Midwest Live 17U Preview
This weekend, 50 17U teams from eight different states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska) will converge on the Des Moines area to take part in the second annual Midwest Live tournament. Below we preview the 17U (Class of 2017) age group.
The schedule can be found here.
Friday’s Premier Games
Iowa Mavs Purple vs All Iowa Attack Red (6:00, Kingdom Courts 4)
The weekend starts with a scintillating all-Iowa match up between top teams from two of the best programs in the state. Attack Red is a supremely talented bunch headlined by South Hamilton stud Collin Hill; Austin Roetman, Jailen Billings, and Max Techau add some high-level talent too. The Mavericks are lead by sharpshooters Brant DeMuelenaere and Connor Gholson.
Shoot It! vs NdaGymKC (6:00, Kingdom Courts 1)
This will be the first time we will see Shoot it! play this spring and though they may not have the name recognition of the Barnstormers or Martin Brothers, this 17U team could be very good. With Levi Jungling and Ryan VanWyk leading the charge they have a formidable one-two punch that should be able to compete this weekend.
Kingdom Hoops Elite vs OSA Crusaders — Tessmer (NE) (8:15, Kingdom Courts 1)
This Kingdom Hoops Elite squad is on a mission to prove that they are the best in the state. And if they could win this 17U field they could start to make a case. High-flyers Jal Bijiek and Douglas Wilson are the showstoppers, and additions at guard Stephen Glenn and Ben Juhl add to the already steady guard core of Drew Maschoff and Tray Buchanaan (IL). Oh yeah, and Quinton Curry, this team is crazy good.
Iowa Cornsharks Select vs IBTB (MO) (9:15, Kingdom Courts 2)
It will be the first time the Cornsharks make an appearance this spring, and it’s a program that has churned out some top talent over the last two years. This year’s 17U team is no exception, they will start the live period against a Missouri squad that we don’t know a tone about, but what we do know is Trey Tucker, Kyle Nevitt and Janier Puente highlight a ‘Sharks squad that should be a tough out this weekend.
What to Watch?
— It’s the first live period of the spring, and one of five live period weekends of the offseason (there will be another next weekend, then three in July.) That means college coaches from all levels can attend and get a glimpse at guys they may want to extend offers to. We’ll probably see some of the Iowa guys come away with some offers by the end of the weekend.
— Kingdom Hoops Elite is out to prove that they could be the best team in the state. They won last weekend’s Spring Tune Up which had some nice Nebraska teams in the field. But this will be much more of a challenge. The Iowa Barnstormers 17U squad is the obvious contender for best in state honors, and we were on a collision course for a dream match up between the two teams before the ‘Stormers were invited to play in Dallas at the adidas Gauntlet this weekend. So instead we’ll have to speculate — and if Kingdom Hoops can run-the-table here, they’ll have a strong case for best in state.
— Of the 50 teams in the 17U field, 21 of them are from Iowa. How many will be left come championship Sunday? Last year we had an all-Iowa 17U title game between Martin Brothers and Barnstormers, and it was a classic with Turner Scott winning it at the buzzer for the ‘Stormers. Who will it be this year? Can Kingdom Hoops live up to the hype? Or could there be a surprise team from the field that makes a title run…..Attack Red, Mavs Purple? It will be fun to see.