Sevcik Verbals, Talent ID, Hawkeys & the Media

#2 posting 10.8.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SEVCIK VERBALS
Leah Sevcik of Stevens Point Roncalli has verballed Davenport. The 6-0 forward averaged 12.5 ppg for the 18-4 Jets last season.
From the Wisconsin Sports Network.

Sevcik is the 21st player from the 2009 Wisconsin class to verbal and the 1st headed to a NAIA program.

TALENT IDENTIFICATION
Brian McCormick writes about talent identification, why athleticism and length are overvalued and psychological and mental characteristics are overlooked. "For a player to develop greatly, he must take the initiative and work out diligently on his own," says McCormick.
McCormick also writes about talent development and separating the elite from non-elite players. Hint--the difference is NOT physical.

HAWKEYE MEDIA DAY
The Iowa Hawkeyes held their media day today. Hannah Draxten (Fergus Falls), Kamille Wahlin (Crookston) and Kelly Krei (Iowa City) are among the newcomers. Included are photos.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Michigan State will hold their midnight madness on Oct. 17.

Next up: tomorrow or when news breaks.

Brawl Aftermath, More Talent Evaluation

#3 posting 7.24.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

BRAWL AFTERMATH
Shock player Cheryl Ford is out for the season with an ACL injury trying to prevent teammate Plenette Pierson from fighting in Tuesday. The WNBA is reviewing the entire incident. From the Detroit Free Press.
Mechelle Voepel of ESPN weighs in on "hot heads," "Bad Girls," and women going down the same "dark path" as the men.

NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
The B-Ball Divas from Pine Ridge, SD are 1-1 in the NABI tournament in Phoenix. From the Rapid City Journal. The results are on the NABI site. Look for team 28. Also team 26 is from SD.

EYE VS NUMBERS PART IV
David Friedman of 20 Second Time Out continues his discussion with Fran Fraschilla on talent evaluation. Today the discussion centers on the difference in talent level from the NBA to college. In other words what works at one level will not necessarily translate to the next level.

Next up: later today with more MN Elite camp information

Talent Evaluation, Wisdom, Humiliation, & Brawls

#3 posting 7.23.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

TALENT EVALUATION
What is better the eye or the numbers? David Friedman of 20 Second Time Out looks at this question in part three of an interview with Fran Fraschilla.

WISDOM, and HUMILIATION
In another 20 Second Time out article John Thompson gives out 7 pearls of wisdom---points 1, 3, 5, and 7 are definitely good points for players and coaches.

True Hoop looks at joy, understanding and humiliation.

JUST LIKE THE BOYS
There was a brawl in Detroit last night between the Shock and the Sparks. "Malice at the Palace." From the Detroit Free Press.
In case you haven't seen it check out YouTube via ESPN. About 3:37

LATE SIGNINGS
Dickinson State has eight late signees. From the Dickinson Press.

TRIPPING
The Gophers are set to visit Italy later this summer. Coach Pam Borton has been to Italy five times before and will be able to be a tour guide around Florence.

TRANSFER
Tamika Nurse has left Oregon for Bowling Green. She is a 5-8 point guard from Hamilton, Ontario.

MORE BATTLE OF THE PLAINS
Here are the CSS Bisons & Judds leading scorers from the Battle of the Plains. From the Omaha World Herald.

MORE ALL STAR
Here is the Aberdeen American News report on the South 81-79 win over the North in the South Dakota All Star game.

SUPER SOPHS
North Tartan 15s are 2-0 in the Super Soph tournament in Orlando. They beat Maryland 90-37 and edged the Kansas Belles 65-64.

Next up: more information

Cotton Country, Italy, Uptown, Draft, & Chemistry

#2 posting 7.3.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

COTTON COUNTRY
According to the StarTribune yesterday, the Gophers have received a verbal from Leah Cotton of Olathe Christian in Kansas. Here is a photo and story when Cotton and her school won the NACA title. Here is last season's game by game schedule of Olathe Christian (32-2) from MaxPreps. Cotton averaged 17 ppg (again from MaxPreps).

Olathe Christian is a school of 220 from preschool to 12th grade. Olathe Christian is not a member of the KSHSAA (their MSHSL). The equivalent schools in Minnesota would be along the lines of Rochester Faith Christian, Immanuel Lutheran in Mankato, Mountain Lake Christian, or Christian Life in Farmington. You haven't heard of these schools? They don't get a lot of publicity. Cassie Busse of Prior Lake Christian (another school way under the radar) went to the Gophers to play volleyball. She ended up to be an All American and is on the Olympic volleyball team. She was 6-3. Cotton is 5-8.

ITALY BOUND
The Gophers' women's basketball team is headed to Italy August 18-28.

UPTOWN YWCA RESULTS
Here are the results from the college league at the Uptown YWCA League
Anoka-Ramsey 48, UW Superior 42
Concordia St. Paul 56, The Mixx 43
MSU Gold 57, St. Thomas #2 42
Bethany Lutheran 66, Sweet Sensation 25
UW River Falls 30, St. Mary's 29
St. Benedict 52, Augsburg 46
St. Cloud State 77, St. Olaf 29
Hamline 62, Northern State 59

SCHEDULE
Ohio State has released their 2008-09 schedule.

