Paige Bueckers’ storied AAU career ends at Summer Jam
It was probably the loudest, most intense, most hotly-contested 9th place game ever. It was North Tartan 2020 EYBL vs Metro Stars 2020 Starks, round 3. It was also the final game in the storied AAU career of Paige Bueckers,…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIt was probably the loudest, most intense, most hotly-contested 9th place game ever. It was North Tartan 2020 EYBL vs Metro Stars 2020 Starks, round 3. It was also the final game in the storied AAU career of Paige Bueckers, and it was not to be missed. While the so-called ‘big games’ at North Tartan’s Summer Jam were being played a few miles away, the 12:40 p.m. encounter upstairs at Bloomington Kennedy was really the place to be on Sunday. In the end, the final round of this short-lived but highly-memorable rivalry turned out to be every bit as exciting as the previous two games.
Maty Wilke of North Tartan.To begin with, the gym was packed. The atmosphere was a little tense, too, as an over-abundance of spectators jockeyed somewhat aggressively for a precious seat on the sidelines. The intensity on and off the court continued throughout the game as North Tartan’s Maty Wilke (Beaver Dam, Wisc.) took her assignment seriously, which was to be a thorn in Bueckers’ side in every which way she could. Was it physical? It was physical, and Wilke did her job very, very well. When Jayda Johnston of Roseville scored at the buzzer to end the first half she put her North Tartan team ahead 34-32.
In the second half, the Metro Stars got rolling. Let by Bueckers and her Euro-stepping, three-point bombing Hopkins teammate Nunu Agara – seriously, she cannot really be in 8th grade can she? – it was an impressive offensive display. With 3:20 left on the clock. Tara Starks’ team was ahead by 9 points at 62-53. Suddenly North Tartan caught fire, knocking down a couple of key baskets, including a three by Wilke. Then, with under a minute remaining, Mallory Brake of Hastings (Creighton) pulled off a spectacular play.
With the ball clearly headed out of bounds on the sideline in North Tartan’s end of the court, Brake made a desperation lunge to get a piece of it. In one motion she flung the ball behind her in a high arc toward the middle of the floor where teammate Courtney Becker of Wisconsin (Drake) caught it in full flight going north. Courtney sprinted to the basket, laid the ball in the cylinder and was fouled. She cashed in on the free throw attempt and suddenly the game was tied at 62 with just 50 seconds left.
Nunu Agara of Hopkins (left) and Mallory Brake of Hastings (right) played key roles in the contest.Shortly thereafter Lauren Jensen of Lakeville North (Iowa) put North Tartan ahead and followed that up with an end-to-end sprint the length of the floor to block the Metro Stars’ attempt to draw even with just 7 seconds remaining. Jensen was fouled on the inbound, made both ends of the 1-and-1, and the game was over. It had been a 13-0 run to the finish. Final score: North Tartan 66 Metro Stars 62.
Thus ended Bueckers’ AAU career. Although July’s meat grinder is the most important month of the summer season for elite players, the University of Connecticut commit won’t be around to be part of it. Instead, she’ll be with Team USA, who are headed to Thailand in an attempt to win the U-19 World Championships. Paige leaves behind one of the best AAU records ever in Minnesota, not to mention a whole lot of incredible memories.
For me the one game that stands out the most occurred last June at Summer Jam. That’s when Bueckers went head-to-head with her friend Azzi Fudd of Virginia, the top-rated player in the country in the Class of 2021. Fudd was here with the Fairfax Stars, and the BFFs went at it hard for 32 minutes. To be honest, I can’t even recall which team prevailed that day – frankly, it doesn’t matter at this point – but what I do recall is how much fun it was watching two amazing young talents do their thing in front of a packed house. They hugged before the game, they hugged when it was over and the rest of us watched in awe. Although Fudd was in the building this weekend, there would be no rematch. Azzi suffered a torn ACL at the Team USA tryouts in May and was merely a spectator.
Fortunately, the end of Paige’s AAU career doesn’t mean we are done watching this special player live and in person. She has one more year of high school ball with Hopkins, the Class AAAA state champions, and we will be taking in as much of it as possible. Sunday’s game at Summer Jam may have been meaningless in the big picture but the impact Bueckers has had on AAU ball in Minnesota is most certainly not.
WHO ELSE WON WHAT?
It was not the best weekend of the season for some of Minnesota’s top 11th grade teams at the Summer Jam. With a field of more than 300 squads overall, including some of the leading AAU programs in the country, there was no easy path to a championship. Beyond the 9-10 finish for North Tartan EYBL and Metro Stars Starks, the Lake Minnetonka Division was won by All Iowa Attack EYBL over Nebraska Attack’s top unit.
The highest local finisher in the bracket was the state-champion Minnesota Fury 2020 UAA squad which took 6th place. Minnesota Stars 2020 Antl finished 8th. North Tartan 2020 Elite won the Lake Nokomis Division. E1T1 2020 Premier finished 3rd while North Tartan 2020 Haugo out of Moorhead took 4th place. Minnesota Heat 2020 Hinck won the Lake of the Woods Division.
The top 10th grade division (Leech Lake) was won by All Iowa Attack over North Tartan 2021 EYBL, featuring 2021 #1 Adalia McKenzie of Park Center and 2022 #1 Maya Nnaji of Hopkins. Fury 2021 UAA finished 3rd while Comets 2021 Elite continued their strong play with a 4th-place result. The top 9th grade division (Mille Lacs) was captured by North Tartan 2022 Elite, led by Amaya Battle and Taylor Woodson of Hopkins. They defeated DTA Academy 2022 Blue by 2 points in a nail-biter semi. DTA, which features #5-ranked freshman Nia Holloway of Eden Prairie, had earlier knocked off Fury 2022 UAA before finishing 4th in the event with a 1-point loss to AIA. The top 2022s are so much fun to watch! Stars 2022 Bjorgaard captured the Lake Harriet division over Metro Stars 2022.
Fury 2023 UAA won the Pelican Lake division, which featured the tournament’s best 8th graders. They beat All Iowa Attack 43-42. This Fury team, led by an outstanding defensive performance by Hutchinson’s Brynn Beffert, won the tournament’s best game that I saw with a 37-35 victory over Seattle’s Tree of Hope on Saturday. I think it was the most well-played 8th grade contest I have seen this year.
Top photo: Paige Bueckers of Hopkins (shooting) played the final game of her AAU career in the company of her Hopkins’ teammates KK Adams (left) and Nunu Agara (right). (All photos by Jared Martinson of Prep Hoops)