The best of 2020: Next years sophomores are drawing attention at a gym near you

There are 87 NCAA Division I women’s college basketball programs with at least one representative on hand at the North Tartan Meltdown this week, along with many more DII and DIII coaches. When the host club’s top 9th grade team takes to the court, pretty much every last eyeball is glued to the proceedings, and why not. Entries are still being accepted for the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes, and schools like Duke, UCLA, Tennessee, Oregon and more are all on hand to potentially toss their hat in the ring. Some lucky winner from UCONN or Notre Dame or another powerhouse program will likely win the services of Minnesota’s best player. In the meantime, the coaches are enjoying the show, checking out the elite supporting cast, and searching for that diamond in the rough who just might be a difference-maker. For the record, North Tartan made quick work of two more opponents on Monday – a 26-point win over Comets 11th Elite and a 23-point defeat of All Iowa Attack 10th Nike, a formidable team in its own right. North Tartan is 4-0 and will face an outstanding stablemate in North Tartan 10th Nike in the championship game Tuesday at Hopkins’ Lindbergh Center. The recruiters will no doubt be drooling. With most of the attention focused on the glamor girls, however, there are many more talented kids in the 2020 class who deserve a look. July 25 Update: North Tartan 9 defeated North Tartan 10th Nike 62-31 in the championship game of the Lindsay Whalen Division. Alaina Brenning, Abby Schulte and Crossfire Jorgenson Gwen Jorgenson’s 2020 Crossfire team has played some nice basketball this summer, but hasn’t had the kind of success they might have liked in the wins and losses department. In terms of player development and exposure, however, it has been a win-win deal. Unfortunately for Jorgenson, perhaps her best player was absent this week from the Meltdown. Alaina Brenning is a 5’7” point guard from Rogers who is ranked #21 in Northstar’s Class of 2020. Brenning eased her way into the Rogers rotation last year, but after the summer she’s had with Crossfire you would expect to see Brenning emerge as Rogers’ go-to girl. Brenning sees the court exceptionally well and makes great decisions, putting her teammates in position to be successful and knocking down her own shots at will. Brenning’s talented counterpart at the other guard spot is 5-9 Abby Schulte of Maple Grove. Shame on us for not discovering Schulte in time for the last edition of 2020 player rankings in the spring. After taking over the starting point guard spot at Maple Grove mid-season, Schulte has continued to impress all summer. She is super athletic, runs like a gazelle, and floats up the court as though she was on skates. Schulte is a terrific distributor who can also drive to the hoop with ease. This is a star in the making. Perhaps the most intriguing prospect on the team is Jana Swanson, a 6-foot post from Cambridge-Isanti. Swanson is hardly an unknown commodity. The former North Tartan player was headed for the high school spotlight when her freshman year was derailed by a major knee injury. It has taken some time for Swanson to get back up to speed and she’s still not quite there, but her potential is outstanding thanks to a big body, nice athleticism and a solid skill set. Swanson is really good down low and has a vast repertoire of post moves. Currently ranked 45th, look out for Swanson to impress this winter. Crossfire has two other posts of note: 6’1” Jordyn Allen of Heritage Christian Academy and 6-foot Kaylin Plautz of Elk River. Ranked #46, Allen is a long and thin and can play the post or the wing. She’s not a banger by any means but her intelligence enables her to be effective inside or out against bigger, stronger girls. Plautz is ranked 69th on our list. She’s not fancy but she knows how to use her size to good advantage in the paint. She has filled out a lot in the past year and her strength is improving. With the state champions now in rebuilding mode, look for Plautz to get some quality minutes for the Elks. Cianna Selbitschka, Amme Sheforgan and Minnesota Heat Hinck The Minnesota Heat tend to fly under the radar a bit when it comes to girls AAU basketball in Minnesota, but from time to time they assemble a special team. Kelly Vang (Lund) had such a team that graduated in 2016, and was anchored by point guard Alison Hinck of White Bear Lake who went on to the University of Minnesota Duluth. Now the Heat have another potentially elite group of 2020s coached by Alison’s dad Bill, who has put together a competitive team of kids from the northeast metro who can hang with the best of them. We have written at some length about Hinck’s premiere player, 5’10” guard Cianna Selbitschka of North Branch. Ranked #12 in the class of 2020, Selbitschka is one of the best pure athletes in the class, a player capable of cracking the lineup of any 2020 AAU team in Minnesota, including North Tartan. Selbitschka floats across the floor with ease, deftly moving the ball and creating her own shot. She is all business on the court, going about her work with clinical efficiency. It’s impressive to watch. The concern among basketball people has always been her love of volleyball but that could be changing. The Hinck player whose profile has probably risen the most this summer is combo guard Amme Sheforgan of St. Francis. Ranked 40th in the class, Sheforgan is not particularly big or strong but she is deceptively fast and has really quick hands. She is reliable with the ball and makes good decisions. Coach Hinck has been raving about her play of late. The other player he has really appreciated this summer is 5’8” guard Sallie Underwood of Mahtomedi. She’s off on a family trip this week and wasn’t on hand for Sunday’s play but has been an increasingly big factor of late. Ranked just outside the top 100, Underwood can handle and distribute the ball, she gets a prodigious number of rebounds for her size, can guard every position and if there’s a loose ball on the floor you know who will get there first. Add to the mix 6’1” post Lindsey Becher of Moundsview (ranked #24), three-point shooter Ella Janicki of White Bear Lake (#62), defensive specialist Anica Thomas of St. Anthony (#47) and crafty little guard Grace Johnson of Centennial (#49) and you have the makings of a very nice team. They hung with North Tartan 9 for quite some time in a game earlier this summer. Something tells me it will be even closer when the AAU quest continues for Heat Hinck in the summer of 2018.