Willie Mac Hoops

[RabbitNation]

Re: Willie Mac Hoops

I am sure you mean Amy Mickelson and when did the ronsiek kid play for that Surge team, His mom is Mary BETH Wigen not Mary Jane I believe. A coaching friend of mine from years back has a kid on the Swarm I and in talking to him they are all public school kids except one. I dont know about the Surge and the other team. Ill ask him when I see him next.

Yes, Amy Mickelson is correct and Luke Ronsiek played with the Surge in that tournament only, he plays normally with the SF Wolfpack 5th grade and a you are right that the Swarm did pick up more public school kids this year. Last year they were all Catholic. The Surge is all Catholic for sure, and the Chargers are all Sioux Falls Christian except one from Harrisburg. Ex-Roosevelt Coach Bob Wilber has a kid on the Swarm.

I should have read through my post better and would have caught the names I typed wrong.

[Flagship]

Re: Willie Mac Hoops

Just some clarification on the Swarm:

Nate Brecht did not play for the Swarm at Willie Mac or the last nine tournaments as his feet were bothering him - he is a third grader -

Best and most consistent Swarm player all year was Jacob Smith(4th grader), best shooter Tanner Oltmanns(4th), best playmakers Austin Monahan(4th) coach's son, and Zach Wilber(4th) - Coach Wilber's son - Also Karim Butler(4th) - other players were Karter Lien(3rd grade) son of Kevin Lien - Hall of Fame coach and player at Mount Marty and Dakota Wesleyan and Max Burchill(3rd grade) - Noah Freidel(4th grade) began playing at the end of the year and played for the Swarm the last four or five tournaments. They are all public school kids other than Austin - and all likely to go to different schools including Harrisburg. Three very good teams in the Surge, Chargers and Swarm, in particular when Luke played for the Surge. Unlike the Chargers - the Swarm will likely not have many tall kids other than Nate - all pretty average looking at parents. Still should be interesting to see where they all end up. This is the second year in a row the Swarm won the Willie Mac - there was also a good fourth grade team from Yankton that barely lost to the Surge. Ray does a great job and loses money on the team as I hear he doesn't even charge the parents much and fronts most of the money for the tournaments. Not only were they good players, really seemed like very good kids. Good posts - even though it might seem a little over board to talk about 3rd and 4th graders, I think we can be proud of South Dakota basketball. I think the Swarm won a tournament or two in Minnesota and Iowa, too - it looks like their best competition was right here in South Dakota!!