#7 and #8

The pairings for next week's AAU Prelims are up. And most of the suspense of this new summer season so far has surrounded the question, Who is gonna get the #7 and #8 seeds for that tournament. Well, now we know. We reported a month or more ago about the AAU’s new method of seeding . The top 6 seeds are the #1 through #6 finishers from a year ago, while the #7 and #8 seeds are reserved for teams that have played well in the early going—again, specifically, that means teams that played well in “spring 2017 AAU tournaments,” which we take to mean thoses events listed on the AAU Web site—the Midwest Kickoff Classic, the Fury Showdown and the Mill City Classic. The #7 and #8 seeds are incredibly important because a team that is seeded #1 through #8 going into the Prelims will be rated somewhere from #1 to #8 in the AAU Tournament that follows no matter how poorly they might actually play in the Prelims. If you're 1 through 8, you cannot drop down. And a team that is seeded #9 or below cannot move up above #9. And, so, the envelope please. 2018s The #7 seed is North Tartan Nike Elite (Tartan’s 2nd team) with a 5-3 record. They went 3-1 at the All Iowa Attack tournament, then 2-2 at the Mill City Invitational. They went 0-2 in their pool, then won a pair of bracket games to finish 17th. They are 0-1 against Minnesota opponents, with a 59-28 loss to Crossfire 10th Theisen. #8 is So Minn Fury 2018 Elite at 5-2. They went 2-1 in the Kickoff and then 2-2 at Mill City. They are 0-2 vs. Minnesota teams, losing to Fury 2020 Blue by a point at the Kickoff, and Metro Stars Weise 60-43 in the pool at Mill City. They finished 10th. Katie Tornstrom of SMF scored 19 vs. MSW for a total of 71 in 4 games at Mill City, #2 among all scorers. So 10th and 17th may not represent a rousing endorsement of these 2 teams, but all the 2018s that finished above them were already seeded. Comets 11th Elite were probably the last team to play their way out of contention as they went 0-4 at Mill City. 3 of the losses were pretty close. Maggie Miska, Katie Benjamin, Emma Schmidt and Shea Oman led the Comets in scoring in the 4 games. Tartan’s Elite is of course overshadowed by its top team, but last year this team featured Gabi Haack and Tori Andrew. This year bigs Angie Hammond and Annika Hoff stand out. So Minn Fury Elite features long range shooting by Tornstrom and by Ashley Gustavson, and Syd Schultz inside. And NT 11 Elite and SMF Elite are the 2 highest ranking teams in our ratings (#6 and #8) not already seeded #1 through #6. So, no problem here. The other seeds are 1) NT 11 EYBL, 2) Metro Stars Wiese, 3) Stars Hersch, 4) Fury 2018 Elite, 5) Fury 2018 Gold, 6) Tayler Hill Elite. 2019s #7 is Suns Keitzer and #8 is Rise 10th Purple. We have Rise at #7, while Suns Keitzer started the year at #6 then dropped all the way out of the top 15 after a disastrous start. Keitzer started 0-3 at the Suns Showcase with losses to Stars Amundson, Suns 16 R. Long and MN Energy. But the Suns turned things around the following week as a USJN tournament in Madison, sweeping 4 games. I’m not aware that they played this past weekend, but the Suns do not include schedules on their Web site that I can see, so I’m not sure. So, based on one disastrous week and one great week, it’s hard to say how deserving the #7 seed is. Based on their roster, however, it’s well-deserved. As I said, we had them #6 early on. Suns Keitzer is led by Mimi Schrader and also boasts Abby McDonald, Jenn Schaible and more. The Rise opened 2-1 at the Comets Shootout, beating Northern Lights 11 and losing to Stars 11 DeSart. Then they went 3-1, taking 5th at the UnderArmour Showcase in LaCrosse. We saw Rise play up a year and lose to DeSart (by 1 in OT) and were very impressed, especially with Joey Batt and Caitlin Rorman. Our top-ranked team that was not already seeded is Stars Buerman, who went 4-0 in the Suns Showcase. Unfortunately, the Stars also do not publish schedules so I can’t find what else coach Buerman’s team has done so far. They’re in Pool C but could have made a case for #8. The other seeds are 1) Crossfire Theisen, 2) Fury 2019 Blue, 3) Stars Nelson, 4) Tartan 10 EYBL, 5) Stars Amundson and 6) Fury 2019 Gold. 2020s Stars Antl is #7. We had them #13 pre-season, then moved them up to #9 after they went 4-0 in the 2019 Blue division at the Spring Showdown. They played and beat 2 9th grade teams—Fury Gold 56-33 and Heat Hinck 47-36. Here’s another one where I cannot figure out what they’ve done since, but they certainly started out well. They’re led by New Prague post Emily Russo. And #8 is…Heat Hinck. So somebody was watching the Showdown. So they were 3-1 at the Showdown with wins over So Minn Fury 2020 Blue and Fury 2021 Blue by a total of 33 points. They then went 3-0 at the Battle for Mom. We have them #6 in our rankings. Amme Sheforgen has been their top scorer so far, but Heat Hinck is awash in great guards. We thought Hi Impact Briski was also in the running here. They’re in Pool G. The other seeds are 1) Tartan 9 Nike, 2) Fury 2020 Blue, 3) Tartan 9 West, 4) E1T1 Premiere, 5) Crossfire Jorgenson and 6) So Minn Fury 2020 Blue. 2021s #7 is North Tartan 8th Kuppe, giving Tartan 3 of the 8 seeds, and #8 is Top Flight 2021 Metro. NT Kuppe is 5-3 and #4 in our rankings, so no complaints there. They’re led by Gianna Kneepkens, Ellie Dague, Ellie Hasz and more. Meanwhile, Top Flight has been perhaps the top genuine breakthrough team so far this year. We saw them play very, very well en route to a 4-0 record and a division title at the Midwest Kickoff. They followed that with another sweep and another division title at the Fury Showdown. So Minn Fury 2021 and Fury 2021 Gold were the bracket victims at the Showdown. Top Flight is led by Abigail Deming and Aryanna Forsberg. It is difficult to see how NT Kuppe edged them out for #7. If you’re looking for a deep underdog who could just surprise and get deep into this tournament, I think Top Flight 2021 Metro is it. They're a physically and mentally tough team, not super tall but strong inside, and with a high overall basketball IQ.