How big is it? Summer Jam is huge!

<p>The biggest, most sprawling event of the summer, North Tartan’s Summer Jam, is upon us with 256 teams, 174 of them in the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 divisions, 91 of those from Minnesota, and 49 of those rated in our (Northstar Girls Hoops) top 20 rankings. With all of that, it’s no surprise that the games will be spread out among 3 locations—Hopkins, Jefferson and Kennedy.</p> <p>With the exception of the 2 youngest divisions covering 4th, 5th and 6th grade, all play is in brackets, no pools, and no second chance to win a title once you’ve lost even one game.</p> <p>You may recall—OK, you don’t recall—that we said in an earlier preview of June tournaments that this is the one and only chance for many of Minnesota’s top-ranked teams to play one another again. Those matchups depend, of course, on 1st and 2nd round success against some pretty good visiting teams. So we don’t know what top-ranked matchups we might see—well, with a few exceptions where they happen in the 1st round.</p> <p>The top 1st round matchups are as follows:</p> <p>• Lake Minnetonka Division—#3 Metro Stars 11th Wiese vs. #7 North Tartan 11th Elite Friday 12:20 p.m. Kennedy 7. Watch Angie Hammond (Hopkins and Tartan Elite) and Zoe Hardwick (Tonka and MSW) go at one another.</p> <p>• White Bear Lake—#3 E1T1 9th Premiere vs. #8 Suns 10th Kietzer Friday 2:30 p.m. Kennedy 6. Patience Williams takes on Jenn Schaible inside and Zhane Thompson takes on Mimi Schrader outside.</p> <p>The top <strong><em>possible</em></strong> quarter-final matchups include the following, but they depend on both teams winning or both teams losing in the 1st round:</p> <p>• Lake Minnetonka—#1 Tartan EYBL vs. #4 Fury Elite, and #2 Stars 11 Hersch vs. the winner of that MSW-Tartan Elite game (above). Both of these would be at 10:10 a.m. Saturday on Kennedy 3 and 4, assuming that all 4 win their 1st round game.</p> <p>• Leech Lake--#2 Tartan 10 EYBL vs. #5 Stars Amundson Saturday 9:05 a.m. Kennedy 4. Macy Guebert vs. Macy Nilsen on the wing, Sara Scalia vs. Kacie Borowicz at the 1, and Liza Karlen cleans up inside for Tartan.</p> <p>• White Bear—#2 Fury 2020 Blue vs. #4 Stars 9th Antl Saturday Saturday 1:25 Kennedy 2. Emily Russo vs. Ysareia Chevre and Kaylie Van Der Werf inside, while Fury would appear to have the edge on the perimeter.</p> <p>• Red Lake--#5 Tartan 9 West vs. #7 So Minn Fury 2020 Blue Saturday 1:25 Jeff 7. Kendal Cox gives Tartan the edge here.</p> <p>• Harriet--#2 Stars 8 Hersch vs. #4 Tartan 8 West and #3 Fury 2021 Blue vs. #6 Tartan 8 Kuppe Friday 7:55 p.m. Kennedy 2 and 4. Tamia Ugass and Katie Borowicz lead the Stars, Jenna Johnson Tartan West, Alexis Pratt and Kaylee Van Eps the Fury, and Helen Staley Tartan Kuppe.</p> <p>So you can see 4 big games right away on Friday, and after that the hits just keep on coming. Here’s a not-so-quick preview of 11 divisions in the top 4 age groups.</p> <p>• <strong>Lake Minnetonka</strong> is the showcase division with 8 of the top 10 Minnesota 2018s and 8 visiting 11th grade teams. One 1st round game matches Minnesota vs. Minnesota—North Tartan Elite vs. Metro Stars Wiese at 12:20 p.m. Friday on Kennedy 2. Two possible quarterfinal matchups, both at 10:10 on Kennedy 3 and 4, might be MSW vs. Stars Hersch and Tartan EYBL vs. Fury Elite Saturday at 10:10 a.m. on Kennedy 4.