Barnstormers Basketball

Tryouts for the 2008 12U (6th Grade and Under) team will be held on Sunday, May 18th, from 1:30 to 3:00pm at the North Liberty Rec Center. Click HERE for more details, and fill out the registration form HERE.

Kaylon Williams (Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 2008) has committed to play basketball at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. The Purple Aces are an NCAA Division I School in the Missouri Valley Conference. You can read their press release about the signing here. Congratulations, Kaylon!

The 'Stormers sent a few teams into action over the weekend in Sioux Falls, SD at the Dakota Schoolers Spring Jam. The 17U Gold team went a perfect 5-0 to capture a championship. The 17U Black team also had a strong showing, finishing 4-1 which was good for second place in their division. The 16U squad finished second in their pool with a 2-1 record and ended up finshing 3rd overall in their division. Congratulations, guys!

The middle-school aged Barnstormers teams were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last weekend, playing in the NY2LA Swish 'N Dish. The 14U 'Stormers went 1-1 in pool play, beating 43 Hoops out of Minnesota, and losing to WI Playground Elite. The 14s exited early from the tournament, though, after running into a tough Net Gain Sports team in the first round. Kade Olson and Taylor Olson were both selected to the All-Tournament team. The 13U Barnstormers went 2-0 in their pool, and advanced through the first two rounds with wins over the WI Wizards and MN Hustlers, before facing their rival All-Iowa Attack in the semis. The 'Stormers advanced to the finals after beating the Attack, but lost in the championship to a very talented WI Blue Chips team. Jeremy Morgan, Jimmy Roth, and Josh Weeber were selected to the All-Tournament team.

The Barnstormers 17U Black team was in Des Moines last weekend, playing "up" in the 19U State AAU tournament. The 'Stormers had another nice showing, beating Dowling and Capital City in to finish 2-0 and win their pool. The Barnstormers beat the Corn Sharks in the first round of tournament play, and then advanced to the championship by beating the 19U Martin Brothers Select in the quarter-finals. The 'Stormers eventually ran out of gas, losing to a tough 19U Des Moines Knicks team in the finals to finish 2nd. Brennan Cougill (Sioux City Heelan) was a member of the all-tournament team.

The Barnstormers 17U Black team travelled to Las Vegas, NV over Easter Weekend for the Las Vegas Easter Classic. The 'Stormers finished first in their pool, going 3-0 in pool play against Eastside Aztecs (TX), Las Vegas Athletics, and Branch West Academy (CA). They went on to win another game in Platinum-bracket tournament play against FCA Perris (CA), before losing to Houston Hoops in the Elite 8. The 17U Black team will play again April 4-5 in Des Moines for the Iowa 19U State Tournament. Congrats, Guys!

Congratulations to the 21 current or former 'Stormers who received INA All-State recognition this year:

First Team: Kaylon Williams (CR Kennedy), Jordan Stoermer (IC West), Eric Jorgensen (SC East), Grant Gibbs (Linn Mar), Brennan Cougill (SC Heelan), Kirby Pettitt (Carroll), Kyle Haake (Harlan), Brett Putz (Forest City), Brett Van Sloten (Decorah), Kurt Spomer (Tri-Center), Cliff Warner (Pella Christian).

Second Team: Cimion George (CR Kennedy), Alex Walker (SC North), Alex Dorr (Norwalk), Amry Shelby (Marion), Eli Groenendyk (Pella Christian), Eric Hanson (BCIG), Shawn Keizer (Western Christian), Matt Morrison (Solon), B.J. Hermsen (W. Delaware).

Third Team: Tyler Putz (Forest City).

We would like to congratulate the 27 current or former ‘Stormers and their coaches and teammates who made it to the state tournament this season. We wish you all the best in your quest to win a state championship.

