The Metro Summer League basketball tournament starts on Thursday night at the Omaha Sports Academy. It looks like it will be one of the most competitive tournaments in the league’s history with several teams in the running to take this summer’s championship.
The top four seeds in the tournament have a bye in the first round while the other 16 teams battle it out to advance. Games are at 7PM, 8PM, 9PM and 10PM on Thursday night for the first three rounds. The quarterfinals will be played during the 10PM games, so you will want to stay to the end to see who advances to Monday night. The semifinals and finals will be played at 7PM and 8PM respectively on Monday, July 21st.
Zurlo’s, which features Creighton’s Mo Watson and Toby Hegner is the overall #1 seed, with Andy’s Lawncare, Mustangs, and last year’s defending champions, Bank of Nebraska getting the other byes. See the rest of the bracket here.
With 20 teams in the mix, it will be a wild night and it may be hard to follow. Here is a breakdown of all the games so you can keep track of everything on each court.
Opening Round (7 PM Play-in Games)
Each of these games will be played for the opportunity to play the top 4 seeds in the next round.
7:00 p.m., Court 1–Narmi Group @ Baird (2-4) vs. Big O Boys (2-4)
The Big O Boys have been up and down all summer. However, one of their two wins came against the Narmi Group @ Baird in a 2-point victory. The Narmi Group has been lucky to field a team most of the summer, but one of the constants has been the play of Creighton freshman Ronnie Harrell. This should be a good rematch with the winner going on to face Andy’s Lawncare at 7PM.
7:00 p.m., Court 2–Winning Mentality (3-3) vs. ABIDE (0-6)
Antoine Young and several college veteran and pros lead the Winning Mentality team in probably one of the biggest mismatches of the four play-in games. Although they had a 3-3 record, they will have to play their way in to get the opportunity to play Bank of Nebraska. With the way ABIDE has played this summer, you would think it might not be too big of a challenge to advance. However, these teams met in week 3 and Winning Mentality escaped with a 74-69 victory.
7:00 p.m., Court 3–BD (2-4) vs. Shanks (0-6)
BD lost a heartbreaker on Monday in overtime and they will be ready to go against Shanks. Andy King, Jelani Johnson and Jace Fredenburg have come up big for BD most of the season. Shanks has suffered from a lot of losses in close games this summer. One positive for Creighton fans has been the play of James Milliken. He has helped keep the games close along with Midland University graduate Brett Sailors and Bellevue University graduate Ben Walstrom. The winner of this game will take on the small college surprise of the season, the Mustangs, at 8PM.
7:00 p.m., Court 4–UNO Alumni (2-4) vs. Northeast (2-4)
Both teams have struggled a bit this summer. Northeast, after starting 2-0 and looking like a fun team to watch, went on to drop their last four games. The UNO Alumni team hasn’t looked as tough as they have in recent years. However, they were able to give Andy’s their only loss of the summer to pick up their first win. The winner of this game will have to turn right around and play a rested #1 seed, Zurlo’s.
Top Seed Games (8 PM)
The winners of the 7PM games will be matched up with the top 4 seeds. The winner advances to the quarterfinals
8:00 p.m., Court 1–Andy’s Lawncare (5-1) vs. Narmi Group @ Baird or Big O Boys
Andy’s Lawncare has been pretty dominant this season outscoring their opponents by an average of almost 30 points a game in their five wins in pool play. For several of those games they only had five or six players available which makes it even more remarkable. They are led by former Huskers Jason Dourisseau and John Turek along with fellow pro Andre Smith. League organizer Jason Isaacson also plays with Andy’s. Whoever they face in this game will have a tough time pulling out an upset.
8:00 p.m., Court 2–Bank of Nebraska (4-2) vs. Winning Mentality or ABIDE
The defending MBL champs had a couple bumps in the road this summer, but they came against two of the top four seeds (Zurlo’s, Andy’s Lawncare) and are poised to make a run here in the tournament. They are a well rounded team that has a lot of players that could take over games. Former Bluejay Justin Carter is fun to watch along with Midland University high flying graduate James Parrott. Former Husker Wes Wilkinson and new Omaha Central head coach Ben Holling are also large contributors to this team. They should be able to advance to the quarterfinal round.
