The 17U Season: 50 Moments to Remember
The 2016 17U season was amazing for Minnesota teams as several of them had great success at the various levels of play led by standout moments that will make this one of the best Grassroots seasons for local players of all time.
These are the moments I recall off the top of my head and obviously it’s impossible to know everything that happened so feel free to add comments below about top moments that you can add. I tried my best to think back to everything, please add comments below to add some things I forgot. Also, this isn’t really an order, it’s how it came to me.
- D1 Minnesota’s ESPN game where the talent of Minnesota basketball was on display in front of a nationwide audience. The game was just a showcase game but for two hours Minnesota prep basketball was talked about nationally and it was a great way to cap the year.
- Howard Pulley’s memorable final overtime game in EYBL pool play that many felt was the Peach Jam championship game (quality wise and top teams in the event wise). Hoops fans all over the nation watched that game when Gary Trent Jr hit a regulation buzzer beater and scored 38.
- Howard Pulley being ranked number 1 at one point by IndiHoops and D1 Minnesota being ranked number 2 at one point. D1 finished 8th in their rankings and Pulley 16th which is pretty low considering how they played in July making championship games in the final two events.
- Comets Lewis finishing their season with wins over Wisconsin Swing (a top three team in Wisconsin) and the LV Prospects to win the NY2LA Final Chapter event.
- The EYBL session four run of Brad Davison when he shot the lights out and moved from a player everyone liked to being a player on the radar of everybody.
- The national emergence of Matthew Hurt ranked as a five star talent and being talked about on national TV in big ways.
- Fury Kallman avenging all of their losses and surprising many by winning back to back 17U events at the NHR State Tournament and Great Plains Alliance that included many of the state’s top 17U teams.
- The awesome game between Comets Lewis and Warriors in Vegas that went into overtime and included amazing plays from Bryce Irsfeld hitting threes, Luke Loehr keeping his team in front early, Jameson Bryan making key shots, Gavin Baumgartner with an And1 finish, and a huge rebound by Jaran Roste. Truly an amazing game.
- D1 Minnesota playing in the Comets Shootout and taking on all comers before winning the championship. A nice way to start the season as the team had no problem facing the other teams in the state who were all gunning for them.
- Fury Zurn scoring 100 points against a French team as Jordan Horn and Owen Chose both went off for 20+ point halves and Horn was so good that New Hampshire and Western Carolina offered him right after the game.
- Both Heat Vang and Powerhouse Minnesota making nice runs in the Bigfoot event allowing them to play on the Jordan Court floor that Howard Pulley also played on .
- D1 Minnesota often starting a line-up of McKinley Wright, 6-7 Goanar Mar, 6-9 Matthew Hurt, 6-9 Jericho Sims, and 6-ft-10 Nathan Reuvers as they won the Comets Shootout, Battle at the Lakes, Chicago Memorial Day event, and Summer Classic. The ball movement from them was great. Many always say “AAU is a guard’s game” and that posts dont touch the ball but that wasn’t true at all for this team. Also loved watching Goanar Mar harass some of the biggest names on the circuit into low percentage days.
- Alec Loehr going off in the NY2LA Spring Extravaganza hitting five threes in a half and leading the team to a breezing 17U championship. Alec then went off again in a win over Fury Zurn in the state tournament.
- Simon Wright’s late game plays in a NY2LA Final Chapter win that included Simon going 1 on 1 and taking his player to the rim for scores back to back times and then getting a game winning block. Not sure who that was against but a big win.
- Grassroots Minnesota earning second place in the NY2LA Summer Jam second tournament of the first weekend beating several quality programs including Playground Elite who is considered the best team in Wisconsin.
- Fury Zurn getting a buzzer beater putback against the Warriors at the Comets Shootout to send the game to overtime and they eventually won.
- The Warrior players seeing the Vegas return of Alec Loehr (in sunglasses after his concussion) and helping their coach Derek Peterson ask his girlfriend to marry him.
- Trae Berhow competing at the Powerade All American Camp event and more than half of the college coaches in attendance had offered Trae, or did eventually offer him.
