2017 AAU State Championships - Friday follies

At a big event like the AAU Girls Basketball State Championships, it’s easy to focus on the elite teams and their rosters full of blue-chip prospects. But since they’ll still be hunting for championships on the weekend, Friday night seemed like a good time to offer some thoughts on the one-and-dones, players and teams who were here tonight and gone tomorrow. After losing their opening round contests, they aren’t exactly gone, of course, but they won’t be posing for pictures with the trophy on Sunday afternoon. It’s not like there isn’t talent on the off-brand squads. There are some terrific players – just not so many. Some are late bloomers who stick around with the same team they have grown up with, or perhaps because they feel a loyalty to their friends, or maybe it’s the joy of being a big fish in a small pond. For others, it’s simply geography. If you live in Stillwater and can practice in Hudson, that’s a lot less time in mom’s minivan than joining the glamour squad that does its work in Eden Prairie. Here are two one-and-dones that caught my eye Friday night. 2019 Minnesota Suns Jefferson First of all, is there a cooler guy calling the shots on an AAU bench than Dre Jefferson? This gentleman has got it going on – a great basketball mind, a terrific motivator and a really nice guy. He’s also got some talented kids on his squad. Let’s begin with 5-foot-3-inch point guard Danah Ocsan of St. Francis. The diminutive Ocsan (even 5-3 might be generous) can flat out handle the basketball. She’s like a firefly, darting here, darting there, lighting up the night along the way. Sometimes you wish she’d just slow down for a moment so the rest of the world could catch up. But make no mistake, Ocsan’s quickness is a valuable asset and she is a valuable player. Suns Jefferson also boasts a nice pair up front – 5-11 Shayla Miller of St. Louis Park and 6-0 power forward Avery New of Minnehaha Academy. New has been shining brightly on everyone’s radar for the past couple of seasons and may be about to break out. Miller is a 9th grader playing up. She averaged 10 & 5 for the Orioles this winter and looks better every time I see her. Unfortunately for the Suns, there was this other team on the court. Stars Amundson is its official name but we all know it’s still Matt Nilsen’s star-studded cast. They’ve got this kid named Nelson, as in Tori Nelson, the 6-foot forward from Henry Sibley who has already committed to South Dakota State. She dropped 20 on the Suns Friday night. Her teammate Jesse Ruden of Rochester John Marshall had 15. Did we mention this team also boasts point guard Kacie Borowicz of Class AA state champion Roseau? Oh, and some kids named Macy Nilsen (Edina) and Hannah DeMars (Grand Rapids) who generally get the job done, too. Add it all up and the Suns were one-and-done with a 63-43 loss. 2018 MN/WI Force Another underdog squad that made an early departure was the 2018 MN/WI Force Wyse team, which fell to a strong Metro Stars Wiese squad 47-21. Despite the new name, new colors and a logo lifted straight from the set of a very popular movie series, this is actually the old Minnesota 36ers squad and they are as feisty as ever. Populated by muckers and grinders, the Force will give you everything they’ve got every time out. In addition to a nice pair of guards from Park Cottage Grove (Molly Wenner and Taylor Johnson), the one player who epitomizes the Force is 5-10 wing Emma Ogitchida. Talk about under the radar. Ogitchida plays her high school ball at St. Paul Harding. Very quietly over the past three years, she has turned herself into a top 50 prospect. Ogitchida is not small but she plays way bigger than she is. A relentless rebounder who never gives up on the play, Ogitchida is always in pursuit of the basketball. She has an uncanny ability on offense to crash into traffic and come out with the ball on the other side, usually with two points tacked on at the end. In 2015-16, Ogitchida combined with then-8th grader Jaide Pressley to lead Harding to its best season since the Nixon administration. Pressley quickly moved on to Hopkins, a great move for her fledgling basketball career but not so great for Harding. The team was still competitive, however, because Ogitchida is competitive and brings out the best in those around her. The Division III coach sitting next to me at Friday night’s game could not stop talking about what a catch Ogitchida is going to be for the college coach who gets her name on the dotted line first.