TNL Express

Just Wright

2010-05-21T13:31:00.001-07:00

Click here for previews: Just Wright

TNL Takes 4th Place !

2010-05-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Once the dust setlled and the 36 teams had battled it out ... the Express have a great showing and finish 4th.

Game #1
Game #2
Game #3
Game #4

Student imposter arrested in Texas

2010-05-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

ODESSA, Texas (AP) -- A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday.

Police say the basketball star was really Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who school officials say was recognized last month by Florida coaches as having been a star high school player in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a few years ago.

Click here to read the entire article.

Express To Play in Kings of the Court Classic

2010-05-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

TOURNAMENT ROSTER

#1 - Jasper Duberry

#10 - Steve Bailey

#12 - Brandon Davis

#22 - Dillon Hager

#23 - Anthony Webber

#42 - Jordan Reibling

#50 - Kyle Zimmermann

#52 - Josh Pella

Click here for the brackets and schedule

2010-05-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Where Tomorrow’s Champions Train Today

Congratulations To The Champlin Park Rebels

2010 Northwest Suburban Conference Champions

2010 Section 5AAAA Champions

2010 State Tournament Participants
*

Personal & Individual Training

Player Clinics & Camps

Strength Speed & Vertical (SSV) Programs

Player Pre-TryOut Workouts

Team & Group Training Programs

Youth Coaches Clinics

Traveling TryOut Evaluations
*

9213 Ashley Terrace * Brooklyn Park, MN 55443

763 286-6670

TNLExpress@gmail.com

http://www.tnlexpress.blogspot.com/

Team Tryout Dates & Camp Information Coming !

2010-03-27T13:20:00.001-07:00

Congratulations To The Champlin Park Rebels !

2010-03-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sports Prep Zone by Our Varsity

2010-01-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sports Prep Zone by Our Varsity

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

2010-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

2010-01-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

2010-01-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

2010-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

2010-01-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

Sun Newspapers - MNSUN.com - Archives

MIAC men's basketball preview: St. Thomas again the favorite; St. John’s picked 2nd | sctimes.com | St Cloud Times

2009-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

MIAC men's basketball preview: St. Thomas again the favorite; St. John’s picked 2nd sctimes.com St Cloud Times

Richfield Boys to Rely on Senior Leadership

2009-12-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

Richfield Boys to Rely on Senior Leadership

Duberry Creating Interest At Viterbo

2009-09-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Duberry & Zimmermann To Attend Camp

2009-09-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Comets Fall Exposure Camp

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sauk Rapids High School
• 4 Game Guarantee

• Over 30 College Coaches In Attendance
click here to download registration form (microsoft word document)
click here to download hotel accommodations (microsoft word document)

Fall recruiting period kicks off

2009-09-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today was the 1st day of the fall contact period for Division 2 schools.

Click here to read the entire post.

Duberry Creating Interest at Carroll Montana

2009-09-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

JASPER ALLEN DUBERRY GET TO KNOW HIM

2009-08-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

I was able to do a question and answer piece with Jasper Allen Duberry who goes to Champlin Park High School. I met Jasper this past summer when he played summer AAU basketball. He currently plays just basketball. He has been starting ever since his sophomore year.

He said, ”I used to be in karate pretty seriously but it often conflicts with my basketball all year long. So I occasionally catch a class here and there. I played baseball and in elementary through middle school.” He currently stands 5’11” and is 172 pounds.

He will be a senior this year, class of 2010. When it comes to music he said, “ I listen to all kinds of stuff but mostly I like relaxing and light rock and acoustic, but overall pretty much everything but country.” His favorite artists are John Mayer, Coldplay, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z and Eminem.

He played for the TNL Express AAU basketball team this summer. His dad was his coach this summer. I asked him to talk about what it was like playing for his dad. “It went great. I felt that him being my coach made it easier to connect. And it made me a lot more coachable because we weren’t just limited to seeing each other only at basketball but at home as well.”

Click here to read the entire article

Duberry Creating Interest At Oberlin

2009-08-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

2009-08-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Tip Off Classic: The buzz has officially begun

by Ryan James
The BREAKDOWN
posted 08-04-2009

The buzz about the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic has begun. The 11 game event at Minnetonka High School may even grow to 12 contests, as teams just want to be involved with this fantastic one-day extravaganza. This IS the best collection of Minnesota talent under one roof all year long and over 15 division one college coaches have asked about the event because there is no better way to see more local talent then the Tip-Off Classic.

There are several contests that are catching the attention of our basketball community but Tartan versus Hopkins has moved to the top of the list. After the Royals defeated Tartan at the Pacesetter Sweet 16 in the finals Drew Preiner of the Titans walked off the floor and said “we want them again now”.

This little rivalry started last fall when a Hopkins player booted a Tartan player in the head in a fall league game and things grew this past weekend. Trash talking, technical fouls, and physical play were present and despite some of the nonsense there is a growing rivalry here. Round three could be in fall league but the big one will be in December. Hopkins beat Tartan by 12 points in the end but it was a much closer game than that. Troy Klingsporn and Drew Preiner had outstanding performances against the Royals but foul trouble hurt Tartan and D.J. Peterson and Joe Coleman took advantage. Their athletic ability could not be contained as the pair took over down the stretch. Things should be even more intense this December when Mark Klingsporn and Ken Novak Jr. get to the benches to lead their teams.

The Tip-Off Classic opens with Sibley East against Waconia and the feature is a post-up battle between North Dakota State commit Marshal Bjorklund and 2011 top five prospect Shelby Moats. Bjorklund is a guy that some consider to be “the best high school player that Minnesota has” while Moats’s inside and outside game will test that statement.

Another inside battle will be Jake Kreuser of Henry Sibley going head to head with Chad Calcaterra of Cloquet. This game looked to be a closer match-up then some thought until Jordan Jackson transferred from Como Park to Henry Sibley. Jackson is likely to be one of the state’s best scorers this year and Cloquet will have a tough time with him as will everybody else. But what fans will be watching is how Kreuser goes up against Calcaterra.

Another tasty contest will be Minneapolis Patrick Henry against Minnesota Transitions. With talent like Jordan Hughes, Louis Cox, Kevin Noreen, and Kyle Noreen on the floor you can definitely expect a ton of points to be put on the board. And with the vast majority of the athletes being from Minneapolis these kids will be jacked for the match-up.

The Tip-Off Classic has a lot of instate versus outstate flavor that will bring teams together that wouldn’t normally see one another. Class AA state championship contender Plainview/Elgin-Millville takes on an improving Minneapolis North team, Jordan Reiwer and Staples-Motley face Jacob Thomas and Columbia Heights, and a big Class AA contest will be Braham against Minnehaha Academy. Both of those teams will be preseason top ten and you can bet all the top coaches of that class will be on hand to scout.

There are also some outstanding match-ups from teams across the metro and these are games that basketball fans haven’t seen before. The deep bench of the Champlin Park Rebels will face Cretin-Derham Hall who arguably could have the most talent in the state of Minnesota. With a 6-foot-7 rock in the middle in Seantrel Henderson, a 6-foot-6 athletic power forward in Clay Horne, the vastly improved 6-foot-5 athletic Elliot Owusu, a sensational scorer in Raijon Kelly, and the expected contributions from outstanding sophomore talents Cortez Tillman and C.J. Neumann, the CDH Raiders have a combination of talented size and athletic ability that nobody else can match. But can they put things all together? The Champlin Park Rebels will be the first to test.

Talent will be coming off the bench in waves when Benilde-St. Margaret’s faces Lakeville South. Only Hopkins and Cretin-Derham Hall can go as deep as BSM when it comes to talent but the Red Knights will be young in spots. The Cougar junior group of wing Alex Richter, point guard Riley West, and post Spencer Pankonin are a foundation for success and when you put senior power forward Jake Wensmen and senior scoring guards Grant Mitchell and J.D. Mehlhon on the floor this is a deep group. But that can be matched by BSM at just about every position. Up front the Red Knights have 6-foot-5 juniors Myles Brand and Evan Battle, with the ball is sophomore star Isaiah Zierden, and on the wing is senior leaders Peter Crawford and Darren Glover. The Red Knights have several others both seniors and sophomores alike coming off the bench. So what will win out? One team has more experience while the other has more depth.

A near crosstown contest at the Tip-Off is Chaska against Minnetonka and once again there is going to be talent up and down the line-up. Chaska has the state’s elite group of 2011 players with Ross Travis, Jake White, and Max Watts taking the court but can they deal with the Tonka Shooters? You have to step out on Tor Anderson, Nick Latzke, and Cole Stefan so if coach John Hedstrom has that dribble drive attack going Chaska will have their work cut out for them.

And things don’t stop there. DeLaSalle against Osseo puts two of the state’s best programs and two of the state’s best coaches on the floor going head to head. Dave Thorson and Tim Theisen have some great tools to work with in Aaron Anderson, John Rowland, Jonah Travis, Jalen Jaspers, and others.

So right now go look at your calendar and circle December 12th. Your day should be open so the only problem will be what games are you going to watch? With two courts going at the same time you have to decide what talent you want to see. The start times are staggered so if by chance a game gets out of hand you can swing over to the other court and check out the action. Currently the Tip-Off starts at 11:00 AM (but stay tuned we may add another contest) and you will be entertained by the state’s best until ten o’clock at night.

