At Tartan, the Future is Undefeated

Years from now, we may look back on 2017 as the year when North Tartan really began to gain some separation from other Minnesota clubs. It won the 11th, 10th and 9th grade classes at the AAU. It took 4th, 5th and 7th places among the 8th graders despite splitting up its talent 3 ways. OK, the Fury is hanging tough in D1 commitments—Tartan has 7 as of today, the Fury has 5. Among high (BCS) D1s, it’s 3-to-1. Now, it’s true that one could make too much of this. Years from now, we may look back on 2017 as the year when we thought that Tartan really began to gain some separation, but then it didn't quite happen. Who knows? The fact is that the Fury has come into Tartan’s backyard at the Meltdown and had a pretty good tournament. By my count, at the end of pool play Fury was 21-7 while Tartan was 23-9. And, Tartan did not get a win in the top division, the Maya Moore. Then, #4-rated Fury 2018 Elite demolished #3 Metro Stars Wiese 63-40 in the bracket. OK, it was only for 9th place, but a 23-point win beats a sharp stick in the eye any day. But, of course, it’s also true that in the pool, Tartan 11th Nike (or EYBL) defeated Fury Elite 57-43. But, the big news in 2017 as it relates to the relative position of the clubs was the giant leap forward by Tartan 10th EYBL under coach Melissa Guebert. It just goes to show that when Tartan decides to upgrade, it upgrades. They went out and got a major infusion of talent, beginning with a huge injection of energy from point guard Anna Harvey and forward Frannie Hottinger. Plus, it brought in some major league size in Mykel Parham, Liza Karlen and Makyla Johson. I mean, this is a team that had Lauren Glas in the post a couple years ago. It also benefitted from a big leap forward by guard Sara Scalia who, according to coach Guebert, pretty suddenly got the mental part of the game. We had attributed it in part to Scalia getting stronger and not getting pushed around the court. But, no, Guebert said, she simply recognizes a good shot and a bad shot, and sees when and where her teammates are getting open. We’ll give a quarter-credit for that to coach Guebert, a quarter-credit to Stillwater coach Willie Taylor, and a half-credit to Scalia herself. But, Tartan had gotten Scalia into their program several years ago, and so it was in position to be the beneficiary of her big leap. As a result, NY10th EYBL leapfrogged all the perennial powers—Crossfire Theisen, Fury 2019 Blue and Stars Nelson—in the age group, giving Tartan that clean sweep of the 11th, 10th and 9th. (But, what, then must one say about NT 9th which demolished NT 10th EYBL 62-31 in the final of the Whalen division. But, this is of course no reason to gloat. Only Tartan, it seems, can beat Tartan.) What’s more, Tartan doesn’t need to go out and get a transfusion to field a contender among the 2021s next year, all it has to do is consolidate its best talent from NT Coley, NT Kuppe and NT West on one team. Now, there’s limits to that. It’s unlikely they’ll be able to separate Kendall Coley from coach Tylor Coley even if they wanted to. But, even if they just consolidate the top tier talent from NT Kuppe and NT West, there’s an upgrade there waiting to happen. But, in the meantime, what’s the harm of having 3 groups of 8th graders all playing on teams of approximately equal strength? Some say that Tartan’s big leap is a result of the EYBL. Nationally, a pretty fair percentage of the top talent has found its way into the EYBL. I don’t know, are college coaches deciding that I just need to watch the EYBL and I can see all the talent I want? I don’t know. Are kids in various markets around the country deciding, I gotta play for the California Stars? The New Jersey Sparks? The Philly Belles? The TN Flight? The All Ohio? I don’t know. Are kids in Minnesota joining North Tartan because of the EYBL? I don’t even know that. But, somehow, Tartan is increasing its separation from the other clubs, and that’s a fact. Or, maybe it’s the coaches. I watched NT 10 EYBL take on NT 11 Elite on Monday, and what an amazing thing to look over on the sidelines and see coach Guebert vs. coach John “Herbie” Herbrechtsmeyer. No wonder Tartan has got it going on with coaches like that. And, meanwhile, the Fury has lost the services of Ruth Sinn at the same time that Tartan was getting Guebert to coach its 2019s. <strong>The Future Is the Future</strong> And, so, in the spirit of, well, the future is not now, but “the future is the future,” I watched 2 Tartan vs. Tartan games yesterday and the future went undefeated. In one game, NT 10th EYBL edged NT 11th Elite 40-36. Well, Herbie’s team just couldn’t make a shot, and it’s loaded with shooters—Autumn Mlinar, Julia Bjurman, Autumn Mlinar, Julia Bjurman. OK, a team with a couple of shooters. Still, the 11s stayed close at 24-22 at the half and again at 38-36 at 34 seconds after Mlinar hit a 2. A Bjurman 3 could have given the 11s the lead or the win, but it missed and Liza Karlen hit a pair of throws and youth was served. An hour later, NT Kuppe edged NT West 35-32 in a game that was about that tight all the way. If they play 10 times, they each win 5. But, if these teams are combined next year, then, if I had to guess, I would say that 6-1 Jenna Johnson (West), 6-0 Helen Staley (Kuppe), 5-10 Jordyn Lamker (West), 5-9 Ellie Dague (Kuppe), 5-9 Mara Braun (West) and 5-8 Haleigh Timmer (Kuppe) might lead that roster. Or, maybe they’ll continue to go with things as they are. But, I have a hunch that Tartan is going to want at least one of their 2021s to finish higher than 4th next year. In total, I saw 15 games on Monday. Tartan happened to play in 9 of them—the 2 above being Tartan vs. Tartan. In the other 7 games, Tartan went 6-1 with only a 66-65 loss by NT 11 EYBL to All Iowa Attack EYBL. Against MN clubs they were 4-0 with an average score of 50-34. So, let me summarize. If you like competitive balance and if you’re not really a big fan of North Tartan, well, things are going to get worse before they get better. Right now, it’s a game of Tartan versus Tartan. For the near future, nobody else is going to be stopping them.