Prologue
Its the battle for Mr Basketball as Edina takes on Park Center in the 2nd Class 4A semifinal. Quinton Hooker vs Graham Woodward in a showcase of point guards. As expected a poor turnout from the Edina student section and though smaller, a great Park Center crowd.
Game Time
Josh Matthews picks up 2 fouls in the 1st 2:06 and that forces the small Pirates to go to their bench to find another guy against Reggie Lynch. Hooker with a nice take and using the rim and reversing to score with Lynch looking for a block. Graham Woodward knocks down a 3 to give Edina a 9-5 lead at the 14:20 TV timeout. Hooker with the runout and finish to tie it. He then kicks out to Devin Buckley for a 4 point play at the 12:40 mark. That gives Park Center a 13-9 lead (8-0 run). More importantly its the 2nd foul on Lynch and he'll sit. That's a big advantage to the Pirates.
The Edina bench only goes 2 deep so Lynch comes back at the 11:07 mark. That's a signficant gamble from coach Dorsey. Any drive to the basket could easily get the 3rd. Park Center trying to face guard Woodward to limit his touches. Devin Paine just one of many guys getting their chances to defend Woodward. But Woodward pulls up for 3 to keep Edina within 17-14. Lynch gets his 3rd on a cheap reach going for an offensive board at the 8:45 mark and sits. Edina to a zone at the 7:10 mark and Isaiah McKay buries his 2nd 3. 25-16 Park Center inside of 7 left in the half. Then Treyton Daniels swats back to back shots on an Edina possession. Hooker runs the other way and finds McKay for a layup going the other way. 27-16 Park Center as Edina needs a timeout at the 6:28 mark. That's a 10-2 run after Lynch sat down.
McKay feeling it as he scores 2 buckets around a tough Woodward fade. Devin Buckley out and running and Hooker finds him for a layup. An Edina turnover and Pirates run for another McKay bucket to lead by 15. Park Center goes with 3 bench guys to end the half rather than trying to throw a knock out blow. 37-22 Pirates at the half. McKay with 14. Quinton Hooker 6 points, 4 boards and 4 assists for 11 more points. Graham Woodward 12 points and the Pirates athletes hassled him. No help as the rest of the Hornets roster 3-18 in the half. Park Center 15-28 with 22 points in the paint and 10-0 on the break.
Hooker behind the back, loses it and regains it in mid-air and almost converts. The free throws are good and the Pirates run for another layup for a 41-24 lead. Edina staying around at the 1st TV timeout of the half at 13:34, down 43-29. Hooker right at Lynch on the break with 12:47 left and that's his 4th foul. Back to the bench with the Hornets down 45-29 after the Hooker free throws. Then Hooker off the bounce beats Woodward for 2 more. That generates a Mr Basketball chant from the Pirates fans. Hooker to Josh Matthews for a layup and the lead is up to 20. That brings Lynch right back in with 11:32 left and the season on the line. He promptly swats away an Arione Farrar Jr drive to the rim. The lead isn't going anywhere. Hooker grabs an offensive board under rim, sees Lynch there and pump fakes him and Lynch is gone with #5 at the 7:22 mark. 53-33 Park Center after Hooker makes the freebies. Hooker draws the last 2 on Lynch with super high basketball IQ plays. Great to watch. Hooker upstairs to Daniels for a dunk and a Josh Matthews dunk are exclamation points. Park Center wins 66-44. That sets up an epic championship rematch with Apple Valley.
Post Game
Park Center controls the game after the 1st 4 minutes. Too athletic which allowed them to switch multiple guys on Woodward and then get out and run for easy buckets. Great balance from the Pirates with 4 in double figures. Losing Lynch due to fouls was a major game changer and nobody stepped up for Edina. Outside of Woodward and a Lynch dunk, the Hornets shot 7-37 from the floor. Quinton Hooker finishes with 14 points, 8 boards and 7 assists for 17 more points. He shot 4-9. Hard to believe he doesn't win Mr Basketball now. Devin Buckley a double double of 13 and 11. Graham Woodward shoots 5-19 and scores 17 points. Park Center 44-14 edge in points in the paint and 12-0 in fastbreak points. They shoot 50% for the game compared to 13-57 (22.8%).
