2021 Better Than Chalk Section Predictions

120 games and 2 months later, it all comes down to this.  Its March and now its tournament time if we want to conveniently ignore some final regular season make up games early in the week.  So that means prediction time.  

A rules refresher.  Any fool can pick nothing but top seeds (aka chalk) and claim they were something like 85-6.  My mission, and I do choose to accept it, is to do better than a bracket with nothing but higher seeds picked. Last year I was exactly even when the season was halted.  

Not happy with how I picked your team?  Use the hastag #ShockTheCzar on twitter and on your locker room/virtual whiteboards to express your outrage.  So without delay, here we go.  Upset picks will be noted with underlines

Class A
Section 1: United Christian gets the EMAC treatment from the 1A coaches (and don't get me started on the stupidity of them being in this section instead of section 4A).  They take that out on winless Houston in the pigtail game before losing to Lyle/Austin Pacelli

Section 2: Lester Prairie survives GFW in round 1 but then loses a rematch from last year's tourney to Sleepy Eye St. Mary's

Section 4:
Thursday Pigtails: PACT over Eagle Ridge, W Lutheran over N Lakes, Avail over Liberty for a 3rd time in an EMAC rivalry, Hope and Kaleidoscope is 1st one to 80 wins.  Hope won 87-80 in the regular season and with the home game they do it again.
Saturday Quarterfinals: Legacy over Hope, CHOF over Avail, Heritage over W Lutheran, Trinity over PACT
Tuesday semis: Legacy over Trinity, CHOF over Heritage
Th final: Legacy over CHOF.  Legacy won the regular season game big

Class AA
Section 4 (Nova Classical, Mounds Park Academy, Math & Science out)
Thursday Pigtails: New Life over Metro Schools College Prep, Cristo Rey over Washington, Concordia, one of the worst possible matchups for Hiawatha, gets the win.
Saturday Quarterfinals: St. Croix Prep over Concordia, St. Paul Academy over Cristo Rey, TCA/GR over New Life, St. Agnes Shocks the Czar with a win over Humboldt.
Tues Semis: SCPA over St. Agnes.  SPA over TCA/GR in a repeat of the regular season.
Th Final: SCPA over SPA

Section 5AA
Thursday Round of 16: Litchfield over Dassel-Cokato, Maranatha over Brooklyn Center, Providence over HLWW, Holy Family repeats over Breck, SW Christian lost the season opener to Watertown-Mayer but I'll take the upset here with W-M losing 6 of their last 7 (only win over Dassel-Cokato).
Sat Qtrs: North over SW Christian, Blake over Holy Family, Rockford over Providence, Litchfield over Maranatha
Wed Semis: North over Litchfield, Blake over Rockford
Fri Final:  North over Blake

Section 6: Spectrum goes out at Albany in the round of 16

Class AAA
Section 1: Simley over Kasson-Mantorville before losing to Austin
Section 3
Monday Pigtail: Harding on the road as high seed over Kennedy.
Wednesday Qtrs: SSP over Harding, Richfield over Sibley, St. Croix Lutheran over St. Thomas Academy, Holy Angels as home low seed knocks out Highland Park in the 4/5 game. 
Saturday semis: SSP over Holy Angels, Richfield over St. Croix Lutheran (teams split regular season
Thursday final: SSP over Richfield.  Richfield size is a problem but a 2 big man lineup trying to defend the SSP offense is also a problem.

Section 4:
Wednesday qtrs: Minnehaha over Como Park, TG over Hill-Murray, Columbia Heights over St. Anthony (closer than you think, Heights banged up), Mahtomedi wins a clash of styles over Johnson
Saturday semis: Minnehaha over Mahtomedi, TG over Columbia Heights
Thursday final: Minnehaha over TG.  Lots will be made of this game, but Minnehaha is a machine and TG hasn't had the elite season many (like me) thought they would.

