Tayler Hill Elite is the best of the 2021s
There’s not too much suspense remaining concerning the 2021s, considering that we published the ranking table several days ago. So those of you who really wanted to know, already know that Tayler Hill Elite 8th is the #1 team in…
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Continue ReadingThere’s not too much suspense remaining concerning the 2021s, considering that we published the ranking table several days ago. So those of you who really wanted to know, already know that Tayler Hill Elite 8th is the #1 team in our final 2021 ranking. That’s where they’ve been rated almost all year. After winning the AAU title and going 9-1 since then, well, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to think about anybody else.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We did what we could to track the team’s W-L records, but of course most teams do not report schedules on their websites and fewer yet report actual results. So we had to go to all the different tournament websites to find scores. No doubt, there were tournaments out there that we were not aware of and did not include in our tracking. So the following W-L records are very much approximations, but it’s what we had to go on. Well, that along with having seen the vast majority of the teams and having our own impressions of where they should rank.
Pretty much everybody on the THE roster had a productive summer but that starts with Jade Hill at the 1. Then you’d also want to single out Kierra Wheeler and Dora Okpara inside, Adalia Mackenzie and Andrea Tribble running the floor and Chyna Young holding it all together.
2. Stars Hersch. Stars Hersch actually defeated THE by 15 points in two out of three meetings, and won the #1 seed at the AAU prelims despite a loss to North Tartan 8th Kuppe. But the Stars later lost to Fury 2021 Blue and to NT Coley and NT West. On the other hand, they’re the only 8th grade team besides THE to play at least .500 against the rest of the elite – THE, Fury Blue and the trio of Tartan 8ths – at 6-and-5. Katie Borowicz had a monster summer at the 1 for coach Josh Hersch and it was a breakout season for Cassidy Carson and Tamia Ugass.
3. Fury Blue. The Fury took 2nd in the AAU and beat the Stars , but they finished under .500 against the top 5 8ths on this list overall. Kaylee Van Eps, Sophia Hart and Alexis Pratt had solid summers. It's a very close call between #2 and #3 and probably will be in the years ahead.
4. North Tartan 8th West. It's very, very close among the three Tartan 8ths, but the West squad went 3-4 against the 5 elites, Coley went 2-3 and Kuppe was 0-4. Then, to the best that I can discern, NTW went 13-5 after the AAU, NTC 17-8 and NTK 8-5. So NTW, led by forward Jenna Johnson and 2022 point guard Mara Braun goes #4.
5. North Tartan 8th Coley. You have to say this for Coley's crew – they will play anybody, anywhere, any time with more games than any other 2021 team. Forwards Nora Francois and Kendall Coley were great. Takara Mason was unstoppable before a season-ending knee injury. But NTC settled for 6th at the prelims and 5th at the AAU.
6. North Tartan 8th Kuppe. NTK took 7th in the prelims and the AAU, and a signature win eluded them, well, until they knocked off NTW 35-32 at the Meltdown. Ellie Dague had a great summer, and is one of the very best in this class. Big Helen Staley is a force inside. Our understanding is that Tartan 8th West and Tartan 8th Kuppe will be reconfigured with a first string under Ruth Sinn and a second string under Grace Dickman next year.
I would summarize by saying that our top 6 were teams the most visible, playing high caliber opponents all summer long. The following teams from #7 to about #14 had their moments—days or nights when they looked like top 6-8-10 teams and other days or nights when they did not. It’s just a question of how much you value those peaks. For instance, Crossfire Schuck did it at the AAU. We valued that more highly than some of the other high points.
7. Crossfire Schuck took 6th at the AAU with wins over Comets Elite and Top Flight Metro. They went 5-2 in June as well.
8. Top Flight 2021 Metro. They packed it in at the end of June after finishing up with a surprising loss to Lady Get Shook Black. But they were terrific earlier, earning a seed into the AAU prelim and finishing 8th at the AAU.
9. Lady Get Shook Black lost 3 straight to finish dead last in D1, then recovered to go 7-1 in June. Point guard Audrey Martinez-Stewart made a name for herself in the process.
10. Fury 2021 Gold lost to Lady Get Shook and So Minn Fury to drop into D2, which they won, and then they went 11-6 after that. Maggie Czinano and Jayla Reliford were impressive.
11. Comets 8th Elite took 9th at the AAU, and went 5-3 in June despite having one of the best guards in the class, Paige Meyer of Albany.
12. Rise 8th Purple took 11th at the AAU and went 5-2 in June with a win over Lady Get Shook and a loss to Heat Dahl.
13. 43 Hoops 8th finished 13th at the AAU and went 8-6 the rest of the way.
14. Heat Dahl finished 10th at the AAU with a win over LGSB and later defeated the Rise. In case you can’t tell, there’s not much to pick among #9 through #14.
15. So Minn Fury 2021 finished 2nd in D2 due in no small part to talents of Erin Lamb.
16. Stars Voyce finished 15th at the AAU and went 6-5 after that.
17. West Central Wildcats did not play in the AAU or afterward, but they were very competitive earlier in the season.
18. Top Flight 2021 South finished 13th at the AAU and went just 2-2 after that, as far as we’re aware. Paige Kindseth turned some heads, then joined NT Coley after TFSshut if down.
19. Metro Stars 8th Berkvam finished 5th in D2 and went 4-4 thereafter.
20. Rochester Shock Sonju went 2-1 at the prelims and won a game at state, but went 4-3 in July as far as I am aware.
Honorable mention to Force Jonas and Stars Blaszciek. Grant noted that the class of 2021 looks like it is absolutely loaded with talent, and I don’t disagree. But, it seems to be pretty concentrated among the top 12-14 teams.