Great Plains tips off Friday morning

<p>The Great Plains Alliance will play out at Chanhassen for the 2nd year, and this year it brings together 62 teams, 45 of them Minnesotans, 19 of them rated among our top 20 in the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 classes. The Fury is sending 13 teams, the Comets 9, the Suns 5, the Lady Hawks, the Heat, the Stars and the Force 3 each, North Tartan 2, and the Cyclones, AirForce One, the Warriors, RIP City and the Venom (7th grade) 1 each, for a total of 43.</p> <p>They’ll play off in 6 divisions, with pool play on Friday in all divisions, and bracket play on Saturday in the top 5 divisions. This week you get Sunday off!</p> <p>Compared to the Summer Jam, this tournament is a miniature and yet there are some very compelling matchups in most of the divisions.</p> <p><strong>Gold</strong></p> <p>The Gold division features 9 teams in 3 pools, with 2 Minnesota teams in each pool. They’re almost all 2018s with one notable exception.</p> <p>In <strong>Pool A</strong>, Fury Elite (our #4) will play in town for the 2nd time since the AAU tournament. They went 3-1 in the Summer Jam. Suns R. Long (#19), who skipped the AAU tournament, has been busy since, going 9-3 with wins over the Warriors, Stars Walters, Stars Amundson (2019) and So Minn Fury Gold. Destiny Cummings, Olivia Travis, Emily Miletich and others have all played well for R. Long now that they’ve gotten it revved up.</p> <p>A win over the Fury Elite would be a signature win, to be sure, but it would seem to be unlikely. They meet at 7:40 p.m. Friday on Chan 2 (no, that’s not Channel 2, that’s Chanhassen 2). <strong>(NOTE</strong>: All of the pool games mentioned here are on Friday. All W-L records mentioned represent local games only.)</p> <p>Internecine warfare is the order of the day in <strong>Pool B</strong>, with So Minn Fury 2018 Elite (#6) meeting Fury 2018 Gold (#9) at 4:10 p.m. on Chan 1. Both are overdue for some wins. SMFE started out 2-0 at the AAU Prelim, but appears to have gone 2-8 since then. A concussion to Syd Schultz was a big factor, and she’s now back. Fury Gold is 5-14 since (including) the AAU against a top-flight schedule. These are 2 experienced, balanced teams, the Gold led by Kenzie Rensch and Grace Touchette. Both teams would like to finish up strong after a disappointing summer.</p> <p>Fury 2019 Blue (#1 2019) is the only team playing up into the Gold, where they draw Comets Elite (#10) in <strong>Pool C</strong>. We have them (Fury) #1 among the 19s at the moment, but everyone knows they lost to Tartan 10 EYBL in the AAU final. What you may not know is that they also lost to North Tartan 10 TRU and Crossfire Theisen in the Summer Jam. So that #1 is looking pretty tenuous at the moment. Of course, that will have to be settled at the Meltdown, but a loss here won’t help. Comets Elite are 0-4 since the AAU, so such a loss isn’t likely to happen in the pool. Still, Comets point guard Shea Oman is capable of giving the Fury’s McKenna Hofschild a good run, one worth seeing. You can see them at 6:30 Friday on Chan 2.</p> <p>One 2nd place team will join the 3 pool winners in the final <strong>bracket</strong>. We’re expecting almost an all-Fury party with Fury 2018 Elite, So Minn Fury 2018 Elite and Fury 2019 Blue coming in as winners. The 4th wheel will probably be determined by the relative strength of SD Attack 11th, WI Playmakers and ND Phenom 11th—that is, by who can rack up the best overall point margin over the 2 games despite losing to one of the 1st place Furies. Or, of course, one of the interlopers, most likely the Playmakers, could intrude.</p> <p>Saturday’s final is at 11:30 a.m. on Chan 2. I expect a must-see matchup of Fury 2018 Elite and next year’s Fury Elite, now known as Fury 2019 Blue.</p> <p><strong>Silver</strong></p> <p>The Silver has 12 teams in 4 pools, a mix of 2018s and 2019s.