Weekly 360 Windmill - Nov 29 2015

Its the Weekly 360 Windmill.  Time to look back on the week that was and look ahead to the 1st complete week of games in the 2015-16 season.

Week 2 Review

• Upset alerts sent out with 4 results that caught my eye.  Minneapolis South pulling off 2 of those with wins over Benilde-St. Margaret's and St. Francis.  Highland Park getting the best of Hill-Murray on Tuesday was an eye opener.  I'll see South and Highland Park battle on Wednesday.  Then Jason Gumm beats the buzzer on Saturday to give Burnsville the win over #4AAAA Eden Prairie.
• We've seen some crazy scoring numbers to start the season.  Gary Trent 43.5 PPG in 2 games for Apple Valley.  Apple Valley offense averaging over 100 a night in 2 games.  Zach Knollenberg 36 PPG in 2 Spectrum wins.  Nate Reuvers 29.5 PPG in 2 Lakeville North wins.  Junior Stone with 44 in Richfield's opening win over Harding. 
• How about the holiday weekend for Osseo as they go up to Duluth and curbstomp both Duluth East and #6AAA Hermantown by 45+.
• Solid week for Waconia as they take care of Prior Lake and a quality road win at Superior, WI.
• Chisago Lakes with a quality win over Mahtomedi (who was ranked before that loss) and they played Orono to a 2 point loss in the Monticello tourney. 

Week 3 Look Ahead
Its the first full week of games on the schedule.  This is what catches my attention.

• #2AA Minnehaha at #3AA St. Croix Lutheran on Tuesday night (mother nature permitting).  This is a huge matchup in section 4AA.  It also begins a nightmare stretch of the schedule for St. Croix Lutheran.  #2AA Minnehaha, at St. Thomas Academy, Roosevelt (showcase), at #1A North, at #6AA SPA, #4AA Braham (tip off classic), Waseca.  All in the 3 weeks before Christmas, yikes.  Ade Lamu and Trenton Krueger provide a strong test for Minnehaha's JaVonni Bickham inside.  But the bevy of perimeter guys for Minnehaha will be a challenge for Crusader guards Aage Rovney and Venkate Valluri.
• Thursday has a couple of out-state games of note.  #7AA Esko at #6AAA Hermantown and #6A Rushford-Peterson at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (WI).  G-E-T ranked #4 in the preseason division 3 poll in Wisconsin.
• #6AAAA Champlin Park at Armstrong on Friday.  Hope to see a McKinley Wright vs Jubie Alade matchup there.  Theo John vs Race Thompson inside is a battle of 2 very good young big men.  The rest of the rosters are largely inexperienced at the varsity level.
• The Southside Showcase kicks off Saturday at 12:30 at MTS with 5 games.   #5A MTS vs Superior, WI is the opener and a good challenge for the hosting Wolves.  UMD commit Brandon Myer vs Isaiah Wade is a fun matchup there.  Then Washburn vs Minnehaha and Roosevelt vs St. Croix Lutheran in the 4-7 PM window is a pair of entertaining games. 
• The Girls Breakdown Tip-Off Classic features 4 boys games on Saturday.  They are all on the main court starting at 2:15 PM. 
• Minnetonka takes on Madison East in the 1st boys game.  Deang Deang leads the #6 Division 1 preseason Purgolders.  He is the 9th ranked senior in Wisconsin.  Madison East appeared in the Wisconsin state tournament last season.
• Milwaukee Washington takes on #1AAA De La Salle.  Washington is #3 in the preseason Division 2  rankings.  Washington features Illinois commit Te'jon Lucas (#2 ranked senior in WI) at the point guard spot.  If you can't see Washington on Saturday, they play at #4AAA Johnson on Friday night.  
• Then the big showdown between #1AAAA Apple Valley and powerhouse Iowa City West.  West features Iowa commit Connor McCaffrey and UNI commit Tanner Lohaus just to name a couple in the stacked lineup.  
• State qualifier Des Moines Hoover and guard Chris King take on #2AAAA Hopkins in the late game.  The Hopkins girls will play before that game.
• A couple of important Saturday games will be outside of those 2 events.  #8AAA Waconia visits Benilde-St. Margaret's in an important section 6AAA matchup.  #4AAA Johnson visits Cretin-Derham Hall in a matchup of the 2 teams that have dominated St. Paul City basketball over the last 25 years.  1 of those teams has shared or won the league title outright in 23 of the last 25 years.  
• One other Saturday game that catches my eye is North St. Paul at Woodbury.  Almost everybody in the east metro was decimated by graduation.  These 2 teams on the other hand have a bunch of young kids returning from teams that struggled last year.  This game is a benchmark for who is further ahead in making the next step in section 4AAAA.