17U Post-Season Series: Expectations Met?
Over the next several days PHD is going to tackle several different items from the 17u season in relation to players, teams, and events. We start with what teams met expectations, what teams exceeded expectations, and did anybody underachieve?
One. SD Attack. Met Expectations. The Attack went 23-10 and likely would like to have a couple games back, but overall they proved to be the best team in South Dakota and the PHD Area plus many team members improved and have future opportunities after this summer of play.
Two. Pentagon Schoolers. Met Expectations. With four 2020 kids playing up at the 17u level the Schoolers went 22-16 and had a solid year. Add in that Justin Hohn had the platform to show what he has the potential to do and those young kids showed their potential and it was a solid year.
Three. ECI Prospects. Above Expectations. Winning the GPA! Sweeping their North Dakota opponents! Several players improving well past what was expected (Harden, Mattern, Walters)! It was a very good year for the ECI Prospects. Fun team to watch.
Four. ECI Select. Above Expectations. Great year for ECI as their second team did very well in the SPBL, won 23 of 35 games, and beat the North Dakota Attack in a big win for them.
Five. North Dakota Attack. Met Expectations. In the first year of their program winning 20 games was a very nice season for the Attack. Several of their guys have earned scholarships and impressed college coaches.
Six. SD Venom. Met Expectations. A new program and they won 27 games in their first year plus took a cool bus to all of their games. A good roster that had a very nice year.
Seven. Sacred Hoops Rama. Met Expectations. After starting with a flurry it seemed SH was going to have an even bigger year but their backcourt of Rama & Pourier ranked with the best.
Eight. North Dakota Phenom. Above Expectations. Honestly in looking at the roster at the start of the year I thought it was going to be tough for this crew but wrong we were. Had some really good wins this year and won over half of their games.
Underachievers? Not that we saw. The teams from North Dakota and South Dakota that played consistently all got better and consistently played good basketball. There has been a lot of change in AAU basketball in the PHD area and it looks like that change has been for the better as kids are getting better.