SPTS: Five Things to Watch
The SPTS begins tomorrow at Mounds Park Academy. The league may have it’s most competitive and deepest field since the beginning. Here are five things to watch.
One. 43 Hoops vs Fury Zurn. The 15U Rematch. The first time they met Fury controlled the game for most of the 32 minutes. That was also the only loss of the season for 43 Hoops who has since went 9-0 in the NY2LA League and they are the only team in the league that has done this. The Fury? They have won two events and have a lone loss to MoKan’s 15U EYBL team plus they beat a very talented South Dakota Attack squad. Who is the second best team in Minnesota? Some places say 43 Hoops. On the court Fury Zurn has earned the right to be called the second best in Minnesota. But can 43 Hoops even the score tomorrow morning at 8am? Let’s find out.
Two. The D1 Centers. There are without a doubt several D1 players in the SPTS 17U division. The two that will take center stage? That’s Minnesota Comets big Joseph Hedstrom and Omaha Crusaders big Brady Heiman. Both are 6-foot-10. Hedstrom is thicker, Heiman is more mobile. Hedstrom had Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard watching him last weekend while Heiman has Nebraska and Minnesota watching him regularly. There are players that will have the ball in their hands more than Joe and Brady so they will have some better numbers. On the other hand, Brady and Joe are the top prospects (that we are aware of, not much known about the KC squad).
Three. Getting Started. ECI (3-1) has long represented North Dakota and the Dakota Schoolers (4-0) have long represented South Dakota. They are the veteran clubs of their regions. What we don’t know is how good these teams are yet. They have both played in the Spring Jam in Sioux Falls but that event really didn’t show us what we will see this weekend. This weekend the Dakota Schoolers have a vicious schedule. They open with the KC Basketball club, play #5 in Minnesota ranked Select Ohnstad, face the best in Nebraska when they take on the Omaha Crusaders, face Minnesota’s #4 in Fury Wilde, and face Minnesota’s 7th best team WOTN who just won the NY2LA open division. With Trevor Hanson, AJ Plitzuweit, Mason Larson, and others the Schoolers have collected many of South Dakota’s best. ECI doesn’t have it much easier as they also play Select, Fury, and the Crusaders but their schedule has the solid Iowa Mavericks and the SW Minnesota Stars who have also only played in the Sioux Falls Spring Jam. They are led by Josh Sipes, Kade Amundson, and Joe Postorius.
Four. Comets vs Fury. The Comets/Fury rivalry takes center stage again Sunday night when the third ranked 17U Comets face the 4th ranked Fury Wilde. Lots of fun battles will take place in this game led by Comet defenders chasing around Michael Jones. Trevor Kaiser, Hayden Baughman, Kyler Kluge, maybe even Mitchell Plombon, these are some of the guys that will try and limit Jones from big scoring numbers. The Hedstrom vs Jake Phipps match-up inside will be fun and it’s a big chance to go against a D1 offered big. Spencer Rolland versus Brevyn Spann-Ford puts two agile four men against each other, both of which are strong hoops talents but also football prospects. Eric Teidman guards a lot of different players as one of the state’s best defenders, he is likely to see Spann-Ford, Mitchell Plombon, and maybe some guards. The Fury is known for being a good defensive team, the Comets have won games because they have a lot of firepower. The biggest playmakers will be Matt Todd and Michael Jones. What each does for their team could make all the difference.
Five. The team to watch. I think the program that will be really working hard to make a jump is Wear Out the Net. They just won that event last weekend and have some players that are surprising and have college coaches watching their games regularly: Tyler Lewko, Dalton Kubista, Caden Freetly, Nolan Malo, Bryce Phillips, and others. They handled a pretty good 43 Hoops team 57-42 in a balanced and controlling fashion. Now, can WOTN make their push to the next level of the league? Let’s find out! They play Heat Pratt, Select Ohnstad, KC, the Schoolers, and Wisconsin Playmakers (who have Owen King and several Wisconsin kids).