SUMMER 2019
This is the 14th Summer I have recapped the action, drama and trends of the club season. This will be an abbreviated format just like last season. My coursework prevented a wall to wall examination of the club scene in 2019 and when I was able to go out, I limited charting to basically a four game window. My master’s degree in sports management is now completed (finished August 2) and my time will be more flexible. For those keeping score at home my GPA was a 4.0.
THE ARC OF SUMMER: D-I-V-O-R-C-E
The prime story coming into the summer of 2019 revolved around the divorce. Cue Tammy Wynette. I am speaking about Tara Starks leaving North Tartan and taking a good chunk of her crew (including Paige Bueckers) off to Metro Stars. NT was able to lure some of that team back. The EYBL brand does carry more cache. I was on hand for the emotional battle in the MN State AAU qualifier between these two teams. NT won that battle (and several more) during the year.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The division meant both teams had thinner benches. This lack of depth was exposed on higher stages. An injury or absence exacerbated the problem. Two key stats highlight this fact: touches per turnover and starter touches. In that early May showdown, the MS Starks had 75% starter touches with 19.38 touches per turnover. However, Paige Bueckers was counted on to do the heavy lifting on the offense (a healthy 34 touches per turnover). The next best touches per turnovers came from their inside players (25 touches per turnover). The other potential guards cratered with 6.5 and 10.5 touches per turnover. NT leaned even harder on their starters with 82% of the touches. They were worse in the touch per turnover department at 18.12. In the last game charted at the Meltdown the NT squad still was at a 82% touch rate for starters, some of that due to injuries. There was massive improvement in decision making and ball handling at 28 touches per turnover. MS Starks, without Bueckers at the Meltdown, was using more of the squad with 65% touches by the starters. However, their touch per turnover rate barely budged at 19.12 (lower actually).
The reverberations of the divorce will still be felt next year. Metro Stars Starks will be picking up most if not all the North Tartan 9 Contreras team. There is a common thread in all of this: Hopkins. Starks is the Hopkins de facto summer coach guiding the team to their sixth straight Sweet 16 championship to close the summer. Many of the Contreras players are Hopkins based. Contreras is unable to coach the squad until the summer waiver period. That showed in the efforts prior to (State AAU) and after his arrival (June/July). With Starks there will be no such issue. There will be no before and after effect. That defection left a hole in the NT line up which will be filled by DTA Academy.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
This brings up another ramification of the divorce: organizational structure. Many clubs are just a coach under the umbrella of an organization. The organization provides the practice times and sites. There really isn’t a stated method on how things operate. That will change at NT next season. Many, if not most clubs, use an escalator promotion system where the coach stays at a certain grade and follows them up to the graduation period. The Fury operates in this manner. There are advantages to this. The coaches not only know their personnel, but the opponents. They know the match ups and what the strengths and limitations of the various players and teams are. NT will be moving to a stair step approach. There will be designated coaches at each age. It will be more of a high school based system like varsity-jv-B-frosh operation. There will be a common thread running from all teams—similar philosophies on offense, defense, down to out of bounds plays. That means if a player moves up the stairs the system will be familiar and there won’t be a steep learning curve. All Iowa Attack runs their operation this way.
MIDWEST POWER
This leads to the next focus: why is the upper Midwest successful on the national stage with their teams? This success at a club level does not necessarily indicate that the players are amazing. From the power five conferences (Big 10, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac 12) there were 8 of 99 players that were either all conference first team or second or honorable mention. The Big 10 had four of 30. The other four conferences four of 66. So why is? Having observed the talent that comes by for a periodic visit to Summer Jam, Meltdown or Mill City I look at the outsiders as physical specimens. The other teams may “out athlete” the players here. What this area makes up for is the coaching, the cultural organization, the competitive cauldron, the centrality, calendar and the coverage through the 10,000 blogs/websites.
1: I saw a coach from another state outside the Midwest force her players to do push ups when yanked from the game. The coaches around here are won’t humiliate a player in public like that. More of the coaches here have collegiate coaching backgrounds and are not parents that will ride a class and then vacate the scene.
