We have already hit the end of Summer League hoops with the Metro Basketball League tournament taking place this week. The first round and quarterfinals will take place on Monday night with the semifinals and finals happening on Thursday night, July 21st. Games both nights will start at 7:00 p.m. at the Omaha Sports Academy.
Two teams are easy favorites, but there are a few others that could put a wrench into those plans. Here is the bracket that was released Friday morning:
Now that you know the field, here are how the matchups break down and we preview the games happening on Monday night.
7:00 p.m. Court 1: #1 NEBHSSPORTS.COM vs. #16 Air Force
NEBHSSPORTS.COM is one of the favorites in this one as they went 6-0 in pool play with strong performances in each game defeating opponents by an average of almost 17 points a game. Led by Creighton sophomore Khyri Thomas and redshirt Freshman Justin Patton, both players have been strong all summer long and fun to watch. Patton had several dunks in the last pool play game against OFWF last Thursday. A key contributor to the team, KJ Scott, will not be with the team, but have had good performances by UNO’s Mitch Hahn and the addition of former Bluejay Antoine Young that will replace Scott’s points and shooting.
Air Force, out of Offutt Air Force Base started off pretty competitive in games over the first two weeks of summer league with losses of 5 and 7 points, but in the final four games the ability to score in the second half has hampered this team and have lost by an average of 32 points during the final four games of pool play. NEBHSSPORTS.COM will be heavy favorites in this one to move forward tot he quarterfinal game on court 1 at 9PM.
7:00 p.m. Court 4: #4 UNO Alumni vs. #13 Judd Knispel Insurance
This one could turn out to be a pretty competitive game. First up, the defending MBL champs UNO Alumni finished strong in pool play to sit at 4-2 . The first two games of the summer were close ones where they almost lost. Their play came back to haunt them in week three as BD ran away from them and a loss against NEBHSSPORTS.COM in week 5, However two more close wins propelled them to a strong finish and will be a factor as always in the MBL tournament.
For Judd Knispel Insurance, they come into the tournament with a lot of confidence after two wins to finish pool play in the last week. The team had signs of a strong showing after Wayne State’s Matt Thomas had strong showing against NEBHSSPORTS.COM the week before to compliment the play of Creighton’s Marcus Foster into last Monday’s win over OFWF. Then, after struggling to win the close games, it was Wayne State’s JJ Zumbrennen getting into the mix with a game winning three pointer against BD on Thursday night. This one could be a battle to move into the 9PM quarterfinal on court 4.
7:00 p.m. Court 2: #2 Going Vertical vs. #15 EQ School of Hair
After suffering an opening game loss to NEBHSSPORTS.COM, Going Vertical rolled of five straight victories while the combination of the college player and veterans started to gel together as the summer has gone one. UNO’s Tre’Shawn Thurman and Tra-Deon Hollins have been connecting together all summer and have been great contributors to the veterans of Ben Holling, Justin Carter, Klaye Rowe, & Cody Levinson. Going Vertical has rolled along and are favorites to get to the finals of the tournament. But they have to be careful.
EQ School of Hair finished pool play 0-6, but they played a close one against Going Vertical in week 3 narrowly losing 89-83. However, the problem with EQ School of Hair has been the fact that they have really struggled to even put a team together week to week. Creighton’s Zach Hanson was injured in week one and has not returned, while fellow teammate Maurice Watson, Jr., has also missed a couple of games due to out of town travel. Watson has been a star in summer league the past two summers, but has not had the opportunity to shine as much this summer. The talent on Going Vertical should propel them past EQ School of Hair to the quarterfinals.
7:00 p.m. Court 4: #3 Winning Mentality vs. #14 Apex Foster Care
Of the top four seeds in the tournament, the one team that probably hasn’t gotten much attention is Winning Mentality. While it was a bit of a pun to have the winning mentality to win or lose games, it isn’t a joke any longer. Winning Mentality is a lot like Going Vertical where they lost in week one and have rattled off five straight wins to earn themselves the #3 seed. Deverell Biggs and the rest of the squad may have been taken lightly by opponents. However, they have won handily in some victories while others were close games.
