Class A:
Bethlehem over Chisholm. Chris Palmer et al have too much but this should be fun. I think this could be the best of the 4 games.
MTS takes out GHEC to prove that MTS should have been #1 in the polls. I'm not a fan of the GHEC schedule or lack thereof.
Ada-Borup vs Cass Lake-Bena. CLB gets back to state despite all the kids they lost. Tough pick, but CLB has that goofy system. I'll take them to win.
Sebeka vs Ellsworth. I like this game. Joey Cupherus and Trevor Gruis are 2 names you'll hear more of next year. Give me Ellsworth as they know the drill.
Give me MTS over Bethlehem and Ellsworth over CLB. MTS gets revenge on Ellsworth for the title as MTS has too much talent.
Class AA:
Virgina vs PEM. I'll take PEM as I'm really looking forward to seeing the Olstads for the 1st time.
St. Bernard's vs Triton. This one will be very very ugly. Bernard's in a total blowout.
Pelican Rapids knocks out the defending champs New London-Spicer.
Montevideo knocks out Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted to see how Pelican Rapids blows out in the semis.
St. Bernard's over PEM in a fun showdown of Olstad vs Jett. Pelican Rapids big.
Pelican Rapids over St. Bernard's for the title via depth. Jett vs Storrusten will be outstanding. Eric Shulstad needs to be big in that one.
Class AAA
My 4 seeds in order. Mankato West, Washburn, Johnson, Grand Rapids. You don't want to draw Spring Lake Park or New Prague in the 1st round. Obviously New Prague is the feel good story of the entire tournament as they try to win one for their fallen coach. Danny Geiger and Connor O'Brien are good enough to do it. Washburn beats Johnson in the rubber match in the semis and then takes out Mankato West for the title.
Class AAAA
There's the seeds and then the not-seeded. Hopkins, Sibley, Tech and Osseo are how I'd seed the 4 teams. Say what you will about Tech, but they're undefeated so I can't deny them the 3 seed despite the fact that I think they'd have little chance holding down Sam Dower. I'm hoping Alec Brown and Winona get drawn for the #4 seed so they play at 4 PM against Osseo. That would really add some intrigue. The MSHSL has the #1 seed playing at 10 AM. No wonder nobody goes to the state tournament. Then again that game will be a rout (as will Sibley at noon) so sleep until 2 or just skip day 1 at Target Center as 5 of the 6 games promise to be bad. Hopkins and Sibley win semis. Sibley plays Hopkins tough in the final but Hopkins ultimately takes home the gold.
Hey, the only one I am going to disagree with you on in Class A is Chisholm over BA. I have seen both teams play and feel that Chisholm is the better team. And they pounded down AA Virginia who is also in the tournament.
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ReplyDeleteHenry-Sibley losing was definetly an upset, but I thought you went to the first Osseo-Sibley matchup which Osseo played horribly in. Looking at how much they have improved and the fact that Mo, Sibley's best outside shooter, has a foot injury most of the people I talked to thought Osseo would take the game. Also I know from talking to Sam Dower, Nick Djerf, Jayvin Reynolds, and DJ Phillips that they wanted a rematch unfortunetly for them they didn't get it. The reason they said was not just for revenge but because so many "informed" sports writers/venues have been talking about how inexperienced and sub-par they are even though last year they had arguably the best JV in the state who didn't win by less than 12 and averaged almost a 20 point game winning margin.
ReplyDeletewithout losing a single game going 24-0.
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