NHR State: 17U First Look
For as long as Northstar Hoops Report and Prep Hoops Network has been around there has been a State Tournament put on by the organization and this year is no different. In fact, this year’s 17U event ranks with the…
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Continue ReadingFor as long as Northstar Hoops Report and Prep Hoops Network has been around there has been a State Tournament put on by the organization and this year is no different.
In fact, this year’s 17U event ranks with the best Grassroots state tournaments of all time in Minnesota as everybody in the state that is a non shoe sponsored team is in the event and we are at a high level all time for talent. NHR takes a quick look at the event.
- There are 54 17U teams playing and they have been separated into two divisions (D1 and D2) and we are looking at the 36 teams playing in the 17U level. The event has nine pools with each pool having four teams separated about as evenly as they could be using this year’s results
Pool Play
- Pool A. Fury Zurn is the top seeded team in the event and they are joined by a pair of top 25 teams in Select Leafblad and Heat Bui. WOTN Ewing is the fourth program. With two teams from each pool making top bracket play this will be a good fight for that last spot.
- Pool B. Minnesota Warriors are the second seed in the event and they are joined by top 25 teams Crossfire Singh and Comets K as well as West Central United. Like every other pool the battle for the second spot in top bracket play should be outstanding and this Crossfire Singh vs Comets K game should be really good. The Warriors are the favorite of course.
- Pool C. The third seed is Comets K and they have Twin Cities Finest and fellow SPTS opponent SW Stars as top 25 ranked teams in their pool as well as Twin Ports Pride Ramburg. TC Finest was really good in the Select Classic and Fury Shootout and now they get their shot at a top team although the Comets have been burying many teams hoping to take their shot at them this year.
- Pool D. Heat Vang earns seed four and they are joined by ranked squads Minnesota Ice Sammy and Real Athletics House plus PREP Graduates. Ice Sammy and Real Athletics House are very aggressive and active teams while Heat Vang has played with some of the best chemistry of any team.
- Pool E. This pool has only two ranked teams but Powerhouse Minnesota and the Minnesota Phenom are programs that have both been playing very well as of late. The Powerhouse team beat top seeded Fury Ziurn while Phenom has had Jaquan Sanders-Smith for the last three or four events and has played very well with him at PG.
- Pool F. The mystery pool. Why? Who knows what Grassroots Minnesota will send here. The hope is that it’s team with Jalen Suggs, Aaron Gill, and others but last year Grassroots didn’t send that top team. Select Ellis is a ranked squad here and they recently won the Select Classic plus there is a MN Swish team pushing for top 25 and SE MN Lightning.
- Pool G. Fury Kallman has won three events and hasn’t lost many games but this is the weekend that they have many of the state’s best to compete against giving them a chance to show how good they are. The top challenge comes from Crossfire Weege who has had a good year, tMBA Rip City which has been a challenge for many, and Heat Coker.
- Pool H. The WOTN Nicols vs Comets DLR contest will likely be for the top spot in the pool. Winner gets a better spot in bracket play and loser has to fight to not get upset by Heat Henderson or MN Lace Up. Comets DLR has won a couple events this year while WOTN has been a tough out again in SPTS.
- Pool I. D1 Minnesota Prospects and Select Ohnstad fight for a better spot in bracket play and then there is the Minnesota Flames and Suns Johnson in the pool as well. The Select vs Prospects game should be excellent and will challenge WOTN Nicols vs DLR and Fury K vs Crossfire W for top pool play games.