Comets Shootout Preview
And they’re off!……This is year nine of the Comets Shootout that starts the Minnesota Grassroots season and this weekend 44 17U, 44 16U, and 36 15U teams will meet in St. Cloud (along with several more in the younger division…
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Continue ReadingAnd they’re off!……This is year nine of the Comets Shootout that starts the Minnesota Grassroots season and this weekend 44 17U, 44 16U, and 36 15U teams will meet in St. Cloud (along with several more in the younger division and girls divisions). Yes the Daytona 500 of the Minnesota Grassroots season kicks off at 8am Saturday and once again NHR will be there from start to finish covering it all.
Why do we call it the Daytona 500 for the Grassroots year? For one it’s the first big event in the state just like Daytona is the first race of the NASCAR (right?) season. Second, it’s one of the biggest events of the year (just like Daytona) and it usually is the one event where you will see just about every Minnesota 17U team. Few other events of the spring and summers seems to get all the top teams like this one does. So here is our first look at the event running through the contenders and dark horse squads and predicting the Sweet 16 on down.
17U
Favorite: D1 Minnesota is the program everybody wants to see. They have a mega collection of offered division one talent led by guards McKinley Wright, Ishmael El-Amin, Jack Sorenson, and Jack Hutchison joined by forwards Goanar Mar, Nathan Reuvers, Jericho Sims, and Matthew Hurt (he’s a 2019, the rest are 2017 talents). The squad is coached by Al Harris and Jeremy Miller. They are the definite favorite.
Top Contenders: There are several that will want a shot at beating the D1 Minnesota team. Going down the list you start with the host Minnesota Comets led by Bryce Irsfeld, Wayzata imports Ryan Lindberg and Gavin Baumgartner, worker Jaran Roste, bigs Jimmy Vollbrecht and Derek Thompson, and Hopkins starting forward Simon Wright. The Comets have their traditional St. Cloud area guys (five) mixed with five metro area guys (if you count Jordan High School as somewhat metro).
Coming down from North Dakota once again is the ECI Prospects who have NDSU committed near seven-footer Jordan Meidinger as well as D1 offered Siman Sem, and other talents that include Jacob Mertens at guard, Justin Engg at forward, and Lucas Mayer and Gavin Moeller joining Jordan to give a deep frontcourt.
The Minnesota Fury Zurn squad is considered by most to be a top three team in state. The Fury added four strong names in guard Jordan Horn from Tartan, Kade Hart from Faribault, and Mitch Sueker and Weston Baker MaGgrath from Marshall. Add them to returning talent Myles Hanson, Owen Chose, and others and you have a team with skill, athletes, and a lot of size.
Also in the contenders group has to include the Minnesota Warriors, D1 Minnesota Prospects, and the Wisconsin Playmakers. The Loehr brothers Alec and Luke return to the Warriors along with Jameson Bryan and all the Bloomington Jefferson talent (Jack Tillotson, Tyler Rimersma) plus they added another Jaguar in Peter Gathje and another Eastview talent Mason Carpenter (Bryan’s teammate in HS).
The D1 Minnesota Prospects have some big names led by Edina lead guard Walt McGrory, Rochester JM forward Dedoch Chan, Tywhon Pickford of Maple Grove (when he becomes healthy), Henry trio Lamar Wood, Savion Scott, and Jordan Lynn as well as others. Champlin Park swatter Chris Davis is with them too so this team will be really long.
Sleepers: Minnesota Fury Kallman is a teams should look out for. USF offered Rocky Kreuser of Totino-Grace grabs the attention as does Chaska guard Andre Kallman, Prior Lake wing scorer Brian Sitzmann, and St. Louis Park guard Mykal Howard.
A team that we think will have a chip on their shoulder and have really good chemistry is Minnesota Heat Vang. Parker Fox has big potential on the wing and he is joined by guard Shane Frost who is Parker’s high school teammate. Tim Leo is the big up front, Dominic Bledsoe will be a defender on the wing, and then you have Chase Grinde of Spring Grove who we think has a chance to have a great next four months.
One of the more interesting teams will be the Minnesota Select squad coached by Mitch Ohnstad. The Select Blue has a nice forward on Josh McGreal, CP shooter Brian Smith, Tartan guard duo Jordan Thompson and Like Whalen, quality potential forward Jamaris Johnson, and several 16U guards including Jake Binley and Luke Martens.
Comets DLR is one of the bigger teams on the circuit this season led by 6-foot-8 Brock Schrom of Grand Rapids (another guy to watch closely this spring), 6-foot-10 Trevor Koenig of St. Cloud Tech, and power forwards Brady Birch, Tyler Kranz, and Zac Olson who are all 6-foot-5/6-foot-6 and versatile. Kellan Erpenbach (NYA), and Matt Carik (Rogers) are two of the guards.
17U Predictions
Sweet 16: Comets Elite Lewis vs Heat Bui, Fury Kallman vs Wisconsin Playmakers, Heat Vang vs MN Suns, Crossfire Weege vs D1 Minnesota, MN Warriors vs Select Ohnstad, Comets DLR vs ECI Prospects, Fury Zurn vs Real Athletics House, WOTN Nicols vs D1 MN Prospects.
Elite 8: Comets Lewis vs Fury Kallman, Heat Vang vs D1 Minnesota, Warriors vs Comets DLR, Fury Zurn vs D1 Prospects.
Final 4: Comets Lewis vs D1 Minnesota, Warriors vs Fury Zurn
Final: D1 Minnesota over Fury Zurn