The Virtual Breakdown of Classic Tipoffs

The Breakdown Tipoff Classic is the biggest marathon of our normal high school hoops season.  In the gym by 8:30 AM, maybe out the door by 11 PM.  1 seat all day, Pepsi by the gallon and hoops galore.  Sadly COVID took that away from us this season.  Plus its usually a week or 2 into our season.  With that spirit in mind, I made up for lost time with an all video 13 hour 7 game marathon Saturday session plus a couple Sunday games for fun.  I already covered 2 of those Saturday games live in my previous post (read it here).  So far 43 total games, 81 total teams (79 were previewed here).  That includes at least 2 teams from every conference that I previewed and 39 of the 62 teams in AAAA, 22 teams in AAA.  Here are some comments from rest of what I took in on tape delay skipping the Wednesday thru Friday games that I already did, see those in the archives. 

Wednesday: Minnehaha 68 Duluth East 41
After meeting in Duluth over a week ago, the Greyhounds made the trip south for a rematch.  Mattie Thompson getting the unenviable task of trying to defend Chet Holmgren.  Noah Paulson got the job after some Thompson foul trouble.  I thought they did a reasonable job on him.  Its an especially tough matchup outside for Paulson but he moved his feet well.  He also used his big body to go right at Chet on the block and had some success with a couple of hoops against that shot blocking.  Another great Minnesota recruiting haul for UMD with Paulson and Thompson.  Holmgren didn't have a monster night.  11 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks on my sheet.  4 of those blocks in the 1st half.  Of course, his rim protection was still a huge factor even in shots not taken.  Hercy Miller was outstanding poaching passing lanes on his way to a team high 18 points.

Thursday: Park Center 70 Osseo 48
The Pirates ran away and hid in the 2nd half of this matchup as it was only a 2 point game at the break.  Dawson Rudolph with 3 back breaking treys in a 21-2 PC run that busted the game open in the middle of the 2nd half.  He finished with a game high 18 points including 4 3s.  Long wing Kabine Kaba with 4 easy buckets in limited minutes.  Josh Ola-Joseph with a team high 17 points for Osseo.  He didn't shoot it as well in this meeting but his shot looks improved.  If he has a consistent jumper, look out with that freakish athleticism.

Thursday: West Lutheran 49 Eagle Ridge Academy 43
I finished out the last 2 MCAA teams on my list with this one.  Senior wing Garrett Tesmer with a team high 12 points including a late clutch 3.  Cade LaFavor with a game high 19 for ERA.  ERA 7th grader Aidaen Musoke with a productive outing of 9 points.  Looking forward to seeing his development in the future.

Friday: Simley 56 Hastings 50
Speaking of finishing out a list, these were the last 2 teams that I hadn't seen in the Metro East.  Nice work from the Hastings booster club to provide video and overlay the radio feed on it.  Simley never able to break this one open.  They held a 10 point 1st half lead and a 7 point 2nd half lead.  Their 1-2-2 zone forced almost exclusively 3 point shots.  I had 36 of the 46 Hastings attempts from deep.  Japhe Gudissa 3 2nd half bombs to keep Hastings close.  Ultimately not enough.  Breyton Buysman with 14 of his 21 in the first half to lead Simley.  With Buysman, RJ Jioklow and Devin Robinson at the guard spots plus Luke Vandermeer on the front line plus their experience, Simley is not an easy matchup.  

Friday: #10AAA Columbia Heights 68 #3AAA DeLaSalle 63
This was the newsmaker of Friday night.  DLS using an 8-1 first half run to take the lead and keep it for most of the 1st half.  Columbia Heights scored the 1st 6 of the 2nd half to reclaim the lead.  Muja Burton with a couple of big threes as Heights would open a 4 point lead.  Cade Haskins with a block leading to an Islanders layup for a 45 all tie with 8 minutes left.  Heights with a late 10-2 run to ultimately win it.  Hassan Kamara with 2 of his 6 triples sandwiched around a lob assist to Donnavin Hinsz.  Heights with 4-4 FTs to seal it in the last 14 seconds.  Hinsz physicality inside gave Cade Haskins problems trying to block out. Haskins on the other end held to 2-12 shooting, 5 TO, 5 assists, 8 rebounds with 6 points on the night.  Czar's law violated here but thanks to 20 DLS turnovers, Heights wins the turnover number.  Czar's law now 38-5 on the season.

Friday: Eden Prairie 63 Minnetonka 57
Biggest surprise for me was how much youth was on the floor for 2 big schools.  Tonka playing 2 freshmen.  PG Andy Stefonowicz one of those and he gets a starting nod (no Ibo El-Amin for Tonka yet).  Eden Prairie 2 best interior players are sophomores.  Story here was EP soph Chiddi Obiazor.  The versatile forward bullied anybody who played him in the post and he could step out and go by slow bigs on the perimeter.  He fouled out both of Minnetonka's main big men. 28 points to lead all scorers, 17 of them in the last 9:11 of the game where he went full blown beast mode.  Good move by coach Flom to keep throwing him the ball and getting out of the way (scoring chances on 9 of 14 possessions late).  EP needed it too.  After all the hot shooting we saw from EP over the last few years, the Eagles were 3-23 from deep in this one.  22-32 from the charity stripe was a major difference.  Hard to figure out Minnetonka's identity offensively. 

Friday: Jordan 64 New Prague 52
Checking off 2 of the last 3 in the Wright County East in this game.  Jordan coming off a big win vs Delano. Big 1st half for Jordan's star PG Reagan Koch with 18 points.  He big for a PG, can pass it and shoot it, hence a steal for Colorado Mines.  Junior guard Ashton Sivilay for Jordan having a big season but held to 7 points in this one.  New Prague would use a 13-4 run to start the 2nd half and pull within 4 points with under 11 minutes left.  Koch with the response.  A pair of 3 point plays, a steal that leads to a layup, then he gets a layup off a turnover.  That's all in a 19-5 run that eliminates any doubt. 

Turnovers in the City

Its early afternoon action in the Minneapolis City Conference.  First a league showdown between Edison and Roosevelt.  Then we stay in south Minneapolis for a section 6AAAA matchup between Washburn and Robbinsdale Cooper.

Game 1: Edison 82 Roosevelt 51
Edison scored on their 1st 5 possessions to take a 10-0 lead and never looked back.  The Edison pressure forced Roosevelt into 24 first half turnovers.  Tommies take advantage of that for a 58-32 halftime lead, mostly as a layup drill.  They cruise from there to a 82-51 win.  Roosevelt 35 total turnovers on my officially unofficial stat sheet.  Edison hosts Hiawatha in an interesting non-conference battle on Monday.  Roosevelt visits North on Tuesday.

Game 2: Robbinsdale Cooper 69 Minneapolis Washburn 31
This one looked very similar.  Washburn 8 turnovers on their 1st 11 trips.  6 of those of the killer live ball variety.  That allowed Cooper to jump out to a 13-2 lead.  3 solid Washburn possessions for a 7-0 run.  Then the turnover bug strikes again with Cooper going on a 18-4 run.  35-19 Cooper at the break thanks to 17 Millers turnovers.  They'll turn the game into a blowout with a 21-3 run to start the 2nd half.  8 more Washburn turnovers in that run.  Running time for the last 6:30.  Cooper wins 69-31.  Washburn 32 turnovers by my count.  Davion Evans and Tyson Dallas 13 points each to lead Cooper.  Jamar Nelson 9 points, Cass Ramberg adds 8 to lead Washburn.  Cooper continues a stretch of 6 out of 7 on the road with the back to back nights in Bloomington.  Jefferson on Wednesday and Kennedy on Thursday.  Washburn is at Roosevelt on Thursday

One interesting note in watching the 2 games was the difference in the pressure defense.  Edison just came right at you.  Cooper did a very nice job getting their traps from the blind side.

