AAU weekly recap #1: They’re off and running in 2021

[caption id="attachment_271390" align="alignleft" width="454"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/04/Stars-Nilsen1-crop-901x591-1618246713.png"><img class="wp-image-271390" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/04/Stars-Nilsen1-crop-901x591-1618246713-300x197.png" alt="" width="454" height="298" /></a> <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Minnesota Stars Nilsen made their presence felt this weekend, including State Tournament standouts [player_tooltip player_id="109132" first="Tayah" last="Leenderts"] (back row in yellow) and [player_tooltip player_id="30163" first="Adeline" last="Kent"] (front row, second from the right.)</em></span>[/caption]Less than 24 hours after their high school state tournament odyssey came to a conclusion – one with a dream-come-true state title in hand and the other carrying the disappointment of a last-second defeat – [player_tooltip player_id="30163" first="Adeline" last="Kent"] of Becker and [player_tooltip player_id="109132" first="Tayah" last="Leenderts"] of Rosemount were back in the gym on Saturday for the opening of the 2021 AAU season. So were we. The spring/summer tournament basketball season tipped off bright and early at Hopkins with the MInnesota Suns Spring Showcase, a two-day event. There was also action in Forest Lake on Saturday as the one-day Minnesota Heat Battle for Mom was taking place. Unfortunately we have yet to figure out how to be in two places at once, and sprinting 40 miles from one gym to the other in the middle of the day didn’t seem very efficient. In any case we will be seeing the teams that were at the Heat event over the course of the next few weeks. For 2021 we are pleased to add this new feature, a weekly AAU recap we plan to publish on the 14 Mondays following a tournament weekend that will include news and notes from the event. Modeled after our highly popular ‘Week That Was’ compilations during the high school campaign, the goal is to bring you a little of this and some of that which might not make it into our regular evaluation stories. We’ll drop a few new names, bring you up to speed on players we have been watching, and hand out an award or two. Here goes! <strong>Suns are raising the bar</strong> Now under the direction of Dre Jefferson, the Suns are definitely raising the bar on the quality of their teams. This weekend we saw that Jefferson is doing the same thing with the overall professionalism of the Suns’ events. The Spring Showcase featured some nice rule innovations – a 30-second shot clock and 8-minute quarters, for example – and a very coach-friendly setup for the college recruiters in attendance. The Division 2 coaches who came over the weekend were there to watch a handful of elite prospects who might filter down to their level. Because this year’s college seniors were granted an extra year of eligibility, there will not be nearly as many players in the class of 2022 who get D1 offers, and players who would not normally be available to play in the Northern Sun Conference might end up there a year from now. Among the prospects drawing the most eyeballs were [player_tooltip player_id="57939" first="Natalie" last="Bremer"] of Lake City (Wisconsin Playmakers), [player_tooltip player_id="109145" first="Hannah" last="Herzig"] (Totino-Grace) and [player_tooltip player_id="109132" first="Tayah" last="Leenderts"] (Rosemount) of Stars Nilsen, and [player_tooltip player_id="147454" first="Abbie" last="Riederer"] (Minnesota Valley Lutheran) of Stars Fleming. Hopefully they were also watching 2022s [player_tooltip player_id="147457" first="Kora" last="Forsline"] (Mesabi East), [player_tooltip player_id="109156" first="Natalie" last="Mikrot"] (Moose Lake-Willow River) and [player_tooltip player_id="109142" first="Lilly" last="Meincke"] (Lake City) of the Playmakers. <strong>Playmakers make their presence felt</strong> Speaking of the Playmakers, the Wisconsin-based club had a heavy presence at the event, with more than a dozen squads competing in the various divisions. Led by director Kris Becker, the Playmakers seem to have upgraded their talent level in recent years and are now attracting a number of solid Minnesota prospects. In addition to Bremer, Meinke, Mikrot and Forsline, other Minnesotans who participated included <strong>Destiny Piekarski</strong> of Littlefork-Big Falls, <strong>Liv Birkeland</strong> of Hermantown, and <strong>Rayna Klegeski</strong> of Barnum along with the Cloquet threesome of <strong>Justice Paro</strong>, <strong>Alexa Snesrud</strong> and <strong>Maddie Young</strong>. Highly-regarded 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="186117" first="Ava" last="Privet"] of