Swingfam Showcase

Took in the Swingfam Showcase yesterday which involved teams that had players that play for the Swing AAU team. This lead to some very good teams and out of the eight teams five of them were ranked in the top 10 of their division, two of which were ranked #1 in their division. I missed the opening game where a ranked D5 team in Seneca took down ranked D3 team Columbus.

Madison Edgewood 60 Lake Mills 58
I got to this game just a little late and missed tip off so I just couldn't get into this game and honestly didn't watch much of Edgewood and was more focused on Lake Mills as they were one of the top ranked D3 teams. Lake Mills is an extremely undersized team that rely on the outside shooting and they have two very solid senior guards in 6'1 Brady Wagner and 6'1 Alex Ranney. Wagner is a sharp shooter from the outside whose shot really wasn't falling today and Ranney is a hard nosed point guard whose outside shot also wasn't falling but, did a very nice job of posting up smaller defenders. In the end it was Lake Mills struggles from the outside and their lack of rebounding that killed them. Edgewood was typical Edgewood team in that they rotated a lot and went pretty deep in their bench. Their two stars 6'3 junior Mandela Deang and 6'4 senior Alex Arians didn't have great games from the outside but, they did a lot of damaged on the offensive glass.

Ripon 70 Lakeside Lutheran 53
Lutheran was vastly over matched in this game but, they played extremely hard throughout and the future is very bright for them. They started three sophomores who were very impressive in 6'0 Will DeNoyer, 6'4 Jack Monis, and 6'6 Cameron Paske. Right now they rely heavily on their star 6'4 senior Cameron Kuepers but, the three I mentioned I will be interested to watch Lakeside Lutheran the next two years. Ripon looks every bit the top team in D3. They have three seniors that are extremely impressive. 6'8 Bennett Vander Plas might be the top post player in the state and has a soft touch shooting the ball from 15 foot and in and just dominates the game in every aspect at times even hitting the three, 6'4 Edward Muench is a sharp shooter from the outside and moves extremely well moving without the ball and playing off of Vander Plas, with cuts to the hoop, and 5'7 Melvin Lee who might be the biggest key to this team. Lee gives them a true point guard that they have been missing and he gets a relatively slow team to push the ball in transition and gives the team that super athlete.

Waunakee 66 Burlington 34
Not much to say here as this one was over quick as Burlington had only eight points at half time. Not much to say about Burlington 6'2 senior Luke Geiger it a spot up sharp shooter who got into foul trouble early and never got things going and 6'0 junior Nick Klug is a solid ball handler and can get open at any time but, he really struggled to get his shot to fall. Waunakee is a really good team that plays exceptional defense as a team and have a couple very good players. 6'3 junior Mitch Listau is a flat out scorer and you can really see that he could play at the next level as a guard. Goes to his left a little much and isn't super quick but, he can get where he wants at any time. 6'2 junior Mason Steffen is playing off the ball now and not sure if it's better or worse but, he's an exciting player to watch that moves very well without the ball in his hand and isn't afraid to score on the inside as well as knocking down the shot from the outside. Late in the game 6'6 junior Nate Carter really took over and looked impressive scoring from the inside. Carter scored well going over either shoulder and had a nice and one dunk as well which surprised me.