AP Polls, Previews, Scrimmages, & Pioneers

#1 posting 11.26.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

MINNESOTA REPORTS
John Millea of the StarTribune has an idea on how to slice and dice the metro conferences.

AAAA
Kaiya Sygulla of Lakeville North does a Q&A with the StarTribune.

The Pat Patterson Tournament at Hamline starts Friday.

It is now or never for six Park-Cottage Grove seniors. From the South Washington County Bulletin.

AAA
Worthington's style of play is "organized chaos" according to coach Eric Lindner. From the Worthington Daily Globe.

Red Wing has 8 starters returning. From the Red Wing Republican Eagle.

Austin is now the hunted. From KAAL (plus video).

Albert Lea's new coach Sean Gillam has a few injuries to deal with. From the Albert Lea Tribune.

POLLS
The AP Polls #1s are
AAAA Minneapolis South
AAA New Prague
AA Jordan
A Ada-Borup

SCRIMMAGES
There are a couple of scrimmages this weekend
Friday Nov 28 2008 at Mahtomedi High School
Schedule
1 pm North St Paul vs Spring Lake Park
2 pm Stillwater vs Prior Lake
3 pm Irondale vs Chaska
4 pm Coon Rapids vs Mahtomedi
5 pm Woodbury vs Burnsville
6 pm Forest Lake vs Winona Cotter

Saturday Nov 29 At Woodbury
Action Starts at 10:00 on all courts. and ends at 2:00
Teams Participating Include
Burnsville Blaze, Chaska Hawks, Coon Rapids Cardinals, Forest Lake Rangers, Irondale Knights, Mahtomedi Zephyrs, North St. Paul Polars, Prior Lake Lakers, Stillwater Ponies, Winona Cotter Ramblers, Woodbury Royals

PIONEER
Marty Dahlen (Mabel-Canton & Minnesota) was one of the early pioneers of the girls game and she has a feature in the Rochester post Bulletin.

Next up: More High school reports

Get Better

#4 posting 10.17.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

LATE ITEMS
BIG 10
The NCAA tournament committee is visiting Columbus, Ohio.

Wisconsin has a new look for the 2008-09 season.

MORE D1
Nebraska Coach Yori says the Cornhuskers can't rest on their laurels. From the Omaha World Telegraph.

New North Dakota State coach DeHoff is putting the test to the Bison early.

Heather Ezell puts Iowa State first. From the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Dayton starts their practices today.

Two former Eastview players are in varying states of injury at Creighton. DaNae Moore will not start practice with Creighton due to a fractured finger. Michelle Kaus has recovered from knee surgery. From the Omaha World Herald--tail end of the article.

D2
Is new women's coach Pam Gohl golden for MSU Mankato? The Mankato Free Press wants to know.

D3
The College of St. Benedict still has a bitter taste in their mouth from last year's finish. Here is a list of returning Blazers. From the St. Cloud Times.

HIGH SCHOOL
Mary Carney has been hired as the new girls basketball coach at Traverse City St. Francis. From the Traverse City St. Francis Record Eagle.

8 schools in the Michigan Mega Conference may break away. From the Detroit News.

Even though it deals with football, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader has a message for those that don't like getting blown out----Get Better.

Next up: tomorrow

Hill Saga, Gophers Romp in Italy, Two Fennellys

#1 posting 8.27.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

HILL
Tayler Hill will probably not be a Gopher. She is taking trips to Duke, Texas, Marquette and Rutgers. From the StarTribune.

METRO STARS OPEN TRYOUTS
The Minnesota Metro Stars will be holding open tryouts for their 16U Black and 16U White teams for the 2009 AAU season. Tryouts will be held at Bloomington Jefferson on September 14th and 21st. Over a period of years Metro Stars has established itself as one of the top basketball clubs in the midwest. If you feel that you can compete at the highest level we would love to see you at tryouts. Tryout info can be found here.

GOPHERS IN ITALY
The Minnesota Gophers finished their Italian trip with a stop at Lake Como. Tanisha Smith and Marisa Moseley have blog wraps. The Gophers were 3-0 on their trip with a 108-18 win over a Swiss team

MORE KNIFE
There is video of Shaunna Knife who has recently verballed Mary. From KXMB.

PREVENTING KNEE INJURIES
The Kalamazoo Gazette looks at a program that helps prevent ACL knee injuries.

CONFERENCE NEWS
The Downriver League is in the works in Michigan breaking apart the Mega Conference. From the Detroit Free Press.

FENNELLY: BILL & BILLY
Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly has a blog entry.

Son Billy has moved from Maryland to Northwestern. He is now the Director of Basketball Operations for the Wildcats.

COACHING NEWS
Heather Vulin has been hired as an assistant at Villanova. Vulin was a grad assistant at North Dakota State and is a 1999 UM Morris grad.

SCHEDULES
Here are the list of teams that have released their 2008-09 schedule: Denver and Southern Illinois.

TICKETS
You can now get Summit basketball Tournament tickets. The event will be in Sioux Falls this March. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Prins Verbals

#1 posting 8.10.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

VERBAL
Anna Prins, a 6-6 center from Bloomfield, Colorado has verballed Iowa State.
Prins is the third player from the Colorado 2009 high school class to verbal and the 3rd headed to a D1 program.

OLYMPICS
The American women had a slow start, but Team USA rolled over the Czech Republic 97-57. Katie Smith had 7 and Seimone Augustus had 9. From the Lansing State Journal.

FREQUENT FLIERS
Hope College has left for a German trip and will travel to Florida in the 2008-09 season. From the Grand Rapids Press.