Top 100 Prospect List for 2010

2009-08-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

by Ryan James @ MN Preps

The teams starting 5 are listed

1.) Kevin Noreen, 6-foot-10 Minnesota Transitions, PF
2.) Jake Thomas, 6-foot-3, Columbia Heights, SG
3.) Cole Stefan, 6-foot-3, Minnetonka, SG
4.) Chad Calcaterra, 6-foot-10, Cloquet, C
5.) DJ Peterson, 6-foot-4, Hopkins, SG
6.) Marshall Bjorklund, 6-foot-6, Sibley East, PF
7.) Alec Brown, 6-foot-11, Winona, C
8.) Dyami Starks, 6-fooot-2, Duluth East, PG/SG
9.) Taylor Filipek, 6-foot-6, Willmar, SF
10.) Mike Rostampour, 6-foot-7, Henry Sibley, PF
11.) Jake Kreuser, 7-foot-0, Henry Sibley, C
12.) Trevor Gruis, 6-foot-8, Ellsworth, PF
13.) Brett Ervin, 6-foot-5, Eden Prairie, SF
14.) Jordan Hughes, 5-foot-10, Mpls Patrick Henry, PG
15.) Vinard Birch, 5-foot-10, Eastview, PG
16.) Clay Horne, 6-foot-7, Cretin-Derham Hall. SF
17.) Tor Anderson, 6-foot-2, Minnetonka, SG
18.) Aaron Anderson, 5-foot-10, Osseo, PG
19.) Ben Bucholz, 6-foot-7, Perham, PF
20.) Yuriy Malashenko, 6-foot-5, Jordan, SF
21.) Peter Crawford, 6-foot-5, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, SF
22.) Ryan Duxbury, 6-foot-8, Stillwater, C
23.) Alex Hanks, 6-foot-2, St. Cloud Tech, SF
24.) Jalen Jaspers, 6-foot-2, DeLaSalle, SG
25.) Elliot Owusu, 6-foot-5, Cretin-Derham Hall, SF
26.) Manani Beavers, 6-foot-4, Tartan, SF
27.) Dajon Newell, 5-foot-9, Lakeville North, PG
28.) Dan Kornbaum, 6-foot-8, Little Falls, PF
29.) Michael Johnson, 5-foot-10, Grand Rapids, PG
30.) Jordan Jackson, 6-foot-2, Henry Sibley, PG/SG
31.) Zach Noreen, 6-foot-6, Albany, PF
32.) Max Rosenbloom, 6-foot-4, St. Paul Johnson, SF
33.) Elijah Sabah, 6-foot-5, Spring Lake Park, SF
34.) Connor Gunderson, 6-foot-5, Austin, SG
35.) Joe Terfehr, 6-foot-7, Breckenridge, SF
36.) Luke Januschka, 6-foot-5, SF, St. Cloud Cathedral
37.) Leonard Glass, 6-foot-5, Minnetonka, SF
38.) Jordan Riewer, 6-foot-2, Staples-Motley, PG/SG
39.) Jasper Duberry, 5-foot-11, Champin Park, PG
40.) Parker Hines, 6-foot-0, Minnehaha Academy, PG
41.) Louis Cox, 5-foot-10, Minneapolis Henry, PG
42.) Alex Koch, 6-foot-5, St. Louis Park, SF
43.) Tim Lubke, 6-foot-2, Tartan, SG
44.) Jay Sewer, 5-foot-9, Richfield, PG
45.) Scott Nystrom, 6-foot-2, St. Cloud Tech, PG
46.) Brett Hungerholt, 6-foot-7, Lanesboro, SF
47.) Zach Riedeman, 6-foot-5, Forest Lake, SF
48.) Deron Murphy, 6-foot-1, Bloom Kennedy, SG/PG
49.) Jonathon Crockett, 6-foot-2, Totino-Grace, SG
50.) Josh Pratt, 6-foot-3, St. Anthony, SG
51.) Josh Pella, 6-foot-3, Champlin Park, SG
52.) Jack Wittenborg, 6-foot-2, Bloom. Jefferson, SG
53.) Devon Knopke, 6-foot-3, Lakeville North, SG
54.) Charlie Kern, 6-foot-3, Belle Plaine, PG
55.) Sami Onsomu, 6-foot-6, Mankato East, PF
56.) Shaun Condon, 6-foot-2, MACCRAY, SG
57.) Paul Franklin, 6-foot-2, Stillwater, PG
58.) Erik Tengwall, 6-foot-1, New London-Spicer, PG/SG
59.) Tony Gerding, 6-foot-2, Centennial, PG
60.) Galen Holzhueter, 6-foot-3, Minnesota Valley Lutheran, SG
61.) Andrew Good, 6-foot-8, Mora, PF
62.) John Rowland, 6-foot-5, Osseo, SG
63.) Craig Brown, 6-foot-2, Park, SG
64.) Danny Geiger, 6-foot-2, New Prague, SG
65.) Jalen Williams, 6-foot-5, Bloom. Jefferson, SF
66.) Alonzo Traylor, 6-foot-7, Mpls South, PF
67.) Erik Stark, 6-foot-7, Pipestone Area, PF
68.) Martin Wind, 6-foot-1, Cass Lake-Bena, SG
68.) Mike Lindsey, 6-foot-4, Becker, SG
70.) Zach Vraa, 6-foot-3, Rosemount, SG
71.) Justin Casey, 6-foot-6, Park Center, PF
72.) Spencer Cummings, 6-foot-5, White Bear Lake, PF
73.) Kyle Zimmerman, 6-foot-4, Champlin Park, PF
74.) Clay Olstad, 6-foot-1, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, SG
75.) Taylor Hanson, 6-foot-6, Minnehaha Academy, PF
76.) Darius Clare, 6-foot-6, Delano, PF
77.) Doug Sewell, 6-foot-4, Forest Lake, PF
78.) Scott Willenbring, 6-foot-4, Rocori, SF
79.) Erik Stark, 6-foot-3, Grand Rapids, SG
80.) Tom Korf, 6-foot-5, St. Cloud Tech, SF
81.) Chris McMorris, 6-foot-4, Osseo, SF
82.) Travis Meinders, 6-foot-0, Worthington, PG
83.) Demitri Conwell, 6-foot-2, St. Paul Johnson, SG
84.) Darren Glover, 6-foot-3, Benilde-St. Margarets, SG
85.) Joey Cupherus, 6-foot-4 Sebeka, SF
86.) Charlie Asleen, 6-foot-5, St. Thomas Academy, SF
87.) Nick Lee, 6-foot-5, Blue Earth, SF
88.) Josh Hanson, 6-foot-5, Maranatha Academy, SF
89.) Brandon Harrison, 6-foot-6, Robbinsdale Cooper, PF
90.) Dan Fleissner, 6-foot-7, Rochester Century, PF
91.) Jeff Fallat, 6-foot-3, Burnsville, SG
92.) Ben Shultz, 6-foot-10, Cloquet, C
93.) Matt Baudin, 6-foot-3, East Grand Forks, SG
94.) Jesse Briggity, 5-foot-11, Blaine, PG
95.) Blaine Erie, 6-foot-4, Goodhue, SF
96.) Shane Monjeau, 6-foot-3, Hastings, SG
97.) Nick Quicksell, 6-foot-5, Woodbury, SF
98.) Troy Klingsporn, 6-foot-4, Tartan, SF
99.) Cory Booker, 6-foot-5, Bloom. Kennedy, PF
100.) Will Patt, 6-foot-8, St. Thomas Academy, PF

Duberry Creating Interest at Carroll University

2009-08-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

Duberry Creating Interest At Macalester

2009-07-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

Final Silver Division Bracket

2009-07-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Bracket Play Game 4 - Championship

2009-07-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

TNL 59 - Texas Ballerz Elite 70

The team takes on Texas again after losing to them by 1 point in pool play. Texas shoots very well from the perimeter and comes away with the championship.

Duberry - 14
Ismail - 4
Sewer - 9
Williams -17
Zimmermann - 10
Cummings - 5

Bracket Play Game 3 - Final 4

2009-07-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

TNL 74 - Arkansas Rebels 51

Team jumps out to a big lead only to see it cut to 6 and then goes back on another big run. Duberry and Zimmerman turn ankles and are hopeful for the championship game. Williams shows his versatility and has another great game.

Duberry - 6
Sherva - 8
Ismail - 8
Sewer - 11
Williams - 29
Zimmermann - 5
Cummings - 7

Hoop City Bracket Play Game 2 - Elite 8

2009-07-24T17:15:00.001-07:00

TNL 91 -Oklahoma Wizards 88 in OT
81-81 at the end of regulation

What a battle.
Williams knocks down a 3 point buzzer beater with the score tied at 88 for the win.
Ismail comes off the bench to have a monster game. He cleans up EVERYTHING around the boards (I'm thinking atleast 15) and has a double double.

Duberry - 11
Sherva - 5
Ismail - 23
Sewer - 17
Williams - 23
Zimmermann - 10
Cummings - 2

Hoop City Bracket Game 1 - Sweet 16

2009-07-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

TNL 78 - San Antonia Roadhawks 58

The team comes out with a mission plays well and this one is over early.

Duberry - 13
Sherva - 11
Ismail - 9
Sewer - 12

Williams - 7

Zimmermann - 14
Cummings - 12

Hoop City Pool Play Game 3

2009-07-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

TNL 53 - Kansa City Elite 64

UGLY!
After two heart breaking losses the team doesn't show up for this one.

Duberry - 11
Witte -2
Sherva - 3
Ismail - 3
Sewer -7
Williams - 15
Zimmermann - 8
Cummings - 4

Hoop City Pool Play Game 2

2009-07-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

TNL 74- San Antonio Spiece 78
At the end of regultion 67-67

Duberry - 13
Sherva - 8
Ismail - 6
Sewer - 6
Williams - 15
Zimmermann - 16
Cummings -10

Hoop City Pool Game 1

2009-07-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

TNL 71 - Texas Ballerz Elite 72
In a lead swinging battle the Express come back from 8 down with a couple of minues left to let this one slip away.

Duberry 13
Sherva 16
Ismail - 4
Sewer 9
Zimmermann - 12
Cummings - 7
Williams - 10

All around big game from Sherva who knocked down the 3 and got to the basket.

Up Next The Hoop City Clasic

2009-07-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

July 22-25, 2009
NCAA Certified Event
17U, 16U & 15U - Boys and Girls
All Games will be played at Okun Fieldhouse in conjunction with the Top 24 division.

Up Next MN Pump & Run Tournament

2009-07-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota Pump & Run Tournament

Click here for the 17U Bracket

Knopke & Sewer All Tournament

2009-06-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Devon Knopke and Jauson Sewer for making the 2009 Mr. Basketball All Tournament team.

Congratulations to the Minnesota Magic Black!

2009-06-21T19:11:00.001-07:00

After knocking of TNL in one of the semi-final games they beat SW Minnesota Stars for the championship.

Click here for the box score.

TNL 58 - MN Magic Black 71

2009-06-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Olson - 6
Sherva - 5
Ismail - 7
Pajibo - 2
Sewer - 6
Knopke - 13
Ristanovic - 3
Zimmermann - 16

TNL - 72 - IBCA Iowa Select 43

2009-06-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Olson - 8
Sherva - 13
Ismail - 2
Pajibo -6
Sewer - 10
Knopke - 20
Ristanovic - 2
Zimmermann - 11

Tournament Information

2009-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Tournament Schedule

Pool Play Results

Bracket Results

Top Individual Performances

Top Team Performances

TNL - IBCA Iowa Select I

2009-06-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

The team wins their pool and heads into bracket play without Cummings and Duberry.

The Czar - Mankato Day 2 Results

2009-06-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

I made the trip to Mankato to see for myself what the Mr Basketball MN Showcase had on display. Last night the coaches were out in force, but a very very quiet day in terms of coaches sightings on Saturday (weak schedule didn't help).

Game 1: MN Glory was down 15-4 early to IBCA Iowa Select I as they couldn't buy a shot from anywhere. IBCA star Trevor Osen in foul trouble which limited his 1st half minutes. Glory's Connor Gunderson took advantage of their open-post motion with numerous curl cuts into the lane for easy hoops and then knocked down 3 triples in the 2nd half on his way to 24 points in a 60-51 Glory win.

Game 2: TC Elite vs Mitchell Kernels. TC Elite sleepwalks early but manages to take a 37-24 halftime lead. Mitchell closes to 58-54 with 5:32 remaining but Aaron McCrossan knocks down a pair of his 6 triples in the game and adds on a pair of assists as TC Elite opens the shooting gallery down the stretch. Jordan Gieske doing a nice job of running and working to get easy buckets. TC Elite wins 78-59.

Game 3: MN Select James vs WI Blizzard II. Jake Kreuser with a bunch of touches for Select in this one. Blizzard take a 26-25 lead to half and then open the lead up to 8 early in the 2nd half before Select comes back for a 50-47 win. Tyler Firme's 12 points leads the way and I like his game. Jake Kreuser with 8 points (3-9 FG), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks on my sheet.

Game 4: TNL out of gate quick vs the SW MN Stars 7-0 despite 0-6 shooting from their big 3 of Duberry, Knopke and Sewer. TNL gets 8 in a row including a pair of Duberry triples for a 29-21 lead only to give up the next 9. SW goes to the half up 34-33. 42 all inside of 12 minutes when TNL goes on a 17-4 run to take a 59-46 lead with 6:25 left. The lead gets out to 16 before SW makes a furious late comeback. A steal for 2 cuts the lead to 5 with 2:05 left, then a 3 pt play cuts the lead to 3 at the 1:15 mark and a triple with 55 seconds left cuts the TNL lead to 76-75. TNL misses a front end with 28.8 left and survives a wide open look at the tying 3 withi 18 seconds left. TNL wins 82-80. Jay Sewer leads the way with 23 points (5 triples) on 8-16 shooting. Jasper Duberry with 4 triples as he went 7-12 for 18 points. Devon Knopke struggled with his shot going 2-8 (missed 1st 6) but he went 11-14 from the charity stripe and I had him for 7 rebounds and 3 assists with 15 points.