FREAKONOMICS AND DRAFT REGRESSION
Here is an interesting story from the Freakonomics blog on the recent NBA draft and whether college stats explain their subsequent performance in the NBA. It is the age old question of numbers vs guts. Numbers wins. If it works for the NBA it can translate to the women's game.

CHEMISTRY, STRATEGY, & STAR DEPENDENT TEAMS
Rethinking basketball touches on all these topics in a look at the LA Sparks.

Next up: later today with the Week That Was (a day early)

More Dakota Showcase, Potential & Love

#2 posting 6.28.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

DAKOTA SHOWCASE
Here is how the CSS Bison/Judds teams performed yesterday. The most exciting contest was the Metro Stars Black 50-45 double overtime win over the CSS Judds

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader has more Dakota Showcase summaries (toward the bottom) of yesterday's contests with the emphasis on SD results.

POTENTIAL & LOVE
The Wages of Wins looks at the NBA draft and the way teams (and analysts) fall in love with potential. They point out that of the 60 drafted WoW says well over half will be below average NBA players, if they play at all.
And you thought it was going to be about Kevin Love.

COLLEGE DECISIONS
Haley Loesch of Northfield is headed to St. Thomas to play basketball.

CLUB NEWS
The MN Stars have been sold to Scott Antl, Bruce Borowicz, Tom Eckmann, and Mark Smith.

CONFERENCE NEWS
Vassar has left the Tri-Valley conference in Michigan for the Greater Thumb. From the Saginaw News.

EMAIL
Since I am in Sioux Falls, I can't access my email. (or don't know how). I will get to the emails on Sunday when I return home. I thank the readers for all your great help in providing this site with information.

Next up: After the quarterfinals in the Dakota Showcase this afternoon. You can always check the Dakota Showcase site for boxes and results.

Dakota Showcase Day 1, Drafts & Player Evalauation

#1 posting 6.27.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

DAKOTA SHOWCASE
Sioux Falls Washington is a school team going up against multi-school teams at the Dakota Showcase. Yesterday SFW was 1-1. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Here is how the CSS teams fared at the Dakota Showcase:
NE Judds CSS 15's 78- Dakota Thunder 47
NE Judds has a tough match up today against the MN Metro Stars Black in the 2nd pool play game.
NE Bison CSS 17's 78- MN North Tartan Crosby 59
NE Bison CSS 17's 80- SF Warriors 63
NE Bison finished pool play against MN 43 Hoops Zuck.

Here is how the states have matched up so far
Nebraska 10-1
Kansas 3-3
Minnesota 5-6
South Dakota 4-5
Iowa 2-3
North Dakota 1-6
Montana 0-1


BORDER BATTLE TOURNAMENT
Luther will be hosting the Border Battle this weekend. Here are the teams involved:
Decorah, Des Moines Hoover, Iowa City West, Valley of Elgin, Waukon, Clarion Goldfield, MFL Mar-Mac (Iowa)
Caledonia, Rushford-Peterson, Rochester Lourdes, (Minnesota)
Onalaska, Neilsville (Wisconsin)

12U AAU NATIONALS
Rochester will host the 12u national AAU tournament. One of the teams in the tournament will be the Rochester Shock, made up of players from SE MN. The team is profiled on KAAL TV (with video).

DRAFTING AND PLAYERS VALUE
Rethinking Basketball has a posting on what the NBA draft. It is "dominated by athleticism, length, and power. Basketball skill and basketball IQ come in 4th and 5th place respectively."
Obviously being an athlete is a nice thing, however it doesn't guarantee wins. I am into winning. It would seem to me that skill and IQ should come up a little higher in the results. Where is Work ethic in the mix? Many coaches think they can "save" or "rescue" a player. I call these coaches missionaries. My experience is you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear.

DEVILS LAKE 125
Mike Bellmore of the Devils Lake Journal has a wish list of people he wants to see at the Devils Lake 125 reunion. Among the people Debbie and Darcie Deutsch who played basketball for the high school back in the day. Darcie is now the Athletic Director at DeLaSalle. Both are second cousins of mine.

COACHING NEWS
Brendon Plowe of Crystal Falls, Michigan has been named girls basketball coach at Kenosha St. Joseph in Wisconsin. From the Escanaba Daily Press.

Former Creighton player Dayna Finch is returning to Creighton to be an assistant coach.

FUNDING
John Millea of the StarTribune looks at funding for high school sports.