Thunder growls in the EMAC

Prologue
I'm off to one of those old great small one-side only gyms on my schedule.  After all, in my world you can't have a season without seeing the EMAC.  So with that in mind, I trek to United Christian Academy in Bloomington to see them take on Hiawatha.  With the exception of the masks and no concessions, this atmosphere was honestly about normal.  The Hiawatha JV crew very vocal making it almost sound like their home game.  Since its game night, the Fantastic Friday Feast is a fitting one from Buffalo Wild Wings.

Game Time
Hiawatha with 5 turnovers on the 1st 8 possessions.  They quickly fall behind 8-2.  Mohamed Daud had to sit out last year as a transfer, but is playing big for them this season.  He gets it going with Hiawatha taking an 18-17 lead on a triple.  We're at the 8 minute mark at this point and no points for their star PG Jessye Lewis.  He breaks the ice.  Then he'll add a pair of assists for 5 points and a jumper of his own in a 14-2 Wolves run to end the half.  39-30 Hiawatha at the break.  Daud with 5 triples and 15 points in the half.  Very fast pace to the game in the half and that's in the Wolves favor.

PG Isaac Kaucki isn't the biggest or quickest guy on the guard.  But the guard played tough in this one.  His putback starts the Thunder momentum.  They add back to back triples and Jonah Anderson with the hoop and the foul and why not have 1 more rumble of Thunder from deep.  15-3 UCA run and they lead 52-47 with 9:40 to play.  Lewis to the rack to keep Hiawatha within 3.  Thunder star forward Zach Corley counters with a strong move of his own, they he'll put back a FT miss and then find Kaucki for a back breaking triple.  64-55 Thunder with 5:33 left after an 8-1 spurt. 

Hiawatha staying in it with Romelle Bell.  He scores a couple of buckes from Lewis and on the offense board for 2 FTs.  He'll score again after a couple of Hiawatha misses and the ball bounces around but a great tip to him for a layup.  69-65 UCA with 1:09 left.  Hiawatha doesn't get another score until the end.  Lewis Gerrity makes 1 of 2 FTs with 5.8 left to ice it.  United Christian wins 71-67.

Post Game
Hiawatha falls to 4-1 on the season with the loss.  I won't even try to figure out the EMAC standings since who knows who is actually playing in the league this season.  Mohamed Daud with 6 3s on the night and 22 points to lead the Wolves.  Romelle Bell adds 17.  Jessye Lewis came in averaging over 25 a night.  His shot was cold so he finished with only 11 points but he had a handful of assists to make up for it.  In the second half, the pace was slower and they took quick shots.  Hiawatha visits Edison on Monday before hosting Tri-City United on Thursday.

United Christian is now 3-1 with the only loss being to Simley.  They have this win plus a win at Avail to make claim to the top spot in the league.  Isaac Kaucki with 21 points to lead the Thunder from his point guard spot.  The big front line of Zach Corley and Jonah Anderson chips in with 16 points each.   More of their damage was done in the 2nd half.  Lewis Garrity adds 11.  UCA threw a few guys at Jessye Lewis defensively with Kaeden Kotula getting the main defensive assignment (plus switching on to Daud for part of the 2nd half).  While Lewis did get some good looks, I thought they did a reasonable job not letting him just run wild.  UCA goes on the road next week for Mon/Fri games at Lakes International and Hope Academy.

Four Factors

FACTOR	United Christian	Hiawatha
Effective FG %	42.9%	38%
Offensive Rebound %	38.9%	44.1%
Free Throw Rate	30%	24.4%
Turnover %	24.4%	24.4%
Points Per Possession	0.87	0.82

UCA wins the 4 Factors battle 2-1-1 as turnovers were dead even.  I had Hiawatha 7-37 from the 3 point line.  Mohamed Daud had 6 of those 3s so if you take him out it was even worse.  UCA bigs doing a good job of trying to stay vertical against driving guards going to the rim.  Teams combined to get up 145 shots by my count which is a big number for the games I've seen.  Take the bad shooting and the high rebound totals and that will happen.  That was despite 20 turnovers by each side.

Governing the city

Prologue
The second half of my back to back city showdowns takes me to St. Paul Central. The Minutemen taking on annual league power Johnson in their 1st meeting of the season.  Minutemen seems appropriate tonight.  With no fans allowed and the teams getting ready before they board the bus, the setup is this.  Show up at a door with no handles and hope it opens and that you know the secret password to get in.  But all that in mind, its good to be out and in the gym after about 30 straight games online.

As another safety measure, St. Paul not only going with no fans but they will play a regular conference schedule only and not any of the 6 available non-conference games.  That included a 1 week late start so this week is their opening week of games.  But I find it strange that both North and Central had cheerleaders yelling all night at the games.  Seems like a Seattle choir super-spreader type scenario to me.  But I'm not a doctor/epidemiologist and Dacha De Czar beats a Holiday Inn so what do I know.

Game Time
Central wasting no time making me wait for their 1-4 low call.  That's THE WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE in their world.  2 possessions of that.  1st bucket is an easy one as they open up an 11-0 lead over 4 minutes in.  Johnson ice ice cold but they'll score 8 in a row to jump back in the game.  Johnson makes 13 of 17 FTs with 2 missed front ends.  They needed that to try to offset 5-25 shooting in the half.  33-23 Central at the break.  Both teams with 11 turnovers.

Central sets the tone right away in the 2nd half by turning it over on 4 of their first 5 trips.  Johnson takes advantage to cut it to 6.  But Central scores on their next 3 trips and the lead is back to 42-31.  The Govs continue to chip away.  A 12-2 run Johnson cuts the lead to 44-43 with 10 minutes left.  6 more Central turnovers during that run.  The next 2 buckets go to Central.  Then 6 more turnovers in the next 8 possessions.  11-1 Johnson run includes a Julian Hodges 3 to tie it.  54-49 Johnson on top with 6:38 to play.

Kaden Doram with 2 free throws and a finger roll to pull Central within 1.  Gavin Gothard with 2 free throws and a clutch triple.  Central back on top 58-57 with 2:50 left.  They convert a turnover for a bucket before a Johnson 3 point play with 1:05 left ties the game.  Central turns it over getting in.  Johnson converts that into a right corner triple to break the tie.  Gothard counters with 2 free throws with 27 seconds left.  Hodges makes 1 of 2 FTs for Johnson with 25.2 left for a 2 point lead.  Central fouled on a drive with 3.5 left, but they'll miss the front end.  Johnson rebounds and makes 1 of 2 FTs with 2.5 left for a 3 point lead.  Central turns it over on the inbounds in a fitting conclusion to the story of their 2nd half.  Johnson wins 65-62.