2: Cultural organizations. Some of these organizations are a Mom & Pop organization designed around perhaps one player or one class. The organizations around here have staying power. There is a style, there is a signature for each organization: what they stand for, what they value. The M&Ps stand for the individual.
- The competition here matters. Each organization is looking for an edge and there is a method and plan to top the other. It is unclear if these outside teams even face anyone in their neighborhoods or if they are the sole operation.
- Related to that is the centrality of the competitive cauldron. The Twin Cities Metro area has several programs and they don’t have to turn far to find players or competitive meaningful games. You can include several other programs in the TC orbit.
- The calendar plays a part with tournaments almost every weekend in April and May. June features some big events, like the Meltdown. This is usually used as a tune up for the all important D1 July windows. Some of these organizations are just ramping up in June. The Midwest teams are in mid-season form three months in.
- The coverage through the various blogs/websites give many voices, many opinions and insights on to what is happening. Social media matters. Nothing is hidden and that raises the level of play when teams realize they are under the watchful eyes all the time. Word does filter back to the colleges.
VERBALS
There is an interesting phenomenon going on right now. Verbals are up across the region except for two states: Minnesota and North Dakota. Iowa, South Dakota & Wisconsin have more than doubled the number of players at the same time last year. I expect Minnesota will get to the 25 range that typically happens.
| Iowa | Minnesota | Nebraska | ND | SD | Wisconsin | |
| 2007 | 11 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| 2008 | 13 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 2009 | 13 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
| 2010 | 10 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| 2011 | 18 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 2012 | 10 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 24 |
| 2013 | 12 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 18 |
| 2014 | 5 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 2015 | 6 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2016 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2017 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2018 | 15 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 2019 | 9 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 2020 | 19 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 22 |
Here are the 2020s that are known to have verballed from the respective club programs. They might not have been on the same teams in these programs. I am only including programs I charted. That means there are some states that get stiffed.
NORTH TARTAN
Courtney Becker, LaCrosse Aquinas, Drake
Mallory Brake, Hastings, Creighton
Lauren Jensen, Lakeville North, Iowa
Annika Stewart, Wayzata, Nebraska
METRO STARS
Paige Bueckers, Hopkins, Connecticut
Tiwaah Danso, Simley, Bradley
Liza Karlen, Stillwater, Marquette
MN FURY
Taylor Janssen, Rosemount, Montana State
Mackenzie Kramer, St. Michael-Albertville, Lehigh
Natalie Mazurek, Eden Prairie, South Dakota
Molly Mogensen, Farmington, Creighton
Sydney Stensgaard, Simley, Montana State
MN STARS
Grace Kirk, Duluth Marshall, Brown
Abby Schulte, Maple Grove, North Dakota State
NE ATTACK
Maddie Krull, Millard South, South Dakota
ALL IOWA ATTACK
Maya Gyamfi, Urbandale, Northern Iowa
Kayba Laube, Marion, Northern Iowa
Aubrey Joens, Iowa City, Iowa State
Maya McDermott, Johnston, Northern Iowa
Shateah Wetering, Montezuma, Iowa
KINGDOM HOOPS
Rose Nkumu, Iowa City, Marquette
Paige Rocca, Iowa City, Missouri State
Nyanjuok Tang, Dowling Catholic, St. Louis
SD ATTACK
Morgan Hansen, Sioux Falls Lincoln, South Dakota
Emma Ronsiek, Sioux Falls O’Gorman, Creighton
Madysen Vlastuin, Lennox, South Dakota State
WI FLIGHT ELITE
Lexi Donarski, LaCrosse Aquinas, Iowa State
Sitori Tanin, Middleton, Loyola of Chicago
DEFINITIONS: 31 CLUB
31 Club = points + defensive stops + distributions (41 and 51 Club operate in the same way).
The 31 Club puts a premium on all facets of play, from offense & defense, to getting others involved through the distribution channel. Think of it as a triple double or a 15/15. Many players score, but don’t really impact the game any other way. The value added is D stops + Distributions. I would think that number needs to be greater than 11. The beauty of this metric is you could have a horrible day shooting, perhaps only scoring 8 points, but you can always impact the game with the other two legs. Consistency is what I am searching for. If a player can hit this mark in every contest, then something special is brewing. A player can do a “super-nova” and explode for one game. The true test is to do it day in & day out.
