The AAU State Tournament: Stuff you need to know

Grant McGinnis May 9, 2024 @ 06:38 PM

With the State Prelims in the books, and the tournament seeds established, it's time to get down to business at the 2024 AAU State Tournament. Play begins on Friday evening and continues through the weekend at multiple sites across the Twin Cities. With more than 300 teams competing in eight age groups spread over three divisions, it's impossible to cover all of it. That's why this weekend our focus will be on the 64 teams competing in the four high-school age groups – 2025s, 2026, 2027s and 2028s – in the Division 1 portion of the tournament.

We'll be at Jefferson High School in Bloomington on Friday night for some terrific 8th grade encounters. We'll be at the main tournament site – Shakopee High School – on Saturday and Sunday. That's where the championships will be decided and the winners crowned on Sunday afternoon. A broad spectrum of teams are represented in the tournament but, as per usual, the major clubs dominate the lineup.

The Minnesota Stars have 11 teams in the four D1 brackets while North Tartan and the Minnesota Fury have nine each. The Metro Stars and MN Crossfire have five each while the Minnesota Rise and Legacy Hoops have four teams apiece. West Central United has just one team in the main event but they are the 3rd seed in the 8th grade division where Minnesota Freeze scored the #10 seed. Likewise, the E1T1 Queens earned the #4 seed among the 2027s while MN Impact grabbed #10.

5 GAMES TO SEE FRIDAY NIGHT

We love picking out some of the top games to watch at every AAU tournament. This weekend that's kind of difficult to do beyond Friday night's opening contests. Because it's a bracket tournament, we don't know who'll be playing who on Saturday and Sunday. We do know there are some nice match-ups on Friday. Here are four to consider.

6:15 p.m. – #7 2027 Elite vs #10 MN Impact 2027 (Kennedy 6)

7:20 p.m. – #7 2028 Makepeace vs #10 2028 Boone (Jefferson 6)

8:25 p.m. – #6 2028 Wright vs #11 2028 DeSart (Jefferson 2)

8:25 p.m. – #7 2025 S40 vs #10 2025 Purfeerst (Kennedy 5)

CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY

All state championship finals will be played in Shakopee's main gym (court 7) on Sunday afternoon

12:20 p.m. – 8th grade championship game (14U/2028)

1:25 p.m. – 9th grade championship game (15U/2027)

2:30 p.m. – 10th grade championship game (16U/2026)

3:35 p.m. – 11th grade championship game (17U/2025)

Here are the seeds in the Division 1 tournament for the four high school age groups.

11th GRADE – 2025 DIVISION