Post Game
Central falls to 1-1 overll and in conference.  All 5 starters score at least 9 points.  Gavin Gothard leads with 17 points.  He had 3 triples and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.  Jakobe Baer-Taki with 1.  Kaden Doram and Jaylen Cardenas 10 points.  Gideon Musabyimana adds 9 from the point guard spot.  Only 5 points from the bench.  Central has another big game at Highland Park next Tuesday before a week off.  Central with 31 turnovers, 20 of them in the 2nd half was a huge difference.

Johnson improves to 1-1 (Editor's Correction: Johnson 2-0) and gets an early tiebreaker.  Julian Hodges leads the Govs with 19 points from his guard spot.  Johnson visits Como Park and then hosts Washington next week.  They did have a little success throwing the ball inside early in the 2nd half and then got a big 3 point play with 1:05 left.  Other than that, their best offense was trying to force turnovers.  15 chances off live ball turnovers for the Govs and 15 offensive rebounds.  Johnson with 23 turnovers of their own.  Johnson wins the battle at the charity stripe 26-13.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Central	Johnson
Effective FG %	53.3%	38.2%
Offensive Rebound %	24.1%	36.6%
Free Throw Rate	39.1%	66.7%
Turnover %	38.3%	28.4%
Points Per Possession	0.77	0.80

Despite Johnson winning 3 of the 4 factors, Czar's law fails in this.  Johnson with a miserable 5-25 shooting run in the 1st half.  They shoot 13-26 in the 2nd half.  Similar story for Central as they shoot 30% in the 1st half but 10-16 in the 2nd half (62.5%).  Problem for Central was only 16 shot attempts in the half due to 20 2nd half turnovers.  As expected, winning the game but losing the EFG meant that the rest had to make up and they did.  Low assist percentages in this one go with the turnovers.  More offense off the bounce than by ball movement despite Central throwing some of THE WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE.

Another run for the crown underway

Time to catch up on the Minneapolis City Conference.  The league got started a week later than the state schedule due to local guidelines.  So their teams are just getting into league play this week.  A big week for Minneapolis North as they knocked off archrival Minneapolis Henry on Monday.  Now its tonight's game against upstart Minneapolis South.

South with a group of 5 talented freshman plus an 8th grader on the roster.  4 of those kids saw varsity time at Brooklyn Center and Minnehaha last year.  Add in talented senior wing Anthony Martin and you have a group looking to make noise in the league standings.  This game gives me a quick litmus test for where they're at. 

Ultimately this one provided to be size and experience over youth and vigor.  Davon Townley did his thing inside for the Polars  Too big and too strong for South to deal with inside.  Willie Wilson leading the outside offense for North.  I had Townley with 18 points, Wilson with 19 on my officially unofficial (with no scoreboard, clock or PA to help) scoresheet.  South showing youth with too many turnovers and got beat up on the offensive glass.  Star forward Chiang Ring missed a big chunk of the 1st half with what appeared to be foul trouble.  PG Jerome Williams once again leading the offense.

North is now 2-0 overall and in the conference.  They'll stay at home next week to play Roosevelt and Southwest.  South is now off for 10 days as they won't play again until Saturday February 6th when they host Washburn.  Their non-conference game next Tuesday against North St. Paul has been postponed.  Their record falls to 2-1 overall and in the league.  The loss leaves Edison and North as the only teams still undefeated in league play.

Mashing away a lead

Prologue
I continue my online tour of the metro by staying on the west side for tonight's live game.  Its a section 8AAAA matchup between Moorhead and Buffalo. These 2 teams looking to make noise behind favorite Maple Grove in the section.  Moorhead coming in winless.  Buffalo coming in with only a single close loss to Edina.

Game Time
Close game early on.  Brady Walthall with a pair of 3s to put Moorhead up 11-10 4 minutes in.  15-14 Buffalo just over 6 minutes in when Buffalo goes off on a 17-4 run.  Buffalo ball movement leading to quality open looks that they knock down.  32-18 Bison at the 6:39 mark as the run takes just over 5 minutes.  Moorhead pulls it back to 9 before a 10-0 Buffalo run closes the half.  Antonio Bluiett with 2 freebies and a jumper to beat the horn (foreshadowing).  44-25 Buffalo at the break.

Moorhead comes out in a zone to start the 2nd half.  That flusters Buffalo to the tune of a 16-2 Spuds run.  Buffalo with a stretch of 6 straight live ball turnovers during that run.  Zach Zrust stops the bleeding to start a 7-0 Buffalo run.  Blake Walthall with another triple in the half to cut the lead to 53-51.  Zrust bangs home a 3 off the extra pass and adds a 3 point play.  65-58 Buffalo Blake Walthall again for 3.  Buffalo lead down to 72-68 with 3 minutes left

Belind Alemadi with the 3 point play to cut the lead to 3 with 42.8 left.  Buffalo misses a bunny and Moorhead has it with 30.3 left.  Out of their last timeout, the miss a triple but its Alemadi finding the rebound and the range for 3.  All tied with 8.1 left.  Buffalo takes timeout to go full court.  Its Bluiett going coast to coast with everybody else out of the way for winner at the buzzer.  Surprisingly easy look.  Buffalo wins 80-78.

Post Game
Moorhead falls to 0-4 on the season.  All 4 losses on the road and 2 of those in Fargo to the top 2 teams in the North Dakota class A poll.  The Walthall brothers lead the way for the Spuds.  Brady with 26 points on my sheet, Blake with 16.  Blake with 4 triples and 14 of those points in the 2nd half.  Brady using his quick release to 4 triples of his own.  Belind Alemadi adds 18 including the last 6 to tie it.  Better defensive intensity in the 2nd half to almost come all the way back from being down 19 at half.  Moorhead gets a tough home opener on Thursday against #10AA Fergus Falls. 

Buffalo gets great balance from their roster.  Zach Zrust and Antonio Bluiett each with 22 points.  Cameron Green comes up big with 6 triples and 20 points playing off of those guys for easy catch and shoot looks.  Will Pool adds 12.  Fun to watch the Bison move the ball.  While I love the spread 5 out pass and cut and their 2-1-2 DDM looks, I do miss their old motion offense from coach Ortmann's playing days.  Buffalo improves to 3-1 overall.  They visit Wayzata on Friday.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Buffalo	Moorhead
Effective FG %	64.7%	55.9%
Offensive Rebound %	29.2%	31.4%
Free Throw Rate	29.4%	25.4%
Turnover %	23.1%	12.5%
Points Per Possession	1.23	1.22

Moorhead makes 2 more 3s but needs 11 more shots to do it.  Free throw attempts dead even.  11 of the 15 Buffalo turnovers coming in live ball situations which helped trigger the Moorhead offense.  Czar's law improves to 25-3.

Longstreet has the answers

Prologue
The Saturday matinee is a class AAA matchup between Delano and St. Thomas Academy.  Delano undefeated and senior laden.  The Cadets winless and young.  But the Cadets are experienced and Delano had to replace a ton of pieces.  The one piece they didn't have to replace is their star Trey Longstreet. 

