Grassroots Notebook
Comets Shootout This weekend the only program that was involved with competition was the ECI Prospects squad. All the ECI teams played in St. Cloud in the Comets Shootout. At the 17U level ECI defeated Minnesota Ice handily but lost…
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Continue ReadingComets Shootout
This weekend the only program that was involved with competition was the ECI Prospects squad. All the ECI teams played in St. Cloud in the Comets Shootout.
At the 17U level ECI defeated Minnesota Ice handily but lost NDSU committed big man Jordan Meidinger to an ankle injury. Without him they were defeated by the host team’s second squad Comets DLR dropping ECI out of the title bracket. ECI then lost to a top ten team in Minnesota (Select) in consolation play but did beat Wisconsin Playmakers in the final game earning a 2-2 record.
Standing out this weekend was Bismarck Century big Lucas Meyer who competed as hard as any big at the event. Siman Sem had a really good Sunday of action and Jacob Mertens had some good moments.
ECI Selects went 3-2 defeating Comets Regional (their 5th team), a solid Real Athletics program, and Twin Ports Pride with losses to the event runner-up Minnesota Fury and Comets K (the third Comets squad).
The top ECI 16s squad made the Elite 8 of the tournament beating Team Get Shook (who won consolation and is a top 20team in Minnesota’s 16U level) and D1 Minnesota Prospects (top 6 in Minnesota) before falling to Heat Reese. The ECI Peterson squad was 2-2 going into their fifth game while ECI Sussenguth went 2-2.
NY2LA
This weekend a large group of PHD area teams will be the Twin Cities competing in the Spring Extravaganza. The Dakota Schoolers are a part of the NY2LA Basketball association so they start league play at the 17U level. The Schoolers are in a division with teams from Omaha, Illinois, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Indianapolis. They open with Kessel Heat Black on Friday and then play Omaha Elite, Colorado Titans, and the Wisconsin Playmakers. Records will be kept over the different NY2LA events (also in Texas and Milwaukee) and then all converge in Las Vegas at the end of July.
The 17U open division including North Dakota Phenom (who finished second in the Grand Am event this weekend), South Dakota Attack, and the ECI Prospects. ECI opens with Minnesota Heat Vang, Phenom will play Heat Bui, and Attack faces Real Athletics Rosbie. The Phenom and SD Attack got nice draws and should be favored in their games while ECI drew a pretty good opponent in the Heat. They would be a solid favorite with a healthy Meidinger and can definitely win that game without him but it will be tough. All teams start play this Friday night.
ECI, Phenom, Schoolers, and Attack all have teams in the open division of the 16U event. At the 15U level the Schoolers and Dakota Phenom will be in the open division.
Phenom took second in Grand Am
The North Dakota Phenom 17U squad made the event final but lost to the Mantador Mustangs 55-48 in the final. The Phenom actually beat their 16U team in the semi-finals. The 16U team took third going 4-1 for the weekend while the 17U squad was also 4-1. The Phemom Bruhn team went 3-1 with their only loss being to the event champions.
Many of the teams in this event were recently graduated players although they aren’t organized as a team like a Grassroots team would be with coaches and called sets. Phenom was without Austin Slaughter but had a ton of scoring punch to get through the first four games but didn’t have the defense to beat the champion.