Game 5: MSB blows out Magic Red 79-59. Richfield's Ben Webster with 19 points for Magic Red. Lucas Brown with 21 points after a cold shooting start as he continues to impress here for MSB. MSB missing key components Zach Vraa, Troy Klingsporn and Andy Jirik.

Game 6: Best thing I can say about the 73-36 WI Blizzard I win over IBCA Iowa Select II squad is to acknowledge the IBCA guard who had the Kurt Rambis glasses going. That was a quality visual. Adam Haidman with 8 triples and 26 points for the victors in the top scoring performance of the tourney to date.

Game 7: Magic Black vs MN Select Kruger. Magic Black out to a 7-0 lead but the Heat are pesky and won't go away. Doug Sewall now with the Magic (was with TNL) gets a nasty gash above his right eye and we've got copious amounts of blood visible. CLEANUP ON COURT 1 PLEASE! But he's tough and comes back with a big patch in the 2nd half. Though I wish he would have had the Cameron Rundles playoff headwrap of a few years ago vs Henry with the single dried trickle of blood down his cheek. Anyway, North (St. Paul's) Nathan Schouvieller takes the extra step and gets called for it but the hammer throwdown came out of nowhere. Surprisingly athleticism there. Jeff Fallat with a putback with 2:07 remaining to give Magic a 52-49 lead. Brodie Raymond with a clutch triple with 29 seconds left to push Select into a 54 all tie. Jalen Williiams hesitates and misses an open 3 and Jeff Fallat fouls on the rebound with 6 seconds left Raymond makes the 1st FT. Magic requests a timeout after possession of the 2nd free throw. 2nd free throw is up and off the rim, mad scramble, ball is loose. Wait. There's the whistle and Magic gets the timeout down 1 with 4.9 left. Good break for the Magic. Jalen Williams goes full court but its not good at the horn and Select Kruger wins 55-54. Jalen Williams perimeter skills were more than expected and he leads the way with 16 points. Raymond with 3 more triples and 15 points as he continues his solid play in his backyard.

Game 8: Heat Select struggled though the 1st 3/4 of the game vs the Western Iowa Knickerbockers. But they make a run and win 69-61. David Mooers comes up big with 19 points for the winners. Nathan Kuck only 7 points as I had him 3-12 shooting, just one of those days. He's been Heat Select's top player all summer. Elijah Sabah quiet with 6 points on 3-5 shooting.

Game 9: IBCA Iowa Select I vs Mitchell Kernels. Game appears meaningless but it has impact on the next game. A Kernels win means Glory and TC Elite play head up for 1 and 2 in the pool. An IBCA win means a TC Elite win forces a 3 way tie. 1st place determined by point differential. Then 2nd place determined by head-head result of the remaining 2 teams. Glory at +29, TC Elite at +16, IBCA at -6. Long story short IBCA blows a 12 point 2nd half lead but comes back to hold off Mitchell 61-54. That means going into game 10 below. TC Elite not only needs to win, but they need to win by 7 or more to win the pool. 6 or less would put them in the 2nd place head-head tiebreaker with IBCA which IBCA won yesterday by 3 and therefore TC Elite would be 3rd and not play in the championship bracket.Game 10: TC Elite vs Glory. Remember TC Elite needs a win by 7+. Glory out to a 28-16 lead with 5:18 left in the 1st half. Josh Pratt back with a pair of triples to cut the lead to 3 2 minutes later (9-0 run). But Glory makes clutch shots and they lead 36-29 at the half. TC Elite to the bonus and within 2 with 8:23 left when they miss the front end of the bonus that would tie the game. Glory's Nate Miller counters with back to back triples and the Glory lead is 57-49 with 7 minutes left. Pratt with a steal for 2 but then he misses the front end with 3:41 left and TC Elite down 63-58. David Gschneider with a hoop and 2 FTs and after we get the scoreboard straightened out, we're tied at 63 with 1:30 to play. Aaron McCrossan's 3 at 1:15 counters a Miller layin and now TC Elite leads 66-65, but remember they need a 7 point win so now the foul game starts. Glory misses 3 front ends (we're only shooting 1+1 in this tourney, no double bonus) but TC Elite can't convert. After 2 Justin Bosman FTs with 18.8 left, Pratt nails a triple with 4.5 to go to tie the game and send us to a 2 minute overtime. New life for TC Elite? No. Glory wins 79-75. Josh Pratt and Connor Gunderson lead their teams with 22 points each. Pratt hot from deep as he had 5 triples.

Game 11: TNL vs MN Select James. Interesting contrast of Select and Jake Kreuser vs the helter skelter style of TNL. Sam Onsomu (I think a mini Bryce Webster when I see him) is a nice piece inside along with Tyler Firme. He's got a big frame and works hard inside. Offense hard to come by in this one as TNL wins easily 65-42. Onsomu leads Select with 10 points. Jake Kreuser 9 points on 3-6 shooting with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Biggest shock though is how easy TNL won despite the woeful shooting of their guards. Jay Sewer 15 points on 6-15 shooting. Devon Knopke cold again as I had him 2-11 shooting. Nice game of 14 points and aggressiveness at Kreuser from Kyle Zimmerman.

MN Glory, MSB, Magic Black and TNL win the 4 pools.

Posted by Twin Cities Hoops Czar at 11:36 PM
Labels: 2009 Mr Basketball MN Showcase

TNL 65 - Minnesota Select 42

2009-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

Duberry 13
Olson 2
Sherva 10
Pajibo 4
Sewer 15
Knopke 5
Ristanovic 2
Zimmermann 14

Click here for the detailed box score.

The Czar Checks In ...

2009-06-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Final results from the first day of the inaugural Mister Basketball Minnesota Showcase in Mankato.

Game 1) Magic Red vs WI Blizzard I. 77-41 Blizzard win. Sam Koslowski (17.3 for Menasha St. Mary Central last year ) with 19 points for the Blizzard. I wish this was the top Blizzard team, but this is their 3rd or 4th team. WI Blizzard II is a group of 16s.

Game 2) Lucas Brown's 25 was the top scoring performance of the day. In MSB’s 61-49 win over IBCA Iowa Select II.Game 3) MN Select-Kruger over Western Iowa Knickerbockers 60-36 (no 6'8 Patrick Kurth or Tim Olejniczak for WIK).

Game 4) Magic Black over Heat Select 67-56. 3 guys in dbl figures for each team. Magic’s Jeff Fallat with 14 to lead all scorers. Doug Sewall with Magic Black and not TNL. Elijah Sabah 11 with a pair of triples for Heat Select.

Game 5) IBCA Iowa Select I 58-55 over TC Elite. Edina's Stephen Asp with 24 in a losing effort. Josh Pratt held to 6 points.

Game 6) MN Glory 61-36 over Mitchell Kernels. Nate Miller 19 points for the Glory. Connor Gunderson 10 points.Game 7) SW MN Stars 65-35 over Select-James in a result that surprised me most from this day because of the margin. Jake Kreuser does lead all scorers with 13 points.

Game 8) TNL 66-47 over WI Blizzard II (16s). Devon Knopke 18 points.

Game 9) IBCA Iowa Select II 71-51 over Magic Red.

Game 10) MSB over WI Blizzard I 62-59. Kennedy's Ryan Vikesland with 12 points. 5'8 Nick Whalen with 3 triples and a game high 22 points for the Blizzard. Appears that there was no Zach Vraa for MSB. Drat I want to see him play.

Game 11) Magic Black over Western Iowa Knickerbockers 77-44. Jalen Williams with 16 points to lead 4 players in double figures for Magic Black. Nice to see big Matt Sellers get 13 points. He's done double-duty all summer and many will say he should have played more (at any level) for DLS last year.

Game 12) Heat Select def Select-Kruger 68-65. Nathan Kuck leads Heat Select in scoring again in this one as he had 20. St. Peter's Brodie Raymond with 5 triples and 24 points for Select-Kruger.

Pools A and D (MN Glory, TC Elite, MN Select-James and TNL) all play twice on Saturday. Magic Black and MSB will play their final pool games with a chance to sweep their pools. MN Select-James will likely need 2 wins to finish in the top half of their pool and make the championship bracket. But without the injured Alex Koch (dislocated ankle suffered last weekend at Hamline), a major perimeter threat is lost. I'm rooting for the TC Elite vs Glory game to determine who wins the pool or who advances.

Pool Game 3

2009-06-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

The team takes on the Minnesota Select 1

TNL 82 - SW Minnesota 80

2009-06-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

Duberry 18
Olson 11
Sherva 6
Sewer 23
Knopke 15
Zimmermann 11

Click here for the complete detailed box score.

Pool Play Game 2

2009-06-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

The team takes on the SW Minnesota Stars who defeated the Minnesota Select I team 65-35 in their first pool play game.

Pool Play Game 1

2009-06-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

TNL 66 - Wisconsin Blizzard II 47

Duberry 8
Olson 9
Sherva 6
Ismail 7
Sewer 11
Knopke 18
Zimmermann 7

Click here for the complete detailed box score

Up Next The Mr Basketball Minnesota Showcase

2009-06-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Showcase
June 19-21, 2009 • Mankato, MN

Friday, June 19
5:10 PM
TNL Express vs. Wisconsin Blizzard II

Saturday, June 20
12:30 PM
SW Minnesota Stars vs. TNL Express

8:40 PM
Minnesota Select I vs. TNL Express

TNL 65 - McCray 67

2009-06-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

Southwest Team Camp
After playing to a 35-35 tie at the half, Knopke's 3 point shot for the win doesn't stay down as McCray holds on for the win. The team played without Zimmermann.

TNL 55 - Marshall 50

2009-06-14T21:06:00.001-07:00

Southwest Team Camp

TNL 60 - Iowa Davenport West 57

2009-06-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Southwest Team Camp

Spring Lake Park over Anoka in Sudden Death

2009-06-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

TNL player BJ Sherva help push SLP to the limit.

Click here for post game analysis.

Click here to load the hundred plus photo slide show.

AAU State Tournament Notes

2009-06-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2009

Ryan James
MinnesotaPreps.com Senior Writer

This weekend the Minnesota Pump N Run 16s surprised basketball fans by not only competing with the field but by taking the championship. Their road to the finals included wins over the top three Minnesota Preps ranked teams in the field as the Pumps dispatched of the Minneapolis Redhawks, Minnesota Comets, and Minnesota Fury on their way to the tournament crown.

17s QUARTERFINALS

The TNL Express outlasted the Minnesota Heat Elite team 79-74 in overtime. Free throws from Devon Knopke, a lay-in from Spencer Cummings, and a bucket from Jasper Duberry combined with a strip of the ball from Heat guard Paul Franklin put the game away in the extra session.

Watching Taylor Filipek in the first half against Triple Threat you can see that Taylor has been working on his jumper extensively changing his release a little. His elbow is in more, his release is higher and looks prettier, and the results seem better. Filipek's three triples in the first half against Triple Threat gave them a small edge.

