Exclusive one of a kind information you will not find anywhere else. This time we look at the 2019 class through time: first we look at how they have improved since their arrival on the stage as fifth graders in the championship game at state and then we look at how they stack up in their junior championships against other graduating classes.

2019 SINCE 5TH GRADE

 

These three charts show a climb up in the trend line across time. 2018 was the first time this class crossed over 50 in a championship game. The second place finisher never crossed 40 once. Not once. They didn’t even cross 35.

The PP100 record does well with the winners, but the second place finishers again trail mightily. The winners only cracked 80 pp100 three times during their championships. The second place finishers never got above 70. Yikes. This to me ties into skill level and decision making. Either they are not taking good shots, don’t know what a good shot is, or their mechanics are not high level.

Looking at the 2FG % chart there is a slight slope up to the right for the winners. This is not climbing Mount Everest. I doubt if anyone would get winded walking up that incline. Only twice did the percentage go higher than 35 percent. Again this does not take into account 3s. This is only a reflection of lay ups, second chancers and post ups. And 35% was too high a bar. Oddly enough this year the second place finisher was the only year where the 2FG% was higher than that of the winner. But if you also factor in the pp100 you can speculate the turnover rate and 3FG% was abysmal.

AND NOW HOW  2019 STACKS UP TO THE CLASSES IN THE PAST

This is where the rubber meets the road. Clearly there are downward trends from the recent past. This was the lowest scoring Junior championship game in seven years. Three times in the past the second place finisher had more points than the winner in 2018.

When it comes to the pp100 you can see that it is basically a flat line for the winners. This indicates the pace of this year’s championship game tended to be slower, less possessions, more coach controlled. There is no shot clock in these games and if there were was a shot clock I don’t believe it would have had any difference in the scores. But clearly the second place line has dropped. To me this indicates the depth of the 2019s is spread around over more clubs than in the past, or perhaps the 2019s as a group can not reach the standards set by other classes. Notice the 2014 year where the pp100 skyrockets to 134. That year North Tartan had Arike Ogunbowale on their roster. That team could finish. But if the second place finisher in 2014 played the second place finisher this year it would be a victory for 2014. This was the lowest second place pp100 finish in seven years.

Again a key metric in improvement deals with shooting percentage. Again those number fall. This time it is the trend line for the winners that drop the most. The second place finishers are relatively flat. Only the 2014 winners showcase their skills with over 50%. This was the first year where both winners and second place finishers were under 40%. Does anyone work on shooting anymore?

2019 CLASS THROUGH THE YEARS

5th/2012: MN Thunder Bueckers 42, MN Stars 5 Nelson 29
6th/2013: MN Stars 6 Nelson 38, North Tartan Moen 16
7th/2014: MN Stars 7 Nelson 32, North Tartan Van Klei 30
8th/2015: Crossfire 8 Theisen 42, MN Stars 8 Nilsen 31
9th/2016: Crossfire 9 Theisen 43, MN Fury 2019 Blue 34
10th/2017: North Tartan 10 EYBL 46, MN Fury 2019 Blue 29
11th/2018: North Tartan 11 EYBL 53,  MN Stars 11 Nelson 29

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