Tip Off Classic Preview

#1 posting 11.15.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SIGNINGS
IKM-Manning, Iowa had two signees this week
6-3 Katie Schechinger signed with Drake
6-1 Bailey Halbur signed with Nebraska-Kearney
From the Harlan, IA Tribune.

TIP OFF CLASSIC
The Breakdown is hosting two days of stellar games.
There will be
40+ College prospects
23 Division I college prospects
13 Preseason ranked teams
3 Preseason No. 1 teams
2 Defending state champions
9 Games
2 Days
1 Location
Friday, Dec. 5
5:30 p.m. -- STMA vs. Albany
7:00 p.m. -- New Life Academy vs. Princeton
8:30 p.m. -- Becker vs. Eden Valley-Watkins
Saturday, Dec. 6
11:30 a.m. -- Princeton vs. Hinckley-Finlayson
1:15 p.m. -- Bloom. Kennedy vs. DeLaSalle
3:00 p.m. -- Ada-Borup vs. Eden Valley-Watkins
4:45 p.m. -- Centennial vs. Jordan
6:30 p.m. -- Lakeville North vs. Mpls South
8:00 p.m. -- Becker vs. Roseville
Everywhere you turn the contests are compelling. Clear your calendar and mark the date.

COACHING
Menomonie has a "Star studded" coaching staff. From the Dunn County News.

Angie LaLonde gives her reasons for retiring from coaching to the Escanaba Daily Press.

SEASON PREVIEWS
Ionia enters the season shorthanded. From the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.

D2
INJURY
Metro State's Alyssa Benson (Minnetonka) has suffered an ACL injury.

D3
UW Stout's Julia Hirssig (Rochester Mayo) is on the preseason D3 All American team. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

TRAIL
Doug Jahnke disputes multiple charges in Burnsville Athletic Club swindle case. He is accused of taking $43,000. From the Savage Pacer.

Next up: More News

NCAA Tourney Prep, NAIA All Americans, NJCAA D2 Tourney

#3 posting 3.20.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

COLLEGE REPORTS
D1
The Gophers are ready to dance. They have been off for 15 days. From the StarTribune.

New Mexico's Jessica Kielpinksi (Mandan, ND) is getting ready for her first NCAA tournament. From the Bismarck Tribune.

WNIT
South Dakota State has depth with 10 players averaging 14+ minutes. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Villanova beat American 53-52. Talicia Jackson (DeLaSalle) did not score for American.

D3 ALL REGION
D3Hoops.com has listed their all west region team. Annegret Nautsch of Bethel is on the first team.

NAIA
The NAIA has released their All American teams. From KSFY.
The Minnesota connections are:
Second team
Jessica Van Loy Dakota State Univ. 5-10 Sr. F Wabasso
Kendra Meyer Minot State Univ. 5-7 Sr. G Prior Lake
Third team
Bonnie Johnson Missouri Valley College 6-0 Sr. F Osseo
Honorable Mention
Laura Tewes Dakota State Univ, Mayer Lutheran

COMMUNITY COLLEGE
National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Tournament
FIRST ROUND
Mott beat Muskegon 80-66. From the Flint Journal.

Here is the rest of the first round action.

Kirkwood plays CCRI at 2 pm today.

ALL CONFERENCE
Three Kalamazoo Valley players made the Michigan Community College Athletic Association West Division's All-Conference squad.

Grab Bag: Perspective and Mercy

#5 posting 3.19.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

GRAB BAG
VERBALS
Indiana State's women's basketball team has secured oral commitments from:
Megan Burton, 6-1, Bedford North Lawrence, IN, for 2008; and
Andrea Rademacher, 6-2, Scottsburg, IN for 2009.
Burton is the 28th player from the Indiana 2008 class to verbal a D1 school and 34th overall
Rademacher is the 4th player from the Indiana 2009 class to verbal a D1 school.

COACHING
The St. Louis Park girls basketball position is listed as open.
Mora has a girls basketball position open.

PERSPECTIVE
Here is a message from Columbia Heights Coach Chris Buerman on the birth of his daughter and the complications involved.
Dear Friends and Family,

Jordan Christine was born December 26th, 2007. While labor and delivery went well, we knew immediately that there were many complications with little Jordan. She was transferred to the N.I.C.U. at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis the day after she was born. While there, she was diagnosed with Goltz syndrome. Goltz syndrome is a rare chromosome abnormality that results in multiple birth defects. It is so rare that most of the doctors we’ve talked to have never even heard of it. The list of possible problems associated with this condition seems endless. In Jordan’s case, the most significant problems at this time involve her eyes, skin, left foot, and kidneys. Her eyes are severely underdeveloped. She has already seen 3 different pediatric eye specialists. At this point we don’t know what she can see or how severely her vision will be impaired in the future. Jordan’s skin is very thin and sensitive. The “baby warmer” in the hospital burned her skin, but it is healing over now and hopefully we can avoid any more skin eruptions. Jordan was born without a left foot. She will have to be fitted for a prosthetic when she is about 6 months old. She also will have her kidney function monitored. Fifteen percent of Goltz cases involve mental retardation. So far, we don’t know if this will be the case for Jordan. We have to wait and see how she develops as she grows up.