TRANSITIONS
South Dakota State has transitioned to D1 status. South Dakota is about to take the D1 journey. Finances, recruiting, and scheduling will all change for the Coyotes. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

CONFERENCE NEWS
Merrill, WI is moving from the Wisconsin Valley to the Great Northern Conference. From the Wausau Daily Herald.

LOST MONEY
Most Saginaw area schools lost money in the season switch. From the Saginaw News.

OBITUARY
IGSHAU Hall of Fame Member Dorothy (Welp) Donahue died on July 28. She played at Kamrar, IA in 1948 finishing the year 33-0. From the Des Moines Register.

Next up: more news

MVPs, ISU Builds, Minnesotan in Beijing

#3 posting 8.8.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL, IRREPLACEABLE
Rethinking Basketball looks at the WNBA MVP race and how to decide the race.

MINNESOTAN IN BEIJING
Werner Roseboom is part of the American delegation in Beijing. She is a 1989 Cannon Falls grad and played college basketball at the College of St. Benedict's '93. She is a Director for the American Olympic delegation. From the Cannon Falls Beacon.

SWEDE IN ALASKA
Hanna Johansson of Lindome has signed with Alaska Anchorage. She is a 6-2 forward.

IOWA STATE BUILDING PROJECT
The Iowa State regents have approved a $8 million basketball practice facility. It will be built by developer Dickson Jensen, who is also involved with the All Iowa Attack basketball program. From the Des Moines Register.

IGHSAU CHALLENGES
Declining enrollment---maybe 75-80 schools will vanish from the Iowa scene in the next decade---to rising gas prices are a few of the challenges for the new IGHSAU director Mike Dick. From the Des Moines Register.

LANGUAGE LESSONS
Brittany McCoy is brushing up her Italian prior to the Gopher trip.

SCHEDULE
Penn State has released their non conference schedule.

CONFERENCE NEWS
The Kensington Lakes Activities Association in Michigan is a new conference. The new conference is a merger of the Kensington Valley and the Western Lakes conferences. From the Hometown Life papers.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE RADIO
SDSU has picked up four radio stations, including Worthington, MN, in their women's basketball radio network. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

KARE-ING
Lori Prioleau, mother of St. Thomas player DeJurnett Prioleau, was featured as one of the KARE 11 who care.

Next up: later today with the final summer Week that was. Which reminds me--two weeks from now it will be the summer that was. Feel free to email me your comments and suggestions for the different awards (team, player, coach, program, etc) from the summer of 2008. You can reach me at kja8067@gmail.com

Riverso's Blog, Whalen's Snub, Specialization vs Athlete

#3 posting 7.11.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

GOPHER TRIP
Gopher assistant coach Ted Riverso blogs about the upcoming trip to Italy.

CAMPING
Wisconsin has been busy with their summer camps.

COACHING NEWS
Shawn Hood has been hired as an assistant coach at Cleveland State. The former CSU grad was an assistant coach at Lorain King last year.

OLYMPICS
Rethinking basketball wants to know "How did Lindsay Whalen NOT make the USA Olympic team?"
My answer is these committees don't pick the best TEAM they pick players. And guess what-- politics matters.

SPECIALIZATION VS GENERAL
The Ames Tribune looks at specialization and the all around athlete. Some players mistakenly think they need to exclusively do one sport by the time they are 11. Of course people with vested interests encourage that behavior. A good athlete is a good athlete. I have seen players dominate at different sports. And when I ask these athletes which is their favorite sport it is always the season they are playing.

GREAT WEST
The Grand Forks Herald has more on the North Dakota decision to join the Great West, while the Sioux Falls Argus Leader looks at South Dakota's move.

Next up: Later today with the week that was.

Jenna Smith's Blog, Great West

#2 posting 7.11.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

COACHING NEWS
Gary Beadles has been fired as Stevens Point Pacelli girls basketball coach. Why was he fired?

"the program is not successful, Pacelli girls basketball is not respected in the community and if he wasn't the coach, more kids would come out to play."

Beadles was 80-54 in six seasons. From the Wausau Daily Herald.

Dick O'Day has been hired at Dowagiac, Michigan (with board approval to come). O'Day had been the coach at Trinity School-Greenlawn in South Bend, Indiana. From the Niles Daily Star.

JENNA SMITH'S BLOG
Former Bloomington Kennedy player, and current Illinois player, Jenna Smith has her second blog installment up.

NEW FACILITIES
Iowa State will be building a new state of the art practice facility. From the Des Moines Register.

CONFERENCE NEWS
North Dakota and South Dakota will join the Great West in all sports, not just football.

SCHEDULE
Marquette has released their 2008 schedule.

12u AAU
The Minnesota teams are out, but here how the 12u AAU tournament is wrapping up in Rochester. Two Georgia teams are undefeated still. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

MISS BASKETBALL VIDEO
KHAS in Hastings, Nebraska has video of the opening day of the Miss Basketball Showcase.

AUGUSTUS
Seimone Augustus is our "unknown superstar" according to the MPR blog the Bleacher Bums.

Next up: more news

12u AAU Tournament, PG Personailty

#1 posting 7.5.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

12U AAU
Gopher Katie Ohm was the torchbearer for the opening ceremonies in Rochester for the 12u AAU girls basketball tournament and is interviewed by KAAL.

The Rochester Shock play at 10:30 vs. MP-P.A.L. Diamonds. At 4:30 they play GA Pistols Gold.

The Minnesota Stars play Tennessee Elite at 1:30.

The Minnesota Suns play SE/AL-Southern Starz at 3.

POINT GUARD PERSONALITY
Brian McCormick writes about the personality of a point guard. Pay attention to paragraph #13.

DEATH OF A CONFERENCE
The Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference is no more. Enrollment differences finished off the conference. From the Iowa City Citizen Press.

Next up: tomorrow