</p> <p>But, if anybody can beat Tartan’s top team, the EYBLs, it is not a Minnesota team but it is Team Wisconsin Select Black or All Iowa Attack 11th Nike. The semis are scheduled for 4:40 p.m. Saturday on Kennedy 4 and 5, and our crystal ball shows Kingdom Hoops 17U Elite vs. Tartan EYBL and Team Wisconsin vs. AIA in those 2 games.</p> <p>• <strong>Lake Nokomis</strong> is also an 11th grade division and it features 10 Minnesota and 6 visiting teams. 5 of the Minnesota teams are rated--#9 Fury Gold, #14 Stars Walters, #15 Crossfire Erlien, #19 Suns R. Long and #22 Crossfire Willey. Saturday’s semis are at 6 p.m. on Kennedy 3 and 4, and we’re kind of anticipating Fury Gold vs. AIA National and Crossfire Erlien vs. ND Pro 2018. If you want to compare the Summer Jam to the AAU Minnesota state tournament, Lake Minnetonka is better than D1 and Nokomis is better than D2.</p> <p>• <strong>Lake of the Woods</strong> mixes some 10th and 11th grade teams and, again, half are Minnesotans, half are visitors. There are 2 rated 10th grade teams in #9 Energy and #10 Stars Buerman, and 2 rated 11th grade teams in #17 Rise and #21 So Minn Fury Gold. All 8 1st round games match Minnesota vs. a visiting team. Saturday’s semi-finals are both at 6:50 but scattered between Hopkins 5 and Jefferson 1.</p> <p>• <strong>Leech Lake</strong> also mixes 10th and 11th graders, but more to the point this is where the top 10th graders have landed. That includes our top 6--#1 Fury Blue, #2 Tartan 10 EYBL, #3 Crossfire Theisen, #4 Stars Nelson, #5 Stars Amundson and #6 Comets Elite—vs. 10 visiting teams. The 1st round game to see is Stars Amundson vs. Team Wisconsin Select Black (2019) at 1:25 p.m. Friday on Kennedy 7.</p> <p>Saturday’s semi-finals might match Fury Blue vs. AIA 10th Nike and Tartan 10th EYBL vs. Crossfire Theisen. 2017 state champ Tartan gets to prove itself all over again vs. the 2015 and 2016 state champ. Those games are both at 3:35 p.m. on Kennedy 3 and 4.</p> <p>• <strong>White Bear Lake</strong> mixes 9th and 10th grade teams including our top 4 2020s and 5 rated 2019s, and 10 Minnesota teams vs. 6 visitors. The big 1st round matchup is #3 (2020) E1T1 Premiere vs. #8 (2019) Suns Kietzer at 2:30 Friday on Kennedy 6. An hour later you can see #2 Fury 2020 Blue vs. Kingdom Hoops 16U Elite on Kennedy 5, or #11 Suns Jefferson vs. #12 Lady Get Shook Walker at Jefferson 3, depending on what building you’re in.</p> <p>Saturday’s semis are at 5:45 p.m. on Kennedy 3 and 4, and you could possibly see 2 Nike squads go at it—AIA 10th National vs. Tartan 9th (and Paige Bueckers, just back from a gold medal-winning week with the U.S. national team—and also Fury 2020 Blue vs. AIA 9th Nike.</p> <p>• <strong>Lake Calhoun</strong> (or, well, wouldn’t that be Bde Maka Ska?) is the only all-10th grade division and features 2 rated teams in #13 Tartan 10th Elite and #21 Crossfire Smith. 6 are Minnesota teams, 10 are visitors. This one, in other words, looks ripe for a breakthrough by a visitor such as ND Pro 2019 Red.