Wild end to Stillwater/Johnson
So Stillwater is down 6 with about 20 seconds or so to go. Johnson makes a defensive mistake and gives up a 3 to Aaron Anderson to make it 62-59 Johnson. After a timeout, Johnson gets called for an illegal screen. Johnson had run the exact same inbound play about 20 seconds earlier and the same kid set the same illegal screen. Huge props to the Stillwater staff for getting the refs on this one as it was absolutely the correct call. But its an offensive foul so Stillwater gets the ball out, no bonus FTs. After 10 seconds of not being able to get a shot, Anderson runs into a kid and draws the blocking foul (either way kind of call on a dribble handoff.). He calmly drains the 2 FTs with under 10 seconds to go. 62-61 Johnson. Stillwater comes with a full-court diamond press and Johnson throws the ball away in front of their bench with 5.2 seconds to go. Stillwater's ball at 3 quarter court. Out of Stillwater's final timeout, Johnson goes to an extended 1-2-2. Stillwater gets nothing on the inbound, Paul Franklin gets the ball in the backcourt, dribbles under pressure across the timeline on the right wing and has to heave it from there as time is running out. Down the hatch it goes at the horn, we've got pandemonium and Stillwater steals one 64-62.
Week 4 Tuesday night scoreboard club
Scores that caught my eye from 12/18/07
Lake
Lake
- Rosemount wins big.
- Kennedy wins at Burnsville. 2 tough home losses for the Blaze in conference play as they prepare for a 3 out of 4 non-conference stretch.
- Cooper wins big again without Joe Bright.
- BSM and Spring Lake Park roll. BSM only had 24 combined pts from Battle/Taylor. 22 for Stu Neville though.
- TG with a nice road win over Chisago Lakes.
- Central continues to roll with a win over Roseville.
- St. Agnes blows out New Life by 26, possible subsection preview and a surprising result as I wouldn't have called a blowout in that game.
- STA blows out Duluth East by 53. Another rough time against the metro for Duluth East.
- Shakopee blows out Washburn, very impressive and so much for any thoughts of the Sabers rebuilding.
- Bethany held MN Transitions to 70 pts, that was a game I thought could get ugly.
- Mound-Westonka beats Trinity by 30+. Wow, did that score get transposed?
Observations from Tonka/Sibley
Labels:
Jake Kreuser,
Mike Bruesewitz
My thoughts from Tonka at Sibley, what a game. Give Sibley credit for hanging tough.
Sibley Notes
Sibley JV coach got tossed right before the half of the JV game. Hair-trigger temper from the official, but the coach grandstanding to the crowd after he got tossed was pathetic. Just as players are held accountable for their Ts, so too should the coaches. Dasovich should discipline him for his actions with a 1 game suspension and he shouldn't have been on the bench for the varsity game.
Mike Brusewitz is the real deal. I wish all players had his intensity.
Peter Leslie had a nice game at the point, but he flops way too much on defense.
Jake Krueser. DNP-Varsity. Very surprised at this just because of the Varsity minutes he got last year. Played most of the JV game. You can see the talent is there, but defensively he still looks lost at times. I wonder about his morale after all the varsity minutes he saw last year and now he's been relegated to JV. Him and RJ Lennon played most of the 1st half of JV and Tonka's JVs blew them out.
With 3 starters and Krueser back next year, Sibley will be dangerous again. No fluke this year either with a heartbreaker at Osseo and taking Tonka to the limit. 4AAAA looks more brutal everyday with Sibley, Stillwater, CDH, Tartan and Central all together.
Minnetonka Notes
Tonka's talent level (JV and Varsity) is just criminal. JVs are loaded, Varsity bench could win many leagues. Just loaded.
Anthony Tucker, silent assassin. Up 3 in the last 2 minutes he hits a big 3 (that wasn't the greatest shot in the world, but when you're that good a shooter, you can say its never a bad shot) and gets a clutch assist which were the final daggers. With his quick release and their transition game, he'll get a ton points that way alone.
Sedrick McBounds didn't start and didn't play as much as I thought. Looks like he's still trying to find his place in the new system. But I can understand why coach Hedstrom would want to keep that starting group intact.
No Kyle Risinger, but lots of Cole Stefan. So much for my prediction there.
UT Udo looks like he's improved and he gave them nice minutes off the bench.
Best moment of the night. With 7 seconds left, Tonka student section chants "This game's over" and proceeds to walk out as a group right past the Sibley students. Absolutely classic.
Finally, do we really need hand-dryers in restrooms to be as strong as leaf-blowers? I thought I was going to get blown away.