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
1 Spicy Chicken Rigatoni
4 hot dogs

Game Time
St. Thomas with an early cold spell as they miss 6 shots in a row.  That allows Delano to open an 11-4 lead 6 minutes into the game.  Trey Longstreet with his 2nd charge of the game a minute later.  Coach Techum will let it ride with him.  The Tigers stretch the lead to 24-14 before STA closes it to 28-24.  Longstreet for 3, a layup off a shuffle cut and he converts a turnover into a layup.  That mutes Michael Kirchner's rock concert of 3 triples.  A late turnover allows STA to take a timeout and get Ryan Chamberlain a desperation triple from the top of the key.  That pulls the Cadets within 37-36 at the break.

Give me an encore as Kirchner buries a 3 to start the 2nd half and put STA on top by 2.  Longstreet 2 freebies and a bucket to reclaim the lead for Delano.  Longstreet with a 3 point play and a free throw to push the lead to 52-44 with 10:45 left.  The Cadets won't go away.  John Grismer with a 3 point play and a putback.  Ryan Chamberlain effective all day from the left block going to the jump hook over the left shoulder.  Delano stops that but he goes to the counter by spinning back for the lefty finish.  Its a 9-0 St. Thomas Academy run.  Timeout Delano as they trail 55-53 with 7:31 left.

Who else but Longstreet.  He converts a 3 point play and makes a free throw to quickly put the Tigers back in front. Cadets on the offensive glass to putback a 3rd attempt.  Cadets go back on top 64-61.  Delano going to a pet set with Longstreet setting the screen from THE WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE and then popping to the right elbow for an iso.  He catches, jabs, 1 dribble and rises up for the short jumper.  Then he's on the offensive glass for 2 free throws.  66-64 Tigers back up with 2:10 left.  

Cadets with a chance to tie but they convert only 1 of 2 free throws.  Delano converts 2 free throws, Cadets miss a 3 to tie with a minute left.  Longstreet with a free throw and another Cadets miss.  Delano wins 73-67.

Post Game
St. Thomas Academy falls to 0-3 on the season.  Ryan Chamberlain took advantage of single coverage inside all day for 8 interior buckets.  Add on the end of 1st half triple and he leads the way with 19 points.  Michael Kirchner adds 4 triples for 12 points.  John Grismer active with 13 points.  The Cadets return to Metro East play next week.  They host another undefeated team in #7AAA South St. Paul on Tuesday.  Then its a trip to Hill-Murray on Friday in a battle to stay out of the league cellar.

Trey Longstreet came up big for Delano.  He finishes with 31 points to lead all scorers. I had him 10-22 FGs, 2-5 from 3 and 9-12 from the charity stripe.  He made the big plays to pull Delano back from any St. Thomas Academy momentum.  Will Strandemo with 11 of his 13 points in the 1st half.  Nice outing for the freshman guard.  Levi Farniok with 11, Carter Tool adds 10 for the Tigers.  Delano is now 4-0 on the season.  They return to Wright County East play with home games this week vs Jordan and Waconia.  Then they go on the road for big league games at Mound-Westonka and Orono.

Four Factors

FACTOR	St. Thomas Academy	Delano
Effective FG %	50%	50.9%
Offensive Rebound %	26.3%	33.3%
Free Throw Rate	7.8%	39.3%
Turnover %	13.9%	15.4%
Points Per Possession	1.03	1.12

Delano wins 3 of the 4 factors.  Czar's law barely holds.  In a close game like this, you would expect the factors to be close and they were.  Delano with 1 more turnover, 2 more offensive rebounds.  The big advantage here was Delano 16-3 in made free throws.  Only 5 FT attempts for the Cadets.  Overall a much cleaner game than what I've seen recently.  Solid PPP values, low turnovers and largely good shooting numbers.

A Down and Dirty Cat Fight

Prologue
West to North to East and now to the South metro to end the week.  Its a catfight in Lakeville as the North Panthers host the South Cougars.  Coaches vs Cancer night as well for the small crowd on hand.  Both teams trying to gain the edge in the South Suburban standings.  The Fantastic Friday Feast brings me Spicy Chicken Rigatoni from Buca di Beppo.

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
1 Spicy Chicken Rigatoni
4 hot dogs

Game Time
It has not been a good 3 days of hoops for me.  Lakeville North starts the game shooting 2-19 from the field.  GAAAH!  The Bolsheviks would send people to Siberia for less.  I as your loving Czar of course would do no such thing.  Lakeville South gets their 1st 5 of the game from Avery Mast as they open an 8-1 lead.  South doesn't shoot it much better after that.  North has it within 14-11 at 7:17.  Reid Patterson heats up for South.  He converts a 3 point play and hits a pair of triples for the Cougars.  That opens up the biggest lead of the night 27-15 at the 3:20 mark.  South doesn't make another field goal and North finally starts to see the ball go in.  Nolan Winter with a triple in a 7-0 run to end the half.  27-22 South at the break.

That momentum carries thru halftime for North.  Cooper Laufenberger scores on an iso and Noah Nephew buries a left corner triple.  The Panthers run is 15-0 to take a 30-27 lead with 15 minutes left.  South finally breaks a run of 10 straight misses to stop the bleeding.  Sam Fliehe with a bucket and a 3 point play.  Avery Mast with back to back catch and shoot 3s.  Its a 14-4 run for South and they once again lead by double digits 47-36.  North claws their way back.  Frosh Jack Robison to the spin cycle for 2.  Sam McWell with the steal and finish.  South lead down to 50-48 with 2:17 left after the 12-3 Panthers run.  Lakeville South finishes the game off with 6-6 FTs.  That includes 2 from Patterson to ice it with 5.7 seconds left.  Lakeville South gets an important road win over their archrival 56-52.

Post Game
Lakeville North falls to 2-1 with the loss.  They host Eastview in another big league game on Tuesday before a trip to Eagan on Friday.  Cooper Laufenberger leads the Panthers with 10 points.  Will Blascziek adds 9, Noah Nephew with 7.  The mindset of a John Oxton team showed by hanging around despite the ice cold start and then getting down double digits a 2nd time and almost coming all the way back.

Lakeville South improves to 3-0.  They have an interesting week ahead with a trip to Rosemount and hosting Prior Lake.  Reid Patterson and Avery Mast each score 15 points.  Patterson with most of his damage in the last 5 minutes of the 1st half scoring 9 of those points.  He was held without a field goal in the 2nd half.  Avery Mast picked up the slack as he was a catalyst during the run that pushed the lead back to double digits after North had taken a 3 point lead.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Lakeville North	Lakeville South
Effective FG %	40.4%	48.8%
Offensive Rebound %	22.5%	25.8%
Free Throw Rate	19.3%	44.2%
Turnover %	11.5%	20.3%
Points Per Possession	0.85	0.95

I almost thought we'd get back to back violations of Czar's Law.  That didn't end up happening thankfully.  Lakeville North's 2-19 start totally torpedoed their EFG.  But they were 20-38 afterwards.  Overall they end up 2-14 from 3 which isn't like them.  Throw out the 0-10 stretch across halftime for South and they were 17-33.  They ended up only 9-26 from 2 but 8-17 from 3.  Go figure.  Overall hardnosed defense and mostly patient offense from both squads.  South's free throw rate slightly inflated by North having to foul 3 times at the end which accounted for almost a third of the attempts.

