AAU Minnesota: Reports Across the Nation

What happened around the nation for Minnesota AAU teams? Now that we can catch our breath and slow down a bit, here are some need to know items from the weekend! Spartanburg, South Carolina. [player_tooltip player_id="850724" first="Donovan" last="Smith"] spent his 2020-21 year as a key part of the Minnehaha Academy state championship run and this past year the St. Paul area sharpshooter was at Spire Academy in Ohio. He's followed those experiences with a couple really good weekends in the 3SSB events with J Sizzle. The biggest noteworthy item was the buzzer beater Donovan hit pushing J Sizzle over D1 Minnesota at the 17U level with a 60-58 win. TC Hoops Czar was up at 7am Central time watching the game and had Smith for four threes in the big victory. Smith, Cash Chavis, and [player_tooltip player_id="958670" first="De'Meiko" last="Anderson"] have all been consistent scorers for this team based on a few of the box scores and what coaches are saying. [player_tooltip player_id="1220360" first="Chiddi" last="Obiazor"] played really well scoring 18 for D1 Minnesota in the defeat. Staying in Spartanburg, the D1 Minnesota 16s came into the event at 5-3 on the year and went 3-1 beating Southern Assault, Dream Vision, and the New York Jayhawks giving them a 6-2 3SSB record (8-4 on the year). Leading the way was [player_tooltip player_id="1284138" first="Grayson" last="Grove"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1288733" first="Isaac" last="Asuma"]. From everything I am hearing out of South Carolina, [player_tooltip player_id="1284138" first="Grayson" last="Grove"] has high major level talent. And we know Asuma is there as well. [player_tooltip player_id="1284091" first="Brayden" last="Carlson"] is starting to emerge (East Ridge talent), the upward trajectory of [player_tooltip player_id="1287442" first="Kole" last="Hanson"] continues, and if you want to talk sniper, that is Isaiah Schafer from North Dakota has been a constant sniper throughout the dozen games. Indianapolis, Indiana. [player_tooltip player_id="962214" first="Nolan" last="Winter"] was once again the talk of Howard Pulley at the 17u level. In the Hardwood Showcase the Panthers beat the same team twice (The Process) by double digits each time, but lost to MoKan Elite 16s and Meanstreets Select in reasonably close games. The Hoops Czar watched one game and saw Winter hit multiple threes at the arc. [player_tooltip player_id="1151197" first="Daniel" last="Freitag"], the name is starting to go national and it should. The top football and basketball prospect in Minnesota's 2024 class had a 30 spot against Team Griffin. The box score I was sent said Daniel had 30 points on 10 of 17 shooting with four threes plus he grabbed eight rebounds. The Panther 16s went 2-2 in E16s play defeating Seattle Rotary and NH Lightning, but losses to NY Rens and Team Griffin. Louisville, Kentucky. The Minnesota Comets Elite went 3-1 this weekend with their only loss being to the Atlanta All Stars, a huge team with talent. [player_tooltip player_id="1139197" first="Adam" last="Jenkins"] continues his great April with a double-double facing division one bigs. This 6'8/6'9 big has been physically attacking the rim with aggression. One of April's biggest stock risers. [player_tooltip player_id="1167622" first="Nathan" last="Fenske"] showed off his athletic ability creating shots and finishing at the cup. His best weekend of the season. [player_tooltip player_id="962232" first="Isaac" last="Severts"] was the rim protecting, active defender, who scored around the cup. The big news for Gain Elite was that they got a chance to play against Mikey Williams and the circus of fans he brings everywhere (1.8 million followers!) he goes. [player_tooltip player_id="962199" first="CJ" last="O'Hara"] and [player_tooltip player_id="962218" first="Nasir" last="Whitlock"] had 25 and 22 points respectively but their weekend was more than just beating a team while kids took photos of a childhood social media star. Gain Elite's guard group of O'Hara and [player_tooltip player_id="962218" first="Nasir" last="Whitlock"] as well as wing [player_tooltip player_id="962202" first="JJ" last="Ware"] played well. Kansas City, Missouri. Grassroots Sizzle won a game in KC during the Under Armour Session II. Based on box score scanning it looks like [player_tooltip player_id="1221176" first="Owen" last="Carlson"] from Mahtomedi had the best weekend for that team with three double figure games. The Minnesota Spartans earned a couple 16u wins playing in the UA Session II event. [player_tooltip player_id="1284157" first="Jerome" last="Williams Jr"] was in double figures every game averaging 14 a contest with five assists a game while [player_tooltip player_id="1284106" first="Chiang" last="Ring"] had a 12 point, 7 rebound per game weekend based on the box scores. Kansas City/Lawrence, Kansas. Prep Hoops Live had over 300 teams in this region including several from Minnesota. And the Minnesota 17u teams were spread out throughout the pools and represented Minnesota extremely well. Here are the records: <ul> <li>Minnesota Fury went 3-1 including a win over Iowa's best team, the Barnstormers</li> <li>WOTN went undefeated at 4-0 beating really good independent programs from Dallas, Chicago, Oklahoma City, and Buffalo, New York</li> <li>Minnesota Chill had an awesome weekend in Pool F going 4-0 knocking off two great local independent programs as well as teams from Florida and Illinois.</li> <li>The Minnesota Rise went 3-1 in Pool G</li> <li>The Minnesota Lightning went 4-0 in Pool H</li> <li>Starks Elite was 4-0 including close wins over NEBC out of Buffalo (pool E team that picked up a game) and the Chicago Demons on a buzzer beater</li> <li>Minneosta Heat PVR went 3-1</li> <li>Northstar Titans Stone was 4-0 in Pool L</li> <li>Northstar Titans Terhaar was 4-0 Pool M</li> <li>Minnesota Select James went 3-1 in Pool O</li> </ul> The lesson learned here? Next time Minnesota teams all converge in one location outside of the state, we are going to need to start putting two Minnesota teams in a pool and that might mean Minnesota teams playing one game against another Minnesota team in these locations and teams have to be good with that. It's what's needed because this state is that good when it comes to AAU basketball.