Spring Jam: First Look
This Saturday and Sunday the annual Spring Jam will be played at the Sanford Pentagon with teams from South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa. There are 60 teams playing in the 17U, 16U, and 15U divisions with 8…
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Continue ReadingThis Saturday and Sunday the annual Spring Jam will be played at the Sanford Pentagon with teams from South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa.
There are 60 teams playing in the 17U, 16U, and 15U divisions with 8 of our top 10 from the 17U division competing, ten teams from the ranked 16U squads, and 10 of our top 11 teams from 15U. Who is the best? Who is the true number one? We will have a strong answer Sunday night.
17U
The Blue Division is separated into four pools with three in each. There are four teams from Minnesota, three from South Dakota and Nebraska each, and one each from North Dakota and Iowa.
The favorites in this event will be the Minnesota Fury second team coached by Dana Kallman (they have Rocky Kreuser who has an offer from USF), North Dakota Phenom, one loss BBA (after two events), and the second Omaha Crusaders squad.
Sleepers include a Southwest Minnesota Stars squad that is better than expected, Comets K who has the most athletic player in the event (Rob McClain of Red Lake, Minnesota) and the biggest player in the event (near seven foot John Towner), and Nebraska Bison who has had some success in this event in the past.
Most interesting pool play match-ups? Comets K and BBA Force will be a good game, North Dakota Phenom against PBC Buus who plays in their first event, and then you have Pool B who is wide open between OSA’s second squad, South Dakota Heat, and the SW Minnesota Stars.
In the Orange Division there are eight teams from five different states and the play will be wide open. The Dakota Niners and PBC Knippling squad will be playing in their first event of the year while Comets four, Select Leafblad, and OSA Nash are playing in their third events. A team with an edge if D-17s who is for the most part a top high school team in North Dakota (Fargo Davies) that plays very well together.
16U
The Blue Division may be the most interesting part of the Spring Jam all weekend. The top North Dakota Phenom team and the PBC National team are playing in pool play so that means two top five teams in the PHD area will go at it immediately in a game that will have many eyes on it.
Pool C and Pool D have strong favorites as the Dakota Schoolers and Comets Servaty teams have good talent and have had some early season success. But like in the 17U, Pool B is going to be wide open with tMBA (Minnesota), BBA Force coming off a tough weekend, and ECI Select Sussenguth who is likely the favorite. ECI won some nice games in the Comets event.
There are two other five team divisions at the 16U level with five in the Red and five in the Orange. In the Red there is the Niners, PBC, and a team from Huron while in the Orange you have the top Niner 16s, the second Phenom team, and a couple from Minnesota.
15U
The Blue Division of 15U is also the top group at this level. The Dakota Schoolers 15U team is joined in their pool by second teams from ECI and Minnesota Select (Pool A), Pool B includes another battle between top teams from ND Phenom and PBC, and the third pool includes the South Dakota Heat, Omaha Crusaders, and SW Minnesota Stars.
The Orange Division has the rest of the PBC teams plus Dakota Niners, the second Phenom squad, and a couple others from the region.