In the second half the Comets ran away winning 68-54. The lead was pushed to double figures when Ben Bucholz scored three times on the inside. The 6-foot-8 post went to the middle every time from either side of the lane and produced with his jump hook as well as with a difficult right handed shot across his body over the defender. His buckets as well as another three and two open floor jams from Filipek put the game away. Amongst their top workers defensively was Michael Johnson who pestered the opposing guards throughout.

Minnesota Comets Elite II started off good with the Minnesota Fury Elite as Martin Wind hit a pair of treys. But they were then blitzed by the Fury as nobody could keep Dajon Newell in front of them, agile 6-foot-6 four man Justin Casey from Park Center scored a number of times at the rim including a spin move lay-in in transition, Yuriy Maleshenko made up for his several long range misses with tip-ins inside, and Bloomington Jefferson's Jack Wittenborg started his red hot shooting weekend with several mid-range jumper makes. The Fury won 84-63.

The Pump N Run 16s defeated the Minneapolis Redhawks 58-56 in the quarters.

17s SEMI-FINALS
The match-up between the Comets and Pumps was even for a half. The Pumps were getting steady scoring production while Dan Kornbaum's low post game was again producing for the Comets and Scott Willenbring made a pair of clutch three-pointers. Willenbring of Rocori is not often included when people are listing great shooters in the 2010 class but his name should warrant consideration after this weekend.

While Scott was hot at the start of the fourth quarter he, nor any other Comet, could connect on an outside shot the rest of the period and the Pumps took advantage. Already with an increasing lead the Pumps turned long Comet misses into Kyle Noreen and Alex Richter dunks the other way. The final score was 58-49 and overall the real difference was that the Comet wings cold not stop Jonah Travis and Alex Richter from getting to the rim. On several third quarter possessions the pair beat the Comet wings to the middle of the lane and then finished with impressive efforts. Travis used his explosion to finish while Richter used great body control to absorb contact and still complete plays. Alex finished with 16 points while Travis produced 12.

In the other semi-final the Fury controlled the second half winning 68-55 over TNL.

17s CHAMPIONSHIP
Yuriy Malashenko opened the game with a pair of three-pointers as the Fury built a small lead in the title game. Malashenko controlled the boards and although he was hot from outside early the rest of his buckets were tip-ins and putbacks. Also, Dajon Newell seemed to have the green light from coach Ben Davis as he was attacking and/or shooting at will throughout the contest. Problem was the shooting percentage wasn't that high.

A turning point for coach Jeremy Miller and the Pumps in the final was Shakopee big Jason Perkins. The 6-foot-4 jack-of-all-trades had a three-point play and a pair of free throws that gave the Pump 16s five straight points and a 26-23 lead.

In the second half it became Wittenborg's hot shooting hand against Jonah Travis for a time. Travis showed the crowd a good looking three-point stroke and it's rare to see him release from deep but it did look good. Miller also placed Jonah at the top of the key where he attacked Fury wings with the dribble drive using the move to get a step then his explosion to finish.

Now getting much attention on the drive with about a minute left Travis kicked out a pass to Alex Kreuser who hit maybe the biggest shot of the game. Tied at 38 the Totino-Grace guard spotted up to swish the triple giving the Pumps a three point lead in the slug fest. After a Newell jumper for the Fury and a Perkins free throw for the Pumps, Fury coach Ben Davis produced a great play to free up Wittenborg at the top of the key but his hot hand misfired. From there Aaron Ziman put the game away with free throws as the Pump 16s won 47-42. Travis finished with a team high 12 points.

15s CHAMPIONSHIP
After scoring 23 points in a semi-final victory over the Minnesota Comets, Minnesota Southside forward Joey King received double or triple teams every time he touched the ball on the block in the championship. The Minnesota Suns were not about to let King put up big numbers on them and it really did work in the first half as King's touches were limited for the first 16 minutes.

In the second half King's frustration got to him and he didn't box out strong on a play giving up a putback. But this play seemed to light a fire under the 6-foot-7 Eastview standout as he went back the other way to split the double time to score strong with two short hooks. Joey's effort on the glass then picked up as he cleaned misses of the rim high on the glass.

As the third quarter became the fourth King took more and more control. He turned one defensive board into a Kevin Love like outlet pass for a score and Joey was getting to the free throw line possession after possession. Later he produced with a face-up jumper, a drop-step power move score, and some free throws and the Southside crew withstood a great effort from Anthony Hill and the Suns to win 49-46. In a losing effort Hill (a Champlin Park freshman) scored with three three-pointers and a couple drives plus played good pressure defense.

PLAYER NOTES
The best dunks of the weekend included a tip-dunk in the semi-final from Jonah Travis and a monster baseline jam from Luke Januschka. The 6-foot-5 wing from St. Cloud Cathedral went baseline and dunked on one of the bigger Triple Threat players as both collided in the air.

Marcus Alipate not only tripped to Stanford this past weekend but he also met with the Cal coaches and saw their campus.

Ben Bucholz has a strong interest in North Dakota and they have a strong interest in him. Will they come together soon? Time will tell.

Scott Nystrom of the Comets Elite II seemingly can get to the basket on anybody. If he learns to play better without the ball and gets that jumper more consistent expect division twos to be giving him strong interest.

Martin Wind was one of the more exciting players to watch all weekend. He hit more then three-pointers as Martin was beating kids off the dribble to get to the hole using his tricky handles plus Martin produced some very creative passes for teammates to score on.

This weekend Kevin Noreen was visiting Marquette.

One of the hardest working players in the entire event was Annandale big Phil Nowak. The 6-foot-5 bruiser was dominant on the glass for Triple Threat.

How about Maranatha Christian Academy stud freshman Darian Pittman getting calls like his initials were MJ? He scored 24 points in a win over Howard Pulley White and 18 of them were on charity tosses.

2009 AAU District Championships Thoughts

2009-06-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Czar
Sunday, June 7, 2009

My thoughts on vomit, horse racing hats, officiating, defensive struggles and whatever else of note from this weekend's AAU District Championships.

15U
I start the weekend by seeing Tommy McDermott take the tip for 43 Hoops Daniels in the 8-9 game. vs 43 Hoops Gameli My kind of tip with a guard taking it. A pair of Kevin Jensen layups start a run that puts Daniels over the top 53-44. No real surprises in any of the bracket games. Suns came from 10 down vs Daniels in the quarters and won by 19 with a big 3rd quarter (21-2 run). Howard Pulley White took out Daniels last week and took out Pump N Run this week for bragging rights. Comets Elite took out Magic Elite and Southside defeated Heat Elite. Darian Pittman with 24 points (18 FTs) for the Suns as they defeated Pulley in the semis 72-61. Pulley with a pair of runs in that one but couldn't get over the top. That game took forever with all the whistle. Interesting that after a comment of mine to the assigning official about 1 of the refs, he jumped in at half and made it a 3 man crew. Joey King with 23 for Southside as they defeated a very game Comets team 68-60 in the other semi. That game was tied inside of 3 minutes to play. Southside defeated the Suns 49-46 in a war for the 15U title. Nice double teams from the Suns to try and keep King in check. We even had a fan (youngster I believe) leave some of the their lunch in the stands the hard way during the title game. What is that smell? Ewwwwwww, that's vomit. That set of bleachers is toast.

Pump N Run did get their shot at 43 Hoops (finally these teams play again at some level) in the consolation bracket instead of the winners bracket. PNR up 13 late in the 3rd quarter but 43 Hoops doesn't go away. Cortez Tillman goes up and comes down awkwardly on his left wrist late and has to leave. Kevin Jensen makes a pair of FTs to cut the lead to 3 with 1:34 left. But PNR gets 8 in a row thanks to a pair of 3 point plays and PNR wins 60-49.

16U
The biggest shocker of the weekend for me had to be the Comets Elites (yes I picked them to win it) losing not once but twice on Saturday. Going out 61-53 to the Magic Elites isn't that big a deal, but the upstart MSB squad also beat the Comets Elites on Saturday. Remember that MSB gave Pump N Run all they wanted during bracket play at the Pump N Run tournament. I get Team Minnesota losing to the Wrath in the semifinals correct for a clean upper half of the draw. Wrath really handled Wear Out The Net from start to finish and I didn't expect that. Heat Elite took it to Magic Elite in the other semi 42-26. Heat Elite defeat the Wrath 44-39 in another major defensive struggle for the 16U D1 title. The Wrath are like a python in that they just squeeze the life out of you. Jack Klukas is known, but also keep the name Conner Nord in mind from Eden Prairie. Nice presence inside for The Wrath. Heat's end game execution wasn't ideal, but they managed to survive. MSB also took out WOTN on Sunday. SW MN Heat did make the 16U-D2 title game.

17U
MSB wins the D2 bracket 40-36 over Fury Gold in another defensive struggle. Jalen Jaspers with Magic Black again this weekeend but I was surprised Fury Gold took them out by 24 in the semis. Now to the real fun, 17U-D1

Triple Threat took out TC Elite 65-43 in a major suprise in margin in the 8-9 game. 17-10 TC Elite after 1 quarter but they gave up a 26-3 run over about 1 quarter of play and were down 18 after 3. In the quarters, TNL needed OT vs Heat Elite before winning 79-74. Comets Seevers after beating Heat Select got down 30 to Fury Elite. But they cut the lead to 12 before bowing out 68-54. Comets Hanson defeated Triple Threat. Pump N Run 16s took out the Redhawks 58-56 in the last quarterfinal. PNR wins the 1st 2 quarters 13-12 for a 2 point halftime lead. Taylor Hanson 2 fouls in the 1st quarter cut his minutes and nothing from Parker Hines. The Redhawks go small and use a 2-3 zone nicely to end the 3rd quarter and a Taylor Hanson 3 gives them a 1 point lead going to the final stanza. Tied with 2:14 left and then Hanson fouls out. Jonah Travis with 3 of 4 FTs and a pair of dunks after that. Hines keeping the Redhawks close but his 3 at the horn only cuts the margin. PNR wins 58-56. Travis leads the way with 13 points. Parker Hines held to 9.

Fury and TNL close at the half of their semifinal, but Fury opens it up in the 2nd half and wins 68-55. Comets Hanson vs Pump N Run in the other semifinal. 1st 5 points of the game to PNR but a 9-2 Hanson run looks like it has them going. Jonah Travis with a reverse layin and PNR using some 2-3 which is contrary to the 1-2-2 they show. 15-14 PNR after 1. To the 2nd quarter and Travis has a monster 2 handed follow dunk, Jason Perkins with a straight away triple and Eric Robertson with a big triple. PNR 29-18 at the 1:40 mark for a 14-4 run in the quarter. The PNR lead is 7 at the half. The Comets make a run in the 3rd with a Taylor Filipek 3 point and a pair of triples from sniper Scott Willenbring. That cuts the PNR lead to 38-34 going to the 4th and it almost feels like PNR is just hanging on. But Alex Richter is back in to start the final quarter after his usual end of quarter bench rotation and he gets 5 in a row to push the lead right back to 8. Dan Kornbaum keeps the Comets close with a 3 point play at 4:13. 45-42 PNR leads. Perkins with another huge bomb inside of 3 minutes and the lead is 8. Kyle Noreen with a breakaway dunk and Richter with a layup to cap. PNR wins 58-49. Richter with 16 and Travis with 12.