Sibley Notes
Sibley JV coach got tossed right before the half of the JV game. Hair-trigger temper from the official, but the coach grandstanding to the crowd after he got tossed was pathetic. Just as players are held accountable for their Ts, so too should the coaches. Dasovich should discipline him for his actions with a 1 game suspension and he shouldn't have been on the bench for the varsity game.
Mike Brusewitz is the real deal. I wish all players had his intensity.
Peter Leslie had a nice game at the point, but he flops way too much on defense.
Jake Krueser. DNP-Varsity. Very surprised at this just because of the Varsity minutes he got last year. Played most of the JV game. You can see the talent is there, but defensively he still looks lost at times. I wonder about his morale after all the varsity minutes he saw last year and now he's been relegated to JV. Him and RJ Lennon played most of the 1st half of JV and Tonka's JVs blew them out.
With 3 starters and Krueser back next year, Sibley will be dangerous again. No fluke this year either with a heartbreaker at Osseo and taking Tonka to the limit. 4AAAA looks more brutal everyday with Sibley, Stillwater, CDH, Tartan and Central all together.
Minnetonka Notes
Tonka's talent level (JV and Varsity) is just criminal. JVs are loaded, Varsity bench could win many leagues. Just loaded.
Anthony Tucker, silent assassin. Up 3 in the last 2 minutes he hits a big 3 (that wasn't the greatest shot in the world, but when you're that good a shooter, you can say its never a bad shot) and gets a clutch assist which were the final daggers. With his quick release and their transition game, he'll get a ton points that way alone.
Sedrick McBounds didn't start and didn't play as much as I thought. Looks like he's still trying to find his place in the new system. But I can understand why coach Hedstrom would want to keep that starting group intact.
No Kyle Risinger, but lots of Cole Stefan. So much for my prediction there.
UT Udo looks like he's improved and he gave them nice minutes off the bench.
Best moment of the night. With 7 seconds left, Tonka student section chants "This game's over" and proceeds to walk out as a group right past the Sibley students. Absolutely classic.
Finally, do we really need hand-dryers in restrooms to be as strong as leaf-blowers? I thought I was going to get blown away.
Observations from Roosevelt/Oh Day Aki
On Monday I attended the Roosevelt/Oh Day Aki doubleheader (which was really a boys game plus a Roosevelt JV vs Oh Day Aki Varsity girls exhibition).
Overall, the game was very ugly. In fact, Roosevelt's starters were so bad that coach Stockmo yanked all 5 starters 2 minutes into the 2nd half after a 11-4 ODA run to tie the game at 45. The reserves then proceeded to go on a 14-0 run over the next 4 minutes. Bring back the starters and tack on a couple more buckets for the 18-0 run that put the game away and win 85-71. Xavier Jones and Derek Scully are nice guards for Roosevelt, but their level of athletes may be the worst in the Minneapolis City league. Its a credit to Dennis Stockmo that he gets as much out of his roster year in and year out as he does.
As to Oh Day Aki, they have some athletes and they have a shooter (who also shoots too much). They didn't handle Roosevelt's pressure well and didn't display much discipline on offense. Defensively they were absolutely horrible in both their zone and man defenses. The zone might just as well been made of swiss cheese. In man, Roosevelt cutters and dribblers routinely got easy layups. That explains why in their last 4 losses they've given up 87.5 pts a game.
My evaluation: On talent alone they'll beat up on weak A teams, but don't look for the major upsets of a year ago. The top teams on each side of Section 4A should blow them out. Prediction: They'll be the #5 or #6 seed in the East Subsection (behind St. Agnes, CHOF, NLA and MN Transitions in no particular order) and get bounced in the 1st round (assuming that's not a play-in game). Give them props for playing a very tough schedule and dealing with not having a real home court.
Overall, the game was very ugly. In fact, Roosevelt's starters were so bad that coach Stockmo yanked all 5 starters 2 minutes into the 2nd half after a 11-4 ODA run to tie the game at 45. The reserves then proceeded to go on a 14-0 run over the next 4 minutes. Bring back the starters and tack on a couple more buckets for the 18-0 run that put the game away and win 85-71. Xavier Jones and Derek Scully are nice guards for Roosevelt, but their level of athletes may be the worst in the Minneapolis City league. Its a credit to Dennis Stockmo that he gets as much out of his roster year in and year out as he does.