8:00 p.m., Court 3–Mustangs (5-1) vs. BD or Shanks
The Mustangs from Morningside have been the surprise of the summer. With the advantage of the lower division schools being able to field their whole rosters, there is always one school that breaks out of the pack to make some noise. The Mustangs had only one setback this summer, but it came against a potential opponent in this round. However, they have the advantage of not having to play a game just before this one.
8:00 p.m., Court 4–Zurlo’s (5-1) vs. UNO Alumni or Northeast
The talk around the crowd at Summer League has been the play of Creighton incoming transfer Mo Watson. Watson has to sit out next season for the Bluejays, so he has taken on the MBL as his motivation for producing something tangible before facing off every day against Austin Chatman at practice during the 2014-15 season. It doesn’t hurt to have some great shooting from Creighton’s Toby Hegner and UNO’s Alex Phillips. An extra ball handler with CJ Carter and some height inside has helped as well. Zurlo’s has played against the top teams in the league all summer and have come out almost perfect.
Round of 16 games (9 PM)
The winners of these games will advance to the quarterfinals which will be played right after this.
9:00 p.m., Court 1–Lopers (4-2) vs. Paragas Law (3-3)
The Lopers have quietly had a nice summer with several close wins. Paragas Law has had some injury bugs keeping them from full strength, but it has been fun watching Josh Jones back on the basketball court for the past couple of games. If Rickey Kreklow and Will Artino are able to join him this week, they could pull out a victory to advance to the quarterfinals.
9:00 p.m., Court 2–Cape Truck Acc (4-2) vs. John Higgins Weatherguard (3-3)
Cape Truck Acc (Midland University) started a little slow out of the gates this summer compared to last year, but have been solid down the stretch along with several close games, including almost knocking off Zurlo’s in week three. On the other side with John Higgins Weatherguard, you have the flashy Devin Brooks and the inside presence of Geoff Groselle. Brooks can put up numbers in bunches in his summer league playground while Groselle is finally healthy and has shown what Creighton coaches saw in him a few years ago when he was recruited. While the rest of the team has been overshadowed by Brooks and Groselle, this team is well rounded enough that they could pull out the mild upset.
9:00 p.m., Court 3–Judd Knispel Group (4-2) vs. Bruins (3-3)
Nick Bahe and the Judd Knispel Group has had a litany of different faces showing up each week. Whether it is Anthony Tolliver or Dane Watts, many are wondering if Nate Funk will show up this week. Okay, while that probably won’t happen, Judd Knispel has been pretty solid this summer with a large core of it being Creighton players past and present. The Bruins won’t go down with a fight as they have been known to cause some upsets when it comes to the MBL tournament.
9:00 p.m., Court 4–Apex Foster Care (4-2) vs. EQ School of Hair Design (3-3)
Apex Foster Care (Peru State) has had several close games including a couple of overtime games where they went 1-1. If David Plain takes over like he did on Monday night, then this could be quite a game. However, EQ has been pretty solid behind the play of Creighton’s Zach Hanson, UNO’s Tre’Shawn Thurman and Bellevue University graduate Derek Bryant. This should be another game to keep an eye on as either team could advance.
Quarterfinals (10 PM)
At this point of the night 12 of the 20 teams will be out of the tournament. Here is what you might expect to see:
Court 1: Andy’s Lawncare has been quietly dominant this summer, even at times with as few as five players. Expect to see them advance and play the Lopers or Paragas Law. Neither team has played Andy’s yet this summer
Court 2: After last week’s pool play loss to Andy’s, I would be really surprised if Bank of Nebraska doesn’t advance to the quarterfinals. I expect them to meet Cape Truck Acc. in a rematch of last summer’s tournament final.
Court 3: This one is where things get a little interesting. The Mustangs have been playing pretty well this summer and their only loss was a close one. However, that loss came against BD. Morningside might have a little revenge in mind, but don’t be surprised if this becomes the upset of the evening if BD gets through the first two games against Shanks and Mustangs. Will they have enough gas then to knock off Judd Knispel or the Bruins for a third game on Thursday night? I guess we’ll see.
Court 4: If you don’t see Zurlo’s in the quarterfinals, that would be pretty surprising, especially with the high intensity of play Mo Watson has shown this summer which has rubbed off on the rest of his teammates. Zurlo’s played EQ School of Hair last week and got a 100-83 win. If Apex Foster Care advances, then this would be their first meeting and they might not be ready for what will be coming at them.
Head out to the Omaha Sports Academy to enjoy the free games and then come back on Monday as the season wraps up with semifinals and championship game.