There were six scores in the 41 Club in the Summer of 2019. The trend this summer pointed to high school action and camps. Only one of those scores took place in club ball. All six of those events took place in July or later. The top four scores all came in high school based contests. Why? Speculation would center on the fact that the defensive capabilities of the opposition, compared to club programs, are lacking. There simply is not the same level of athleticism or game sense to stop a player with more skill. Maybe the opposition don’t realize who the other team is. But I find that is more true in club, especially crossing into new opponents. Also, players are probably are required to do more in a high school setting offensively. On club teams they have more offensive threats around them and they are not on the floor 100% of the time. Here are a few examples—-averaged out if more than one contest:
| Name | HS team | HS 31 | Club team | Club 31 |
| Kneepkens | Duluth Marshall | 55 | MN Fury | 14.33 |
| Kirk | Duluth Marshall | 48 | MN Stars | 17 |
| Bueckers | Hopkins | 46 | Metro Stars Starks | 40 |
| Heyer | Chaska | 45 | MN Fury | 19 |
| Jensen | Lakeville North | 32 | NT 17 EYBL | 31.29 |
| Johnson | Wayzata | 36.5 | NT 16 EYBL | 21.5 |
In each case the 31 Club score dropped from high school to club. Buecker’s club score is 87% of the high school total. Here totals were the highest in Club by about 9. Jensen’s was even more consistent at 98%. The others ranged from 26% to 59%.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
To be considered for this listing you I had to see you for two tournaments/events, you had to average over 100 pp100 and had a floor % of .500 or better. Those were the rules back in 2006 and I don’t ABC (alter, budge, or cave). Save your calls & emails. The algorithm clarifies all.
Stop me if you heard this one before….Paige Bueckers is Player of the Year for 2019. It is true her club team did not have the accustomed success she is used to. This was the first time in her career she and her team were not playing for a title in eight years—-a casualty to the “divorce.” I only charted her twice during the summer, once in the epic North Tartan first meeting, and then in the Sweet 16 final. In between that time there was more stubbing of toes like the loss to CSS Bison in the Summer Jam despite a furious rally (This game took place away from my court therefore no data). By the way her image is still on her former program’s website.
When you go around the world, lead your team, make that country, to gold in the U19 FIBA World championships in Bangkok and are named tourney MVP you can see I am not stretching this selection. Perhaps Bueckers was trying to convince the geniuses at Street & Smith who left her off the listing of the best high school players in the country last fall (check the tags on the bags S&S). At least UConn knew who she was. The Huskies will be her home after she wraps up her Hopkins career.
The numbers do pile up, but as she demonstrated in the Sweet 16 title game against familiar section 6AAAA rival Wayzata, it is about making teammates better. She lifts all around her and she trusts her teammates. This takes her & her team to another plane. How does this happen? Can it be taught? Most players are ball oriented. That is the present. Bueckers plays the space—-the future. It is liquid. As Todd Beane said, “You need to understand angels, distance, timing, lines and the situation. To read it is to see it and then see it again and again. To master it is to be the maestro of the northern lights. A wizard of liquid thought.” Bueckers is playing the future.
Bueckers is the only player to win this honor three times. We know that there will be a new winner in the summer of 2020.
