Week 14 17U: Top Five Teams of the Week

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are back to bring you the top five biggest success stories of the week from the 17U level. We had a few different Minnesota teams win championships, and others make some quality runs!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Fury Zurn Goes 6-0</strong>. Winning one championship is hard enough. Winning tough is quite difficult. Winning the Hard Work Region finals three years in a row? An 18-0 record in Hard Work Region Finals in three years? That's what the [program_tooltip program_id='2075672' first='Minnesota' last='Fury'] kids did. [player_tooltip player_id='1287439' first='Max' last='Woods'], [player_tooltip player_id='1284105' first='Charlie' last='Theis'], I recall the pair making huge plays two years ago in the 15u title game and here we are two years later with [player_tooltip player_id='1284201' first='Owen' last='Waldoch'], [player_tooltip player_id='1288706' first='Jalen' last='Langsy'], [player_tooltip player_id='1287441' first='Brandon' last='Hrncir'] and others joining them in making big plays for another title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Sizzle with the Big Time Bounce Back</strong>. Want to talk about a bounce back, about 20 hours ago the [program_tooltip program_id='2075496' first='Grassroots' last='Sizzle'] 17 and Under squad turned things around in a hurry and brought back Big Time gold to the Twin Cities from Vegas. On Saturday and Sunday the Sizzle played the Truth as well as three EYBL teams. They lost all four of those games BUT the losses to Team Thad and Florida Rebels were by a single basket. The Sizzle then turned things around in bracket play beating WACG, the Oakland Soliders ECYL team, Paul George, and most importantly, turned that earlier 14 point loss against the Truth, into a four point title game win! Later last night Midwest time the Sizzle was posing with the title trophy in the Big Time Vegas Tournament. [player_tooltip player_id='1172835' first='Casmir' last='Chavis'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284106' first='Chiang' last='Ring'] once again led the way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Real Phenom in Final Four.</strong> The Real Phenom was not able to beat the Sanford Sports Academy top team for the second time this year but they did beat [program_tooltip program_id='2075685' first='Minnesota' last='Select'] Mantey in the quarters in a big win for their team. The win over Pride Roc out of Wisconsin was also a very nice victory for the Real Phenom team. They are out in Colorado this week looking to bring home an event championship. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. [program_tooltip program_id='2076005' first='West' last='Central Wildcats'] Take Gold</strong>. The second division of the Hard Work Region Finals included the [program_tooltip program_id='2076005' first='West' last='Central Wildcats'] and being in the second division worked out great for their team. Big man [player_tooltip player_id='1968455' first='DeAndre' last='Holloway'] was once again captivating bringing video guys and several college coaches to every game, and they had a nice win over a top 30 Powerhouse team along the way. The title game victory was over Wisconsin Hoops Select. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. WOTN.</strong> The WOTN Mitchell team surprised us several times last weekend! They beat a very good Colorado Titans team with a first round upset, they beat Border Select Basketball in round two in a mild upset, and then got hot and nearly took the eventual champions ([program_tooltip program_id='2075672' first='Minnesota' last='Fury']) out of the event with a potential massive upset. The emergence of [player_tooltip player_id='1617772' first='Lauson' last='Schmidt'] continues. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->