Minnesotans take 3 division titles at Nike Nationals
Three Minnesota teams won division championships at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago this week, while four other teams won their pools. The big winners are as follows. 1 (tie). MN Nice 16U and Suns Kietzer each swept six…
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Continue ReadingThree Minnesota teams won division championships at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago this week, while four other teams won their pools. The big winners are as follows.
1 (tie). MN Nice 16U and Suns Kietzer each swept six games to win their pool and their division. The Nice, led by Byron’s Yokie Lee, won the 5 games in their pool by a total of 59 points, then defeated QC Attack 44-26 to win the Havana Division.
Suns Kietzer swept their pool at 5-0, then edged MD Sting 63-62 on a buzzer beater by Abby Mackenthun to win the Madrid Division.
3. North Tartan 9. Oh, what a tangled Web! Crossfire 10 Elite (Crossfire Theisen), North Tartan 10 Tru, Fury 19 Blue and Tartan 9th were all in the Copenhagen Division. CFE and NT Tru were both in Pool A, while Fury 2019 Blue and NT 9 were both in Pool B. NT Tru defeated CFE 64-58 in the pool en route to finishing 1st in the pool at 4-1. Fury Blue knocked off Paige Bueckers and Tartan 9 52-50, but both finished in a 3-way tie atop their pool at 4-1. Tartan 9 took 1st on the tiebreakers.
In the Copenhagen Division final, NT 9 defeated NT Tru 47-30. NT 9 finished 5-1, Fury Blue 4-1, NT Tru 4-2 and CFE 2-3. For the record, NT Tru is made up entirely of Wisconsin girls and so we have not really covered them nor have we included them in our rankings so far this season.
4 (tie). We would rank Fury Blue and NT Tru next just in terms of their record at the Nike tournament.
6 (tie). Two Comets teams won their pools at 5-0 then lost in the division final. They are Comets 11 Elite of coach Mike Durbin. They lost to EOSC 40-36 in the Edinburgh Division final. Also, Comets 10 Elite who won 5 pool games by 42 points, but lost to San Jose Cagers Blue 68-40 in the Seoul Division final.
8. Fury 2020 Blue won their pool at 4-1, then lost to All-Ohio 15U EYBL 52-44 in the Pierre Division final.
9. North Tartan 8 Coley finished 2nd in their pool at 4-1, losing to DFW Elite 62-57 in the pool.
10 (tie). The following all went 3-2 in their pool but failed to advance to bracket play: Fury 2019 Gold, So Minn Fury 2020 Blue, Fury 2021 Blue, North Tartan 8 West and Fury 2018 Gold.
The following went 2-3: Crossfire Theisen, So Minn Fury 2018 Gold, Suns Jefferson, Fury 2018 Elite, North Tartan 11 Elite and So Minn Fury 2018 Elite.
The following went 1-4: Warriors Elite, So Minn Fury 2020 Blue, North Tartan 9 West and Fury 2020 Gold.
Limping home at 0-5: Suns Long/Michaud and Comets Peterson.
Add it all together and 26 Minnesota teams combined to win 76 games and lose 66.
15 teams played in 16-17U age divisions and went 55-33 (probably as many of half of these teams were playing up a year, but we’re categorizing them here based on the age group of their division). 6 teams played in 15U divisions and went 10-20. 5 teams played in 14U divisions and when 11-13. So it was the 16-17s that did all of the heavy lifting.