Thankfully all of the major issues that Jordan is facing right now are not life threatening. Many infants with Goltz syndrome don’t make it as long as she has because their organs don’t function properly. We are relieved and thankful that Jordan is stable, her main organs seem to be functioning properly, and she is eating and gaining weight as a newborn should.
Sorry this announcement came so late. Jordan's website is

http://Caringbridge.org/visit/jordanbuerman

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support as we learn more about our Jordan and her special needs

Coach Chris Buerman, Columbia Heights

IOWA ALL AREA
The Burlington Hawkeye has published their all area team.

The Golden Triangle News Service out of Washington, IA has named their all area team.

ALL CONFERNCE
The Cascades conference in Michigan has named their All Conference team. From the Manchester Enterprise.

Romeo, MI has passed out their end of the year awards.

The All Thumb team has been released by the Huron Daily Tribune.

Three Belding players made the OK Silver All Conference team. From the Greenville Daily News.

VINCENT VIDEO
There is video of the Milwaukee Vincent celebration back at school with interviews and comments from players and coaches from WTMJ.

SUPERIOR CONNECTION
UW Superior had connections to two state tournaments with Colfax, WI coach Joe Doucette and Hayfield, MN coach Fred Kindschy. Greg Granlund, an assistant at Totino-Grace is from Northwestern HS, WI. From the Superior Daily Telegram.

AWARDS
Western Michigan's Tiera DeLaHoussaye (Detroit Country Day) was named Mid-American Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Week.

WBCA
D1
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was named Region 6 coach of the year and Kristi Smith was on the Region 6 All America Team.
Also making the All American Region 6 team: Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson (South Shore, WI) and Illinois' Jenna Smith (Bloomington Kennedy).

D3
D3Hoops has released their All West Region team. Making the list is Buena Vista's Margo Muhlbauer (IKM, IA); Gustavus' Jess Vadnais (Hudson, WI). St. Thomas' Carrie Embree (Waukee, IA) made the second team.

Vadnais is also one of 40 up for the 2008 Kodak/WBCA All-America Basketball Team for D3.

NAIA
Missouri Valley's Bonnie Johnson (Osseo) made 1st team Heart of America All-Conference and 3rd team All-American in the NAIA

Also Jolene Christensen has been named the new coach at Missouri Valley. She replaces Keith Lindahl.

MERCY RULE
Here is Columbia Heights coach Buerman again with his thoughts on the Mercy Rule

Just some thoughts about a suggested rule change. When I was at Champlin we were 23-5 and had many opportunities to extend huge leads and took great pride on utilizing leads as teaching time. Now at Columbia Heights I find that time even more valuable and don't want to lose it.

As a coach of a program that is fighting hard to rebuild itself, I am terrified the 35 point mercy rule might be established. Our program would NOT benefit from this rule. For my team, playing against the other program's second and third string allows us to teach more effectively. Success against their second and third team is much different than beating up on our second team in practice. Not to mention practices make more sense to the girls when they had some success executing against the second and third string of the other team plus film sessions become far more educational. It has always been my belief it is our responsibility as coaches to use large leads as an opportunity to teach whether you are ahead or behind. The winning team can work with players that typically are backups and only get limited time or allow that hard working individual from practice the opportunity to score their first or only points in a varsity game. In my time as a coach I have never had nor seen a second string that was so good they didn't need to work on good offensive positioning and quality possessions.

Thanks to all who help supply the basketball community with news & information. It has been a busy month or so. If I haven't thanked you properly I apologize. It takes a team to get this site done.

Next up: Tomorrow.

Pre Season Girls Basketball All Americans

#4 posting 10.3.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information
insight + content

SPORTING NEWS/STREET & SMITH'S GIRLS BASKTBALL ALL AMERICANS
The Sporting News College Basketball Preview edition is out on newsstands now. In it they list their preseason High School Girls Basketball All American teams. Go to page 177 when you buy it.

Junior Tayler Hill of Minneapolis South made the 6th team, the only player in the coverage area to make the list.

No area teams made the top 20 list.

On the Honorable Mention List for each state,

IOWA -4
Kelly Krei, Iowa City
Baileigh O'Brien, Fort Dodge
Jaime Printy, Linn-Mar (2009)
Amanda Zimmerman, Ballard (2009)

MICHIGAN-10
Brandie Baker, Flint Hamady
Troya Berry, Flint Hamady
Dominique Dixon, Detroit Renaissance
Emma Golen, Detroit Country Day (2009)
Britney Murphy, Saginaw Arthur Hill
Erica Solomon, Detroit Country Day
Courtney Townsend, Detroit King (2009)
Kellie Watson, Ionia
Destiny Williams, Benton Harbor (2009)
Madison Williams, Detroit Country Day (2010)

MINNESOTA-7
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central
Amber Dvorak, Hinckley-Finlayson (2009)
Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter
Brianna Mastey, Becker
Nicole Mastey, Becker
Amanda Viehauser, Armstrong
Jackie Voigt, Park-Cottage Grove

NEBRASKA-2
Marissa Kastanek, Crete (2009)
Kelsey Lliteras, Chadron (2009)

WISCONSIN-4
Katie Bushman, Phillips
Val Schuster, Wausau Newman
Sarina Simmons, Milwaukee King (2009)
Rachel Story, Milwaukee King (2009)

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: later tonight with the final MN Stars Showcase game.