PGH Freshman Showcase: First All-Star Team
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In many ways, Sunday’s PGH Minnesota Freshman Showcase went according to plan. Sure there were issues with the jerseys arriving from the factory with the wrong numbers which led to the team rosters being messed up which caused plenty of…
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Continue ReadingIn many ways, Sunday’s PGH Minnesota Freshman Showcase went according to plan. Sure there were issues with the jerseys arriving from the factory with the wrong numbers which led to the team rosters being messed up which caused plenty of initial confusion for those of us tasked with evaluating the 100+ players on hand. Not that big a deal really. In the end it was all good. We figured it out, the kids had a blast and the Showcase did what it was supposed to do: Provide the players with a big stage on which to demonstrate what they can do. Ultimately, the players who were supposed to stand out did. The players who were supposed to dominate did. And the type of athletes you would expect to win All-Star honors won All-Star Honors. Here are the five players who earned their way onto the First All-Star Team.
I usually don’t pay much attention to the score when evaluating players in a showcase situation. It just doesn’t matter all that much. But the way things went for Oehrlein in the opening minutes on Sunday morning – basically one great play after another by the national-caliber standout with a wheelbarrow full of college offers – I couldn’t help myself. When I glanced at the scoreboard the first time Tori’s team was up 33-7 and she must have had at least 20 points already. The next time I wrote down the score it was 73-19 and there were still minutes on the clock. It was total dominance. She probably scored 40 but nobody was keeping track. It couldn’t have been much fun for the girls on the opposite side of the court, except for the fact that one day when they are watching basketball on TV well into the future they’ll be able to tell their friends, “I ‘guarded’ that girl back in 9th grade.’” Whether they believe her or not is a whole other question!
Highlights
Maddyn plays like she has a bomb in her pocket, one that detonates loudly every 30 or 40 seconds. She’ll be flying up the court and all of a sudden – K-A-B-O-O-M!!! – Greenway blows by another defender and explodes skyward to the basket with a trail of bewildered opponents left wallowing in a storm of dust and debris. So much speed. So much skill. So much quickness. So many buckets. Greenway has been a major factor in both varsity basketball and AAU competition since 7th grade and already has a Minnesota high school state championship to her credit and several high-major collegiate offers. This year, however, she sprouted up and filled out and that has made her even more difficult to defend. There are a myriad of reasons why Maddyn is duking it out with Tori for bragging rights at the top of the Class of 2026. Everyone in attendance on Sunday saw it for themselves as Greenway delivered another virtuoso performance.
Audrey is still a relatively low-profile performer at this point, but that is going to change in a big way over the next year or so. Plying her trade this summer for the Southern Minnesota Fury she wasn’t on the same kind of big stage as some of the other leading lights in the Class of 2026 were. But we were watching. And we encouraged Division 1 college coaches to watch, which a few did. And now, as Shindelar moves to the Fury’s top UAA squad for 2023, everyone will be watching. On Sunday, Audrey showed why. At one point in the proceedings the parent of another precocious prospect who will be Audrey’s teammate next summer sidled up to me and offered this observation: “Wow! She’s really, really good. I had never seen her play before but she is really something.” Yes she is. With an innate sense of timing and exceptional feel for the game, Shindelar just knows where to put the ball, when to put it there and how to get the job done. That’s what elite point guards are supposed to do, isn’t it?
This summer Morgan’s capabilities were overshadowed a little bit on P.J. Hill’s Minnesota Stars squad. Playing with a pair of dominant performers from North Dakota – monstrous forward LeLe Bell and explosive guard Maggie Fricke – Morgan didn’t draw quite as much attention as she really deserved. Not on Sunday. Staloch (pronounced “STAH-low”) was front and center. Before I even had my second cup of coffee finished, Morgan had begun her day with a dominant performance. She has exceptional length and knows how to use it. Her rebounding was excellent, primarily because she is able to get position inside on pretty much everyone and times the bounce of the ball just right. And she can jump. And she’s willing to fight for her space. The way Morgan is able to stretch up and over her defender and finish at the rim is also impressive. Staloch will move to North Tartan’s best 2026 team next spring where she’ll get plenty of attention. It will be well-deserved.
Dalia was a late addition to the field Sunday morning, but are we ever glad she made it in at the last minute. Plain and simple, Thornton-Fay was electric from start to finish. The ball just seems to follow her around. Thanks to a deep box of tools, including a top-notch set of handles, Dalia is able to control the tempo, set the tone and get her team into an advantageous position on offense very quickly. One-on-one she was stellar. As part of a hastily-assembled unit she was the glue that made it work. We saw it all summer with the Minnesota Stars and we saw it in three games at the Freshman Showcase. Thornton-Fay came up in Roseville but due to unexpected circumstances needed to relocate. As a result, she is now at Minnetonka where the competition for playing time will be fierce and the cast of characters is top-notch. It might take a little time but we’re confident that Thornton-Fay will prove she belongs in that kind of company, too.