Bracket Buster Notes: AAAA

<u>Maple Grove.</u>  This is the second straight summer that the Crimson looked like elite level championship caliber team at this point of the summer. This summer they looked even better and I really liked what they were doing offensively in terms of ball movement, post touches, usage of screens, etc…<strong>Brad Davison </strong>was incredible in the final scoring 34 points against a talented group of EP guards…<strong>Reed Nikko </strong>showed that improved offensive game including 16 physical points against Rochester JM…Love their combo of role players that mix with scorers of all kinds: Brad (handler, creator), Nikko (low post finisher) , <strong>Tywhon Pickford </strong>(slashing wing scorer), <strong>Jack Hutchison </strong>(shooter),<strong> Taron Pickford </strong>(corner turner, combo guard)… <u>Eden Prairie.</u>  They were missing a lot of their expected size likely to football or something but EP had their four man guard rotation of <strong>Brady Rudrud, Ryan Jacobus, Owen Chose, </strong>and<strong> Nick Geolat </strong>which led them to the final four…Rudrud had several in the NSIC watching close and he continues to be a playmaker in every way with the ball…Beat Apple Valley and Wayzata which are great wins for this team to build on… <u>Wayzata. </u>  What did the Trojans get from this weekend?  Knowledge from close game situations.  They beat Tartan on a late game buzzer beater from <strong>Johnny Beeninga</strong>.  They lost in the semi-finals to EP and then defeated Champlin Park in overtime for the third place award.  Beating full Champlin Park and Tartan teams says a lot about where they are and what they can be.  And <strong>Austin Slater,</strong> he continued his outstanding summer.  A few D1s have now asked about Austin as he continues to play well… <u>Champlin Park.</u>  The Rebels are replacing a lot of graduated seniors and that likely has something to do with how they dropped two close games; one to Maple Grove and one to Wayzata.  The Rebels were right there with all their opponents and have the talent to beat them.  They just need to learn how.  <strong>McKinley Wright </strong>turning corners on screens and defending the ball scared other guards.  Theo John scored three times in the post with really encouraging moves on <strong>Reed Nikko</strong>.  The Rebel bench has a lot of talent in <strong>Brian Smith, Chris Davis, Marcus Hill, </strong>and<strong> Mello Adkins </strong>and when they get experience this team will be very dangerous next winter…. <u>Tartan.  </u>The Titans won two of three beating Apple Valley and then handling a short handed JM team.  Their only loss was on a buzzer beater to Wayzata in the corner so winning two of three and the only loss being a deep buzzer beater, that is a good weekend…<strong>Joevon Walker </strong>was pushing opponents around at times to score and I thought <strong>Emmanuel Humphrey</strong> had some of the best minutes I have seen from him in a while.  Those two started up front and had a major talent backing them up in <strong>Jarvis Thomas </strong>which is fantastic talent…<strong>Jordan Horn </strong>did his job handling, <strong>King Myles </strong>showed playmaking as a passer and scorer, and then <strong>DeNario Jackson </strong>and <strong>Jordan Thompson </strong>showed that they are more than supporting talents as both are also playmakers… <u>Rochester JM</u>.  The Rockets had both <strong>Matthew Hurt </strong>and<strong> Michael Hurt </strong>along with point guard <strong>Isaiah Walden</strong> meaning they had their top three guys.  That said, they were missing players 4-10 to football so they brought along B-squad players to fill the bench.  That was good enough to win the championship the next day in St. Michael but in an event as talented as the Bracket Buster you need depth one through seven to win more than one game.  JM stayed with both Tartan and Maple Grove for a bit but didn’t have the depth to stay with those teams until the end.  They did defeat Shakopee handily.  And yes Michael and Matthew Hurt both put up big time numbers. <u>Apple Valley</u>.  The Eagles were without <strong>Gary Trent Jr </strong>(Adidas Nations) and <strong>Tre Jones</strong> (injury) so that takes away their top two playmakers.   They still had <strong>Brock Bertram, Cameron Kirksey, </strong>and <strong>Jordan Bolton </strong>and when you consider that they really only have <strong>Aaron Ertz </strong>as experience after that, beating Shakopee handily and playing with EP and Tartan was better than expected.  Tre Jones was better this weekend and the Eagles won three games in the Sweet 16 before falling to Hopkins in the final. <u>Shakopee</u>.  The Sabers were without <strong>Steffon Mitchell </strong>and Head Coach <strong>Bruce Kugath</strong> so they walked into Maple Grove behind the eight ball.  <strong>Booker Coplin </strong>did a lot of impressive things earning respect but they just didn’t have the talent to win games without their coach and top player.