- The “walk off” dunk from Aaron Gill down in Las Vegas finishing an alley-oop and getting to the 20 point differential mark ending the game. Maybe the only walk-off alley-oop dunk of the season.
- Two separate coaches losing to Fury Kallman and walking over to our staff and saying “this team is so good together” after the win.
- Fury Zurn earning second place in the SPTS not losing to a Minnesota team all year in league play or tournament play.
- Back to back championship game appearances for Howard Pulley in Milwaukee and Las Vegas despite not having Gary Trent Jr with their team.
- The pair of Chase Grinde game winners he had this season for Heat Vang.
- The photos that have emerged of some of the amazing Jericho Sims dunks and some of his low post consistent play against talented kids in the Adidas Championships.
- Powerhouse Minnesota getting a big win for their program in beating Fury Zurn at the Fury event.
- The session one tip-in score from Isaac Johnson who won the game for his Pulley team early in the season.
- Comets DLR winning the Lone Star Invitational in Dallas despite the coach having to catch a flight and missing the game so another Comets coach took over and got the job done.
- WOTN Nicols taking more steps as a program hitting the 30 win mark and being way better than anybody expected them to be.
- The commitments of Nathan Reuvers, Brad Davison, Goanar Mar, and Simon Wright and the stir their recruitments created among college coaches watching.
- Weston Baker Magrath breaking a backboard in Sioux Falls.
- Select Ohnstad playing their tails off and holding off a Fury Zurn team until the final second when Myles Hanson’s open floor score and a shot by Owen Chose was the game winner.
- Comets Lewis beating the number one team in Wisconsin, Playground Elite.
- Jordan Horn going for 37 points in one of his best games after coming back from what I believe was a shoulder injury.
- Heat Bui getting a win over Fury Zurn in pool play at the state tournament which was a game that really put the Bezdiceks, Jake Larson, Nick McMillan, and Josh Steckler on the map.
- When Rob McClain dunked on two guys in the middle of the floor and then coaches came for the next game and he dunked on the baseline with a leaner making jaws drop.
- Rob McClain earning second in a dunk contest in KC.
- The triple double of McKinley Wright in St. Cloud and effort to get those final assists and chase down boards.
- Select Ellis running game as they beat TC Finest in the Select Classic title game led by one of the year’s biggest surprises, Curtis Bell.
- Brian Smith going for 36 and pushing Select to wins in five of their first six games in Las Vegas as their young team really gelled late.
- Ishmael El-Amin having big games with his dad watching back from overseas playing and TV cameras showing the two of them.
- Parker Fox dunking in big ways, and liking everything on Twitter.
- Seeing Tywhon Pickford get back on the floor after a long line of injuries.
- Rocky Kreuser stayed with his longtime club with the Fury despite many trying to get him and Rocky’s team had nice success this year.
- Zac Olson and Broc Finstuen proving to everybody that just because they play around the basket in Class AA basketball, it doesn’t mean that they are PFs in college. Both were really good as SFs the past four months.
- Watching this year’s father-son combo of the year enjoy the year and that was Dana and Andrew Kallman.
- Seeing CJ Woda and Logan Rezac emerge and make Crossfire a legit factor in all of the events they were in. A tough team. Add Johnny Erickson in their too.
- Emergence of guys like Oman Oman, Burt Hedstrom, Joe Hird, Brian Smith, DJ Hunter, Isaiah Walden, Matt Carik,, Dominic Bledsoe, Lamar Wood, Kellen Erpenbach, Jake Larson, and some others doing things that people didn’t know they could do consistently. Add the spring shooting of talented JaQuan Sanders-Smith to that list.
- Watching Spencer Smith compete for SW Stars as he is still will one of the most underappreciated talents out there.
- Seeing other Minnesota teams root for other Minnesota squads like when D1 Minnesota watched Pulley in their hotel, when Warriors showed up to cheer for other teams, and so on when all were on the road.
- Seeing Minnesota out-coach just about everybody. We have great coaches here, that’s why are teams do so well in all of these events. And I’m talking in EYBL, SPTS, Adidas, and SPTS leagues as well as events. Our coaching stands out more than it does other places. Minnesota teams beat the best teams in Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and many other states routinely.