Apex Foster Care is made up of the current Peru St. roster and they have been up and down all summer. While they finished with a 2-4 record, they were very close to being a 4-2 team taking UNO Alumni to overtime before losing and lost another close game to Narmi Group on a last second shot by Jahenns Manigat. If you are looking for a possible upset of the top four seeds, you may want to check out this game.
8:00 p.m. Court 1: #8 Lopers vs. #9 Narmi Group @ Baird
Both of these teams finished pool play with 3-3 records. The Narmi Group is full of Creighton players current and old on the roster. Ronnie Harrell and Tyler Clement are the current players on the team, while Jahenns Manigat, Taylor Stormberg and Matt Dorwart round out the primary players on this team. They have had a wild summer, with several games that could have gone either way. In their three losses, they lost by 4 points, 1 point, and 2 points, with another of their wins being a two-point victory. They have a good opportunity here against the Lopers.
The Lopers (current UNK roster) are almost a mirror image of Narmi Group. In their three losses, they lost by 4 points, 2 points and 10 points, and had a 2 point victory as well. However, their 10-point loss was to the Narmi Group in week 2. The winner of this game faces off against the winner of NEBHSSPORTS.COM and Air Force
8:00 p.m. Court 2: #7 Regulators vs. #10 Shanks Law Firm
Both of these teams were ones that were expected to fly under the radar heading into the summer league season, and they could again fly under the radar for the winner in the quarterfinal game. The Regulators are former Bellevue University players. They have lost their last two games. On the other side is Shanks Law Firm with former Nebraska Wesleyan players. Trey Bardsley has been on fire from behind the arc for Shanks including an 11-three pointer performance last Monday in a victory for Shanks. All of Shanks losses have come against some of the top teams in the league. The winner of this game will face the winner of Going Vertical and EQ School of Hair.
8:00 p.m. Court 3: #6 BD vs. #11 OFWF
BD looked like they were going to roll into the tournament starting off 4-0 and looking almost unstoppable after having double-digit victories in the first four games. However, they ended up losing a to a surging Rooferees team last Monday and that loss carried over into a last second loss against Judd Knispel on Thursday. BD was without high flier James Parrott on Thursday night due to injury. It is possible he won’t be available on Monday. Jelani Johnson, Ben Imig, Andy Kin, and Galen Gullie will have to step up even more to lead BD to victory.
On the other side OFWF started out 2-0 and looked like they were going to be tough to deal with for the rest of the summer. However, they have went through a dry spell losing their last four games, but against the top teams in the league. During that time part of their team was missing with Creighton’s Davion Mintz and Toby Hegner gone at different times while the Moran brothers were not playing last Thursday night. Mintz has played really well this summer and showed a lot of great skills on Thursday night against NEBHSSPORTS.COM. Both of these teams met in week four and BD walked away with a victory. The winner of this game will face the winner of Winning Mentality and Apex Foster Care
8:00 p.m. Court 4: #5 Rooferees vs. #12 Bank of Nebraska
The Rooferees have been in flux all summer with the roster constantly evolving. The last couple of week the roster solidified and have played pretty well. Their highlight of the season so far was knocking off BD when they were 4-0 behind a stellar performance from Andre Smith. Jason Dourisseau stepped in the past few weeks and John Turek also came to play a couple of times. It all depends what Rooferees lineup comes to play on Monday night to see whether they can advance.
Bank of Nebraska has lost their last three games and they don’t seem to have the same kind of energy they had at the beginning of the summer. It isn’t easy either playing two of the top three seeds in two of the last three games in pool play. The winner of this game will face the winner of UNO Alumni and Judd Knispel Insurance.
Come out to the Omaha Sports Academy on Monday night and enjoy 3-hours of hoops. See you then.
For more on Monday night’s action visit the OMAMetroLeague Twitter timeline and visit the MBL mini-site.