The 16U Debate: Who is #1?
The 16u level in Minnesota is a toss-up. The top teams have played different schedules, haven’t faced common opponents, and it’s just downright a palms up answer for the most part. But we dig in a bit to try and…
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Continue ReadingThe 16u level in Minnesota is a toss-up. The top teams have played different schedules, haven’t faced common opponents, and it’s just downright a palms up answer for the most part. But we dig in a bit to try and find an answer.
At the moment numerous teams believe they are the top team and yes they express that they believe they are number one in many different ways. I am the fortunate one (sarcasm) that has to pick a #1 so let’s look at the contenders, who they have played, who they have etc.
Howard Pulley: The Pulley Panthers 16 and Under team consists of three seniors-to-be playing down a grade although for some maybe not an age (Tyler Andrews who is the #8 prospect in Iowa, Henry Abraham who is one of the best shooters in the Minnesota 2020 class, and Chris Nyland), one of the best big man prospects in the state (Treyton Thompson), and some strong prospects in the 2021 class (Keijuan White, Davon Townley, Francis Nwaokorie, Andre Gray, etc).
The Panthers are 3-4 in the two EYBL scheduled events they are to play this year and 13-4 overall. They’ve defeated Mebo Elite, Expressions Elite, and Phenom U with losses to Meanstreets, MoKan, The Family, and Mac Irvin Fire. In the Iowa events they defeated All Iowa Attack Black by eight, Iowa Prep, NCC Thunder, Minnesota Crossfire Stone by 5 (common opponent alert), All Iowa Attack Red by four, Lincoln Supreme, OSA Crusaders National Porter by 20 (common opponent alert), All Iowa Attack Red again (this time by 16), and they beat KC Run GMC by two points. The Run GMC 16s are 3-5 in UAA play.
Minnesota Heat Tauer: Heat Tauer is a team of all 2021 players headlined by two of the best bigs in the state of Minnesota’s sophomore class (Andrew Morgan and Will Tschetter) plus standout guards in Trey Longstreet, Ryan Dufault, Jack Tauer, and others.
The Heat has already played 24 games this year going 22-2. They’ve defeated Comets Servaty, Fury Syverson, Select Robinson (twice), WOTN Bertch (twice), Magic Elite, Fury Poppen, and Crossfire Stone by 18 (common opponent alert). They’ve also defeated OSA Crusaders National Porter by 15 (common opponent alert), the Wisconsin Swing, HIT, RWA, the Iowa Mavs, SD Attack, Kingdom Hoops, but lost to ECI who is only 8-9 on the season and 5th in the PHD 16s. The Heat has also lost to Team Factory by five who is one of the best 16u teams in the Midwest.
D1 Minnesota: D1 Minnesota is a team made up of half 2021s and 2022s. The top sophs are Dorian Singer (Tartan), Drew Adams (East Ridge), and Kody Williams (Wayzata) with the 2022s led by Camden Heide (Wayzata), Elvis Nnaji (Hopkins), and Jackson Loge (Morris Area) among others. They are 7-8 on the year with a 2-6 record in Adidas play (beat K-Looney and K-Low, lost to Barnstormers, Arkansas Hawks, Riverside, Mass Rivals, etc). Last weekend they lost to the WI Blizzard and Young & Reckless, beat JRB and the Playmakers. Also beat one of the Heat teams and E1T1 this season.
Grassroots Sizzle: The Sizzle are 10-0 on the season after playing in two events. This is a team that’s also made up of 2021s and 2022s with headliners all being from the 2022 class; Chase Carter, Chris Morgan, Donovan Smith, Willie Wilson, and Devontes Cobb. They are the youngest team in the group but also very talented.
Last weekend they played in the 17u regional division (the second division of Battle at the Lakes) defeating Sacred Hoops Sitting who is 5-3 this year and 12th (of 20 teams total in the Dakotas) in the PHD rankings at 17u, Sizzle Jett, Playmakers, and ND Attack Blue who is 8-6 on the year (8th in those same PHD 17u rankings). They also played in the Recruit Look Hoops Session 2 event beating 16u teams Illinois Stars, Alabama Celtics, Texas MEL, and Team Clutch. Sizzle is 10-0.
***Note: Comets Elite and WOTN Bertsch are right up there in the conversation but we didn’t detail them as they have both lost to Heat Tauer this year.
Final Verdict
We go basketball in bullet points to run through some points
- D1 Minnesota and Howard Pulley have spent half of their year playing teams that are sponsored on shoe tours with D1 Minnesota winning twice, Pulley winning three (also beat KC Run GMC of UAA tour).
- Heat Tauer is the only all 2021 team above, although Comets Elite and WOTN are as well.
- D1 Minnesota and Grassroots Sizzle are at least half 2022s if not more.
- Two of the best Pulley 16s players are going to be seniors on 16s which of course gives them a big experience advantage
- D1 Minnesota and Sizzle don’t have any common opponents with the rest of the group
- Heat Tauer has played at least five more games than the rest of the teams. They have played five weekends, Pulley and D1 Minnesota have played four weekends, Sizzle has played two weekends.
- Heat Tauer and Pulley have two common opponents: OSA Crusaders second team (both beat them handily) and Crossfire Stone (Heat controlled them all game, Pulley only won by six).
So what can we really take from this? Such a tough call. Sizzle hasn’t lost but they have’t played shoe teams and they’ve played less than half the games Heat has. D1 Minnesota has a losing record at the moment so that will set them down a bit as they gel. Pulley has been number one but at what point do you have to consider they have three guys that are seniors? Heat Tauer has the common opponent edge with a better win over Crossfire Stone but then again we don’t know the story of those games, just the final score. Heat Tauer was also just upset by ECI who is under .500.
It’s such a tough call as there is no good answer. The Final Verdict will be in the rankings that will be posted soon.