Weekly 360 Windmill - 2015 Holiday Tournament Edition

Its a holiday tournament preview edition of the Weekly 360 Windmill.  Last week a very short week but we'll take a quick look at the notable from there before diving into the Christmas tournmaments

Week 6 Review

• Maranatha gets their first win against Edison.  
• Impressive win for Heritage taking out Cristo Rey by 25.  For the Pumas, losing that big will loom large for the 4A coaches in seeding.
• Quality Tuesday wins for Lakeville North, #4AAA Orono, #9AAA Henry over #6AA SPA at Hamline, #1AAAA Hopkins over #5AAAA Champlin Park, #8AAA Totino-Grace over Mahtomedi
• Important 5AA win for SW Christian taking out Providence.  Jack Jenson back in the lineup to lead the Stars to victory.   He sat out the Stars loss to Breck due to injury.
• #2AA St. Croix Lutheran with a much deserved holiday break after handling formerly ranked Waseca.  They end up 4-1 against 5 ranked teams in a brutal 3 week stretch.
• Tartan looked like they were back on track but they go into Roosevelt and lose by 5 in overtime in another shocking result for the Titans.
• Impressive win for Benilde-St. Margaret's handling #1AAA De La Salle on the island.  Granted Goanar Mar didn't play due to injury.  But this continues to show that foul trouble or losing Mar or Gabe Kalscheur really makes it hard for De La Salle to score. 
• Brainerd is now 3-0 in section and 8-2 overall with a section win over St. Cloud Tech last week.  Their 2 losses are by 3 points including #7AAA Rocori in OT.

Holiday Tournament Items

• I have a page dedicated to all of the local holiday tournaments and their schedules.  You can find that here.
• St. Cloud is loaded on the holiday tournament schedule.   
• The Granite City Classic is always loaded.  #8AAAA Wayzata vs #5AAAA Champlin Park and #2AAAA Apple Valley vs #3AAAA Maple Grove highlight day 1 at St. Cloud State on Tuesday.  Champlin Park vs #1A Minneapolis North and Wayzata vs Apple Valley highlight day 2 at St. Cloud Apollo.
• Don't forget about the 3 day St. Cloud Cathedral tournament.  Watertown-Mayer with Trae Berhow vs #1AA Melrose highlights day 1 at 5:30 along with #4AA Braham. Always interesting there as they also use the shot clock.
• Eden Prairie gets Chaska to open their tournament and then a possible matchup with #4AAAA Shakopee in the final.  They would meet again in Shakopee again on Saturday.
• Armstrong could see Lakeville North in the final of the Lakeville North tourney on Wednesday.  Armstrong head coach Greg Miller and Lakeville North head coach John Oxton are old pals from the days when Miller was on Oxton's staff many years ago. 
• Possible #10AAA Delano vs St. Louis Park final in the St. Louis Park tourney.  The orange and black matchup there would be a very good test for both teams.  But Delano has to get past Edina in the opener first.  2 wins over quality AAAA opponents would go a long way in 6AAA seeding for Delano.
• Chisago Lakes has a quality opener with Lakeville South in the Tartan tourney.  Ethan Hickcox vs Jack Sorenson is a fun point guard matchup.  The winner projects to take on Tartan in championship game. 
• Late game at Bethel in group 1 on Monday is 9-0 Mounds View vs 5-3 Mahtomedi.  Mounds View has had a soft schedule so far so this should be a very good test for the Mustangs.
• Cristo Rey visits Brooklyn Center on Wednesday night in a critical rebound game for the Pumas after the Heritage loss. 
• How about a possible Tuesday championship game in the Perham tournament between Perham and #2A Spring Grove.  Perham has a win over Battle Lake who was ranked #2 in class A at the time.
• Its the 30th year of the Winona Warrior Club Classic at Winona State.  #3AA Caledonia takes on #3AAA Austin to end day 1.  Austin coach Kris Fadness taking on his old school that he led to state in the late 90s.
• At the 28th annual Rochester Rotary Classic, a strong bracket of #6AAAA Rochester John Marshall vs Prior Lake and #5A Rushford-Peterson vs Woodbury.
• The year ends strong with #5AA Minnehaha taking on #1AAAA Hopkins in the Augsburg tourney on New Year's Eve.
• Brainerd with 2 more section 8AAAA matchups vs Buffalo and STMA this week to round out the calendar year.
• Then the new year begins with a bang with the Timberwolves Shootout on January 2nd.  I'll have a full preview of that on New Year's Day.
• Other high profile games on that 1st Saturday of the new year include #3AA Caledonia at Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau (WI) and #6AAA Waconia at previously ranked Waseca.