Battle at the Lakes – First Look
The Battle at the Lakes is by far the biggest tournament in Minnesota this year when it comes to talent. Four nationally ranked 17s teams headline the event as do a group of 5-star players.
Who is There?
17U. At the time of this writing four of the Battle at the Lakes teams – D1 Minnesota, Grassroots Sizzle, Team Rose, and Wisconsin Playground Warriors – are all top 25 ranked teams in the nation. D1 Minnesota is the number one ranked 17u squad in the nation with an undefeated record while Sizzle and Wisconsin PGC are two of the top eight squads in the UAA record wise while Team Rose is 7-1 in Adidas play. And in that group you have five star players Jalen Suggs, Dawson Garcia, Chet Holmgren, and Kendall Brown from Minnesota plus top 200 level in-state guys including Ben Carlson, Gabe Madson, Kerwin Walton, Steven Crowl, and Prince Aligbe.
Those four teams are the favorites but they will have to battle through a minefield just to make the final four. Also in Minneapolis will be the Iowa Barnstormers, Martin Brothers, Playground Elite, All In Adidas, Pure Prep, South Dakota Attack, Omaha Elite, and Team Factory amongst so many talented others. The Sweet 16 games will be must see at the 17u level and everything after that will be even better.
Most 17u games will be at Maple Grove Friday night followed by the rest of the games being played at Wayzata High School.
Other local Minnesota squad that are in the 17u state top 25 are Heat West, Fury Kallman, Jerry Gamble FAB, Minnesota Lightning, Northern Lakers, Matrix, Gain Elite, Mentality, and Rise. Gain Elite is ranked 7th in Minnesota, Matrix 9th, and Fury West 10th in the state.
16U. To run through the 16u level let’s hit up Basketball in Bullet Points to quickly run through a great field:
- All In Athletics Adidas Gauntlet squad
- D1 Minnesota Adidas team that is half sophomores, half freshman including Camden Heide
- Minnesota’s 8th ranked 16s Gain Elite
- Always talented Fundamental U
- Iowa Barnstormers from the Adidas circuit
- Martin Brothers
- Fury Kallman who is ranked 14th in Minnesota 16u
- Grassroots Sizzle Weston who is 4-0 so far this year after a good showing in KC
- Lightning Studer who just won the Meg Vang Invitational
- RWA out of Chicago
- South Dakota Attack who is a top 2-3 squad in South Dakota
- Team Factory, a team that won the Hard Work opener16u event in Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Team Rose from the Adidas tour
- Young & Reckless
- Wisconsin Academy
The 16u games mostly start at Eden Prairie Friday night, they move over to Maple Grove the rest of the weekend with the quarterfinals, semis, and finals being played at Wayzata.