</p> <p>• <strong>Red Lake</strong> is all 2020s and features 7 teams that are rated between #5 (Tartan 9th West) and #15 (Suns P. Long/Michaud). 7 are Minnesotans and 9 are visitors. The featured 1st rounder is Tartan vs. AIA 9th National at 2:30 p.m Friday on Jeff 5, and the winner of that game might face #7 So Minn Fury 2020 Blue on Saturday at 1:25 on Jeff 7. Another fun quarter-final might feature #8 Crossfire Jorgenson and Suns P. Long/Michaud, depending on the 1st round results. If it happens, it would be at 1:25 Saturday on Hopkins 2.</p> <p>The semis are Saturday at 3:35 on Hopkins 2 and 3, and our crystal ball sees ND Pro 2020 vs. Kingdom Hoops 15 Elite, and Tartan 9 West vs. Iowa Barnstormers.</p> <p>• <strong>Mille Lacs Lake</strong> mixes 8th and 9th graders, and features 3 rated 9th grade teams and 2 rate 8th graders. 11 of the teams are Minnesotans. Our crystal ball sees So Minn Fury 2020 Gold vs. Energy 2020 and Crossfire Schuck vs. Showtime Hoopers 9th Black in Saturday’s semis, both at 6:50 and both at Hopkins on courts 1 and 2.</p> <p>• <strong>Lake Harriet</strong> also mixes 8th and 9th, but more to the point it is the top 8th grade division with 6 of Minnesota’s top 7 8th grade teams. 10 of the teams overall are Minnesotans. You can dive into the Harriet quarter-finals on Friday night at 7:55 on Kennedy 2 with an expected matchup of #3 Fury 2021 Blue vs. #6 Tartan 8th Kuppe. In fact, all 4 quarter-finals are scheduled at 7:55 on Kennedy 2, 3, 4 and 5.</p> <p>The semis are Saturday at 2:30 on Kennedy 7 and 8. Our crystal ball sees #2 Stars Hersch vs. #5 Tartan 8th Coley and #3 Fury Blue vs. AIA 8th Nike Red. </p> <p>• <strong>Pelican Lake</strong> is all-8th, with 5 rated teams from #11 (So Minn Fury 2021) to #21 (Stars Voyce). Saturday’s semis are at 6:50 p.m. on Kennedy 6 and Jefferson 1. Our crystal ball foresees Purple Aces 14U vs. So Minn Fury 2021, and Dakota Drillers vs. #19 MN Basketball Academy Seifert.</p> <p>• Finally, <strong>Gull Lake</strong> mixes 7th and 8th graders. We don’t attempt to cover the 7th graders so here the spotlight is on #13-rated Rise 8. Saturday’s quarter-finals are at 1:25 p.m. at Hopkins 3 and 2:50 p.m. at Jeff 1. Our crystal ball sees 4 of the 10 visiting teams in those games.</p> <p><strong>The Finals</strong></p> <p>So, if it’s sprawl you want, this is the tournament for you. But, it comes together a little bit on Sunday with the following schedule of championship finals.</p> <p>9:05 a.m. Harriet—perhaps Stars Hersch vs. Fury 2021 Blue—J6</p> <p>9:05 a.m. Lake Calhoun—possibly Tartan 10 Elite vs. ND Pro 2019 Red—J7</p> <p>10:10 a.m. Lake Nokomis—possibly AIA 11 National vs. ND Pro 2018—J6</p> <p>10:10 a.m. Lake of the Woods—maybe Rise 11 vs. Energy 2019—J7</p> <p>11:15 a.m. White Bear—perhaps Tartan 9th vs. AIA 9th Nike—J6</p> <p>11:15 a.m. Pelican—maybe Purple Aces vs. Dakota Drillers—J7</p> <p>12:20 p.m. Leech Lake—you saw the possible semi-finalists, how can you pick among those 4 teams?—J6</p> <p>12:20 p.m. Mille Lacs—maybe Energy 2020 vs. Crossfire Schuck—J7</p> <p>1:25 p.m. Lake Minnetonka—possibly Tartan 10 EYBL vs. AIA 11 Nike—J6</p> <p>1:25 p.m. Red Lake—maybe Kingdom Hoops 15 Elite vs. Tartan 9 West—J7</p> <p>3:35 p.m. Gull Lake—probably 4 visiting teams—J7</p>