As to Oh Day Aki, they have some athletes and they have a shooter (who also shoots too much). They didn't handle Roosevelt's pressure well and didn't display much discipline on offense. Defensively they were absolutely horrible in both their zone and man defenses. The zone might just as well been made of swiss cheese. In man, Roosevelt cutters and dribblers routinely got easy layups. That explains why in their last 4 losses they've given up 87.5 pts a game.
My evaluation: On talent alone they'll beat up on weak A teams, but don't look for the major upsets of a year ago. The top teams on each side of Section 4A should blow them out. Prediction: They'll be the #5 or #6 seed in the East Subsection (behind St. Agnes, CHOF, NLA and MN Transitions in no particular order) and get bounced in the 1st round (assuming that's not a play-in game). Give them props for playing a very tough schedule and dealing with not having a real home court.
Get well Dickie V
In a letter to fans Dick Vitale announced today that he has lesions on a vocal cord and hopes to be back at the microphone in early February. Love him or hate him, his passion for the game is unsurpassed and infectious. Truly the ambassador of college basketball. Not to mention the wonderful work he does as a motivational speaker (must see) and as one of the board members of the Jimmy V foundation which now sends 100% of donations to cancer research.
Best wishes Dick and we look forward to your return to the microphone. You're Super, Scintillating, Sensational Baby!.
Best wishes Dick and we look forward to your return to the microphone. You're Super, Scintillating, Sensational Baby!.
Follow-Up to referee collapsing
Found this follow-up article on the collapse of a referee at Fridley last Thursday.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7739301?source=most_viewed
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7739301?source=most_viewed
Chad Calcaterra injury
Czar's Note 1/10/08: Calcaterra has been cleared for action and is expected to start playing immediately. Looking forward to seeing him Monday night at Mounds View (read how he did here), but with his stamina not at 100% I would expect him to get short spurts.
(Czar's Note 12/31/07: On 12/26 the Duluth News Tribune Reported that Calcaterra has suffered a stress fracture in his left foot and is not due back until late January.)
(Czar's Note 12/20/07: The information below on the injury is not accurate. After posting this, I received what I believe to be reliable information on the real injury. However, out of respect for my sources and because it's medical information about a minor, I am unwilling to post that. The original post is still below unedited).
6'10 Cloquet C Chad Calcaterra has not played this season due to an injury. I'm reading that it's 6 weeks due to a broken foot. AAUObserver, I took this from you so if there's any other information out there that people have, I'd be interested to hear it. Sounds like he may not be available for the January 14th game at Mounds View which is a shame.
He's a top 100 player that's been offered a scholarship by the U so I was really looking forward to seeing him play. Then again, at 5'2 to 5'4 depending on my mood (or in the words of comedian Ron White, I'm 5'1 to 5'5 depending on which convenience store I'm leaving), post play wasn't my game so I tend to not fully appreciate the development of big guys.
(Czar's Note 12/31/07: On 12/26 the Duluth News Tribune Reported that Calcaterra has suffered a stress fracture in his left foot and is not due back until late January.)
(Czar's Note 12/20/07: The information below on the injury is not accurate. After posting this, I received what I believe to be reliable information on the real injury. However, out of respect for my sources and because it's medical information about a minor, I am unwilling to post that. The original post is still below unedited).
6'10 Cloquet C Chad Calcaterra has not played this season due to an injury. I'm reading that it's 6 weeks due to a broken foot. AAUObserver, I took this from you so if there's any other information out there that people have, I'd be interested to hear it. Sounds like he may not be available for the January 14th game at Mounds View which is a shame.
He's a top 100 player that's been offered a scholarship by the U so I was really looking forward to seeing him play. Then again, at 5'2 to 5'4 depending on my mood (or in the words of comedian Ron White, I'm 5'1 to 5'5 depending on which convenience store I'm leaving), post play wasn't my game so I tend to not fully appreciate the development of big guys.
Week 3 observations and week 4 schedule
Other random observations from week 3.
Friday:
Hutchinson vs BOLD. Hutchinson has a talented kid, but he threw up 2 bad NBA 3s and made 2 horrible and uncalled for fancy behind the back passes that ended up in TOs. With a UW-Superior scout in attendance too. Hutch is OK and they played an effective 1-2-2. BOLD is nothing to write home about.
Nice game for Armond Battle of BSM with 34 vs Hopkins.
Saturday:
Winona Cotter has another nice team and they beat up on a bad Highland Park squad (final score was 14 pts but it wasn't that close). Patrick Bowlin got his 1000th career point in the game for Cotter which was a nice moment.