Grant Gibbs (Linn Mar), Will Roth (Linn Mar), Kaylon Williams (CR Kennedy), Walter Loesch (CR Kennedy), Cimoin George (CR Kennedy), Jake Hughes (CR Kennedy), Alex Walker (SC North), Brennan Cougill (SC Heelan), Tanner Ferguson (SC Heelan), John Daniels (SC Heelan), Eli Groenendyk (Pella Christian), Cliff Warner (Pella Christian), Bill Nolte (Pella Christian), Eric Hanson (BCIG), Kurt Spomer (Tri-Center), Brett Putz (Forest City), Tyler Putz (Forest City), Drew Davis (Dubuque Wahlert), Zach Derby (IC High), AJ Derby (IC High), Matt Morrison (Solon), Ben Weeks (Solon), Tucker Wentzien (Solon), BJ Hermsen (W. Delaware), Kyle Haake (Harlan), Seth Tuttle (SCMT), and Shawn Keizer (Western Christian).

State Champs: Zach Derby, A.J. Derby, Drew Davis and Shawn Keizer.

All-Tourney: Kaylon Williams, Grant Gibbs, Brett Putz, Drew Davis, Kyle Haake, Matt Morrison and Cliff Warner.

We recently added an "Alumni" Section to the barnstormersbasketball.com website, listing former players from the Barnstormers program who are current or former college basketball players. Check it out!

Eric Jorgenson (Sioux City East, 2008) has committed to play basketball at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Augustana Vikings are a NCAA Division II School in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Congratulations, Eric!

	The 13U 'Stormers traveled to Rock Island, IL, this weekend to compete in the Thanksgiving Shootout at Augustana College. The team finished pool-play with a perfect 3-0 record. In the championship game, the team cruised to a 52-23 victory over Da Future to capture their first title of the season.

Three-sport star, B.J. Hermsen has long been a big time prospect in football, basketball, and baseball. The all-state athlete recently spurned the sports of football and basketball to follow his heart and play baseball for the two-time defending National Champion Oregon St. Beavers next year. B.J. is ranked as the #16 prospect in the country and was selected to play in the AFLAC High School All-America game in San Diego in August. He choose the Beavers over programs like Miami, Texas, Arizona St, LSU, Iowa, etc. Congrats B.J.!

	For months now, Brett Putz has been pursued by a number of quality basketball programs in the Midwest. He took some times to make some visits before arriving at the decision that St. Cloud State University in Minnesota was the right place for him. The Huskies compete in the very tough North Central Conference. Last year they finished with a 19-11 record and for the second straight season advanced to the NCAA Division II North Central Region tournament. Congrats, Brett!

	Brennan Cougill commits to the Hawkeyes! Brennan made the trip to Iowa City for the homecoming festivities and picked up his sixth offer in the last couple months. After spending a few hours on campus with the offer in hand he knew Iowa City was where he wanted to be and notified the staff of his commitment to sign with the Hawkeye's next November and take the court in the winter of 2009. He chose the Hawkeye's over offers from Southern Illinois, Missouri State, Indiana State, Wisconsin-GreenBay, Loyola-Chicago, and mounting interest from Creighton, Marquette, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa State, Notre Dame, etc. Congrats, Brennan!!! Articles on Brennan's commitment: Scout.com Hoopmasters.com

The 17U and 16U Gold and Black teams recently traveled to Las Vegas to participate in the Rbk Summer Championships and the Main Event. The 17U team finished tied for 1st place in their pool and finished among the Top 32 out of 224 teams at the Rbk Summer Championships. The 16U Gold team won their pool and advanced to the Top 16 out of 104 teams in the Platinum Division and the Black team finished in the Top 16 of the Gold Division. This was a fantastic showing on such a huge national stage. Congrats, guys!

Brennan Cougill (Heelan, 2009) was recently added to the Team USA roster for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Youth Development Festival, held June 20-24 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 2007 Festival will feature three USA teams (Red, White and Blue) competing against each other, as well as against a Brazil Junior National Team in a round-robin format June 22-23. The semifinal games will be played June 23 and the gold medal will be contested on June 24.

Five of the 2007 'Stormers were drafted this week on to teams in the 2007 Prime Time League. Teams are made up of mostly college or former college players, including all of the underclassmen from the University of Iowa's men's basketball team and several from the University of Northern Iowa. Games are played on Monday and Wednesday nights in June and July. Congratulations to Brett Putz (2008), Jordan Stoermer (2008), Kaylon Williams (2008), Matt Morrison (2009), and Josh Oglesby (2011) on being selected! For more information, go to www.primetimeleague.com.

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