PNR vs Fury Elite in the championship game. Yuriy Maleshenko with a pair of quick triples for the Fury, but PNR wins the rest of the quarter 13-6. Jack Wittenborg concludes a 6-0 Fury run with his 2nd post up against Aaron Ziman for a 16-13 Fury lead early in the 2nd quarter. 26-24 PNR at the half. LeDarian Horton with a nice 3rd quarter but neither team can gain a major advantage on the scoreboard. 36-34 PNR going to the final quarter. Aaron Ziman picks up his 4th foul seconds into the quarter and the problem that is Dajon Newell just became more so. Then again maybe not as nobody can seem to score. Jonah Travis with a great skip pass out of a post double team and Alex Kreuser nails a triple with 3:45 left for a 41-38 lead. Newell slips a screen and finishes. Richter counters on the other end. A missed 1 and 1 by Fury with 1:31 left is painful but PNR doesn't convert and Fury has the ball with 58 seconds left down 43-40. Newell with a jumper to cut the lead to 1 with 45 seconds left. After a Perkins FT, Wittenborg misses a good look at a 3. Ziman makes 2 FTs to clinch the win. PNR 16s win the 17U state title 47-42. Congrats to coach Miller on his 1st state title. Jonah Travis with 12 in the win for the only player in double figures.

Biggest story of the weekend is PNR's physical play. Normally its the older team having the advantage in pushing the younger team around. Not so in this instance. PNR was too physical for the Redhawks and beat up the Comets. And they were plenty tough in the war against a very rough and tough Fury team. The Comets had no answer for Alex Richter on the wing in the semifinal game and Jonah Travis was a beast in the championship game. In the 3 games against very solid MN 17s, PNR gave up 56, 49 and 42 points. Then they made big shots on the offensive end with the Perkins/Robertson/Kreuser triples in addition to plays from Richter or Travis.

A couple of nice posters handed out by the Comets Seevers squad during the weekend. Andrew Good handed out one with a 2 handed mash in the game vs Heat Select. Luke Januschka with a 1 handed breakout poster in the consolation game against Triple Threat.

And finally, long time readers may remember that Friday night at this event last year we had a lady decked out in full Kentucky Derby regalia (fantastic hat included). Well, this year didn't disappoint. We had both days of a lady wearing a nice purple fedora like hat with a "flower" on it (lack of better term) and matching outfit. It didn't meet last year's standard, but still high quality fashion that my simple mind found amusing in this setting.

Duberry & Ismail Creating Interest @ Wisconsin La Crosse

2009-06-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

MN Comets/Seevers 65 - TNL 52

2009-06-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Team loses it's third place game.

Duberry - 10
Olson - 2
Ismail - 4
Sewer - 17
Knopke - 7
Zimmermann - 8
Cummings - 4

MN Fury Elite 68 - TNL 55

2009-06-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Team loses in semi-fianl game to a hot shooting Fury team.

Duberry - 5
Olson - 6
Sherva - 5
Ismail - 6
Hager - 2
Sewer - 2
Knopke - 9
Ristanovic - 3
Zimmermann - 12
Cummings - 5

Up Next The #2 Seeded Fury

2009-06-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

The team takes on the #2 seeded Minnesota Fury in the semis tonight at 8:15.

And The Winner Is ...!

2009-06-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

TNL 79 - MN Heat Elite 74 in OT

After 2 hours and 47 fouls the Express take out the Elite in overtime. In what was a fiercely competitive game by both teams, you walked away from this one only thinking about the officiating and the score table.

There was a number of head scratching fouls called and blunder after blunder at the scorers table. Probably the BIGGEST blunder of them all happened with the score 48-41 TNL. TNL scores and they give the points to the Elite for a 48-43 score while the Express are on the foul line shooting 2 and make both for a SCOREBOARD score of 50-43. The game is halted and both teams go to the table ... the score is then changed to 50-41. The two points where rightfully taken away from the Elite but NOT given to the Express. The game is stopped again and we end up with a score of 50-45 ... and NO real explanation is given. After all the mishaps and all of the deliberation the score should have been 52-41 TNL.

The Express keep the Elite at bay until the Elite make a late run to get back in the game and tie it up. TNL end up with the ball with the score tied at 69-69 with 16 seconds left. Cummings gets loose on the baseline but can't convert his reverse layup, Sewer gets the rebound and misses a hurried 7 footer to send the game into overtime.

In OT the Elite gets the first basket before TNL puts them away with 6 close to the basket points from Ismail and 2 free throws a piece from Duberry and Knopke for the win.

Duberry - 19
Ismail - 10
Sewer - 8
Knopke - 15
Ristanovic - 4
Zimmermann - 17
Cummings - 6

2009 AAU District Championship 17U Predictions

2009-06-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Czar Checks in.

To the fun, here's my thoughts on each bracket

17U-D1
Give me Comets-Seevers over Heat Select in the 7-10 game. The 8-9 game is the "We get no respect game" for the honor of playing the top seeded Comets-Hanson team. I'll take TC Elite but I won't be surprised if Triple Threat wins.

In the quarters, Comets Hanson takes out the 8-9 winner and Fury Elite takes out the 7-10 winner (Fury handled the Comets-Seevers club surprisingly easily last Saturday).

Most likely upset is in the 3-6 game with TNL vs Heat Elite. I like TNL here but a big game from Ryan Duxbury in the post would make this one very interesting. As always pace is huge here. A fast pace favors TNL, slow pace should allow Duxbury touches and favor the Heat.

The 4-5 game with the Pump N Run 16s vs Mpls Redhawks should be dynamite. PNR defeated the Redhawks at the Comets tourney. PNR without Eric Robertson in that one and I think the Redhawks were shorthanded. PNR has enough big bodies to defend Taylor Hanson. I look for Kyle Noreen to get the main task of defending Parker Hines. The Redhawks will run and PNR's size can cause them problems in transition defense. Keep an eye on that as well. Interesting that the 43 Hoops 16U-Carr team beat the Redhawks by 3 in the MN Select tourney championship game. Would the score of this game mean anything to those of us who do polls?

Semifinals: I'll take Comets Elite-Hanson and Fury Elite. I think those 2 teams have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

Championship: Should be a classic. Will Mike Johnson get more time in an effort to better defend Dajon Newell or do they throw a group of guys like Tengwall and Riewer at him? I think the Comets matchup well in this one with a guy like Alex Hanks to guard LeDarian Horton and/or Danny Geiger. Bucholz and Kornbaum matchup against Casey and Wensmann. Taylor Filipek vs Yuriy Maleshenko would be fun to see. I'll take the Comets to win.

17U-D2
Give me Magic Blue over Old Skool and Glory over River City in the playin games.
Quarters: MSB over Magic Blue, Comets North over Comets Blue (northern bragging rights), Fury Gold over WOTN, Magic Black over Glory in an interesting game.
Semis: Magic Black over Fury Gold, MSB over Comets North
Championship: Magic Black over MSB

TNL Draws Ryan Duxburry and the Minnesota Heat Elite @ 2PM On Saturday

2009-06-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ryan James
MinnesotaPreps.com Senior Writer

Stillwater is likely to be a preseason top ten team next year as they bring back the vast majority of their line-up including 6-foot-8 junior center Ryan Duxbury. Ryan was the second leading scorer for Stillwater as the Ponies finished their year winning 12 of their last 15 games. Duxbury's season high was 19 points put up against fellow low post banger Seantrel Henderson.


Michael J Much

For Stillwater it was a great finish to the year after they lost nine of their first 13 games. The slow start was not a big surprise as the Ponies' eight-man rotation included five juniors, two sophomores, and the lone senior in guard Adam Habisch who scored in double figures 15 times while playing in 24 contests. Overall the team had talent but was short on experience, at first.

The varsity regulars the Ponies bring back include Duxbury, leading scorer Paul Franklin, Jesse George, Alex Oman, Miles Heller, and sophomore Jake Malwitz. All of these players are competing with the Minnesota Heat Elite team this spring and summer.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

2009 AAU State Championship Brackets

2009-06-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP

Schedule
Directions

MYAS 17 D1 Spring Championship

2009-06-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Let's just start with player eligibility (which has been posted on our web site since January)

The 17U/11th Grade division - open to any player who is in the 11th grade and is born on or after Sept. 1, 1990.

Age Exception #1 - A player who is born on or after Sept. 1, 1991

Age Exception #2 - Players must still have high school eligibility remaining or have been accepted for admission to a Prep School

Progression of events: It was reported that one team utilized ineligible players (seniors) in their first round game. After investigation, this was proven to be true and that team subsequently had to forfeit that first game.

All of this delayed some games as things were being handled. The semi-final games began play and it was then reported that another team was using an ineligible player. As this was found out to be true near half time of that semi-final game, we agreed to allow the game to finish. That team had to forfeit their semi-final win. Some will ask why their win in the first game would count? When an eligibility situation arises we can only go back to the last game played (which was the semi-final). If we had known about the ineligible player before the start of the 2nd game, the team would have forfeited the first game.

There is one other player who has been questioned and yes, he is a senior but he was born in October of 1991. Go to Age Exception #1. Because he is born on or after Sept. 1, 1991 he is eligible to play in the 17U division.

There are young "Seniors" but if they have birthdays in June, July or August they are not eligible for the 17U division unless they meet Age Exception #2

Frustrating is the fact that we, the MYAS, take the abuse when all we do is enforce the rules that everyone is asked to follow. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse. Just because some national tournament or AAU tournament doesn't verify the eligibility of the players and teams, doesn't mean we should run our program that way.

As an FYI to all, emails were sent out and phone conversations were had with teams in this division this week.

If you know as a coach that you have seniors on your roster, why are you playing in the 17U division. Check it out, we have a separate 19U Spring Championship being played this weekend. You should have just signed up and played in that tournament. I'm sorry for the players who were affected by all of this. It all could have been avoided if coaches would read the information available and follow the rules of our events.

Rich Penick

MYAS Senior Program Director

Click here for the final championship bracket

Mid-Summer 17U Top 10

2009-06-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

(Taken from Twin Cities Hoops)

Now that we're basically at the halfway point of the summer season and I've had a chance to take a look at all of the teams, here's how I'd rank them.

Howard Pulley Black. With superstar Harrison Barnes and a big summer from Jacob Thomas, the Panthers have to be on top of the list. Chad Calcaterra has demonstrated consistent improvement over the course of the summer.
Minnesota Pump N Run. Carlos Emory has been huge and the record of good tourney wins in St. Cloud, Denver and their own quality tournament speaks for itself despite bumps in the road in Kansas and Iowa.
43 Hoops Harris. Gave Pump N Run a game at the Comets tourney and had All Ohio Red down 20 in Akron at the end of April. Could get another shot at PNR in Chicago in early July. Defensively as tough as anybody in the state.
Comets Elite-Hanson has to get strong consideration to be in that top tier as they're clearly the best of the rest as shown by a final 4 finish at the Jayhawk Invite. Nobody else from here down can go 10 deep like this group can.
Net Gain Sports. The MASH unit of the summer with all of their injuries but a sweet 16 finish in Denver (which should have been final 8) is a nice accomplishment. Will be interesting to see what they do with Joe Hanstad back in July. What kind of depth will this squad have?
Fury Elite. A surprisingly deep roster with Dajon Newell, Yuriy Maleshenko, Danny Geiger and LeDarian Horton to name a few notables. Not spectacular but rock solid.
Minneapolis Redhawks. Parker Hines and Taylor Hanson lead the way. John Rowland and Cory Booker have made major contributions as role players. Final 4 at the Pump N Run tourney plus making the title game at the Super Regional give them the nod over ...
TNL Express. 3-0 at the Comets tourney in pool play and had Pump N Run on the ropes before falling apart in the last 9 minutes of that quarterfinal. Since then, their most notable game was a loss to upstart Team Cannon in the quarters of the their Super Regional. Demonstrates why they are the Jekyll and Hyde team of this top 10 as they have the biggest variance in how they play from game to game. Will not playing in the PNR, Jayhawk, or Festival of Teams hurt them this weekend?
Comets-Seevers. Had a rough start to the season but this team is starting to put it together. Scott Nystrom has been outstanding for them all spring. They knocked off Comets Hanson to win the Comets Clash 2 weeks ago and could get them again in the quarters this weekend at the District AAU Championships.
Tie: Magic Black and Heat Elite. The Heat have a versatile squad and the trio of Walter Franklin, Deron Murphy and Jeff Fallat is a nice combination for Magic Black.

