Week 9 observations and Week 10 Schedule

Let's start with some scoreboard watching from the end of the week.

Thursday:

• Kennedy blows out Armstrong, surprising there as I thought Armstrong would be competitive in that game. But if they don't shoot it well, this really isn't a surprise.
• Hopkins by only 13 over Richfield, but give Richfield credit, they've won 4 out of 5 (including the SSP game after this one) and are playing well right now.
• Wayzata routs North, Wayzata continues to impress.
  
• St. Bernard's runs away from CHOF in the 2nd half in a blowout

Friday:

• Sibley gets a home win over STA to take control of the Classic Suburban race.
• Eden Prairie gets another blowout home win over a top half Lake team with a blowout of Burnsville. Combined with Kennedy's blowout win at Lakeville N, Kennedy and EP are now 2 games clear in the Lake at 8-1 as we approach the end of the 1st half of league play.
• Coon Rapids with a 2 pt win over Elk River to improve to 4-2 in the NW Suburban and claim sole possession of 3rd place. But when the 3rd place team in the league is 6-7 overall and only 3 teams overall are above 500, that's a sign of a weak league.
• In the Tri-Metro, Blake upsets Breck. Despite this being a rivalry, this is still a bad loss for Breck. St. Anthony gets 33 from Calvin Walker to pull a 4 pt upset at DLS. That loss pushes DLS 2 games behind Brooklyn Center in the Tri-Metro West. St. Anthony stays 1 game behind Concordia for 2nd in the Tri-Metro East.
• Farmington with another nice win in the Missota by beating Red Wing and they're in sole possession of 1st early in the conference season as Shakopee knocked off New Prague and Prior Lake won at Holy Angels. Its worth noting that all the big games for Farmington in league play are at home in the 1st rotation. They have to go to Shakopee, Red Wing, Prior Lake and New Prague in the last rotation with a trip to Holy Angels to end the 1st rotation.
• Johnson beats Heelan by 6 in the East Metro Showcase, I don't get that one after seeing Heelan and Como Park only beats Milwaukee Marshall by 3.

Saturday:

• Henry routs North 110-56, wow. Henry takes control of the Minneapolis City race with the win.
  
• As to the Border Battle, I totally botched the Marshall and Princeton results, but got the other 3 right along with the final 3-2 Wisconsin prediction. Princeton getting blown out really surprised me but when you give up 17 3s, that'll happen. I had 2nd thoughts about not mentioning Aris Wurtz in my preview and sure enough he had a big game. Jeronne Maymon with 30 and 16 for Madison Memorial in the win over Tonka, no surprise there. In another case where a MN team had no answer for a powerful inside player, Tartan gives up 30 and 19 to Jason Ziemer in a 4 pt loss that costs MN the border battle again this year. MCA as expected was too much for Barneveld.
  

Week 10 Schedule:
Monday: Breck at Minnehaha, my 1st chance to see Breck this season. Also a big non-conference matchup as Stillwater travels to Sibley. Mike Bruesewitz vs Joel Armstrong should be interesting. Sibley has won 8 out of 9 since lsoing 3 out of 4 to the top 3 teams in 4A (Osseo, Tonka and Hopkins) including a 14 pt win over Maple Grove and only losing by 3 to Mounds View in the Bethel tournament before the win over STA on Friday. Stillwater has won 10 in a row since the tough loss to Armstrong including wins over Rochester Mayo, CDH and a blowout of Forest Lake.

Tuesday: Tartan at Richfield, this should be fun and I look forward to seeing Marc Sonnen. Game of the night though is Osseo at Maple Grove. Should be a full-house as both teams are 6-0 and 2 games ahead in the NW Suburban and this is a great rivalry game. Also Hopkins at Henry, DLS at Concordia, Eden Prairie at Jefferson.

Wednesday: I finally get a weekday off as the last 2 weeks have been a game every night and next week will be as well.

Thursday: This looked like a weak schedule, but now the Brooklyn Center at CHOF game looms large and I finally get a chance to see if the Centaurs are for real.

Friday: Lakeville N at Burnsville in a Lake matchup. Tarell Clark is a pleasure to watch, but David Bethene for Lakeville N is a nice player too that I want to see. Mounds View travels to Stillwater in a big Suburban East matchup. PACT at MN Transitions in an interesting section 4A matchup. Shakopee at Prior Lake in a tough Missota conference battle and Minnetonka travels to Wayzata to start the Classic Lake season looking to rebound from the loss to Madison Memorial.

Saturday:
Central at Washburn (1:00)
Whitefish Bay Dominican (#1 2A WI) at DLS at 7:00, really looking forward to this one. Kwamain Mitchell is the #2 ranked senior in Wisconsin and a contender for the Mr. Basketball award. He's signed with St. Louis. It'll be interesting to see if the bevy of DLS guards can contain him.

Also Cass Lake-Bena at Hopkins at 3:00

YTD Stats

• 85 games (58 MN split 48 boys and 10 girls, 27 WI split 23 boys and 4 girls)
• 35 buildings
• 120 teams (95 boys and 25 girls, 79 MN teams split 63 boys and 16 girls, 35 Wisconsin split 27 boys and 8 girls, 6 outstate split 5 boys and 1 girls)
• 2 Genders

Current Poll Stats
4A: 6 (missing Wayzata, Rochester Mayo and Moorhead, I've only seen Armstrong on tape, not in person)
3A: 7 (missing Red Wing, New Prague and Willmar)
2A: 2 (SB, Holy Family)
1A: 2 (MCA and CLB)