CHOF beats up on Bethany. CHOF's 1-2-2 full court press was nasty and gave them a 32-2 run. Jeff Ray of Bethany does a nice job of trying to keep his kids spirits high as it will be another long year for this traditionally strong program. Hopefully their PG's ankle injury won't be too serious.
Week 4 Schedule:
Monday: Oh Day Aki at Roosevelt (boys/girls doubleheader at 6 PM). St. Croix Lutheran at Concordia could be very entertaining if the game is anything like their 2 high scoring matchups last year.
Tuesday: Shakopee at Washburn, other games of interest are Minnetonka at Sibley, Henry at Hopkins, Orono at AHA and TG at Chisago Lakes .
Wednesday: Stillwater at Johnson. Always good to see Joel Armstrong of the Ponies play.
Thursday: Osseo at South. Looking forward to seeing the Orioles for the 1st time this season.
Friday: Holy Family at Minnehaha and possibly the afternoon game at the Target Center (St. Clair vs Truman). Other games of note include Sibley at Hopkins, Shakopee at Mounds View. CDH at STA, Rochester Mayo at Tartan
Saturday: A light schedule because of the holidays but 2 good ones. St. Michael-Albertville at Spring Lake Park (2:00) . The other game is St. Bernard's at Como Park (12:30)
YTD Stats
27 games (19 boys, 8 girls)
51 teams (36 boys, 15 girls, 16 Wisconsin teams split 8 boys and 8 girls)
18 buildings
2 genders
Friday:
Hutchinson vs BOLD. Hutchinson has a talented kid, but he threw up 2 bad NBA 3s and made 2 horrible and uncalled for fancy behind the back passes that ended up in TOs. With a UW-Superior scout in attendance too. Hutch is OK and they played an effective 1-2-2. BOLD is nothing to write home about.
Nice game for Armond Battle of BSM with 34 vs Hopkins.
Saturday:
Winona Cotter has another nice team and they beat up on a bad Highland Park squad (final score was 14 pts but it wasn't that close). Patrick Bowlin got his 1000th career point in the game for Cotter which was a nice moment.
CHOF beats up on Bethany. CHOF's 1-2-2 full court press was nasty and gave them a 32-2 run. Jeff Ray of Bethany does a nice job of trying to keep his kids spirits high as it will be another long year for this traditionally strong program. Hopefully their PG's ankle injury won't be too serious.
Week 4 Schedule:
Monday: Oh Day Aki at Roosevelt (boys/girls doubleheader at 6 PM). St. Croix Lutheran at Concordia could be very entertaining if the game is anything like their 2 high scoring matchups last year.
Tuesday: Shakopee at Washburn, other games of interest are Minnetonka at Sibley, Henry at Hopkins, Orono at AHA and TG at Chisago Lakes .
Wednesday: Stillwater at Johnson. Always good to see Joel Armstrong of the Ponies play.
Thursday: Osseo at South. Looking forward to seeing the Orioles for the 1st time this season.
Friday: Holy Family at Minnehaha and possibly the afternoon game at the Target Center (St. Clair vs Truman). Other games of note include Sibley at Hopkins, Shakopee at Mounds View. CDH at STA, Rochester Mayo at Tartan
Saturday: A light schedule because of the holidays but 2 good ones. St. Michael-Albertville at Spring Lake Park (2:00) . The other game is St. Bernard's at Como Park (12:30)
YTD Stats
27 games (19 boys, 8 girls)
51 teams (36 boys, 15 girls, 16 Wisconsin teams split 8 boys and 8 girls)
18 buildings
2 genders
Clarification on why I made my section 4A post.
It seems like there's been some confusion amongst readers as to why I made my "Why Section 4A Stinks" post. Here's why.
It started with me saying on MN Preps that I thought Section 4A was the worst section in the state. I based that opinion on what I thought was weakness at the top of the section and a bunch of bad teams (mainly charter schools) at the bottom.
The MN Preps readers proceeded to roast me for it. 1 called me on the fact that I said I had no out-state knowledge (which is true). After reading that, I realized that the critic had a valid point. While I am critical of different things, I do try to be fair about it. I had no solid information on the other sections and may have been off base in my comments. At that point I also realized that the point was well and truly dead on MN Preps, it had gone on too long. Yet, I felt compelled to do the research and document the results just to see if I was crazy. So I went out and got the data, felt like I had an objective analysis and posted the results which I felt showed those critics that I had basis for my beliefs.
Those beliefs are based on available data not just the subjective viewing of teams and is a far bigger sample than any of us would see in person. It certainly wasn't based on the reading of 1 book's opinion without understanding what it really meant and nothing else which is what some critics did. The overall point was that there was ample basis for my opinion that the section wasn't that good.