Pack away the history book

Prologue
Its a day in the Metro East in The Kingdom.  2 tape delay games and then this big one live as #7AAA South St. Paul visits Tartan in a battle of the 2 league favorites. Now think about this.  Just a couple of years ago, if I told you these 2 were playing and only SSP was ranked, would you have thought you'd see that?  That's the quick turnaround that the Packers have pulled off.  Tonight's point guard matchup of DeWayne Thompson of Tartan (formerly of Henry Sibley) and Alonzo Dodd of SSP is a highlight.

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
4 hot dogs

Game Time
This one gave me visions of yesterday's ugliness.  But that's to Tartan's liking as they want a slow grind it out pace.  Neither team every jumps out to a big margin in this one.  8 all at 13 minutes, 16 all at the midpoint of the half.  Alonzo Dodd picks up a 2nd foul and that triggers a Tartan run.  DeWayne Thompson with a jumper to end a 6-0 run and flip the scoreboard from 3 down to 3 up.  AJ Burns adds 1 of his 2 triples of the half.  Tartan builds their biggest lead of the game 27-21.  They'll take a 31-27 lead to halftime.

Alonzo Dodd converts a turnover and that brings the Packers out strong with 9 of the 1st 12 points in half number 2.  Tartan takes a timeout and promptly scores the next 7.  That forces a South St. Paul timeout.  41-36 Tartan with 14:07 left in regulation.  Shawn West-Zimpel and Devin Newsome (the main guys behind Dodd) both go to the bench with 4 fouls with 11 minutes left.  Coach McCollister goes all out and brings them back quickly.  West-Zimpel's triple with 6:19 left puts the Packers up 53-51.  Tartan goes up 60-57.  Newsome drives and scores, then another South St. Paul layup.  Curtis Favors counters in the post and we're tied at 62 with 45 seconds left.  SSP takes a timeout and holds.  Dodd gets 1 last chance that is no good.  62 all and we'll play free basketball.

Dodd starts the extra session with 2 free throws.  Those are matched by Burns with 2:49 left.  Then a loose ball bounces SSP's way.  The next pass finds Newsome for a pure left corner triple.  Tartan sends the ball back inside to Favors.  He finds Thompson on a great cut.  That 3 point play is also the 5th foul on Newsome.  67 all with 1:12 left.  Thompson then dives on a loose ball and gets the timeout to steal the possession away with 55.7 left.  Favors converts that into 2 free throws with 36 seconds left.  Dodd comes right back down the lane for a 3 point play with 29 seconds left.  Tartan down 1 and they play it out.  Clock winds down, nobody attacking.  Fadeway 10 footer at the horn is no good.  South St. Paul wins 70-69.  Its the first win for the Packers over Tartan in who knows how long.

Post Game
Tartan falls to 2-1 with the loss and 1-1 in the Metro East.  DeWayne Thompson leads the Titans with 23 points.  AJ Burns adds 14, D'Marco Chelley 11, Marko Vukomanovich 10. Those 3 are all juniors.  The game was mostly Tartan's pace, especially in the 1st half and overtime.  They'll need this kind of offensive balance as the season goes on.  Coach Klingsporn with a couple of early timeouts as he wasn't happy with a couple of easy hoops given up.  Tartan is on the road next week for 2 league games at Hastings and Henry Sibley.

Alonzo Dodd leads South St. Paul with 23 points.  Guard Devin Newsome continues to be a major factor for the Packers as well.  He added 17 points.  Marquise Gleb with 13.  Lots of dribble weave action for the Packers.  They had a ton of chances inside that they missed.  That turned into a huge advantage on the glass as they grabbed 32 offensive boards.   Keep it close and while he missed at the end of regulation, Dodd came up with the game winning 3 point play in overtime.  The Packers are now 4-0, 3-0 in the Metro East.  They continue their 5 game league road trip with games at St. Thomas Academy and North St. Paul next week.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Tartan	South St. Paul
Effective FG %	47%	37.9%
Offensive Rebound %	41.7%	56.1%
Free Throw Rate	54.9%	40%
Turnover %	33.8%	27.6%
Points Per Possession	0.90	0.92

So a violation of Czar's law in this one as Tartan not only wins Effective Field Goal Percentage but wins it big and some how loses.  How you ask?  The Packers got up 19 more shots thanks to those 32 offensive boards and 26 Tartan turnovers.  Both teams actually had equal FT attempts so not much difference there.  South St. Paul left a bunch of points on the board with interior misses and free throw misses.

Rebel against basketball authority

Prologue
The NW Suburban takes over this section of the Czar's schedule.  A full slate of games tonight and Friday to get in.  So I take the chance to see Champlin Park host Spring Lake Park.  I avoid the home concession hot dogs for the evening to save for the weekend.

Song of the Day: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
2 hot dogs

Game Time
Spring Lake Park starts the game with a make then misses 12 straight shots.  That sets the tone for the evening.  Champlin Park not doing much better from the field.  Kaleb Skelly breaks the cold streak for Spring Lake Park and the Panthers are only down 10-7 at the 9:10 mark.  Champlin's star post Francis Nwaokorie sits with 2 fouls at the 7:26 mark after a dicey dipping the shoulder call.  Skelly gets his 2nd just after that.  Trey Johnston with bonus freebies and a driving bucket to give the Panther offense a late boost.  Last bucket of the half puts Spring Lake Park up 21-20 at the half.   Teams combine for 16-60 FG shooting (0-11 from 3) with 15 turnovers.

After a streak of bad shooting in the 1st half, its a streak of turnovers that does Spring Lake Park in the 2nd half.  They turn it over on 10 of their 1st 15 possessions of the 2nd half.  Champlin Park with a layup drill getting hoops on 10 of 12 possessions.  PG Josh Strong with a triple to start the big Rebels run.  Francis Nwaokorie with a And 1 dunk.  Champlin Park opens up a 46-30 lead with 9 minutes left.

Spring Lake Park tries to rally with 3 free throws from Johnston and a Skelly triple to cut it to 10.  Then its a pair of Champlin Park turnovers that result in a Johnston steal for a bucket and 1 of 2 free throws.  That cuts the lead to 52-47 with 3:25 left.  Champlin Park stops the bleeding with a couple more easy buckets.  They seal it with 7 of 8 FTs to end the game.  Champlin Park wins 65-50.

Post Game
Spring Lake Park falls to 1-1 overall and in the NW Suburban standings.  Tough and quick turnaround for the Panthers as they host neighbor #2AAA Totino-Grace on Friday night.  That's a non-conference contest as part of the 13/5 league schedule this season.  Trey Johnston leads the Panthers with 15 points.  Kaleb Skelly adds 11.  25 turnovers were just a killer.  That had nothing to do with a press or trap.  Champlin Park just played basic man to man so much of the damage was self-inflicted.  Not to mention the Siberian level cold shooting of 16-54.

Champlin Park improves to 2-0 on the season and in league play.  Josh Strong leads the Rebels with 23 of his 25 points in the 2nd half.  Most of those on easy buckets at the rim.  He did add a couple of 3s to go with 7-8 FT shooting.  Francis Nwaokorie largely held in check with 12 points.  The Panther size did a respectable job on him.  Champlin Park also has a tough turnaround on Friday with a trip to #8AAAA Maple Grove.  After a cold first half of their own, they shoot 15-19 in the 2nd half.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Champlin Park	Spring Lake Park
Effective FG %	53.1%	32.4%
Offensive Rebound %	25.8%	47.9%
Free Throw Rate	43.8%	46.3%
Turnover %	26.4%	35.2%
Points Per Possession	0.90	0.70

The teams split the 4 factors but Champlin Park wins the 2 factors that I deem most important.  Those are EFG% and TO%.  Huge advantage in EFG too much to deal with.  The turnover margin was a big factor in that as it generated easy buckets.  Spring Lake Park's offensive board edge played a bigger factor in the 1st half than it did in the 2nd half.

