Summer Kickoff Preview

The summer season gets underway as it has the past 5 years, with the AAU Midwest Summer Kickoff, hosted by Andy Meinhart and the Metro Stars. There are 89 teams in 13 classes, with an emphasis on the flagship age group, the 2018s (11th grade, 16U), and on the emerging 8th grade class (2021, 13U). The juniors and the 8th graders each have 3 classes with 24 and 20 teams, respectively. That’s 44, or almost exactly half of the 89 teams in those 2 classes.

11th Black

The flagship division is the 11th Black, where you’ve got 4 of our top 15 rated 2018s plus the #1 (Crossfire 10th Theisen) and #3 (Fury 2019 Blue) from the 2019s, playing up for an early test. And, they’ll get it, from Metro Stars Wiese or Metro Stars Black (#2), Fury 2018 Elite (#3), Tayler Hill Elite (#5) and Rise 11th Purple (#13).

Sunday’s 12:40 p.m. championship game figures to match Metro Stars Black and Crossfire 10th Theisen. A Metro Stars Black vs. Fury 2018 Elite semi will be the most important game of the weekend in establishing an early pecking order among the 2018s.

Some of the top Minnesota players in this bracket are Brynne Roland (Apple Valley) and Rachel Hakes (Woodbury) of MSB; Monika Czinano (Watertown-Mayer) and Maddie Loder (Orono) of Fury 2018 Elite; Kallie Theisen (Wayzata), Taylie Scott (Heritage) and Hannah Purcell (Annandale) of Crossfire Theisen; and McKenna Hofschild (Prior Lake) and Carly Krsul (Armstrong) of the Fury 2019 Gold.

11th Green and 11th White

6 rated teams are in the Green division—4 2018s, a 2019 (Rise 10 Purple) and a 2020 (Fury 2020 Blue). White has 2 rated teams but an intriguing “civil war” matchup—the north (High Impact 11th Caddy) vs. So Minn Fury 2018 Gold, though that matchup does depend on how the 1st round of games go.

Some of the top individuals include Joey Batt (New Ulm and Rise 10 Purple); and Kayle Van Der Werf (Holy Angels), Ysareia Chevre (Tartan), Alyssa Ustby (Rochester Lourdes), Molly Mogenson (Farmington) and Lauren Frost (Park Center), all of Fury 2020 Blue; and Erika Bute (Alden-Conger and SMF 2018 Gold).

10th Black

There’s just one so-called 10th grade bracket, but it is a star-studded division. It includes 3 2019s, 2 2020s and 3 2021s playing up 2 years. The 2021s are #1 AAU seed Tayler Hill Elite 8th, #3 North Tartan 8th Coley and #6 Fury 2021 Blue. Crossfire 9th Jorgenson is the top 2020.

Some of the top individuals here may be Alaina Brenning (Rogers) and Jana Swanson (Cambridge-Isanti) of Crossfire 9th Jorgenson; Kendall Coley (St. Louis Park) and Takara Mason (Tartan) of North Tartan 8th Coley; Alexis Pratt (North St. Paul) and Kaylee Van Erps (Chaska) of Fury 2021 Blue; Jade Hill (Mpls. South) of Tayler Hill Elite 8th; K.J. Davis (Maranatha) of Crossfire 10th Smith; and Ali Hunstad (Zumbrota-M) and Colie Justice (Austin) of So Minn Fury 2020 Blue.

9th Black

The 9th Black has 8 teams—all bona fide 9th graders and none seeded. Top individuals may include post Alainah Erickson (Maranatha) of Stars 9th Zabel.

3 8th Grade Divisions

Some of you may remember that Northstar Girls Hoops covers varsity high school ball and 8th through 11th grade in the summer. So, for girls who have not played varsity ball yet, the summer after 8th grade is when they come onto our radar. So these divisions are of particular interest, though we are going to be watching other divisions as well, especially because technically there’s not a single seeded team among the 3 divisions and 20 teams.

Crossfire 8th Schuck is the 2nd alternate, however, after finishing 8th in last year’s AAU tournament. Crossfire Schuck is in Pool A of 8th Black. Over in Pool B is Metro Stars 8th Berkvam, with 8 of the 11 players, including Lizzie Berkvan, from Northfield.

The 8th Green division includes High Impact 8th, 43 Hoops 8th and Stars 8th Carli, among others—Carli’s roster includes Merica Beighley of Grand Rapids. 8th White is mostly 7th grade teams playing up.

Our Schedule

So there you have some of the possible highlights of the 6th annual Midwest Kickoff. We plan on visiting on Saturday with the following possible schedule (subject to change).

 9:10 a.m.—Stars DeSart 11th vs. Rise 10th Purple, Court 4

10:20—Tayler Hill Elite 8 vs. Crossfire 10th Smith, Court 8

11:30—North Tartan 8th Coley vs. Crossfire 9th Jorgenson, Court 5

12:40 p.m.—Top Flight 2021 Metro vs. Rise 8th, Court 4

1:50—Metro Stars 8th Berkvam vs. So Minn Fury 2021, Court 2

3 p.m.—Northern Lights 11th vs. Fury 2020 Blue, Court 7

4:10—Thunder 2018 Elite vs. So Minn Fury 2018 Elite, Court 5

5:20 and 6:30—all 4 11th Black semi-finals on Courts 7 and 8, then Courts 6 and 7. The possibilities include Tayler Hill 11th Elite, Crossfire 10th Theisen, Fury 2019 Blue, Fury 2018 Elite, Rise 11th Purple, Metro Stars Black, and more.

7:40—the 11th White and 9th Black semi-finals; we’ll pick the best game available based on 1st round results. Possibilities include Crossfire 11th Erlien, High Impact 11th Caddy, Stgars 9th Zabel, SMF 2020 Gold, and more.

See you there.