Honorable Mention: Triple Threat for the #2 seed in their pool from this weekend and their win over the Redhawks for the TNL Super Regional title.

The Czar Checks In

2009-05-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Pool C: As expected, TNL, TC Elite, MN Fury Gold and Old Skool. TC Elite now without Alex Koch who has moved on to MN Select. Huge loss for them. TNL had to fight to sweep the pool. On Sunday, they went down to the wire with TC Elite. Tied at 41 with 5 minutes left, TNL goes on a 10-0 run over the next 2 minutes. But a dicey 3 by Sewer results in 2 David Rademacher FTs for TC Elite and they're within 54-52 with 40 seconds left. TC Elite doesn't foul and Devon Knopke gets called for a carry with 18 seconds left. Aaron McCrossan's attempt at the horn is no good and TNL survives that game 54-52. In Sunday's late game, TNL got another big game from Jay Sewer (big in the TC Elite game too, I had him for 24 in this game vs Fury Gold). 79-67 TNL sweeps the pool. TC Elite earned the 2 slot in the pool with a 67-62 win over Fury Gold on Friday night.

Click here to read his entire article.

The Team Goes 3-0 In Their Pool To Advance To The AAU State Tournament

2009-05-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

DISTRICT QUALIFIER RESULTS

Click Here.

The Team Wins Their Pool By Closing Out The Fury Gold

2009-05-31T17:46:00.002-07:00

TNL 79 - MN Fury Gold 67

To much Sewer and Zimmermann ... after getting a scare in their prior game the team gets out to a slow start and takes a lethargic 35-28 lead at the half. The team continues to plug along and finally turn in an impressive 4th quarter (Sewer and Zimmermann score 21 of the teams 27 points) to pull away for the win.

Duberry - 5
Olson - 1
Sherva - 0
Ismail - 4
Hager - 3
Sewer - 26
Knopke - 11
Ristanovic - 2
Zimmermann - 16
Cummings - 11

TNL Wins 2nd Pool Game

2009-05-31T17:46:00.001-07:00

TNL 54 - TC Elite 52

Another epic battle like we thought it would be. The game was close thru out with Sewer making game changing basket after basket. Zimmermann was able to keep TCE at bay with his slashing baskets. Sherva turned in a great defensive effort while Cummings got the TCE front line in foul trouble early with his power moves to the basket. The team was able to push ahead to a 10 point lead with a couple of minutes left before they fell asleep and gave up 8 points and allowing TCE to have a chance to tie or win with 8 seconds left.

Duberry - 5
Sherva - 4
Ismail - 2
Hager - 2
Sewer - 19
Knopke - 4
Zimmermann - 13
Cummings - 5

TNL Takes On TC Elite In Their Next Pool Game

2009-05-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

The team plays TC Elite for the 3rd time this year. Both of the previous games where very close games that TNL won with the last one going into overtime.

TNL TOOK ON THE OLD SKOOL BLAZERS IN THE 17U DIVISION

2009-05-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

In the 17 and under division it was the Old Skool Blazers going up against TNL. TNL came out on fire they were able to make some quick shots from the start.

TNL started the game playing in man to man defense. That made it difficult for the Old Skool Blazers to get there shots to fall in the first quarter.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

TNL Wins First Pool Game

2009-05-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

TNL 76 - Old Skool 41

The team jumps out to quick 22-4 lead and coast in this one. Old Skool played a 2-3 zone the entire game as the team knocks down eleven 3's (Duberry had 7 of them). Knopke added 18 but his play on the defensive end is what was outstanding. A couple of hi-lites of the game was when he swated a couple of for sure shots off the backboard for break out baskets.

Duberry - 22
Sherva - 7
Ismail - 2
Hager - 2
Sewer - 6
Knopke - 18
Ristanovic - 5
Zimmermann - 2
Cummings - 12

2009 AAU District Qualifier 17U Preview

2009-05-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

The Czar Checks In ...

Part 3 in my preview series for this weekend's AAU district qualifier. In this final preview, a look at the 17U division. Read all the previews here.

Pool A
This pool has the top Comets team and then everyone else. Too many guys to mention for the Comets, but I'll be interested to see if they still use the platoon system with Taylor Filipek and Alex Hanks playing with the 2nd unit. Triple Threat comes in off their win at the super regional 2 weeks ago despite a quiet weekend from Michael Lindsay. Aaron Duske and Brandon Schaust give them quality play up front. Brent Kettenacker had 19 points in the 2nd half of the super regional championship game. MSB won't wow you, but Zach Vraa, Andy Jirik, Troy Klingsporn, David Stanley and soph Lucas Brown make up a solid group. Never count out a Mitch Ohnstad group. Magic Blue is the 4th team in the pool. David Michaelson leads them along with Eric Schmechel. I'll also be keeping an eye on senior point guard Jacob Schwartz and Michael Tyler.

Pool B
A tough pool here with the Fury Elite, a hot Comets Seevers team and solid Magic Black. Dajon Newell, Danny Geiger and Yuriy Maleshenko are notables for the Fury. Scott Nystrom played well in the absence of Martin Wind and Nolan Toft for the Comets. Deron Murphy leads the way for Magic Black from a guard spot. Walter Franklin gives the Magic a defensive stopper at the point guard spot which will come in handy against Wind and Newell.

Pool C
TNL is the class of Pool C behind Devon Knopke, Jay Sewer and Jasper Duberry at the guard spots. Milos Ristanovic has joined TNL as a shooter from the small forward slot. TC Elite gets to see TNL yet again. Alex Koch has been on fire for TC Elite. His 6'5 height makes him a tough matchup at the 2. No real size in this pool so the lack of a real inside presence won't hurt TC Elite this weekend. If they control tempo against TNL, they have a great chance to win that game.

Pool D
MN Glory and Pump N Run 16s headline this pool. Can somebody besides Connor Gunderson score for the Glory? With Trey Scott not eligible for the Heat Select squad and the Comets-Blue team in the pool, you have to like the PNR 16s chances in this pool. Who for Glory gets the assignment guarding Alex Richter of PNR?

Pool E
Heat Elite and the Mpls Redhawks headline the pool. Parker Hines and Taylor Hanson have been outstanding for the Redhawks and you have to find John Rowland outside the arc. Look for them to seek redemption after a disappointing upset loss in the super regional 2 weeks ago. Heat Elite aren't spectacular, but they are solid and have many ways to beat you. Run with Nick Quicksell, pound it in to Ryan Duxbury or they can make 3s. Erik Stark was a star for the Comets North squad 2 weeks ago and they also have 6'8 Kevin Rabbers inside so don't count them out.

Pool Games to Watch
Magic Black vs Comets Seevers - Saturday 11:30
Fury Elite vs Comets Seevers - Saturday 3:15
MN Glory vs MN Pump N Run 16s Sunday 9:00
TNL vs TC Elite - Sunday 12:45
MN Heat Elite vs Mpls Redhawks - Sunday 12:45
Fury Elite vs Magic Black - Sunday 2:00

My Picks
Pool A: Comets Hanson, MSB, MN Triple Threat, Magic Blue
Pool B: Comets Seevers, Fury Elite, Magic Black, RiverCity Cougars
Pool C: TNL, TC Elite, Fury Gold, Old Skool
Pool D: PNR 16s, MN Glory, Comets Blue, MN Heat Select
Pool E: Redhawks, Heat Elite, Comets North, WOTN

Duberry Creating Interest At Columbia University

2009-05-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

16's Win Championsip

2009-05-24T17:34:00.001-07:00

The 16U knocks off the Wisconsin Blizzard for the championship.

16's Win Pool & Head Into Championship Bracket

2009-05-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

16U in Menonomie for Memeorial Day Classic

2009-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pool A
1. TNL
2. WI Blizzard - Lehocky
3. MAXX
4. Wisconsin Hoops Select

Pool Games

3-4 SA 8:30 AM Ct. 1

1-2 SA 8:30 AM Ct. 2

1-4 SA 4:00 PM Ct. 7

2-3 SA 4:00 PM Ct. 8

2-4 SA 7:45 PM Ct. 18

1-3 SA 7:45 PM Ct. 19

Pool B
1. Valley Bay
2. Wisconsin Blizzard - Weiner
3. Wisconsin Blizzard - Matsick
4. HLC

Pool Games

5-6 SA 9:45 AM Ct. 1

7-8 SA 9:45 AM Ct. 2

6-7 SA 4:00 PM Ct. 18

5-8 SA 4:00 PM Ct. 19

5-7 SA 6:30 PM Ct. 18

6-8 SA 6:30 PM Ct. 19

Knopke Creating Interest At Bemidji State

2009-05-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

17s Top 15 - May 19th

2009-05-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

1. Minnesota Pump-N-Run (34-3)
2. Howard Pulley Black (17-7)
3. Net Gain (9-3)
4. 43 Hoops I (14-5)
5. Minnesota Comets I (9-7)
6. Minnesota Fury (17-7)
7. 43 Hoops II (9-7)
8. Minneapolis Redhawks (20-7)
9. Howard Pulley White (5-7)
10. Minnesota Heat Elite (8-4)
11. Minnesota Magic Black (10-5)
12. TNL Express (9-2)
13. Triple Threat (12-6)
14. Minnesota Glory (5-3)
15. TC Elite (12-9)

AAU Super Regional Action - Express over Elite

2009-05-18T21:59:00.001-07:00

It's AAU Super Regional time again and that meant it was time for a trip to Champlin Park to catch some action in this TNL sponsored event. In Saturday afternoon play at the 17U level TNL Express faced and defeated the TC Elite squad in overtime.

This was a very close game with the exception of a couple of solid runs by the TNL squad. Elite quickly closed the gaps made by those runs and took the game into overtime.

It was pretty much all the Express in overtime. They put up some points and then defended the ball very well. TNL defeated the Elite at the Spring Jam tournament at the Colin Powell Center earlier this season and these teams really went after each other on Saturday.

Check out the game in pictures and visit the Preps resource page for rosters and players numbers.

Click here to load the photo gallery.

Visit our www.mnphotonet.net for hundreds of high resolution game pictures for home delivery.

Visit our Resource Page for team photographs, rosters, schedules and more.

Duberry Creating Interest @ Augustana University

2009-05-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

Duberry Creating Interest @ Pennsylvania

2009-05-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Chuck Daly Passes Away at Age 78

2009-05-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Chuck Daly was head coach for six seasons at Penn.

Courtesy: University of Pennsylvania
Release: 05/09/2009

PHILaDELPHIA - Chuck Daly, a true basketball luminary who made the University of Pennsylvania one of his early head-coaching stops, passed away on Saturday, May 9. He was 78.

The Associated Press reported that he died in Jupiter, Fla., with his family by his side. Prior to that, in March, the NBA’s Detroit Pistons -- which he coached for many years -- announced that the Hall of Fame coach was being treated for pancreatic cancer.