Quinton Hooker finishes with 14 oints, 8 boards and 7 assists. He shot shot 4-9. Now he should get Mr. Basketball? I guess I don't see the logic here. Is it simply because his team is advancing to the final.
ReplyDeleteI think Mr. Broman has Mr. Basketball lined up, and if not, please don't even include single A teams in the running from now on.
Mr. Czar, how many PPG would a kid from a single A, Northern MN school have to average for you to approve of them getting Mr. Basketball? 50? 60? 70? 43 isn't enough i guess.
There are many reasons. Who he played, how he did in those games, who they beat. Hooker with smart play, big wins and big numbers. Ultimately he had a better season. No shame in that. His team won multiple big games (AV, Osseo twice etc) and he played well in those games. Like it or not, that can't be said for Anders.
ReplyDeleteI think you watched the Lakeview game. I know you watched them at some point this regular season as you did a couple write ups on them. Their three other starters are liabilities on the court. Broman gets all of the defensive focus. You cannot say the same for Hooker.
ReplyDeleteAgain I ask: How many would Broman have to average for him to be Mr. Basketball worthy?
Its not just about points. Its also about taking your team and your game to another level at critical times. Think Tyus Jones. Why is he so great. Not just because he can play on his own. Its because he takes the other 4 players to another level. Why do the other kids on that team pass the ball so well, because Tyus' passing ability is infectious.
ReplyDeleteAnders could have scored 1000 less career points and with big wins could have won the award (like Kevin Noreen did). 5100+ is great but what did he actually win in his career. He didn't play well in the biggest games. Box and 1 vs Chisholm as a soph in section final loss, last year vs BBE in 1st round at state bad loss, 4 fouls in 1st half in loss to PSA last year loss, vs RP this year at state bad loss. Scoreless vs Blake for an entire half in a blowout loss. 26 vs Onalaska in loss
Woodward beat Hopkins 3 times including the winning FTs to make state, Minnetonka twice. Hooker beat Apple Valley, beat Osseo twice including in a section final and beat Edina at state. He was great in all of those wins. Those teams won 2 of the strongest conferences in the state and it was because those kids played great in those big games (Woodward 41 in 1st meeting against Minnetonka for example). Woodward had very little help as we saw in the state semis. Hooker did have lots of help but he was the clear catalyst that made it all go, even when not scoring. See game vs Edina. Only took 9 shots, but made an impact with 8 boards, 7 assists for 17 more points and made crazy smart plays for the final 2 fouls on Reggie Lynch. Game is a blowout and he doesn't have to take shots because he did the other things. Ask anybody who knows that Pirates team, if you take him off of the team, they're no where close to the same team.
Nothing against Anders but if you put the resumes out there, his just doesn't compare to the other 2. He definitely belongs in the top 5 and would be a worthy winner in many cases. But there just happen to be 2 kids who had better seasons. The committee does take the role players into account. After all, look at Aaron Lien at Moorhead, team with a record that isn't great but he did lots for that team. Compared to Joe Aase who's team was undefeated but he didn't make the list likely because he didn't do enough beyond simply scoring. See also Scottie Stone, who's team arguably had more success but he's not on the list.
I will acknowledge that for outstate small schools its harder to go find the games to make the case. Cody Schilling had the same problem. Kevin Noreen definitely had an opportunity there because he was in the metro. But he also produced in those games (check the tracker and you'll see that). Is there a team component to it, absolutely because great players lead their teams to great heights. Woodward led a group of role players and Lynch to the Lake title and state semifinals.
I will be shocked if the winner is anybody but Hooker. Woodward or Broman I would disagree with but wouldn't be terribly upset. Lien or Dearring, that would be a crime.
Gotta agree with Royce. Broman lead weak teams to two state tournements. If he hadn’t had the flu they might have won it last year (when they had a OK center). His team was 20-11 against a very, very, tough schedule. They could have played weak teams. If they had scheduled McGregor, Broman probably would have pulled a Danny Heater on them. Replace Broman with Hooker or Woodard and neither one would improve on that record. He scored more points than any high schooler in 100 years of record keeping in MN. His team had about 5 offensive rebounds all season (slight exageration). He was probably somewhere in the top 10 in ppg for the whole country. His 70 point games were against real teams, with winning records.
ReplyDelete