#HardWorkSZNKickoff: Five Takeaways
Matthew Mors is the Truth I thought the tweet to the right summed it up nicely, it was sent out just after seeing Mors dominate one of his many games last weekend, so it was filled with passionate facts. What’s…
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Continue ReadingMatthew Mors is the Truth
I thought the tweet to the right summed it up nicely, it was sent out just after seeing Mors dominate one of his many games last weekend, so it was filled with passionate facts. What’s not mentioned in the below tweet, is that Mors is a Class of 2021 guy (a sophomore), who was playing up a grade and still managed to be the most dominate player in the field. It’s no wonder he’s Prep Hoops’ 35th-ranked player in the national 2021 prospect rankings.
Team Factory Trends Up
The boys from Nebraska can ball, and there was no bigger proof of that than on Sunday morning, when all three of the high school teams competed in the title games; each of them plowing through a loaded field to get there. Two of Team Factory’s teams, the 16u and 15u squads, won it all. The 17u group lost a tight one to Matthew Mors’ South Dakota Attack unit, 54-51. This was a hometown event for the Nebraska program, a good majority of its players are from the Omaha area, and they dominated. Team Factory is no doubt on the up and up.
Electric Saturday Night
Saturday night’s at well-run grassroots tourneys are the best. That’s when the gym is abuzz and the atmosphere is electric — which was certainly the case in Council Bluffs Saturday night at the Iowa West Field House. We had the Elite 8 going on for 16u and 17u, also the 17u Final 4 ended the night. The gym was packed, especially court one and two. Players from other teams stuck around to see the best of the best compete. Nobody was going home yet, it’s Saturday night, everyone has their hotels through Sunday. The games themselves did not disappoint and as you’ll see in the sick video below, the highlight reel plays were plentiful.
Saturday in Omaha was ????#PHCircuit #HardWorkSZNKickoff pic.twitter.com/YxPnUzdMsF
— Prep Hoops Circuit (@PHCircuit) April 21, 2019
MVPs
Recently, Minnesota’s Ryan James, Indiana turned Iowa’s Mason Asher, and myself (Iowa’s TJ Rushing), got together to share our thoughts and ideas about the weekend for a podcast; to end it, we all chose our tourney MVP. Although it was a popular idea that SD Attack’s Matthew Mors could be named MVP by all of us, and no one would have argued that, there was more mix up than anticipated. Mors was tremendous, he’s a high-level player who played exceedingly well and was critical to his team winning a 17u title, Ryan James named him MVP. Asher went with Max Mueller, a Team Factory 17u who was certainly a staff favorite among the Prep Hoops writers in attendance last weekend. Mueller is a 6’9/6’10 stretch four who is more athletic than you might think and has a beautiful stroke from deep. My choice was Team Factory’s Chucky Hepburn who was slicing and dicing, dishing and dominating his way to a title with his squad. Hepburn, a somewhat unassuming 6′ point guard scored 11 straight Team Factory points when his team needed them most down the stretch of the 16u title game, it was an impressive feat that capped an utterly impressive weekend by the sophomore floor general.
Council Bluffs, Great Spot
Omaha, or more specifically Council Bluffs, has been a tourney destination now for a few years thanks to the Iowa West Field House, and it just continues to get better. As entertainment options continue to crop up around the spot, there becomes a little something for everyone within walking distance of the venue. Hooters, Quaker Steak and Lube plus Ruby Tuesday’s are all within walking distance of the hotels that share a lot with the Field House. There’s a slew of casinos within a half mile of the place, if you’re into that kind of thing. And the facility itself is tremendous, the basketball junkies who want to spend all day and night watching hoops would have no trouble feeling comfortable and accommodated at the Field House itself. Last weekend was so much fun!