Daly came to Penn to serve as head coach prior to the 1971-72 season. In six seasons at that position, he led the Quakers to an overall record of 125-38, and went 74-10 in the Ivy League with four titles. During what many consider to be the heyday of Philadelphia Big 5 basketball, he led Penn to a 19-5 record and four city championships.

Penn’s 1971-72 team, his first, went 25-3 overall and 13-1 in the Ivy League (he would have three teams go 13-1 in the Ancient Eight). That Quaker squad advanced to the NCAA East Regional final before losing to North Carolina.

"As long as I knew him, Chuck was the same good coach and good guy," said Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, who played basketball at Penn and graduated just before Daly's arrival on campus. "That was true whether he was coaching high school, college, the pros, or at the Olympic level."

"I speak for the entire Penn basketball community when I say that we are saddened to hear the news of his passing," said Penn head coach Glen Miller, who recently completed his third season with the Quakers. "He coached this program to some of its greatest successes, and whenever he spoke of Penn and the Philadelphia basketball community he spoke of it fondly. However, such was his stature that this is a loss not just for Penn and the city of Philadelphia, but for the entire basketball world."

"Chuck was the consummate coach and teacher," said Bob Weinhauer, who spent four years as an assistant under Daly at Penn and succeeded him as the Quakers' head coach. "For those of us who had the privilege of working with him, it was exactly that -- a privilege. I know that my coaching career would have been nothing without the mentoring and guidance that he gave me at Penn and throughout my career. I was fortunate enough to be able to express that to him about a month ago, and for that I am grateful."

"Coach Daly was a great representative of basketball thoughout his years, from his time at Penn and in Philadelphia right up to his NBA and Olympic success," said former Penn and current Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "One particular memory for me is that, following one of my seasons at Penn, he sent me a hand-written note to offer congratulations and words of encouragement. At the time, he was coaching the Pistons. I have that letter framed, and it is in a place where I keep my treasured items."

Later, of course, Daly coached the United States “Dream Team” to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Pistons. In 1996, he was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA's first half-century, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both NBA and Olympic titles.

Daly was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars.

"It's a players' league. They allow you to coach them or they don't," Daly once said of the NBA. "Once they stop allowing you to coach, you're on your way out."

"I think Chuck understood people as well as basketball," Dumars told The Associated Press in 1995. "It's a people business."

Doug Collins, a former Pistons and Chicago Bulls coach, learned the intricacies of the game from Daly.

"He was a man of incredible class and dignity. He was a mentor and a friend," Collins said. "He taught me so much and was always so supportive of me and my family. I loved him and will miss him."

Daly had a golden touch at the Barcelona Games with the likes of Magic Johnson, Jordan, Larry Bird and Barkley, using a different lineup every game.

"I played against Chuck's teams throughout the NBA for a lot of years. He always had his team prepared, he's a fine coach," Bird said shortly after Daly's diagnosis became public.

"Chuck did a good job of keeping us together," Bird said. "It wasn't about who scored the most points. It was about one thing: winning the gold medal."

Daly humbled the NBA superstars by coaching a group of college players to victory in a controlled scrimmage weeks before the Olympics.

"I was the happiest man in the gym," Daly said.

Daly also made the right moves for the Pistons, who were notorious for their physical play with Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn leading the fight, Rodman making headlines and Hall of Fame guards Isiah Thomas and Dumars lifting the team to titles in 1989 and 1990.

"Chuck Daly was so much more than a basketball coach," said Thomas, the former New York Knicks coach and president who now coaches at Florida International University. "He was a mentor, a father figure, someone we all looked up to in everything he did. I can't explain in words how much he gave me as a player and a man. This is an immeasurable loss for the NBA and the entire basketball world."

Former Piston John Salley gave Daly the nickname Daddy Rich for his impeccably tailored suits.

Daly had a career regular-season record of 638-437 in 13 NBA seasons. In 12 playoff appearances, his teams went 75-51. He left Detroit as the Pistons' leader in regular-season and playoff victories.

"Chuck left a lasting impression with everyone he met both personally and professionally and his spirit will live with all of us forever," family and team spokesman Matt Dobek said.

Despite his success, Daly wasn't part of a Coach of the Year presentation until he handed the trophy to then-Detroit coach Rick Carlisle in 2002.

"This is as close as I've ever been to that thing," Daly said, looking at the Red Auerbach Trophy.

The National Basketball Coaches' Association is dedicating this postseason to Daly. Coaches and many broadcasters are wearing a pin with the initials "CD" during games and created the "Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award," which will be given annually.

Born July 20, 1930, in St. Marys, Pa., Charles Jerome Daly played college ball at St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg. After two years in the military, he coached for eight seasons at Punxsutawney (Pa.) High School and then spent six years as an assistant at Duke.

Succeeding Bob Cousy as coach at Boston College, Daly coached the Eagles to a 26-24 record over two seasons before arriving at Penn.

Daly left Penn to join the NBA coaching ranks as an assistant under Billy Cunningham in Philadelphia. His first head coaching job was with Cleveland, but he was fired after the Cavaliers went 9-32 the first half of the 1981-82 season.

In 1983, Daly took over a Detroit team that had never had two straight winning seasons and led the Pistons to nine straight. He persuaded Rodman, Thomas, Dumars, Mahorn and Laimbeer to play as a unit and they responded with championships in 1989 and 1990.

Far from being intimidated by the Pistons' Bad Boys image, Daly saw the upside of it.

"I've also had players who did not care," he said a decade later. "I'd rather have a challenging team."

After leaving Detroit, Daly took over the New Jersey Nets for two seasons and led them to the playoffs both times.

He left broadcasting to return to the bench 1997 with the Orlando Magic and won 74 games over two seasons, then retired at 68 because he was weary of the travel. Daly joined the Vancouver Grizzlies as a senior adviser in 2000. In retirement, he split time between residences in Jupiter, Fla., and suburban Detroit.

The Pistons retired No. 2 in 1997 to honor Daly's two NBA titles.

"Without you, there wouldn't be us," Mahorn told the coach during the ceremony.

Daly is survived by his wife, Terry, daughter Cydney, and grandchildren Sebrina and Connor.

Much of this information was pulled from Larry Lage’s Associated Press release, with contributions from AP writers Jim Irwin, Cliff Brunt and Tim Reynolds.

Brandon Host Creating Interest @ Wisconsin La Crosse

2009-05-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Duberry Creating Interest @ Wisconsin Eau Claire

2009-05-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

Top 10

2009-04-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Ryan James

Spring/Summer Top 10 rankings - April 30th

1. Minnesota Pump-N-Run (25-0)
2. Howard Pulley Black (4-3)
3. Net Gain (6-2)
4. 43 Hoops I (11-3)
5. Minnesota Comets I (4-1)
6. TNL Express (6-1)
7. Minneapolis Redhawks (10-5)
8. Minnesota Fury (9-4)
9. Howard Pulley White (1-0)
10. Minnesota Magic Black (5-3)

TNL 17's Win The 1st Annual Twin City Spring Jam

2009-04-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

The team win a tough championship game against TC Elite 75-66 to take the championship!

Playing in their first championship game this spring, the Express take a 37-32 lead behind the all around floor game of Devon Knopke (11 points) and the inside presence of Doug Sewall, Spencer Cummings and Lomumba Ismail.

The team turns up their back court pressure and answer a couple of Elite runs. Jauson Sewer scores 9 from long range as Kyle Zimmermann is unstoppable from the block. Ollie White gets out of his shooting slump for 6 points as Ismail gets 8 of his 10 points from running the court and playing hard. One of the 2nd half hi-lites was when Ismail hustled back on defense and threw a break away lay up off the backboard for a viscous block and break out lay up and then came back on the next possession and tipped in a missed layup. BJ Sherva who did not score in the game, made his defensive presence known as he made a couple of key stops down the stretch.

Team Tournament MVP - Jauson Sewer
Honorable Mention - Kyle Zimmermann & Devon Knopke
-
Box:
Sewall 4, Duberry 9, Ismail 10, Sewer 14, Knopke 14, White 6, Zimmermann 15, Cummings 3

TNL 16's Win The 1st Annual Twin City Spring Jam

2009-04-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

Why TNL Is Home For April

2009-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

New coaches bear brunt of bad rule

by Jeff Goodman
Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at GoodmanonFOX@aol.com or check out his blog, Good 'N Plenty.

This was usually the time of year that new head coaches were able to rely on to help restock their roster.

They faced a dilemma whether to head to an AAU tournament in Pittsburgh or Arkansas where they were able to get a look at 30 or so kids that were still searching for a college destination.

Not anymore.

Now coaches like Georgia's Mark Fox, High Point's Scott Cherry, Arizona's coach Sean Miller and others have their work cut out for them.

The NCAA instituted a ridiculous and baffling rule recently in which college coaches are no longer able to watch players at AAU events in April.

It was done with the intention to try and limit the amount of school days missed by student-athletes and also to attempt to shift the "power" back from the AAU coaches to the high school coaches.

But it'll backfire.

It will result in coaches having to now take someone else's word, making determinations off watching videotape and thus will lead to an increase in transfers.

"That's a hard way to make a living," said Cherry, who was an assistant at South Carolina last season. "Especially on your first coaching job. It makes it challenging and really difficult."

It certainly won't be helping cut costs either. Instead of sending coaches to one spot per weekend — such as Pittsburgh or Arkansas — they now are zig-zagging the country in an effort to see as many individual kids as possible. Take one spot in the northeast on Friday morning when there were three head coaches and five assistants.

Fox, the former head coach at Nevada, got his gig about two weeks ago and has a couple of scholarships to fill. Sure, he's recruited the southeast before and had a pair of kids from North Carolina on his roster, but he's not yet plugged into the area.

So instead of hitting the ground running and getting an opportunity to see 50 or so available players over the next two weekends, as has been the case until this year, he's forced to try and make quick decisions.

"All year long, people were talking that the coaches who were going to be affected the most were the ones who took a new job that needed some rebuilding," Fox said. "Now I'm in that situation, but you just have to deal with the cards you are dealt and be efficient."

The first day Fox was allowed to go on the road was a week ago Thursday at noon. He went to Alabama and Florida to see a couple of kids at their school (that's all coaches are allowed to do in this period) and then flew to Texas that night.

On Friday, he saw a couple of kids in the Lone Star State before getting back to Athens around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The NCAA also allowed coaches to see kids over the weekend, but there was NO one to see. Most of the kids were out playing at AAU tournaments and the rest were home with their families for Easter.

Since Sunday, the NCAA hasn't allowed coaches to go on the road to watch kids at all. They were permitted to go back out this morning, but most of the players are headed to AAU tournaments this weekend — even though coaches won't be allowed to watch.

The bottom line is that kids are going to continue to play — and miss part of school on Friday — whether coaches are watching or not. Especially because Division 2 and Division 3 coaches are allowed to be out this weekend and next weekend.

"It's very difficult now," said Sean Miller, who went from Xavier to Arizona this offseason. "Everybody knows the most important way to build a program is to bring in the right players. It's hard when we don't have the opportunity to see them. ...

"We only had a couple of days last week, which allows us to see no more than eight to 10 kids at their schools."

"You have to make the most of the limited days you have," added Tony Bennett, who went from Washington State across the country to Virginia. "We can't see the mass quantity anymore, so you have to make the most of the weekdays going to the schools."

But it's far more difficult to judge a 6-foot-9 big man in a high school practice when he doesn't go up against another D-1 players than it is over four weekend days in April (which is what the NCAA allowed prior to this year) when the elite players go up against one another.

"It's difficult to evaluate now," Miller said. "It means there'll be more mistakes made."

