Breakdown fall league recap: Part 1

Just like that Breakdown fall league has come and gone for another year. The annual pre-season circuit came to a close on Sunday after four weekends of action. We haven’t had much to say about fall league this year because our attention has been elsewhere – the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo evaluations and the updated prospect rankings to be specific. But just because we haven’t been writing about the pre-season games doesn’t mean we weren’t paying attention. Of course we were. I was at fall league all four Sundays – once at Hopkins, twice at Bloomington Kennedy and once at St. Michael-Albertville – and saw nearly 50 teams in preseason action. Here are some things I observed, thoughts I have and predictions for the high school season which opens in two weeks. Today we give you our fall league recap part 1. Tomorrow we’ll offer up installment #2. <strong>3 TEAMS ON THE RISE</strong> <strong>Minneapolis Southwest</strong> When it comes to teams in the Minneapolis and St. Paul city conferences depth can be a problem. Just coming up with enough girls to field a competitive team can be a challenge, and many of the teams only have a couple of year-round players. Not Minneapolis Southwest circa 2019-20. The Lakers impressed at fall league. They have depth now, and a lot of nice young talent. Southwest played a cohesive brand of basketball, executing with poise and precision for the most part. The backbone of the team is composed of freshmen guards <strong>Jhanae Green</strong> and <strong>Virginia Johnson</strong> and sophomore guard <strong>Josie Igherighe</strong>. All three are two-year varsity veterans. All three are in our prospect rankings – Green at #33, Johnson at #36 and Igherighe just outside the top 100. Look for senior <strong>Becca Murphy</strong> to start at forward. The wildcard could be the athletic 6-foot freshman forward <strong>Ella Youngdahl</strong>, who is one of the fastest kids in the program. <strong>Orono</strong> Receiving a major injection of talent will give any team a boost. The maturation of young players also helps. Seeing a new culture take root in your program is encouraging. When you have all three happening at once your squad is probably going to accomplish some things. After winning a class 3A state championship in 2017, Orono has been struggling to keep its head above water. Last year the Spartans had just four wins and only one in their last 20 games. Ouch.  Based on what we saw at fall league, however, Orono is going to be a lot better. The transfer from Delano of 6’0 forward <strong>Kaila Youngs</strong> (#44 in the class of 2022) and 5’9 junior guard <strong>Haley Paulson</strong> (a top 40 talent prior to missing a full season of action) is huge. The evolution of 2021 guard <strong>Julia Knudson</strong>, 2022 guard <strong>Ruby Carlson</strong> and 2023 guard <strong>Lauren Knudson</strong> will make a big difference. The Spartans won’t likely win a state championship but they’ll definitely collect a lot more victories. <strong>Champlin Park</strong> The Rebels of Champlin Park were a force a couple of years back. Led by the uber-talented <strong>Erica Hicks</strong> and now-D1 players <strong>Gabby Mocchi</strong> (Montana State) and <strong>Amanda Pollard</strong> (Wagner), CP was really good. After a brief retooling season in which they still topped the .500 mark, things are look promising for the Rebels. Led by high quality seniors <strong>Izzy Quick</strong> and <strong>Miyah Dubose</strong>, the team has rising young stars in 2022 #53 <strong>Mikaela Counce</strong> and 2022 #55 <strong>Amelia Valentino</strong>. 2021s <strong>Amaya Doree</strong> and <strong>Gina Stefferud</strong> impressed at the Top 250 and earned their way into the rankings. 2022 forward <strong>Izzy John</strong> and 6’0 junior forward <strong>Mya Fitzpatrick</strong> would appear poised for a breakthrough season. It is all trending upward and the Rebels may have the recipe for success. <strong>3 PLAYERS WHO’LL MAKE AN IMPACT</strong> Watching AAU basketball this summer it was evident that these three players had made great strides. Watching them in fall league, against opposition that is a little less formidable, that improvement became in-your-face obvious. All three are now much more aggressive, far more assertive and appear to be brimming with confidence. That’s a good thing because all three will be depended upon by their teams to produce on the regular. <strong>Caiya Wulf – </strong>The 6’0 junior forward from Edina has been gradually working her way up the rankings for the past three years, rising to #45 in the 2021 class. She was dominant in the games we saw the Hornets play at Hopkins. It’s hard to quantify just how much Wulf has improved but she is now a scholarship-level prospect with huge upside. <strong>Kirstin Robbins – </strong>After transferring from Spectrum, the 5’9 senior from Heritage Christian made a sizable splash last winter on a very strong team, demonstrating a level of performance that has seen her rise to #61 in the class of 2020. After a standout summer with the Minnesota Heat, Robbins has taken it to another level and now appears poised to take over as team leader in the post-<strong>Taylie Scott</strong> era. Her play at STMA two weeks ago was stunning. <strong>Lily Fandre – </strong>The 6’1 forward, who catapulted up the 2022 rankings to #30 this fall, showed us last Sunday that she can play any position, handle the basketball at any pace, and make big plays on a moment’s notice. In AAU she has played a relatively defined role; at Eagan Lily will play pretty much any role there is to play. Things are definitely looking up for the Wildcats and Fandre, along with talented sophomore forward <strong>Jocelyn Plonski</strong>, is a big reason why. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Photo: Kirstin Robbins of Heritage Christian raised her game at fall league. (Photo courtesy of the StarTribune)</em></span>