Asics President’s Day Classic: 18 Open Preview and Predictions

OMAHA – There might not be a long list of ranked powerhouses in the 18 Open division of the Asics President’s Day Classic this weekend, but the truth is, it’s a division that could be the most interesting to watch.

With no real overwhelming favorite, the 18 Open title could go to a number of teams – a handful of which are from Nebraska. Top-seeded Northern Lights 181 comes in as the top seed, but it is a team that lost several of its top players from last year to Minnesota Select’s 181 team. As a result, expect a lot of balance in the division and a lot of intrigue throughout.

Here is a preview of the 18 Open division along with predictions on how I see it playing out this weekend.

Total Teams: 14

Format: Two pools of 7 teams, top three teams in each pool advance to championship bracket with the pool winners each getting a first-round bye in the championship bracket.

Pool 1: Northern Lights 181, Premier 18 Gold, Nebraska Juniors 181, Kairos Elite 18 Adidas, Minnesota North 181, CIA 18 Silver, Topeka Impact 181.

Pool 2: VCNebraska 18 Black, Nebraska Elite 18 MOAB, Northern Lights 182, Northeast VBC 18 Black, Kairos Elite 18 Beta, CIA 18 Black, IPVA 18 Black.

Top Teams & Nebraska Teams: As the #23 team in the nation and the top seed in the tournament, Northern Lights 181 certainly has a target on its back this weekend. This year’s version of the Northern Lights 181 squad isn’t as loaded as usual, but it’s still plenty good. Ellie Koontz is headed to Marquette while McKenna Melville is going to Central Florida and Lauren Turner will be playing at the University of San Diego.

Premier 18 Gold is about as hot of a team as there is in the Midwest, having won a pair of USA division titles at USAV Qualifiers already this season. Despite that, Premier is inexplicably unranked nationally. You better believe its match against Northern Lights 181 at 1 p.m. on Sunday will be its chance to make a statement. Taliyah Flores (Papillion-LaVista South), Brooke Frederickson (North Bend) and Sydney Fitzgibbons (Papillion-LaVista) have been consistently strong for Premier this year and Lauren Bair (Clarinda, Iowa) came on really strong last weekend.

Nebraska Juniors 181 has a roster that can play with anyone in the state, but the team has had to shuffle its players quite a bit so far this season due to having so many basketball players. But, with Lily Heim (Omaha Marian) running the show at setter and having Kristin Lux (North Bend) and Jaden Ferguson (Lincoln Southwest) on the outside gives them as good of a chance as anyone this weekend.

The absence of Jaela Zimmerman has definitely held back VCNebraska’s 18s this season and I’m 99.9% sure she won’t be in action again this weekend. With Rachel Walker (Lincoln Southwest), Coree Lipovsky (Sandy Creek) and Riley Newton (Elkhorn South), though, VCNebraska could sneak its way into the championship bracket.

Nebraska Elite 18 MOAB probably won’t be using Emily Bressman (Omaha Marian) at setter this weekend like it did the last time it played at CenturyLink Center – and that’s a good thing for Elite. Elite is the only team to have defeated Premier 18 Gold (2-1 very early in the season) and is looking for a bounce-back after injuries and illness led to a difficult showing at January Thaw. Look for Bressman, Sarah Wing (Omaha Marian), Maddie Wiedenfeld (Omaha Marian), Kate Bilyeu (Omaha Marian), Rylee Marshall (Fort Calhoun) and company to be primed for a good showing.

Technically, Northeast VBC of Sterling, Colorado, isn’t a title threat and it’s not from Nebraska, but the team has a pair of studs from Sidney in Payton Jung and Mattie Johnson. Johnson is our #5 player in the Class of 2020 rankings and is committed to South Dakota. Johnson is also an outstanding basketball player, so she definitely won’t be available on Saturday. If she shows up on Sunday and Monday, she could help the squad push for a top-three finish in its pool.

Pool 1 Predictions: I think Northern Lights 181 is beatable and I think Premier 18 Gold has been looking at this weekend for a while as a real measuring stick. I will take Premier to win the pool with Northern Lights 181 getting second and Nebraska Juniors 181 taking third.

Pool 2 Predictions: I’m going with Nebraska Elite 18 MOAB winning this pool with Northern Lights 182 finishing second and CIA 18 Black taking third.

Championship Bracket Predictions: I think it will be an all Nebraska final with Premier 18 Gold defeating Nebraska Juniors 181 in one of the semifinals and Nebraska Elite 18 MOAB downing Northern Lights 181 in the other semifinal. In the championship Premier avenges its loss to MOAB in January by winning the title.