Summer Classic Preview
Minnesota has a fairly set rotation of Grassroots tournaments and traditionally the final event of the year is the Summer Classic put on by D1 Minnesota. This year’s event will be at Chaska High School and kicks off Friday morning.…
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Continue ReadingMinnesota has a fairly set rotation of Grassroots tournaments and traditionally the final event of the year is the Summer Classic put on by D1 Minnesota. This year’s event will be at Chaska High School and kicks off Friday morning.
17U. This is a 26 team event that will kick off with every team playing a seeding game and then the bracket play begins. When teams fall out of top bracket play they then slide down to Silver and Bronze brackets. Just over half of the teams are from Minnesota (14). The other twelve will come in from Illinois (2), Wisconsin (2), Canada (1), Nebraska (3), Iowa (2), South Dakota (1), and Parts Unknown (HLC?).
Who are the favorites to make the final four of top bracket play on Sunday? You have the host squads D1 Minnesota, D1 Minnesota 16U, and the D1 Minnesota Prospects. There is also Grassroots Minnesota who was runner up in the second tournament of the NY2LA Next Level Invitational last week (they are an impressive 12-4 in three weekends of NY2LA play this year) and if they have the team they’ve had for the NY2LA events they will be fun to watch.
Wisconsin Academy is playing, the number one ranked team in the Dakotas is in this event (South Dakota Attack), and the Iowa Mavericks usually have a good squad. Of this week’s top 25 NHR 17U teams there are five (D1, D1 Prospects, RA House, Grassroots MN, and MN Phenom) plus the number one ranked 16U team (D1 MN).
The first round seeding games will be entertaining. D1 Minnesota takes on Grassroots Minnesota which ranks as one of the most interesting games of the year. D1 MN Prospects plays a team from Chicago called the Raptors that we have no knowledge of, the D1 MN 16s take on one of the hardest working defensive teams in the state (RA House), and Wisconsin Academy versus Phenom should be fun.
Back to Grassroots vs D1 Minnesota. You have potential match-ups of Jalen Suggs vs McKinley Wright at lead guard, Ishmael El-Amin vs Jaquan Sanders-Smith on the wing, Jack Sorenson against Xavier Johnson in transition, Max Curran against Jericho Sims inside, and Matthew Hurt against Steffon Mitchell at forward. That’s just a sample as this could be a lot of fun.
16U. This level is bigger with 32 squads which makes the bracket play round a lot easier as there are no pigtail games or byes to be had. They are having a seeding round first though followed by the field of 32. Teams that lose early in bracket play then fall to the Silver and Bronze levels of play.
This field is also just over half (17) Minnesota teams and it’s a fair group of ranked teams at the 16U level. The highest ranked team at the 16U level is the D1 Prospects (9th) followed immediately by tMBA Witthus (10th), and Comets Servaty (13th). A Comets Servaty vs D1 Prospects game would be a rematch of the 16U Mile High championship contest from the spring. Fury Antl (15th), Phenom (16th), Suns Thurston (21st), Heat Pratt (22), Select Hoffman (23), and EOTO (24th) give you nine of the top 25 16U teams in Minnesota plus there is the D1 Minnesota 15U club who is the number one ranked team at 15U in this state.
From outside the Land of 10,000 Lakes you have the KC Spurs White and Black teams (a nice program from that area although we have no idea if this is their top, second, or third teams), a team from Canada, three from Illinois, two from Wisconsin, four from Iowa, one from South Dakota, and four from Nebraska.
Who is the favorite? Tough call. D1 Minnesota 15U was really good against older competition earlier in the year and the D1 Minnesota Prospects 16U club is the highest rated but Comets Servaty beat them so they are in the conversation too. As far as the outstate teams we really don’t know too much so this seems like a wide open affair.
15U. The 15U level is smaller with 18 teams. They play the seeding game, drop into bracket play, and the teams that lose early in bracket play follow the same pattern as the other levels (silver and bronze levels).
There are seven teams from Minnesota, four from Iowa, three from Nebraska, and one each from Canada, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The top local teams will be 15th ranked D1 Minnesota Prospects and 19th ranked Minnesota rise. Fury Kaupa and Minnesota Phenom have also had nice seasons.