Great Plains Alliance: 17U Saturday Notes
Matt Bezdecik (Heat/Osseo). The jumper from Matt is very clean. He had a couple threes in the semis and in the finals and may have even been the guy that went for six treys (there was a number mix-up in…
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Continue ReadingMatt Bezdecik (Heat/Osseo). The jumper from Matt is very clean. He had a couple threes in the semis and in the finals and may have even been the guy that went for six treys (there was a number mix-up in the book). Either way, Matt is a shooter to mark and teams in the NW Suburban are going to have a nightmare closing on him, his brother, and Theisen.
Chase Grinde (Heat/Spring Grove). Let’s go list mode real quick talking about why we should be seeing Chase building basketball offers with his football offers (Bemidji State offered last night). 1) one of the top competitors, Chase takes every place as serious as any. 2) coach on the floor, just listening to his teammates you can tell he knows the game at a better level than most. 3) skills, Chase has handled in his life, he’s agile enough with the right physical size to beat a forward with his step and then muscle his way up while on balance. 4) performance in big games, Chase had 25 in the semi-final and then 19 in the final hitting nine treys in the two games.
Burt Hedstrom (Comets/Minnetonka). Had two treys, made all the right passing reads, and defended very well cutting off angles and battling around screens to maintain the right position. He was hit in the eye and it swelled up so he couldn’t finish which was a blow because Hedstrom has shown the big stage is something he is comfortable competing in.
Mykal Howard (Fury K/St. Louis Park). It’s time to start giving Howard a little more love because this versatile player bring a lot to the table. Had a game high 12, was really good defensively pressuring the ball and chasing off the ball, scored all his baskets beating Comet defenders to the cup for touched in crafty scores, and is all around a guy that I can see having a great MIAC career.
Bryce Irsfeld (Comets/Browerville). Had what looked like it could have been the game winning drive and foul shot makes, made two treys, had a game high four assists and team high 11 points against Fury Kallman. Came off ball screens into space every time as he knows how to shed his man perfectly with the ball screen going body to body.
Andrew Kallman (Fury K/Chaska). Took a break from getting NSIC offers to score 11 in the semi-final battle. Scored at the arc, hit on the break, and scored twice in halfcourt cuts. Added four NSIC offers over the weekend and we don’t think he’s done.
Rocky Kreuser (Fury K/Totino-Grace). Bounce back from a tough semi-final to score 14 in the championship game. Rocky opened with a two hand oop finish followed by two three-pointers and late in the game he made clutch foul shots and a corner trey that essentially put the game away. Some of the best hands I’ve seen.
Ryan Lindberg (Comets/Wayzata). Ryan has been a big game shooter for the Comets and that was evident when he opened the game with the Fury hitting two treys and opened overtime with a triple. A game changing shooter in every way who scored 11 against the Fury.
Trey Prince (Fury K/Chanhassen). Trey brings the ball up sometimes, he posts up to score sometimes, moves off the ball to cut and hit, he defends bigger power forwards because he is strong, smart, knows leverage, and battles, and he led the Fury in boards with six despite being 6-foot-1. One of the most interesting worker guys I’ve ever seen and he’s very consistent with it. Prince then had another dozen points and half a dozen boards giving the same effort in the title game.
Brian Sitzmann (Fury K/Prior Lake). Going down hill nobody stopped Brian all game. When he had a step to the rim his burst and extension led him to a dozen points and the Comets couldn’t get a guy in position to cut him off. He had a game winning scoring catching a pitch 50 feet from the rim, attacked the cup, and finger rolled at the buzzer. A big moment for him and his team. He had a game high 12 points. In the final the Heat had the same problem with Brian the Comets did because they couldn’t get a man in front of him to cut off his attack and Sitzmann went for 18 in that game.
Jimmy Vollbrecht (Comets/Jordan). Vollbrecht had a nice weekend. We saw him put in a big rebounding game in the previous viewing and today he scored ten inside for the Comets including two really crafty moves shifting his man with a fake and then pivoting the other way to get the angle and finish. Scored five times in the semi-final.
Will Whitmore (Heat/BSM). You could say the same thing about Will that I did about Trey Prince. Guy can handle some and then go the other way and defend a big. Will hit a three one possession and then outwork a rotating defender on the rebound for a putback. Jack of all trades that BSM and Heat can use in a different way in every game.
Simon Wright (Comets/Hopkins). Wright came back from an illness yesterday to play this game. You would think he would have limited energy but instead Simon was the biggest reason that the Comets held Rocky Kreuser scoreless for the game. Simon scored three times and was the best rebounder in the contest with seven but his defensive effort was the biggest thing of note.