New Memphis coach Josh Pastner said maximizing time becomes more important. However, that's easier said than done when you've just taken over a job and have numerous other responsibilities.

"You need to try and assemble a staff, take care of your current team, try and re-recruit the recruits who had already committed to the program," Pastner said. "And try and recruit for the future. It's much harder to do now without the April period."

That's why the NCAA needs to bring it back.

TNL Win Pool To Advance To Championship Game

2009-04-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Game 3
TNL 70 - Triple Threat 58
The team plays a lackluster and uninspired 1st half and then finally realize they are in a battle. This game got out of hand do to the officiating (Duberry nailed and made layup is not called goal tending with the foul; a few hard fouls and no calls that draw technical foul, a couple of cuts that draw blood and stop play in the 1st half)
Box:
Sewall 13, Duberry 14, Host 3, Sherva 5, Ismail 4, Sewer 16, Knopke 4, Zimmermann 10, Cummings 1

Game 2
Forfeit

Game 1
TNL 68 - Team Cannon 32
Team shoots very poor in the 1st half and can't buy a bucket. The 2nd half they step up their defensive intensity and pull away as Brandon Host knocks down some 3"s to stretch the defense. Good game by Knopke as he is great attacking the basket, knocks down some 3's and continually finding the open man.
Box:
Sewall 4, Duberry 5, Host 9, Sherva 2, Ismail 4, Sewer 10, Knopke 21, Zimmermann 3, Cummings 11.

Up Next The Twin City Spring Jam

2009-04-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

-
The team will be playing in it's 2nd tournament that is being ran by one of their sponsors Inside The Lines (ITL).

Jasper Duberry Makes Comets Invite All Tournament Team - 17s

2009-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the official Comets All tournament team. Coaches had the big vote with myself and the tourney admins kicking in a good say as well.

First Team
Steve Tecker - MN Pump N Run
Carlos Emmory - MN Pump N Run
Vinard Birch - 43 Hoops I
Clay Horne - 43 Hoops I
Taylor Filipek - MN Comets

Second Team
Dajon Newell - MN Fury
Kevin Noreen - MN Pump N Run
Dyami Starks - MN Pump N Run
Jordan Riewer - MN Comets
Jordan Reetz - 43 Hoops I

Third Team
Dominique Dawson - 43 Hoops II
Jasper Duberry - TNL Express
Yuriy Malashenko - MN Fury
Mike Jensen - MN Comets II
Nick Quicksell - Minnesota Heat

Sunday Notes From Comets Invite

2009-04-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ryan James
MinnesotaPreps.com Senior Writer

Although the Pump N Run brain trust was frustrated with parts of the defensive discipline and shot selection it was still a fairly strong beginning for the new Minnesota AAU program. They went 6-0 with wins over ECI Minnesota, a senior dominated Grassroots team, 94 Feet of Game, TNL Express, the Minnesota Comets, and 43 Hoops. Carlos Emmory was a highlight reel, Steve Tecker was a beast, and Dyami Starks was the controlled leader.

Minnesota Pump-N-Run

For their first weekend of play the Minnesota Pump-N-Run 17s conquered the Comets Invitational. Of course it wasn't easy as the Pumps came from behind to beat tough the TNL Express and Minnesota Comets teams and then had to battle with the top 43 Hoops group before puling away late 54-45. These Comets and 43 Hoops teams are considered two of the five best (along with the Pumps, Net Gain and Howard Pulley) in state plus the TNL bunch is not far behind. Add in that Grassroots included three senior members of a state runner-up St Bernards team, three senior players from a top five ranked Robbinsdale Cooper squad (and Rodney Williams on Sunday), and other talent and you can understand how much game was at this Comets event.

Other

TNL Express's effort against the Pumps should be noted. They had the tournament champions down for the majority of the game before a late comeback. Jasper Duberry was named third team all tournament.

Click here to read the rest of the article:

TNL Bows Out Of The Minnesota Comet Invite In The Elite 8

2009-04-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

TNL 56 - Pump & Run 65

We came into this game knowing we didn’t have a chance in the world matching up with their size (probably the tallest team in the state and maybe the nation) so we decided we would go as small as we logically could (started Sewer 5’9, Duberry 5’11, Knopke 6’2, Zimmermann 6’3 and Cummings 6’5) play up-tempo, sit back in an ACTIVE zone and more importantly BLOCK OUT!

We had only practiced twice before this tournament so a lot of the things we where going to try where on the fly and then we had to factor in the new key players (Devon Knopke, Spencer Cummings, Lomumba Ismail and BJ Sherva).

The game started out at our pace as we put up four air ball 3’s and PNR missed a few easy shots. The refs where calling what we thought where some soft fouls in the paint against us trying to battle their size. PNR showed the signs that we showed, early morning game and a lot of new players. I believe the game prior to ours, which ran extremely late, gave both teams a problem getting started because of the quick 4 minute warm up time.

Our 1-3-1 twisting 3-2 zone and junk press gave them problems as their most meaningful points came from Carlos Embry on break out and back side dunks (8 points). Jasper (10 points) hit a 3 to end the 1st half and we where able to get out to a 35-28 halftime lead. Jauson’s breakouts where what we needed to keep PNR thinking we would beat them down the court at any given time. With Spencer getting in foul trouble, Lomumba’s (3 of 4 from the line) and Doug’s (2 of 2 from the line) inside work was huge.

Jay hit an opening 2nd half 3 to push our lead to 10. We decided to sit in our zone and pack it in even more because PNR had not made a 3 point shot in the 1st half. Embry got a couple of leak out baskets as PNR went on a 10-0 run. We missed a couple of easy inside shots as Spencer picked up his 4th foul and had to sit while PNR got a couple of put back baskets and the next thing you know we are down 2.

With about 6 minutes left Spencer returns and gets twisted up with Rostampour during our possession and the refs call a double foul. This kills us because it’s Spencer’s 5th foul, PNR had just scored and then gets the ball back because of the possession arrow … horrible call in a game of this magnitude at this pont of the game. We go ice cold, Noreen (13 points) knocks down two huge 3’s (PNR’s only 3’s of the game) and we can’t come back. We’re forced to foul as PNR ices it from the free throw line (Aaron Anderson 3 of 4) to end the game.

35-28 TNL @ The Half

Box: Sewall 6, Duberry 12, Host 3, Ismail 7, Sewer 12, Knopke 10, Zimmermann 3, Cummings 3.

Other Related Articles:

The Czar:
Q2: Pump N Run 17s vs TNL. Back and forth in the 1st half but TNLs pace. 17 All with 6:43 left in the half, then 23-21 TNL before they stretch it to 35-24 on a Jasper Duberry 3. 35-28 TNL at the half. An 8-0 run early in the 2nd half by PNR cuts the lead to 38-36. 47-41 TNL with 9 minutes left before the shots don't fall and that's not good for TNL with Spencer Cummings out of the game. PNR goes on a 22-3 run with some of that against TNL traps after PNR got the lead and spread the court with about 5 minutes left. 65-56 PNR wins. The number of easy bunnies that PNR missed inside was unbelievable in this one. Kevin Noreen had 3 of them on the 1st 3 possessions of the game (and this wasn't the only game where he had trouble finishing). TNL played zone most of the way and kept PNR at bay with it as they didn't get much inside.

Stevens Sports Report:
It was Sunday morning and we are back in the first game of the Sunday session. In the first game it was TNL Express going up against Minnesota Pump and Run. Both of these teams started off looking to get the ball up the court. Pump and Run started out playing zone defense.Both teams were able to make shots early in the contest. TNL looked to push the ball up the court in transition.Both teams traded baskets throughout the first half. Neither team was able to make a run in the first half.Jake Kreuser for Pump and Run had a couple of nice moves in the first half. He was able to shake off his defender with a head fake and go in for a nice layup.TNL had trouble breaking the Pump and Run press. Pump and Run did a good job getting the ball up the court.Both teams were able to keep the score close throughout the first half. Each team was able to counter the others scoring chances.Aaron Ernest Anderson from Pump and Run was a little spark plug throughout the game by coming up with some nice shots in the first half.TNL was able to make some easy shots in the first half. Pump and Run kind of went to sleep and TNL was able to find the back door and get some wide open shots at the basket.This has been a very competitive first half. TNL Express was able to go on a run late in the late in the first half. Pump and Run didn’t give up in the first half.At half time the score was TNL Express 35 and Pump and Run 28.In the start of the second half Pump and Run came out fired up and they were able to make some quick shots.Turnover’s hurt the Pump and Run team for most of the game. Everyone on the team had a case of the fumbles.Pump and Run tried to make a comeback in the second half. They were able to do that. Dyami Starks was able to make some nice plays and lead the Pump and Run back into the game.Each team battled in the second half. Throughout this tournament the Pump and Run guys really did a good job of coming together when they were down and deciding to put up shots in critical times in the game. They did that again here in this game.The Pump and Run was able to go on a run in the second half and battled their way back into the game and they were able to come away with a hard fought victory.TNL Express played a tough game they were able to expose Pump and Run in the first half. They really put the pursuer on TNL.In the end Pump and Run came away with the 65-56 victory.

Team Tournament MVP - Jasper Duberry

Honorable Mention - Devon Knopke

Jasper Duberry & Kyle Zimmermann Attend Year End Banquet

2009-04-06T17:20:00.001-07:00

Team Captains Tyler Munneke (South Dakota State), Jasper Duberry (Undecided) & Scott Theisen (Carleton).

Jasper Duberry
was named Mr. Assist while
Kyle Zimmermann was named the teams Co-MVP.

TNL Win Their Pool To Advance To The Championship Bracket

2009-04-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

Game 3
TNL 80 -43 Hoops 16's 71 in OT (40-31 @ The Half)
The Express get a buzzer tying 3 point shot from Devon Knopke to tie the game at 65 and send the game in overtime. 43 Hoops where up 6 with about 2 minutes left before a couple of missed free throws let TNL back in the game. Knopke who sat out most of the 2nd half with 4 fouls scored 5 points in OT as the Express outscored 43 Hoops 15-6 for the win. Duberry led with 25 points as he logged a lot of minutes at the point as the team was without Jauson Sewer (family event). Zimmermann had 14 as Cummings scored 10 getting 4 in overtime. The 43 Hoops team is a tuff and talented 16U team.
Box:
Sewall 7, Duberry 25, Sherva 1, Ismail 6, Knopke 10, White 7, Zimmermann 14, Cummings 10.

Game 2
Forfeit

Game 1
TNL 93 - Fury North 48 (53-31 @ The Half)
The team jumps out to a quick lead and never look back behind Knopke's 20 points. Duberry had 15 with Ismail adding 10.
Box:
Sewall 8, Duberry 15, Host 5, Sherva 8, Ismail 10, Knopke 20, White 6, Azevedo 6, Zimmermann 6, Cummings 9.

Spencer Cummings Is All Suburban East Conference

2009-04-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

TNL would like to CONGRATULATE club member Spencer Cummings for making the Suburban East All Conference team.

Duberry & Zimmermann Are All Conference

2009-04-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Duberry

TNL would like to CONGRATULATE club members Jasper Duberry and Kyle Zimmermann for making the Northwest Suburban All Conference team.

Zimmermann

2009 MN Comets Shootout Preview

2009-04-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Czar has TNL bowing out to Pump & Run in a game of size vs speed in the Elite 8.

Click here to read his article.

Host & White Are All Conference

2009-04-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Host

TNL would like to CONGRATULATE club members Brandon Host & Ollie White for making the Wright County All Conference team. White