Royalty reclaims the Throne

Prologue
An early season clash of titans as #1AAAA Wayzata visits #3AAAA Hopkins.  Lake Conference, Section 6AAAA and state poll bragging rights all depending on the outcome.  Limited crowd but at least we get a Billy Crystal sighting on the whistle.  No surprise that Hopkins flipped the benches to the opposite side so they were away from the normal bleachers and entry way.  2 hot dogs on my homemade concessions menu for the evening.

Song of the Day: King of Pain - The Police

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
2 hot dogs

Game Time
Hopkins gets off to a good start.  Elvis Nnaji with 1 dunk and then off a turnover Max Wilson goes up high to him for another dunk.  16-7 Hopkins at the 11:50 mark.  Lead holds there as Cam Heide goes to the bench with 2 fouls just outside the 7 minute mark.  Xavier White converts a turnover and the Hopkins lead expands to 39-20.  Hopkins with 3 late turnovers in the half to trigger an 8-0 Wayzata run going to the locker room.  39-28 Hopkins at the break.

They look to continue the momentum with the 1st 5 points of the 2nd half.  Wayzata tries to cut into the lead with back to back triples but Hopkins has answers.  Tristan Lee for 3 and Jaelen Treml dunks a turnover to keep the lead at 56-39.  Carter Bjerke with the torch lit in the 2nd half.  One of his 5 triples cuts the lead to 63-54 with 8 minutes remaining and hang on we have a game.

76-63 with under 4 minutes left as Wayzata tries to rally.  Eddie Beeninga 2 free throws and a triple to cut the lead to 6 with 1:33 left and 2 more freebies to make it 5.  Bjerke with his last triple of the night with 34 seconds left cuts it to 4.  But Lee keeps Wayzata at bay with 6 of 6 free throws late.  A late turnover and miss seal the deal.  Hopkins wins 87-80.

Post Game
For Wayzata, Carter Bjerke with 5 triples and 24 points to lead the way.  16 of those points in the 2nd half.  Cam Heide had fouls in the 1st half but had 11 of his 16 in the 2nd half.  Eddie Beeninga 12 of his 15 in the 2nd half.  Trojans were an ice cold and sleepy 9-34 shooting in the 1st half but heated up to over 50% in the 2nd half. Wayzata now 1-1 on the season and in the Lake Conference.  They'll go home on Friday for their home opener and start of 4 straight home games (and 6 straight home conference games in a weird schedule quirk).  A trip to Minnehaha is sprinkled in there.

Hopkins improves to 2-0 overall and in the Lake Conference.  They host STMA on Friday before going on the road for 4 games.  5 in double figures for the Royals.  Xaver White with 21, Elvis Nnaji 19, Tristan Lee 18 including 6-6 free throws to seal it.  Jaelen Treml adds 16 and center Jack Hernandez solid with 11 points.  Nnaji was active inside and even stepped out and hit a 3 along with a couple of blocks.  I liked the 2 bigs, high low motion that coach Novak pulled out of the hat.  He used that a couple of years ago with the Joe Hedstrom crew and I was left wanting more of it.  Their defensive pressure did bother the Wayzata offense.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Hopkins	Wayzata
Effective FG %	56.6%	49.24%
Offensive Rebound %	33.3%	25.6%
Free Throw Rate	36.1%	30.3%
Turnover %	20.8%	17.1%
Points Per Possession	1.10	1.07

Hopkins wins 3 of the 4 factors.  The EFG could have been much worse if not for a blazing hot 2nd half from Wayzata that largely offset a dismal 1st half.  Hopkins with double the assist total of Wayzata on my officially unofficial sheet.  Wayzata relies more on that sharing so you wouldn't expect a big loss in the assist percentage but that happened here.

20-21 Weekend 1 Review and Week 2 Preview

A fun weekend of games.  Let's do some comments on a couple of games I went back and watched online and then take a look at the 1st complete week of the shortened 2020-21 season.

Friday: Mounds View 64 Cretin-Derham Hall 51
In the handful of games I've watched so far, Mounds View has the been the most impressive team I've seen.  They were in control of the Suburban East opener vs CDH from the get go.  They looked in late season form with their 4 out motion offense and solid man defense.  Junior guard Kobe Kirk was fantastic with 20 points.  Defensively they played Tre Holloman much like Eden Prairie played Jalen Suggs last year.  Attempt to stay in front of him, don't reach and make him finish over the top.  Plus they went under every ball screen to try and exploit the main hole in Holloman's game, shooting.  CDH started out with ball screen stuff that was mostly ineffective.  Their best offense was their 2-3 high.  I liked the tweak to put Holloman as the screener and then pop for a top iso.  Holloman held to 4-15 shooting, 1-5 from 3, 16 points with 0 assists and 4 turnovers.  With the offense now revolving around him this year, if Holloman has nights like that, CDH is going to struggle.  Coach Kline can I get the old Bill McKee set for a Jack Tauer three please.  Mounds View with a ridiculous 75% EFG% for the game and over 60% of the FGs assisted. 

Saturday: Benilde-St. Margaret's 77 Orono 58
I've been really high on Orono during the offseason.  I was shocked to not see them in the preseason top 20 in class AAA.  Then I saw this score and it got my attention.  The final is a bit misleading as it was a 6 point game with 2:40 left.  BSM finished the game on an 11-0 run thanks to 5 straight Orono turnovers at the end.  Granted it could have been this thanks to a 14-0 BSM to start the 2nd half.  That put the Red Knights up 51-31 before Orono was able to get as close as 57-53 with just over 5 minutes left.  Maddox Alipate with the 1st 8 points of the game for BSM.  He'll obviously fit in right away.  Daniel Ijadimbola was fantastic with 23 points and distributing.  Guard Sam Best with 20 points and 5 triples.  Every one of those 3s seemed to be at a dagger moment.  All 3 of those players are juniors for new coach Damien Johnson.  Connor Chappell 15 points to lead Orono but a quiet 2nd half of only 1 FG.   BSM right around 70% EFG for the game.

Week 2 Preview
Tuesday's highlight is a big Lake Conference showdown with #1AAAA Wayzata visiting #3AAAA Hopkins.  Hopkins needed a 4 point play late just to tie the game and then steal one 48-45 vs Eden Prairie.  Wayzata had no problems at St. Michael-Albertville.  CCX Sports will have that game live online.

Wednesday is all about the Northwest Suburban.  Osseo visits Maple Grove in the top game there.  Its starts a brutal stretch for both teams.  For Osseo its at Maple Grove on Wed, at Park Center (CCX Sports live) on Friday (non-conf), at Totino-Grace on Monday, Park Center at home on Thursday (conference).  For Maple Grove its Osseo, Champlin Park (non-conf) on Friday, at Park Center on Monday.  Maple Grove has the road loss at TG already against them.