2006: Jill Young, South Dakota Elite, Mitchell Christian (South Dakota State)
2007: Katelin Oney, IBCA Select, Cedar Rapids Washington (Northern Iowa)
2008: Tayler Hill, NC Heat, Minneapolis South (Ohio State)
2009: Stacia Robertson, NE Twisterz, Grand Island, NE (South Dakota & Liberty)
2010: Kiah Stokes, Team IA Silver, Linn-Mar (Connecticut)
2011: Rebekah Dahlman, North Tartan Coury (Vanderbilt)
2012: Jada Buckley, All IA Attack Jensen (Iowa State)
2013: Jessica Shepard, NE CSS Bison (Nebraska)
2014: Arike Ogunbowle, North Tartan Dietel (Notre Dame)
2015: Ashley Bates, MN Stars Martin (Hampton)
2016: Taylor Kissinger, All Iowa Attack 11 NIKE (Nebraska)
2017: Paige Bueckers, North Tartan 9 Starks, Hopkins
2018: Paige Bueckers, North Tartan 10 Starks, Hopkins
Hill, Stokes, Shepard, and Ogunbowle have made it to the WNBA from this list. Robertson played in Australia and is now coaching at the D1 level. A few of these players suffered injuries after this listing came out.
2019 SUMMER TEAM
If I was picking a five (still maintaining the proper pp100 and floor % numbers established back in 2006—-if it was good enough then, it is good enough now. I am not lowering my standards).
STARTERS
Paige Bueckers, Metro Stars Starks, Hopkins
Lauren Jensen, North Tartan 17U EYBL, Lakeville North
Jenna Johnson, North Tartan 16U EYBL, Wayzata
Kayba Laube, All Iowa Attack 11 EYBL NIKE
Sophia Hart, MN Fury 2021 UAA
BENCH
Maya McDermott, All Iowa Attack 11 EYBL NIKE
Olivia Hollenbeck, CSS Bison
Whitney Brown, CSS Bison
Molly Mogenson, MN Fury 2020 UAA
BEST:
This is based exclusively on 31 Club performance. We would have no winners in some age divisions with pp100s.
2021: Jenna Johnson, North Tartan 16U EYBL, Wayzata
2022: Amaya Battle, North Tartan 9 Contreras, Hopkins
2023: Taylor Woodson, North Tartan 9 Contreras, Hopkins
2024: Angel Hill, Tayler Hill Elite 7, Minneapolis South
2025: Kendall McGee, MN Stars 6 Borowicz
2026: Sinae Hill, Tayler Hill Elite 5
2027: Mya Wilson, 43 Hoops
IOWA: Maya McDermott, All Iowa Attack 11 EYBL NIKE
NEBRASKA: Whitney Brown, CSS Bison
SOUTH DAKOTA: Emma Ronsiek, SD Attack 17
WISCONSIN: Alexis Donarski, WI Flight Elite 17
TEAM OF THE YEAR
This was close. At every age bracket a case can be made for the champion to be “team” of the year. I heavily rely on titles, but I really examine the numbers and production in the biggest games on the biggest stages. Stop me if you heard this before…..All Iowa Attack 11 EYBL NIKE again, for the fourth straight year takes this honor. AIA gets the four-peat by virtue of winning the big summer events in Minnesota: the Summer Jam and the Meltdown. They finished second in the prestigious EYBL event in Chicago. And they did this without point guard Caitlin Clark, who was busy with Bueckers on the USA U19 team heading to Bangkok, and in July without Shateah Wetering, their inside presence, who had (and played with) a stress fracture during the Summer Jam. When I charted their games, AIA scored at a 122 pp100 clip, pretty, pretty, pretty impressive. The best this summer. Of course, the AIA system has not varied in these four years. They rely on expert snipers from 3s, with catch & shoot. They spread the floor and attack the rim. I constantly here about players in Minnesota being evaluated, but somehow catch & shoot is not a skill that is favored or even respected. “Yes player (fill in the blank) can score, but can she create off the bounce,” the derisively note. AIA just collects the hardware as they play to their strengths.
