2017-18 Season in a Nutshell

The 2017-2018 Season Preview series concludes its 6 week run with my favorite preview.  Its an overview of what and who you need to see and when and where you can find it.  This is a higher level preview for the more casual fan who doesn't eat, sleep and breathe hoops like many of us do.  So with that in mind, we distill the season down to some high points.  For a list of all of the detailed previews, click here.

Local Events to Watch

• Dec 2 - Breakdown Girls Tipoff Classic at Hopkins (4 premier boys games)
• Dec 9 - Breakdown Boys Tipoff Classic at Hopkins
• Dec 16 - Southside Showcase at Burnsville 
• Jan 15 - MLK events (Totino-Grace and South Mpls)
• January - Super 60 Events

The list of premier local events is down with past events at Johnson and the Timberwolves Shootout falling off the map.  Not to mention the Border Battle is in Wisconsin this year and the Breakdown Community clash moves to St. Michael this season.  But the Tipoff Classics still are the best events around.  3 of the 4 boys games at the girls tipoff really stick out with De La Salle taking on Iowa City West (the top team in Iowa who also hosts CDH late in the year).  Then a huge AAAA clash with Cretin-Derham Hall taking on Hopkins.  Then youth caps it off with Minnehaha vs East Ridge.  Too many high profile games in the boys tipoff to mention but the biggest crowd draw will be Orono vs Cretin-Derham Hall with future Gophers Jarvis Omersa and Daniel Oturu going head to head.

Other Non-Conference Games to Watch

• Minnehaha at Apple Valley - Dec 7th (ESPN) 
• Hopkins vs Minnehaha - Dec 23rd (projected tournament championship at Augsburg)
• Apple Valley vs Park Center - Dec 29th (at St. Cloud Apollo)
• Minnehaha vs Orono - Dec 30th (at St Cloud State)
• Cretin-Derham Hall vs Apple Valley - Dec 30th (at St. Cloud State) 
• Hopkins at Orono - Jan 9th
• Minneapolis North at Minnehaha - Jan 25th
• Austin at Minnehaha - Feb 3rd
• De La Salle at Cretin-Derham Hall - Feb 10th
• Hopkins at Minneapolis North - Feb 13th
• Caledonia at Minnehaha - Feb 17th

I didn't include conference games because those are covered in the conference previews.  Not to mention I wanted the list to be somewhat manageable.  The Minnehaha vs Apple Valley game was initially the highlight game of the boys tipoff classic until ESPN stepped in to show it.  Minnehaha's schedule is absolutely criminal with all of the above games plus Eden Prairie and a Border Battle showcase game at Stevens Point, WI (#1 in WI top class).  Have to love the fact that the majority of these games are top teams playing top teams in other classes.  But we still get the great in-class matchups.  See Minnehaha hosting Minneapolis North and Caledonia in AA.  Pay attention to location of those games due to the explosion at Minnehaha's north campus this fall.  In AAAA, the rankings should make themselves clear as you have Cretin-Derham Hall vs Apple Valley and Hopkins plus Apple Valley vs Park Center on the season schedule.

Local Players to Watch

2018

• Joe Hedstrom - Hopkins
• Michael Jones - Woodbury 
• Tre Jones - Apple Valley
• Gabe Kalscheur - De La Salle
• Jarvis Omersa - Orono
• Daniel Oturu - Cretin-Derham Hall

2019

• Zeke Nnaji = Hopkins
• Tyrell Terry - De La Salle

2020

• Ben Carlson - East Ridge
• Dain Dainja - Park Center
• Dawson Garcia - Prior Lake
• Jalen Suggs - Minnehaha

Local Teams Looking to Win It All

• Apple Valley
• Cretin-Derham Hall
• Hopkins
• Park Center
• East Ridge
• De La Salle
• Orono
• Minnehaha
• Minneapolis North

Notable Conference Streaks

• Apple Valley - 40 wins (24 in a row overall)
• Heritage Christian Academy - 24 wins
• Champlin Park - 19 wins
• Minnehaha - 19 wins (19 in a row overall)
• De La Salle - 16 wins
• Minneapolis North - 15 wins
• Mounds Park Academy - 29 losses IMAC, 68 conference back Tri-Metro play
• South St. Paul - 43 losses total , 57 in a row at home
• Concordia-Roseville - 18 losses
• Stillwater - 14 losses
• PACT - 12 losses

Season Thoughts
Its a great year for Gopher fans with 3 local seniors moving on Williams Arena next season (Kalscheur, Omersa, Oturu).  Its not a coincidence that their teams will be looking to compete for state titles this season.  Assuming De La Salle sees Orono in the 6AAA final, we'll get a full round robin of those 3 teams.  Apple Valley and Minnehaha enter the season with a ton returning and favorites to repeat.  De La Salle looks to plug in Jamison Battle for Goanar Mar and do the same in AAA.  Delano and Austin from outside of section 6AAA and Orono in their section are the biggest threats to end the 6 year Islanders title streak.  Class A becomes wide open with Minneapolis North moving up to AA.  The Polars should compete again for a state title there.  But they'll find AA is much deeper than single A ever was against them  Lake City and St. Cloud Cathedral return a ton from state teams last year plus Annandale is still strong.  Then you have Caledonia, Esko and Perham who are talented enough to win a title.

In AAAA, Cretin-Derham Hall and Hopkins stick out as the immediate threats to Apple Valley's throne.  Park Center and East Ridge are talented enough to jump into that group as well.  After that, its a down year in AAAA.   The Metro West and NW Suburban are down and the South Suburban isn't as strong as past years.  4 teams in AAAA with no metro ties stick out for me.  That's Rochester John Marshall, Rochester Mayo, Owatonna and St. Cloud Tech.  So those with Woodbury, North St. Paul and the rest of the Lake conference stick out as a group that will stick around the back half of the state poll.  Barring any major upsets, I think the top 4 seeds at state will be pretty clear (AV, CDH/Hopkins, Park Center).  I see the 5th seed as a battle between Eden Prairie and the winner of section 1.

On the rules side, some fun points of emphasis this year.  Intentional fouls are intended to be called much closer.  We'll see what impact that has on the end of games.  Officials can now formally warn a bench for misconduct.  How that impacts coaching behavior will be interesting to see.  On ball defense with guys bumping ball handlers is part of the emphasis too.  Head and shoulders past the defender is the key to watch there.  While Minnesota has a shot clock rule, we mostly don't use it.  Wisconsin tried to put a full time rule in for 2019 and the WIAA has been shredded for how it was handled.  Will that discussion and result drive any discussion and changes here?

Tre Jones should sweep the post season awards barring a catastrophe.  The Mr Basketball award situation will be interesting to watch to see what the reaction is.  I think their process will be fair.  However, the committee was still picked by Ken Lien.  While I personally don't find that an issue, the perception of many others is very different.  I still feel the committee has done an absolutely terrible job of publicly denouncing the actions and addressing the perceptions.   Both in terms of slow timing and soft messaging.  I'm convinced the committee feels stronger than they've let on and for their sake I wish they would say it in public as a united group.  The McDonald Award is a worthy alternative but I really wonder if it will get any traction at all.  In a just world, the Mr Basketball award would just be turned over to the coaches association like its done in many other states.  That would clean up much of the mess.