Our First Look at the 2017 Summer (“Grassroots” or AAU) Season
The winter of 2016-2017 is already over for some Minnesota high schools, so thoughts soon will be turning to the upcoming summer season. Well, actually, some thoughts have long since turned to the upcoming summer season. The Minnesota AAU, for…
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Continue ReadingThe winter of 2016-2017 is already over for some Minnesota high schools, so thoughts soon will be turning to the upcoming summer season. Well, actually, some thoughts have long since turned to the upcoming summer season. The Minnesota AAU, for example, has developed a new seeding method for the state prelim and state tournament. Compared to the seeding methods of the past, it is simplicity itself. The seeds for 2017 will be the final standings (the top 6, anyway) from last year.
Many AAU rosters have been published, but many others (most notably North Tartan) have not. We’ll preview the 2017 summer season when a few more rosters become available.
But, returning to the new seeding method, even this method has some nuances. Take the 2018s, for example, where last year’s runner-up, 43 Hoops, is out of business. Well, everybody just moves up a slot.
But, more importantly, the seeds are for the top 6. The 7th and 8th slots do not automatically go to the 7th and 8th place teams a year ago. The 7th and 8th slots will be filled after the early summer season and they’re reserved for the teams (other than the top 6) who play the best in the Midwest Kickoff Classic (April 8-9), the Fury Spring Showdown (April 21-23) and the Mill City Invitational (April 29-30).
On the other hand, if one of the top 6 should forfeit its slot, then the 7th and 8th place teams from a year ago do move up automatically.
For example, Taylor Hill Elite finished 7th among the 2018s last year. That made them the 1st alternate for this year, but not necessarily the 7th seed. With the demise of 43 Hoops, however, they move up to #6, and that's guaranteed.
Let’s clarify just by looking at the 2018s. Then we’ll also look at the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seeds.
Seeds Class of 2018 (11th)
1. North Tartan 11th EYBL—defeated 43 Hoops Carr 53-40 in the state final in 2016
2. Metro Stars Weise—defeated MN Stars Taylor 48-44 for 3rd place, move up due to the vacancy created by 43 Hoops
3. MN Stars Hersch—young veteran Josh Hersch takes over for the slightly more veteran Willie Taylor as coach of the Stars top 2018 squad
4. Fury 2018 Elite—the Elites, then known as the Blue, defeated Fury Gold 51-43 for 5th after Tartan’s top team bumped them out of the championship bracket
5. Fury 2018 Gold—43 Hoops bumped them out of the championship bracket
6. Taylor Hill Elite 2018—defeated Tartan’s 2nd string 45-24 for 7th place after losing to Metro Stars Wiese
X. North Tartan 11th Elite is designated as the “1st alternate”—they finished 8th last year
X. MN Comets 11th Elite are the “2nd alternate”—they defeated So Minn Fury 2018 51-48 for 9th place
The AAU says on its Web site that if there is any change to a team’s name, including for example a change of coach, it will be up to AAU director Dave Preller as to whether that team should inherit the ranking of last year’s predecessor. The handoff from Willie Taylor to Josh Hersch of the Stars top team appears to be a case in point, and in this case the change in coach and in name did not prevent Stars Hersch from inheriting the legacy of Stars Taylor. So we’re still awaiting an example that sheds light on what would cause a team to lose such a legacy.
Seeds Class of 2019 (10th)
1. Crossfire Theisen—defeated Fury Blue 43-34 for last year’s title
2. Fury 2019 Blue
3. Stars Nelson—defeated Tartan 57-50 for 3rd place
4. North Tartan 10th EYBL
5. Stars Nilsen—defeated So Minn Fury 42-33 for 5th place
6. Fury 2019 Gold—defeated Rise Purple 51-39 for 7th place. They move up from #7 as a result of last year’s #6 So Minn Fury not fielding a team this coming summer.
X. MN Rise 10th
X. Stars Amundson—lost to Metro Stars Broback to finish 10th, but apparently Metro Stars will not have a 2019 team this year
Here is another case where the AAU’s new policy needs some clarification—that is, specifically, how it will be applied to the Stars. The Stars Web site does not show a Stars Nilsen team for this year, and in fact Greg Amundson appears to be taking over the Stars Nilsen team (Macy Nilsen, Kacie Borowicz, etc., are on the Stars Amundson roster). It is not clear where the girls on last year's Amundson team are going. So, will Stars Amundson inherit Stars Nilsen's seed, and will the Stars retain the alternate slot won by last year's version of Stars Amundson, or does it even matter, since it's just an alternate spot anyway.
Meanwhile, the Metro Stars Web site shows a 2018 team (Wiese) but no 2019 and no 2020 team. 2021, 2022 and 2024 teams are shown as being active this year on the Metro Stars Web site.
Seeds Class of 2020 (9th)
1. North Tartan 9th Nike—defeated Fury 51-25 for the championship, this is of course the Paige Bueckers team
2. Fury 2020 Blue
3. North Tartan 9th West—defeated #1T1 42-39 for 3rd
4. E1T1Premier
5. Crossfire—defeated SMF 40-29 for 5th place
6. So Minn Fury 2020 Blue
X. Fury 2020 Gold—defeated Stars Antl 33-24 for 7th place
X. Stars Antl
Seeds Class of 2021 (8th)
1. Taylor Hill Elite 2021—defeated Tartan West 53-43 for 1st place
2. North Tartan 7th West
3. North Tartan 7th Coley—defeated the Comets 49-40 for 3rd place
4. Comets 7th
5. Stars Hersch—defeated Fury Blue 28-20 for 5th place
6. Fury 2021 Blue
X. North Tartan 7th Kuppe—defeated Crossfire 32-17 for 7th place
X. Crossfire
Club Rankings
Here we’re including the younger classes (2022 and 2023). We award 8 points for #1 seed, and 1 point for a #8. The top clubs on that basis:
1. North Tartan—63 points with 12 seeded teams
2. Fury—44 points with 10 seeded teams
3. Stars—37 points with 9 seeded teams
4. Crossfire—16 points with 4 seeded teams
5. Taylor Hill Elite—11 points with 2 seeded teams
6. Metro Stars—9 points with 2 seeded teams
7. 36ers—8 points with 2 seeded teams, both in the 2023 age group
8. Top Flight—7 points with 1 seeded team
9. Comets—6 points with 2 seeded teams
10 (tie). E1T1 and North Metro Ltd.—each with 5 points for 1 team
12 (tie). Rise and So Minn Fury—each with 3 points; Rise has 2 teams, SMF 1 team
14. Swarm—1 points
Summary
So we are down to just 3 clubs that are competing in all age groups. Only Fury, Tartan, Stars and Crossfire have more than 1 team seeded in the top 3 age groups. Everybody else is more specialized. 36ers, Top Flight, NML and Swarm are only in the youngest classes.