Section 5:
Fri Qtr: Fridley over Becker continuing their winning streak against the Mississippi 8.  Delano wins to face them in the semis.
Tues semi: Delano over Fridley

Section 6: (Mpls Henry and Mpls Edison out)
Wednesday Qtrs: Waconia over Roosevelt, Orono over BSM.  I've been wrong on Orono all year and BSM won the regular season meeting big blowing the game open late.  No matter, I'll stick with them.
Sat semis: Mound-Westonka over Orono in a rivalry type battle.  DLS over Waconia
Th Final : DLS over Mound-Westonka.  DLS won't have to face a big man problem inside in this one.  I like how they matchup here.

Class AAAA
Section 1 (Rochester JM out)
Wed Qtrs: Owatonna over New Prague, Farmington over Rochester Mayo, Rochester Century wins a 3rd close game over Northfield
Sat Semis: Lakeville South over Century, Farmington grinds out a win vs Owatonna
Th final: Lakeville South over Farmington.  Teams split the regular season but Lakeville South has found a groove recently winning 5 in a row (Farmington, Shakopee, Eastview in that list).

Section 2
Tues Qtrs: Shakopee over Chanhassen, Eden Prairie over Prior Lake, Chaska repeats over Minnetonka, Edina too much firepower for Bloomington Jefferson.
Fri Semis: Shakopee over Edina, Eden Prairie repeats over Chaska
Th Final: Eden Prairie over Shakopee.  Eden Prairie very good defensively and Shakopee has struggled to score in big games since Cade McGraw went down.  McGraw may be back for this one but not enough.

Section 3:
Wed Qtrs: Eastview over Burnsville, Lakeville N over Apple Valley, Rosemount over Hastings, Park over Eagan because of home court
Sat semis: Eastview over Park, Lakeville North over Rosemount (teams split home and home)
Th final at Farmington: Lakeville North over Eastview.  Eastview lost the last meeting at home and is without Jackson Purcell.  Also hard to bet against John Oxton in a section final

Section 4:
Th Qtrs: Woodbury over Stillwater, CDH over NSP, E Ridge over White Bear Lake, Tartan over St. Paul Central.
Tues Semis: Woodbury over Tartan, CDH over East Ridge.  The teams split but CDH lost without Tre Holloman
Fri Final: Woodbury over CDH.  Woodbury won 2 close regular season meetings.

Section 5:
Fri/Sat Qtrs: Champlin Park over Irondale, Mounds View over Centennial, Park Center over Roseville, Spring Lake Park over Osseo.  Osseo and SLP tied in the NW Suburban standings but Osseo won the regular season meeting at home 46-45.  SLP gets the win on home court.
Tues Semis: Champlin Park over Spring Lake Park, Park Center over Mounds View.  Mounds View has fallen back after a hot start.
Th Final: Champlin Park over Park Center.  Champlin Park won 2 close meetings in the regular season.

Section 6: (Hopkins and St. Louis Park out)
Tues Qtrs: Cooper or Armstrong over Washburn, Southwest over South (teams split)
Fri Semis: Wayzata over Southwest, Cooper over Armstrong in a great district rivalry that sadly doesn't get played anymore.  Cooper too much quickness
Th Final: Wayzata over Cooper

Section 7:
Sat Qtrs: Duluth East over Anoka, Forest Lake over Cambridge-Isanti, Blaine another close win over Coon Rapids
Tues Semis: Andover over Blaine, Duluth East over Forest Lake
Th Final: Duluth East over Andover.  I've been high on Duluth East all year.  Noah Paulson and Mattie Thompson are both problem matchups.  Andover's high powered offense gets slowed down in this one.

Section 8:
Fri Qtrs: Maple Grove over Rogers, Buffalo over Elk River, STMA over Moorhead
Tues Semis: Brainerd repeats over STMA, Maple Grove over Buffalo
Fri Final: Maple Grove over Brainerd.  I liked what I saw of Brainerd in their win over Alexandria.  But 3 wins over Moorhead and STMA by a total of 10 points gets my attention.  Maple Grove continues their run in section 8.