SPBL Preview
This year the SPTS debuts a second league, a ten team division called the SPBL that has four Minnesota teams, two North Dakota squads, two from Nebraska, and one each from Iowa and South Dakota.
17U. Several of the teams are second and third squads from teams in the top division. For example, the second ECI squad called the ECI Selects, the Select Ellis team, Comets Little, Iowa Mavericks Orange, Heat Johnson, and a pair of Omaha Crusaders teams. In addition, the top Minnesota Crossfire squad is in this league along with top teams from the North Dakota Phenom and the South Dakota Heat.
Comets Little is one of the better teams to watch in this division. They have a nice backcourt group with Phil Dromgoogle (St. Cloud Apollo) and Kobey Woolhouse (Mayer Lutheran) handling and Noah Kannegeisser (Hancock) and Sam Olson (Rocori) scoring on the wing. Solid bigs in Zac Fincher (Stephen-Argyle) and Weston Hine (Kimball Area) up front and do everything player in Nick Bieniek (Annandale).
Heat Johnson includes some affective players like Leo Buchwald (Mpls Roosevelt) and Cooper Berg (Forest Lake). ECI Selects is always a solid competitive team and they will be again with Debyn Johnson (GF Central) and Siadu Conteh (Fargo South) on the squad along with shooter Jonas Mitzel (Shiloh Christian) and Andy Rintala (Cavalier).
North Dakota Phenom’s top squad is capable of beating many when they have the majority of their roster. Josh Kihle (Devil’s Lake), Bartholomew Ogbu (Shiloh Christian), and the Stecklers, Trae and Camren (Mandan) are all players that college coaches will watch close.
Crossfire Schmidt is a top 25 team in Minnesota and they are also capable of winning most if not all games in this league. Last weekend Totino-Grace talents Braeden Mischke and Will Schmidt played a big part in Crossfire wins and they are a big team with JJ Strumbel (Rockford) and Keegan O’Neill (Delano) up front. Add in Rezi Useh (Monticello) and Brandon Vasquez (Rogers) are also key factors for them.
Select Ellis is 5-8 on the year but they have players to win in this league. Wambde Diaz (Cedar Mountain-Comfrey) is a player to know and St. Charles guards Kaden Vaughn and Keagan Maloney had a great year and should be able to lead this team.
The South Dakota Heat went 3-1 in their first tournament starting strong. It’s a good sign for the Heat and they got great showings from Russell Morton (Douglas) and Dawson Geuke (Sturgis) that first weekend.
The Iowa Mavericks second squad also includes some talent. Jacob Robertson (Linn Marr) is a top 125 ranked player at the wing spot and Mitch Gehling (Beckman Catholic) is a top 75 talent as a 6-foot-4 small forward.