Week 15 Observations and playoff schedule

Scores around the metro from the end of the week.

• Hill-Murray rolls into the tournament with a 14 pt win at Richfield and they've played much better the last month of the season. I won't predict they win 4AAA, but I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Arlington and Johnson and then Mahtomedi to win the section.
• Jefferson wins at Eden Prairie in OT. The 2nd round game between these teams will be low scoring and war. EP won by 1 at Jefferson, Jefferson by 2 at EP during league play. Ethan Thomforde was back for Eastview's win over Rosemount.
  
• Prior Lake squanders 2 chances to win the Missota outright with losses at Red Wing and at home to Northfield. Now they have to open with an Edina team that beat them during the regular season.
  
• Roosevelt gets blown out at Washburn, 2 close wins and 2 losses to end their season. Tough matchup with SCL on Tuesday if Chris Breuer plays.
  
• Elk River blows out Blaine with no Kyle Kreklow in the lineup for Blaine. Elk River will host Maple Grove on Tuesday in a good 4 vs 5 game. These teams split their regular season matchups and were both 10-8 in the weak NW Suburban. Beware of #3 seed Buffalo in section 8AAAA. The defending AAAA champs finished 20-6 and gave #1 seed St. Cloud Tech a 3 pt game during the season.
  
• Stillwater shares the Suburban East title with CDH after beating Roseville. Mounds View defeats Forest Lake by 8.
  
• DLS clinched the Tri-Metro West with a win over St. Agnes on Thursday. Brooklyn Center lost to Maranatha and Minnehaha to finish 3-12 after starting 8-2.
  
• Evan McMillan had 43 for SPA in a win over Ascension. Columbia Heights finishes 500 with a win over Meadow Creek in one of the better turnaround stories in the metro. They finished 4-21 last year. Jordan beats CHOF in 2 OT. Speaking of Jordan, Jr PG Brittany Chambers scored her 2000th point this week on the women's side. The Jags take on Caledonia Wednesday morning at Williams Arena.
• I set my own personal record for games seen in a season this week surpassing last year's 122.
  
• And finally, congrats to La Crosse Aquinas on winning the Wisconsin Division 3 Championship and finishing 24-3 (should've been 25-2 as they blew a 7 pt lead in the last 2+ minutes at Winona Cotter). They lost 4 starters and a co-Mr. Basketball from last year's state runner up team and nobody expected this. Coach Rick Schneider and his staff did a terrific job with the team.
  

Week 16 Schedule
Monday: Section 4A play-in games, don't know if I'll find one worth attending or not

Tuesday: Everybody in playoff action except St. Thomas Academy. Best game of the night is Central at Tartan. I'll either be at Columbia Heights for the Chris Mullin (Calvin Walker) vs Jacob Thomas matchup or at Burnsville for that doubleheader to see Tarell Clark of the Blaze 1 more time along with a look at Charlie Baker and Jameson Parsons of Eagan. The doubleheaders at Shakopee and Eastview have the best potential for upsets and should be well worth it. Why see 1 game when you can see 2.

Wednesday: Waseca at STA is the only local game in a 1AAA quarterfinal. Don't know if I'll cover this or not.

Thursday: 4A and 4AA quarterfinals at the high seeds with good 6AAA semis at Concordia-SP. Too many good games to pick at this point.

Friday: Best games of the night are at Concordia-SP with the 4AAAA Semifinals. 3AAA in Osseo, 4AAA at Arlington. 3AAAA at St. Olaf, 5AAAA at Rogers, 6AAAA at Cooper, 7AAAA at Elk River. I'll likely be at Concordia-SP for those 4AAAA games or I'll be at Cooper to get another chance to see Hopkins and Minnetonka in action (separately before their showdown in Osseo on 3/18)

Saturday: Section 4A subsection finals at Spring Lake Park (1 and 3 PM) is where I'll be. 4AA semifinals at Holy Angels (1 and 3 PM)

YTD Stats

• 125 games (97 MN split 81 boys and 16 girls, 28 WI split 24 boys and 4 girls)
• 48 buildings
• 150 teams (118 boys and 32 girls, 107 MN teams split 84 boys and 23 girls, 37 Wisconsin split 29 boys and 8 girls, 6 outstate split 5 boys and 1 girls)
• 2 Genders

Current Poll Stats
4A: 8 (Missing Rochester Mayo and St. Cloud Tech)
3A: 7 (Missing Mankato W, Willmar and New Prague)
2A: 3 (St. Bernard's and Concordia)
1A: 3 (MCA, Cass Lake-Bena and Bethlehem Academy)