Thursday's highlight is South St. Paul at Tartan in a critical Metro East showdown.  PG Alonzo Dodd is off to a great start for 2-0 South St. Paul.  Tartan and their PG DeWayne Thompson opened with an easy win over North Branch.  Great contrast of styles there with a Tartan team that doesn't have a ton of firepower and grind you out defensively vs a free wheeling get up and down 1st to 100 wins Packers team.  Prep Spotlight has that game live (subscription required)

Friday's big game is the pride of Lakeville with South visiting North.  A headstart in the South Suburban standings on the line there.  South struggled in the 1st half against Eagan on Saturday before winning a close one.  Holy Angels at Columbia Heights in a sleeper Tri-Metro game as well.  Minnehaha goes on an iron range roadtrip.  They're at Duluth East on Friday and Hibbing on Saturday.

A Neighborhood Cat and Dog Fight

Prologue
Opening Saturday of the season takes to a northeast Minneapolis setting as Edison makes the short trip to St. Anthony.  Its the season opener for both teams in this matinee.  No fans in attendance for this one.  One of the AAU All-Stars on the whistle.  I held off on my soda addiction for the afternoon.   Our song of the day goes with staying up and watching all these other games online.

Song of the Day: Sleeping with the television on - Billy Joel

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger

Game Time
Edison scores on their first 5 trips with 3 bunnies to jump out to an 11-4 lead less than 3 minutes in.  St. Anthony takes a timeout and gets a couple of buckets.  Then they turn it over on 5 of the next 7 possessions.  Edison converts that into a 14-0 run as they add in a couple of triples.  27-11 Tommies with 10:30 left.  St. Anthony needs another timeout.

The game changes at the timeout.  Edison 10-15 shooting at this point but they go 3-14 over the rest of the half.  Some of that due to St. Anthony switching to a 2-3 zone at the 6 minute mark of the half.  Keep in mind that the Minneapolis schools couldn't start practice until this week.  That means limited time to get all your stuff in.  That showed here.  The Huskies dig their way mostly out of the hole with a 10-0 run out of that timeout.  35-29 Edison at the half.

St. Anthony stays with the zone in the 2nd half and that slows the pace.  Luke Omodt breaks the press for 2 and goes inside out to Max Kachman for a triple.  Huskies barking up the right tree (insert Bill Walton howling here) as they take their first lead 40-39 with 13:45 left.  This one is tight but Edison hanging on to the lead coming down the stretch thanks to Jabari Langley putting the offense on his back.  

Kachman shows up huge down the stretch.  He knocks a pass away and saves it to soph Cayden Hauser for a layup.  Kachman follows that with 2 FTs with 3:25 left for 1 point lead.  Then he drives and returns the favor to Omodt for a layup and a drive of his own for 2 more.  That brings the Huskies from down a couple buckets to up 61-57 with 2:46 left.

St. Anthony misses a couple of shots and 4 free throws from Langley pulls Edison within 2.  Edison then forces the 3rd St. Anthony turnover of the final minute.  That gives the Tommies the ball back down 2 in the backcourt with 7 seconds.  Langley drives and dishes and we have a shooting foul with 1.1 left.  Edison can tie with both.  But the 1st is no good.  The intentional miss of the 2nd bounces around for no shot.  St. Anthony hangs on to win 63-61.

Post Game
For Edison, Jabari Langley leads the way with 21 points on my sheet.  15 of those in the 2nd half.  Johnny Spencer held to 1 triple and nothing else before fouling out.  Their scrambling defense really bothered St. Anthony at the start and end of the game.  Plus they've got a couple of guys who can knock down 3s to go along with those 2 athletic wings.  The Tommies fall to 0-1 overall.  They'll stay on the road the rest of the month for 3 winnable Minneapolis City Conference games.  The first being at Henry on Friday so they do get another week of practice before playing again.

St. Anthony starts off the season 1-0.  They really needed this win as they have a gauntlet of 3 road games at #3AAA De La Salle, Fridley (#1 in the heart of Ryan James) and #4AAA Richfield in the next 10 days.  The inside out duo of forward Luke Omodt and guard Max Kachman leads the way.  Omodt finishes with 14 points, Kachman with 10 as part of his huge plays late.  Junior forward Gani Stevens gave the Huskies good minutes as well with 11 points.  Good balance with 8 guys scoring at least 5 points.

Four Factors

FACTOR	St. Anthony	Minneapolis Edison
Effective FG %	49%	40.2%
Offensive Rebound %	24.2%	43.8%
Free Throw Rate	36%	34.4%
Turnover %	27.8%	23.6%
Points Per Possession	0.88	0.85

The teams split the 4 factors with Edison's defense and athleticism winning the turnover and rebounding percentage battles.  Forcing 20 turnovers and grabbing 21 offensive boards turned into 11 extra shots for the Tommies.  But at the end of the day, they still couldn't make enough shots.  Czar theory of EFG still holds.  Granted its an entirely different discussion if Edison makes those last 2 free throws and then wins in overtime.

Hawk supremacy in the Metro West

Prologue
Its a big clash in the 2020-21 Metro West opener.  Chaska hosting its nickname sharing rival Robbinsdale Cooper in this one.  Ryan Paul with the call on CHBN.  Home style concessions means a Fantastic Friday Feast of a Parlour Burger from the good folks at Borough.  Pepsi a must to go with a quality burger like that.   As for a tune, I forgot to use this yesterday so we'll use it today.

Song of the Day: The Waiting - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger

Game Time
Chaska would gradually open this one up in the 1st half.  One run of 9-0 in the middle of the half.  Then you look up and you're down 15.  Bo Powell in foul trouble all night didn't help the Cooper cause either.  Spencer Goetz getting work done inside early in the half.  Junior Jakobe Lyles with a great spark off the Chaska bench with a triple and 3 other buckets in the half.  32-16 Chaska at the break.

Chaska with a couple of bombs to help expand the lead to 44-24 with 13:34 left.  Powell then picks up 2 quick fouls and he's fouled out with 11:14 left.  Jack Frick keeps his hot shooting going in the half.  Outcome never really in doubt in the 2nd half.  Chaska rolls 67-49

Post Game
Cooper starts the year 0-1.  They now go home for 3 straight league games vs Chanhassen, St. Louis Park and Benilde-St. Margaret's.  Bo Powell 1 FG and 3 points as he was bogged down with fouls all night.  Davion Evans with 13 of his 15 in the 2nd half to lead the offense.  Coon Rapids transfer David Osayameh with 7 of his 11 in the 2nd half.

Jack Frick and his shot shooting lead Chaska.  He knocks down 6 3s and 22 points.  Spencer Goetz 13 of his 15 in the first half.  Jakobe Lyles with a great night of 14 points off the bench.  Luke Strazzanti adds 13 points mostly via the charity stripe.  Chaska now 1-0 and they get the early edge in the Metro West race holding serve on home court.  Chaska hosts Kennedy on Tuesday before a trip to archrival Chanhassen next Friday.