</p> <p>In <strong>Pool A</strong>, Comets 10 Elite (#6 is an obvious favorite after going 5-2 and finishing 7th in the AAU tournament. I’m not aware that they have played since. Lariah Washington of St. Cloud Apollo is a rising star. In <strong>Pool D</strong>, the Fury 2020 Blue (#2) are heavily favored after winning 7 of their last 10 games.</p> <p>Pool C has no rated team while, unfortunately, <strong>Pool B</strong> has 2. Fury 2019 Gold (#7) is the fave, though they went just 2-5 in the AAU tournaments. They are 3-1 since with a loss to Suns Kietzer. Madison Gehloff, Mariah McKeever and Delaney Runyon have been playing well.</p> <p>The Cyclones (#13) are back for another metro appearance after taking the AAU D2 championship last month. One can only hope that guard Natalie Stiechen, who skipped the AAU, will join her MSU-Moorhead teammate (next year) Nicole Herbranson, who ripped it up last month. If the Cyclones could win even D2 without their best player, what can they do with the 2 of them? If Natalie Steichen is on board, the Cyclones vs. Fury Gold at 12:40 Friday on Chan 3 is the best game of the day.</p> <p>Saturday’s final is at 10:20 a.m. also on Chan 2. We think you’ll be watching Fury 2020 Blue vs. the Cyclones if both Herbranson and Steichen both show up.</p> <p><strong>Bronze</strong></p> <p>The Bronze also has 2 obvious favorites, one great matchup and one head-scratcher. They’re mostly 2019s with a mix of 2020s and even a 2021.</p> <p>The easy ones are Fury 2021 Blue (#3) in <strong>Pool C</strong>, and So Minn Fury 2020 Blue (#7) in <strong>Pool D</strong>. Fury Blue by 6-4 Farmington post Sophia Hart; and SMF Blue has been led by Kyli Nelson and Holly Wiste.</p> <p>In <strong>Pool A</strong>, North Tartan 8th Coley (#5) is the favorite but the Comets 9th Elite (#9) brings an extra year of maturity to their battle, with will take place at 1:50 on Chan 4. Tartan Coley has shooter Kendal Coley, point guard Takara Mason and do-it-all Nora Francois. The Comets counter with guard Ava Hill.</p> <p>In <strong>Pool B</strong>, you’ve got Stars 8th Hersch playing up a year on Fury 2020 Gold and 2 years on Heat 10 Murray. It turns out that the sponsors forgot to include the Stars 3 entrants in their first cut, and when they added them in, I guess this seemed like the place. Well, the Stars could win, it’s true, with post Tamia Ugass inside and point guard Katie Borowicz outside. But the Fury have an extra year of experience and guards Sarah Kuma and Morgan Ebel. They pair off at 11:30 a.m. Friday on Chan 4.</p> <p>This final doesn’t happen until 5:20 p.m. Saturday on Chan 2. We expect to see Tartan Coley vs. Fury 2021 Blue.</p> <p><strong>Red</strong></p> <p>Red has 12 teams in 4 pools, consisting of most 2020s with one notable exception. There are just 2 rated teams--#10 Fury 2021 Gold and  #20 Heat 9th Dineen.</p> <p>The Fury won the D2 championship and they’re 6-2 since then with a loss of Stars 8th Hersch. Dynamic point guard Jayla Reliford leads the way. Heat Dineen went a respectable 5-2 at the AAU tournaments, and is 3-1 since then. Karis Zezza has been playing well. We’ll cut to the chase and suggest that Saturday’s final at 5:20 on Chan 3 should feature these 2 teams.</p> <p><strong>White</strong></p> <p>The White division has 9 teams in 3 divisions, mostly 8th grade but with a couple of 7ths mixed in. Comets 8th (#9) and Force Jonas (#15) are the only rated teams here. The Comets are a combined 8-7 since (including) the AAU, the Force is 6-5. Paige Meyer and Julia Bengtson have played well for the Comets, Greta Schiminowski and Audrey Hatfield for the Force.</p> <p>In this case the 3 pool winners play a round robin to determine the winner. But, the fact is that these 2 teams are both in <strong>Pool B</strong>, so they’ll play on Friday at 11:30 a.m. on Chan 5. The championship round will be played 9:10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:50 p.m. on Saturday, all on Chan 3. We don’t cover the 7th graders, but we’ll go out on a limb a say that the 3 finalists will be Comets 7th, Comets 8th and Fury 2022 Blue.</p>