teams over the year.
St. Michael-Albertville at Rogers. Two top 10 AAA teams. A Mississippi 8 battle between I94 rivals.
WEDNESDAY, JAN 23
Cooper at Minneapolis Southwest one of two games on this day.
THURSDAY, JAN 24
Lakeville North at Bloomington Kennedy. Who designed Kennedy's killer schedule?
West Central at Hancock. class AA vs A powers in West Central Minnesota (obviously)
Mpls South at Mpls Roosevelt. South leads the City. Roosevelt has one loss. If South wins, they will be in the driver's seat.
New Ulm Cathedral vs MN Valley Lutheran. The Reformation battle of New Ulm. MVL is in first in the conference with one loss. NUC has two.
FRIDAY, JAN 25
Hawley at DGF. Hawley is unblemished in the Heart O'Lakes conference. DGF was one blemish.
St. Cloud Apollo at Fergus Falls. Central Lakes battle with FF looking to put distance and keep the other St. Cloud team in sight.
Cretin-Derham Hall at Park-Cottage Grove. Last time these two met it was a PCG OT win. CDH is two games back in the loss column.
Hayfield at Rochester Lourdes. Hayfield won the first contest. Both teams have one loss (like Winona Cotter) in the Hiawatha Valley Gold.
SATURDAY, JAN 26
Worthington at Becker. Two top 10 teams battle. small Worthington vs Big Becker.
New Life at Goodhue. Don't be fooled by Goodhue's record. They are one of the most dangerous teams in A. They play in the Hiawatha Valley Conference, chock full of AA teams.
Crookston vs Winona Cotter at St. Benedict. Last year Cotter won at the same site in a battle between #1 and #2. This year Crookston is #1 (again). Last year neither made the state tournament.

SEEDING THE STATE
Since the top two classes seed the state I have listed who I see as the section front runners right now. This is NOT a top 10 list. It is who I think will win each section, hence only 8.

AAAA
1. Centennial (5)
2. Hopkins (6)
3. Eastview (3)
4. St. Paul Central (4)
5. Chaska (2)
6. Elk River (8)
7. St. Francis (7)
8. Rochester JM (1)

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

Next up: Tomorrow morning