NDSU CAMP
The Carolyn DeHoff era started off with a wonderful two weeks of camps concluding Wednesday. DeHoff’s new staff is a young, energetic and very out going, and they will provide high energy to the NDSU Women’s Basketball program.
The camp included 90+ kids from 5 states and Canada. Incoming freshman guard Kaitie Birkel and 2009 verbal Rachelle Eckmann along with many other recruits for the class of 2009 were in attendance. DeHoff is a very motivated coach and teaches her philosophies very well. Many campers walked away with a large increase in new knowledge and excitement for the game. Good luck to coach DeHoff and her new staff at NDSU.
submitted by Tom Eckmann

STILL PLAYING
Kaycee Damm of Laker High School in Michigan was involved in a car accident in 2006. She has defied the odds an continued her four sport athletic career. Now she will be playing in college. From the Bay City Times.

Next up: Late, late, late tonight after the games at the Dakota Showcase. Check out their site for game results and box scores. If I can't get online down in Sioux Falls, I will be back on Sunday.

Developing Players & Grab Bag

#9 posting 12.7.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

FRIDAY AFTERNOON GRAB BAG
DEVELOPING PLAYERS
The TrueHoop blog has a discussion on teams and player development. This focuses on the NBA, but for any team it could be true. The last paragraph in that column is the key. Required reading.

SUCCESSFUL COACHING QUALITIES
This article comes from the Creston News Advertiser. In it columnist Larry Peterson looks at the qualities successful coaches possess. All sorts of coaches--college and high school--in all different sports are examined. Again required reading.

ANOTHER BLOG
Those that want to keep up with former Gopher Janel McCarville can do so with her blog.

MINNESOTA
The Rochester Post Bulletin looks at the fast start by Alex Montgomery of Cannon Falls.

St. Cloud Apollo rallied to beat Brainerd 64-61. Sebeka rolled Pillager 68-42 both in the Brainerd Dispatch.

Prior Lake lost two games last week. From the Prior Lake American.

Chaska beat Burnsville on Thursday 74-67. From the Chaska Herald and Savage Pacer.

International Falls beat Cook 45-39. From the IF Daily Journal.

Glenville-Emmons topped MN Deaf 48-35. From the Albert Lea Tribune.

New York Mills and Perham are previewed in the Perham Enterprise.

MICHIGAN
Ludington romped over Newaygo 74-16. Mason County Eastern beat Onekama 53-38 plus other results in the Ludington Daily News.

POINT PARADE
In order to make the list these are the requirements:
In MN a player has to have 25 or more
In the other states the minimum is 22 or more.
This is because other state do not play 36 minute games, only 32 minute contests.
I will have the lists the day after (Wednesday morning for Tuesday Night action).
If I am missing players, by all means get them to me so I can correct the list.

next up: an out and about tonight.

The Thursday Afternoon Grab Bag

#9 posting 11.29.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

GRAB BAG OF INFO

MINNESOTA RESULTS
Earlier today I linked the Savage Pacer story on the Burnsville loss to Eastview. Now they have a deeper version online.

MINNESOTA PREVIEWS
The Rochester Post Bulletin has previews of the Hiawatha Valley, Three Rivers and Southeast conferences.


MORE INDIANA SIGNINGS
Indianapolis has signed Caroline Schutzman of Indianapolis Bishop Chatard and Cayla Keegan of Castalia, Ohio Margaretta.

Xavier will get Brittany Moore of Merrillville, IN again. She has been at Gulf Coast FL CC the #1 team at their division. She originally signed with Xavier out of high school. You will need to go half way down the article to get the scoop. From the Panama City News Herald.

Sarah Miller of Delta, IN signed with Huntington.

Indiana State signed five--Deja Mattox (Maconaquah, Ind./Maconaquah); Brittany Schoen (Elizabeth, Ind./South Central); Amanda Pedro (Fort Wayne, Ind./Luers); Bianca Jarrett (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) and Shannon Thomas (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro).

With all the signings it pushes Indiana's total to 33 known signees.

LISTEN TO A GAME
KGYM 1600AM in Cedar Rapids will cover the Cedar Rapids Washington vs Cedar Falls game tonight scheduled at 7:30 pm.
If you can't make the game you may listen to the radio or go to the station website for streaming audio: http://www.1600espn.com/
Click on the LISTEN tab near the top of the home page (and follow the instructions).

COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESULTS
Marshalltown CC beat Ellsworth CC 68-64 in overtime on Wednesday. From the Marshalltown Times-Republican.

LATE WISCONSIN RESULTS
LaCrosse Logan opened with two wins against Eau Claire North and EC Memorial. The hot prospect Danielle Jorgenson had 25 for Logan vs Memorial. From the LaCrosse Tribune.

River Falls won the Red Wing tournament with a victory over the hosts. Here is the River Falls Journal with more.

INTERESTING FACTS
True Hoop has an interesting blog on Ballhype doing a Google Map of the birth places of NBA players.
My guess is if you did a search on the birth place of most of the D1 players you would find most are within a 200 mile radius of the school they are attending.

EVALUATING TALENT
The Wages of Wins looks at basketball talent, in particular Kevin Durant, and how evaluating talent is still in its infancy even in the NBA. You will need to go beyond the baseball evaluation first.
"Durant plays a sport where if you score points (and look “good”), you keep playing. " This is why I use the pp100 system to give everyone a clear understanding of a players true worth.

Next up: later tonight with another in the out & abouts