2006: North Tartan Larson
2007: Centennial
2008: NC Heat
2009: North Tartan Coury
2010: All IA Attack Jensen 14s
2011: Hopkins
2012: All IA Attack Jensen 17s
2013: Eastview
2014: North Tartan Dietel
2015: MN Stars Martin
2016: All Iowa Attack 11 NIKE
2017: All Iowa Attack 11 NIKE
2018: All Iowa Attack 11 NIKE
COACH
The more things change……For the second straight year Dickson Jensen of All Iowa Attack garners the top prize. He was able to get mileage out of missing pieces due to injury and call ups. He has consistently delivered high quality ball. When reading about top level coaches in other sports one aspect that separates the wheat from the chaff is producing at a high level year after year. This requires a CFO—-chief figure outer. Jensen has delivered on figuring out how to keep AIA a top the competitive tree. Just one more note: Jensen has led teams six times now to the Team of the year honor. That again proves the CFO.
2007: Brian Frye, Metro Stars Black
2008: Royce Samuels, Team WI Samuels
2009: Randy Edwards, NE Twisterz
2010: Steve Reiter, Metro Stars Reiter
2011: Gerard Coury, North Tartan Coury
2012: Jon Herbrechtsmeyer, North Tartan Herbrechtsmeyer
2013: Ruth Sinn, MN Fury Sinn & Eastview
2014: Greg Dietel, North Tartan Dietel
2015: Tracy Martin, MN Stars Martin
2016: Ken Theisen, Crossfire 9 Theisen
2017: Dan Wolfe, MN Rise 10 Purple
2018: Dickson Jensen, All Iowa Attack 11 NIKE
PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
Finally, we break the pattern that has been established. The MN Fury is program of the year for 2019 by virtue of the “grand slam” and strong July from their flagship teams. The “Grand Slam” is something that has not been done until this year. The last four grades (8, 9, 10, & 11) all had Fury champions. The 8th and 11th grade versions were the number one seeds the week before in the qualifier. The 9th grade moved up from second and the 10th grade, all healthy and present, jumped up from a third seed. The 8th grade was the only repeat winner from 2018. With two months left after that shining May memory the Fury kept producing. In their co-host D1 event in early July with WI Flight they took home the top five prizes. In early July the Fury combined program was 43-2. The 10th grade finished second in the UAA national tournament. The 9th grade was 9-1 in UAA action. The 8th grade, with no UAA action at their grade level, moved up a notch and finished in the top 8.
The Fury has a distinct plan or signature with their teams. They are one of few programs that emphasize a bench. How can you measure this? By points produced but even deeper by touches. Here is the comparison with the Fury and their opponents in the 2019 title games:
| grade | Fury bench pt% | Opp bench pt % | Fury bench touch% | Opp bench touch % |
| 8 | 14% | 37% | 29% | 36% |
| 9 | 16% | 12% | 34% | 20% |
| 10 | 18% | 4% | 29% | 27% |
| 11 | 34% | 41% | 33% | 23% |
There are a couple of points: the 8th grade is the only age bracket where the opponent had more from the bench with both touches and points. Thanks to Lauren Ware off the bench in the 11th grade title game the opponents had more points. If you notice the 9 & 10 opponents totals drop severely. The Fury touches are in a narrow window from 29 to 34%, a difference of 5. The opponents go from 20 to 36%, a difference of 16. As the summer wore on the Fury bench was used even more. The 10th grade in early July at Mill City was at 42% touches and 33% scoring. This factors in when parents make decisions on where their daughter will be playing. I constantly here about playing time (or lack of it) from parents. Not everyone is going to play equal amounts—-ever. But the Fury does make it clear that those bench players are getting in, when it counts, and those players contributions are extremely valuable. It helps to keep legs fresh.
Another factor in the Fury program of the summer honor was the shift in shoes from an Adidas affiliation to Under Armour. The stability with the coaching staff is another key point. The Fury use an escalator system with their coaching staff. The Mill City event is starting to draw teams from outside the neighborhood—-like Arizona. This expansion is good to contrast what the upper Midwest has to offer to the rest of the nation.
This is the Fury’s second program of the summer nod. They won their first in 2015.
2007: Metro Stars
2008: North Tartan
2009: North Tartan
2010: All Iowa Attack
2011: North Tartan
2012: North Tartan
2013: North Tartan
2014: All Iowa Attack
2015: MN Fury
2016: North Tartan
2017: All Iowa Attack
2018: All Iowa Attack
© 2019