Monday, March 14, 2011

Girls All-State Teams Announced

EDIT; In addition to the coaches teams, the PiPress All-State team and Strib All-Metro teams have been announced.

PiPress All-State

1st--Banham, Dahlman, Jackie Johnson, Rule and Michelle Young
2nd--Cichy, Doolittle, Janning, January, Ojulu

Strib All-Metro

1st--Banham, Young, Doolittle, Cichy, Janning
2nd--Jackie Johnson, Ojulu, Megan Stuart, Rule, Brianna Williams
3rd--Alex Beckman, Tinjum, Phyllis Webb, Becken, Ellen Edison, January, Tyseanna Johnson

Comment: The Strib has Janning too high and Jackie Johnson too low. The Strib has Rule too high (I prefer Brianna Williams) and Cichy too low. They all have Tyseanna Johnson too low. Nice to see Phyllis Webb get some recognition, along with Alex Beckman and Ellen Edison.

My all-state team will be published after the state tournament. Of course the state tournament influences who makes it and who doesn't. But I will say this: Banham and Michelle Young are the 2 who are locked up. They cannot play their way off of my 1st team in the state tournament, Banham because she has already done it all and Young because she won't be there. I suppose i theory that Jackie Johnson and Tessa Cichy could play their way off of my 1st team under the right circumstances.

ORIGINAL POST

The MN Girls Basketball Coaches Association recently announced its all-state teams. The format for these is 10 to 13 girls plus honorable mentions in each of the 4 classes. It seems that if you were going to have more girls in one class and less in another, you'd have more in AAAA. But that's exactly how it didn't work out.

I also perceive that the players are listed in rank order. They're clearly not alphabetical or by height. And, Banham is the Player of the Year, so far.

Class AAAA

Rachel Banham; Lakeville North
Michelle Young; Woodbury
Megan Stuart; Roseville
Brianna Williams; Hopkins
Alexis Foley; White Bear Lake
Morgan Van Riper-Rose Eden Prairie
Jackie Johnson; Eden Prairie
Katy Winge; Minnetonka
Kahla Becken; Centennial
Sattoria Rule; Minneapolis South

It's hard to argue with any of the choices, though there are some Honorable Mentions who are an obvious cut above the other honorable mentions. I would try to find a way to include the following on the 1st team.

Alex Beckman; Eastview
Katybeth Biewen; Edina
Ellen Edison; Maple Grove

It will be especially interesting to see Alexis Foley of White Bear and Ellen Edison of Maple Grove go at it in the state tournament. I love them both, but I think Edison will get the better of the 2 in that game. And, Beckman and Biewen are the best players on top 10 teams. Stuart and Becken are the best players on below-top-10 teams.
Foley and Johnson and Biewen are juniors.)

Class AAA

Tessa Cichy; Hill-Murray
Whitney Tinjum; Chisago Lakes
Jessica January; Richfield
Bethany Doolittle; Hill-Murray
Mariah Clarin; Princeton
Martha Alwal; Worthington
Tesha Buck; Red Wing
Khadijah Shumpert; Benilde-St. Margaret's
Haley Guetter; Sartell-St. Stephen
Laura Margarit; Holy Angels
Morgan Haider; Sartell-St. Stephen
Mariah Monke; Fergus Falls
Lauren Trumm; Alexandria

I woulda found a way to put the following on the 10-girl team, much less the 13-girl team. Kraska was clearly a more dynamic player than Laura Margarit.

Kaeli Kraska; Totino-Grace

All of the top 3--Cichy and Tinjum (juniors) and January (sophomore)--will be back next year. As will Buck.

Class AA

Here you've got 11 girls, maybe because one of them is Anne Marie Brown of St. Peter, who I don't think played a single minute of basketball this year.

Becca Dahlman; Braham Area
Kali Peschel; Sauk Centre
Marissa Janning; Watertown-Mayer
Emily Lueck; Pequot Lakes
Amber Sorenson; Caledonia County
Whitney Burmeister; Jackson County Central
Alyssa Kerkhoff; St. Peter
Chelsey Frydenlund; East Grand Forks
Ann Marie Brown; St. Peter
Bree Woelber; Pipestone
Abbey Knisely; New London-Spicer

I might have found a way to include the following kids on my all-state team.

Kayla Hulsebus; St. Croix Lutheran
Ashley Olson; Blue Earth Area
Katelyn Adams: Minnehaha Academy

Not to mention Tyseanna Johnson of DeLaSalle, who didn't even get Honorable Mention. What's with that? Faith doesn't nominate???
Again, the top 3 will be back--Dahlman is a soph as is T. Johnson, Peschel and Janning are juniors.

Class A

Again, we've got 11 here. Don't know why when there's only 10 AAAA.

Jessica Newman; Barnum
Riley Nordgaard; Canby
Charlotte Overbye; Mt. Iron-Buhl
Ashlynne Muhl; Minneota
Courtney Hulstein; Fulda
Liza Hoglo; Northern Freeze
Erica Tipcke; Goodhue
Nicole Kerkhoff; Cedar Mountain-Comfrey
Karli Meyer; Adrian
Karlee Ilgen; Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart
Katie Myhre; Barnum


And now that Sebeka has knocked off defending state champ Barnum, I'd add the following:

Alicia Boe; Sebeka

If you accept that the all-state players are all listed in rank order and if you wanted a single all-state team as a result, who would you pick? By those rules you would almost surely end up with:

2 AAAAs: Banham and Young
2 AAAs: Cichy and Tinjum
1A: Dahlman

Personally, my choices wouldn't recognize the rank ordering that the coaches seem to have done. I'm OK with the 2 AAAAs--Banham and Young; and the AAA--Cichy. After that I like the Johnson girls--Jackie and Tyseanna.


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