Cooper never got anything going on offense and wasn't able to turn Chaska over.  That meant this game stayed at a slower, controlled pace.  That resulted in Chaska taking advantage of their size to dominate the paint.  Add in some quality outside shooting to go with it and it made for easy Chaska offense.  Cooper having Bo Powell out with fouls really hurt their cause too.  David Osayameh adds a nice dimension for them.  The rest of the roster is many interchangeable pieces.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Chaska	Robbinsdale Cooper
Effective FG %	54.2%	38.8%
Offensive Rebound %	40.5%	27%
Free Throw Rate	50%	34.7%
Turnover %	17%	19%
Points Per Possession	1.10	0.84

Its another night of dominance in the 4 factors.  Chaska sweeps all 4 with 3 of the 4 coming by substantial margins.  The offense rebound one is a little misleading due to missed free throws for Chaska (every miss must have a rebound etc etc).  The effective field goal diff really shows up with 6 extra made 3s for Chaska.  The difference could have been worse as Chaska struggled at the charity stripe.

20-21 Season Opener Out Of Hibernation

Prologue
After a long delay, the 2020-2021 season is finally here.  I'm off to Blake to see a quality AA matchup with Cristo Rey making a visit to the Bears' Den.  Blake and Cristo Rey each looking to make a run in section play in a couple of months.  Only a limited number of home fans allowed at this one.  Schools varying in their policies on that.  Masks all around including uniform matching masks for Blake.  We did get 1 broken mask on the night.  Many cases of a mask below the nose.  Despite that and no on-site concessions, I do manage to smuggle in a can of Mug Root Beer.  Nick Rathmann not only doing the usual and extra crazy AD duties thanks to COVID, he's also doing color commentary on the varsity broadcast. 

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)

Game Time
No Jasper Liu for Blake tonight.  Both teams with small lineups.  The 1st game of year syndrome strikes as its only 4-2 CRJ at the 13:20 mark.  Scoring a problem all half.  Frosh Grayson Okoronkwo with a triple from 1 corner and then the other.  That's all part of a 14-0 Blake run over the last 10+ minutes of the half.  CRJ misses their last 13 shots of the 1st half.  That was after making 4 of their first 6.  21-9 Blake at the half.

After an Okoronkwo 3 point play to start the half, the cold spell strikes Blake.  They miss 6 in a row with 4 turnovers.  CRJ replies with a 10-1 run to cut the margin to 25-19 with 13:31 left.  Then the 1st half takes over again for CRJ.  Rob Grace with a pair of hoops and the lead is up to 11.  Theo Liu with a bucket to push the lead to 37-22 with under 8 minutes left.  Gabe Ganz adds a couple hoops of his own to complete tonight's 3 Amigos list.  That keeps the lead at 17 with 5 minutes left.  Blake wins 43-31.

Post Game
For Cristo Rey, this is the 1st of 4 games in 8 days.  Derek Burgess leads the Pumas with 12 points.  Their top guard Erick Burgess had 9 but really struggled with only 3 field goals.  Cristo Rey is 0-1 and they'll open Skyline play Saturday night at home against Concordia.  They stay home next week for more IMAC crossover games against St. Paul Academy and Mounds Park Academy.

For Blake, they're now 1-0.  Freshman Grayson Okoronkwo leads the way with 13 points.  His last points were at the start of the 2nd half.  Theo Liu with 10 and Rob Grace with 9 as they pick up the slack in the 2nd half. Blake goes on the road next week for 2 IMAC games at Breck and St. Paul Academy.

As the score would indicate, this was not pretty.  Much of that of course due to the 1st game of the year and normal layoff.  Add in the extra layoff and this will happen. CRJ was very 1 on 1 with their offense and not much movement of the ball or people.  Will be interesting to see if they add any off ball actions to try to get the Burgess brothers going down hill, e.g something like a Chicago action.  Right now their 5 out is lots of stand and watch.  Blake got a little bit out of their 5 out curls action.  But beyond a couple of nice BLOB looks, the execution of their sets wasn't as crisp as you normally see.  Good example of night 1 problems. 

Four Factors

FACTOR	Blake	Cristo Rey
Effective FG %	36.5%	29.2%
Offensive Rebound %	24.4%	22.5%
Free Throw Rate	21.2%	16.7%
Turnover %	21.9%	27%
Points Per Possession	0.67	0.51

Blake wins all 4 factors which is pretty indicative of this one.  Outside about 4 minutes early in the 2nd half when Cristo Rey cut the lead down to 6, Blake was even or in control. Lots of bunnies missed in this one that I'm sure both sides would like to have back to increase the shooting numbers.

2020-21 Opening Week Preview

The opening week of the 2020-21 season is finally upon us.  We get started in the elements on Thursday night.  Here's are the games that stick out to me for the short opening week.

Thursday

Its a battle of titans in the Northwest Suburban as Maple Grove visits Totino-Grace.  The first 5 games in the NWS schedule this year were intended to be non-conference games between league opponents.  But with the schedule changes, those non-conference games are now moved mostly to late in the schedule.  Totino-Grace is as deep as any team in the state.  Maple Grove just rolls over quality guard play year after year and they size to go with it.  CCX Sports will be streaming that game.

The other game notable game of the night is Cristo Rey at Blake.  This is matchup of teams looking to contend in their AA sections.  Blake behind Minneapolis North in section 5.  Cristo Rey looking to once again knock off St. Croix Prep in section 4.  Its also one of the top games in the Skyline vs IMAC crossover series going on this year.  The Burgess twins vs the 3 Amigos of Ganz, Grace and Liu is worth watching here.  Neither team goes very deep.  Game stream can be found on the NFHS Network (subscription required) or follow along on twitter with me live.

Friday

Its a big battle to open the final year of the 7 team Metro West configuration.  Cooper makes the trip to Chaska in a battle of the top 2 teams in the league.  A great contrast of styles with a big, methodical Chaska group taking on an athletic and guard oriented Cooper squad that wants to play fast in the open floor. Can Cooper force enough turnovers and play the game at their pace?  CHBN will have that game online.

Cretin-Derham Hall visits Mounds View in a quality Suburban East opener.  Mounds View will have to figure out a way to slow down Tre Holloman.  The big question for CDH is how they generate offense around Holloman.  All of the other weapons around him are now gone so he'll take on a much bigger scoring burden.  Prep Spotlight will have that game (subscription required)

United Christian Academy visits Avail Academy (FEAR THE RHINO!) in a matchup of 2 of the top teams in the EMAC.  Avail with everybody back from last year.  UCA with major losses but they do return one of the top players in the league in forward Zach Corley.

Saturday

Farmington at Eastview.  Its a tough start for Farmington as they play a couple of the league favorites in the 1st 3 days.  Its home vs Lakeville N on Thursday and then this game.  While Eastview lost all 5 starters, most of the new crew saw notable reserve minutes last season and was very productive over the summer.  But its the opener so it may take time for the group to gel.  Farmington has a ton coming back plus the return of Eli Green from injury.  That experience in a shortened season with limited offseason time could be a big difference maker.

Maranatha at St. Croix Prep.  St. Croix Prep looks to continue their dominance in the Skyline.  Maranatha loses a ton but still projects to be a top half team in the league thanks to a talented group of returning youngsters.  SCPA gets the advantage of having already played as they host Concordia on Thursday.  Maranatha gets the extra couple of days off but its their season opener.

In section 6AAA, its Orono visiting Benilde-St. Margaret's.  New BSM coach Damien Johnson gets a very quick and tough look at where his team is at.  Orono returns most of their roster and will look to contend for the section title.  Connor Chappell and Andrew Mandel make up a very good front line for the Spartans.  Tough matchup for the Red Knights to start the new season.