Caledonia was also on hand and there are several more quality players from ‘up north’ who we’ll be watching on other Playmakers squads in the weeks ahead. <strong>Player of the Week</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="215956" first="Claire" last="Stern"] <strong>– Minnesota Suns 2024 Blue Star (Maple Grove)</strong> There’s nothing quite like a first impression and the freshman Stern wasted no time this weekend letting everyone in attendance know that she means business in 2021. We like Stern’s potential, which is how she earned the #18 ranking in the first sorting of the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2024. But what we saw Saturday and Sunday from the 6’0 forward was something altogether different than in previous viewings. Claire played so hard. She was aggressive from start to finish, attacking the basket, pounding the boards, and owning her space among the other big bodies. Stern ran the floor at a high rate of speed, scored a number of times in transition and knocked down shots from distance. It was the physicality that made all the difference, however. If Stern continues to play this way she could emerge as one of the best players in the class. <strong>Game of the Week</strong> <strong>Suns 2024 Blue Star vs Stars 2024 Amundson</strong> Eight o’clock games on Sunday morning do not generally produce great basketball. The kids are tired and usually not real dialed in on the task at hand. That wasn’t the case this Sunday when Suns 2024 Blue Star and Stars 2024 Amundson turned in a barn burner. The lead went back and forth and back and forth throughout as the two squads of elite freshmen traded skillful buckets. It was Stillwater guard [player_tooltip player_id="178274" first="Amy" last="Thompson"], the #11-ranked prospect in the freshmen class, who put the Suns ahead with 20 seconds remaining. After coach Greg Amundson called timeout, the Stars ran a play for East Ridge guard <strong>Sydney Klauer</strong> who powered to the hoop to slip the ball into the cylinder as time expired for a 66-65 victory. Both of these squads have some very high-quality prospects. In addition to Stern and Thompson, the Suns’ roster includes 7th grade phenom [player_tooltip player_id="205310" first="Tori" last="Oehrlein"] of Crosby-Ironton playing two years up, along with 2024 #26 [player_tooltip player_id="215969" first="Nicole" last="Maenke"] (Shakopee), #31 [player_tooltip player_id="178261" first="Piper" last="Engelby"] (Andover), #44 [player_tooltip player_id="215985" first="Olivia" last="Pawlicki"] (Shakopee), and #50 [player_tooltip player_id="215991" first="Abby" last="Richter"] (Edina). Crafty point guard <strong>Evie Schmitz</strong> of St. Louis Park, sizeable forward [player_tooltip player_id="209068" first="Casey" last="Beck"] of Coon Rapids, and lengthy forward <strong>Lila Posthuma</strong> of Prescott, Wisc., are also players to watch. This edition of the Stars essentially combined the top two 2024 teams from one year ago while adding some talent, as well. In addition to Klauer, the roster includes #13 [player_tooltip player_id="178266" first="Angel" last="Hill"] (Minneapolis South), #16 [player_tooltip player_id="215955" first="Lauren" last="Machacek"] (Eastview), #23 [player_tooltip player_id="178264" first="Kiya" last="Hegdahl"] (St. Louis Park), #32 [player_tooltip player_id="209064" first="Savannah" last="Gardner"] (Eastview) and #34 [player_tooltip player_id="215974" first="Anna" last="Van Helden"] (Prior Lake), along with rising prospects <strong>Mattea Henry</strong> of Woodbury and [player_tooltip player_id="191923" first="Estelle" last="Atkinson"] of Orono. North Dakotans <strong>Karley Franks</strong> and <strong>Ashton Safranski</strong>, along with lengthy post <strong>Kloe Zentkowski</strong> of Superior, Wisc., round out the roster. <strong>Coming up this spring</strong> Our primary goal over the first month of the season is to get a handle on the newcomers – 2024s who are already in the Freshmen 50 or are knocking at the door, 2025s whose class will be ranked for the first time in the fall, and even some elite 2026s who are already making a great first impression. That group would include 7th grader [player_tooltip player_id="252383" first="Lanelle" last="Wright"] of Hopkins. She is already drawing high-major interest and Saturday was being documented from the sidelines by one of the videographers who is making a name for himself with those I-can-cross-you-over-and-make-myself-famous videos that are proliferating online now. The attention is well-deserved. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: [player_tooltip player_id="215956" first="Claire" last="Stern"] of Suns 2024 Blue Star is our player of the week.</em></span>