Northstar Hoops Report State Tournament Preview: 17U Division I
The NHR State Tournament starts Friday and a host of the top 17U teams in the state will be participating.
With the exception of three games Friday night, all 17U Division I games will be at Champlin Park High School and tournament brackets can be found at this link:
Here’s a quick preview of the 17U Division I field:
Top Half
The top teams in the top half of the 17U Division I bracket are Powerhouse Hoops Red, Minnesota Select Ohnstad and Minneapolis FAB.
Powerhouse Hoops opens the tournament Friday night against Minnesota Knights with the winner advancing to play the winner of Minnesota Heat – Johnson and Minnesota Crossfire – Schmidt.
Select – Ohnstad opens with MN Lace up and the winner would advance to Saturday to play the winner of Minnesota Phenom/Powerhouse Hoops White.
Led by 2020 sensation Lu’Cye Patterson, Minneapolis FAB opens with Minnesota Nice. The winner would advance to play the winner of SW Minnesota Stars/Select-Ellis.
That could be a first round game to watch as both teams feature a lot of outstate talent. Noah Slagter is one of the top scorers in the state for SW MN Stars while Select Ellis has several top-notch players including Cedar Mountain/Comfrey forward Wambde Diaz and St. Charles sharpshooter Kaden Vaughn.
Fury Antl could be a dark horse to emerge from the top bracket and they open with Select-Leafblad with the winner advancing to play the winner of Minnesota Magic Elite – Sherman/Grassroots Team James.
Powerhouse and Ohnstad certainly look like the favorites to come out of that bracket as they are currently the Nos. 3 and 4 teams in the Northstar Hoops 17U rankings. Both teams feature high-end guard play and make up for the lack of a dominant true center with defensive toughness and athleticism in spades.
Bottom Half
The bottom half of the bracket should have a number of teams contending as there are six teams ranked 7-16 in the latest Northstar Hoops 17U rankings in that bracket.
MN Eagles, 43 Hoops, WOTN-Ewing, Comets-Servaty and D1 MN Rise headline the bracket which figures to feature intriguing games early Saturday.
The MN Eagles open the tournament against CEO Kings with the winner advancing to play the winner of D1 Prospects/MBA-Tlougan.
WOTN-Ewing opens with Magic Elite – Elgin and the winner advances to play the winner of Minnesota Heat – Pratt/Comets-Little. That first-round matchup could be a good one as the two teams come in ranked No. 21 and No. 23.
West Central United Select opens with Rip City in what could be a good game too. Neither team has a great deal of height but Rip City can really defend. WC United has several top-notch wins including victories over Comets-Servaty and Crossfire-Schmidt.
The winner of that game plays the winner of 43 Hoops/MN Ice. Ice doesn’t have much height either but if Jeremiah Coddon and Jake West are playing well, it’s a team you can’t take lightly. 43 Hoops has been one of the top teams in the state this spring and with a host of Columbia Heights kids leading the charge, they’ve got a great chance to go deep into the tournament.
A matchup that could be good in the first round is the D1 MN Rise vs. SE MN Lightning. Some of the draw is largely dependent on who can play and given Saturday is a big day for section baseball and track and field teams, both squads could be a bit undermanned. D1 Rise has an athleticism edge while SE MN Lightning has a good host of shooters and a plethora of bigs that can make the game very interesting.
The winner of that one advances to play the winner of Comets-Servaty/WOTN-Wold.
Potential Early Round Games to Watch
Comets-Servaty vs. D1 MN Rise
Assuming both teams win (or lose) their first round games, this could be a juicy second-round matchup Saturday afternoon. Comets is loaded with size as Justin Balcome, Jordan Belka, Tyler Kittelson and company make a habit of controlling the paint. D1 MN Rise doesn’t have that kind of length up front but the Mankato East duo of Damani Hayes and Uhana Ochan can certainly use their athleticism to contend up front.
Both teams seem to playing quality basketball at this point and I think the winner of that game has a great chance to get to the semifinals at least.
Magic Elite-Sherman vs. Fury Antl
Again assuming these teams both win or lose, this could be a very good second round matchup in the top half of the bracket.
It’s a matchup featuring two teams that — to characterize it positively — like to play offense. Both clubs are tough to defend but at times struggle to maintain consistency on the defensive end of the floor. Magic Elite has great size with Matt Hofrenning and Mike Sathoff and while Fury Antl has several good bigs with Drew Wynia and Andrew Niebuhr, their strength is in their perimeter group which is led by Max Bjorklund, Sam Vascellaro and Luke Siwek.
Final Four Picks
Top Half: Select-Ohnstad vs. Powerhouse Hoops Red
I think the top two teams in the region meet up in the semifinal round. Select Ohnstad plays a gritty style and they’ve got scoring depth that should allow them to outlast a lot of their competition Friday and Saturday. I think Minneapolis FAB could give them a good run in the quarterfinal round but I like that Ohnstad team a lot.
With how Powerhouse Hoops has been playing, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see them win the whole thing. They didn’t look great in the first tournament I saw them play in back in St. Cloud but it was always clear that once they figured out how to play together that there was an awful lot of talent up and down that roster. I think Fury Antl meets up with them in the quarters and they win that one before matching up with Select-Ohnstad.
Bottom Half: Comets-Servaty vs. MN Eagles
The bottom half of the bracket is much tougher to try and predict and these picks could look silly early in the tournament as both teams will have to navigate tough slates if they are to advance this far.
I like what I saw out of Comets-Servaty in the Fury Shootout and I think their size and scoring depth will allow them to get past D1 MN Rise in the second round game. I suspect they’ll run into WOTN – Ewing which is another team I like a lot because of their cohesiveness and fundamental style but ultimately I think Comets have a little more juice. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see any one of those three teams come out of the top half of the bracket and again, some of it depends on if every team is at full strength.
MN Eagles is tough to pick against because they’ve been competitive in every single tournament. They don’t have the top-shelf talent of some of the other teams but their chemistry is unparalleled on the local AAU circuit and they play outstanding defense. I think a quarterfinal game between them and 43 Hoops is in the cards and I know 43 Hoops has a win over MN Eagles already but I’m going with the Eagles in this one. I don’t have a specific reason – just going on gut.
Championship: Comets-Servaty vs. Select-Ohnstad
I’ll take Select-Ohnstad to take home the tournament title in this one. I like their defensive style and guys like Luke Martens, Christian Dickson and Cire Mayfield are guys I’d want on my team any day. I think if they beat Powerhouse Red — which I think could be the game of the tournament — they’ll take care of business in the championship.
I’m a big fan of Comets-Servaty and I do wonder how they’ll do if they run into a more athletic team or a team that can prevent them from controlling the tempo and paint but no team is perfect. They’ve got as much margin for error as anybody with their ability to rebound and control the paint and I think that’ll carry them a long way.