The post was in no way shape or form meant to go after the Breakdown publication (despite the criticism of it that was there). I wasn't trying to show that Breakdown shouldn't have had 4A #1. I don't know who compiled that ranking or the criteria that were used to generate it, nor is that relevant in this instance. Based on the criteria used, that ranking of #1 may very well be correct. That's why I've made a point of saying that I evaluated the section as a whole, every single team in the section contributes to the power of the section.
Despite my disagreement with some content elements in the Breakdown (which I have kept to myself except for 2 pieces because its not a personal thing), that doesn't take away from the fact that Ryan James et al did a wonderful job and work very hard at the publication and deserve great credit for it. Not to mention that Ryan has publicly praised my scouting work, so if anything I have a positive bias toward him as a person. At the same time, I feel like my expressed criticisms have been fair objectively verifyable reasons.
The 4A post is also why I continue to reference Oh Day Aki results and give analysis because that's a team all those critics pointed to. Also, the quality of the section issue is obviously a season long issue. Therefore it is an ongoing relevant point so I'm not piling on Oh Day Aki when I reference their scores, I'm piling on the critics by continuing to show them results that prove them wrong.
Also note that I haven't said they're bad, I just said they're not the 25-5 upset MCA, section force team of last year. However, the judge and jury will be in attendance on Monday night for their boys/girls doubleheader at Roosevelt. Just as I made a point of giving PACT an evaluation on this site due to previous criticism of charter schools that people thought was too general, I will do the same for ODA and when I see MN Transitions.
Props to PACT, they proved me wrong. I will eat crow on that.
It started with me saying on MN Preps that I thought Section 4A was the worst section in the state. I based that opinion on what I thought was weakness at the top of the section and a bunch of bad teams (mainly charter schools) at the bottom.
The MN Preps readers proceeded to roast me for it. 1 called me on the fact that I said I had no out-state knowledge (which is true). After reading that, I realized that the critic had a valid point. While I am critical of different things, I do try to be fair about it. I had no solid information on the other sections and may have been off base in my comments. At that point I also realized that the point was well and truly dead on MN Preps, it had gone on too long. Yet, I felt compelled to do the research and document the results just to see if I was crazy. So I went out and got the data, felt like I had an objective analysis and posted the results which I felt showed those critics that I had basis for my beliefs.
Those beliefs are based on available data not just the subjective viewing of teams and is a far bigger sample than any of us would see in person. It certainly wasn't based on the reading of 1 book's opinion without understanding what it really meant and nothing else which is what some critics did. The overall point was that there was ample basis for my opinion that the section wasn't that good.
The post was in no way shape or form meant to go after the Breakdown publication (despite the criticism of it that was there). I wasn't trying to show that Breakdown shouldn't have had 4A #1. I don't know who compiled that ranking or the criteria that were used to generate it, nor is that relevant in this instance. Based on the criteria used, that ranking of #1 may very well be correct. That's why I've made a point of saying that I evaluated the section as a whole, every single team in the section contributes to the power of the section.
Despite my disagreement with some content elements in the Breakdown (which I have kept to myself except for 2 pieces because its not a personal thing), that doesn't take away from the fact that Ryan James et al did a wonderful job and work very hard at the publication and deserve great credit for it. Not to mention that Ryan has publicly praised my scouting work, so if anything I have a positive bias toward him as a person. At the same time, I feel like my expressed criticisms have been fair objectively verifyable reasons.
The 4A post is also why I continue to reference Oh Day Aki results and give analysis because that's a team all those critics pointed to. Also, the quality of the section issue is obviously a season long issue. Therefore it is an ongoing relevant point so I'm not piling on Oh Day Aki when I reference their scores, I'm piling on the critics by continuing to show them results that prove them wrong.
Also note that I haven't said they're bad, I just said they're not the 25-5 upset MCA, section force team of last year. However, the judge and jury will be in attendance on Monday night for their boys/girls doubleheader at Roosevelt. Just as I made a point of giving PACT an evaluation on this site due to previous criticism of charter schools that people thought was too general, I will do the same for ODA and when I see MN Transitions.
Props to PACT, they proved me wrong. I will eat crow on that.
South at Richfield, another classic
As a slight refresher, note that South came from 12 down in the last 4 minutes (and more than 15 earlier in the half) last year to beat Richfield 84-82. The last minute of that game also included a couple of bizarre technicals (Richfield out of timeouts and a questionable one on South coach Joe Hiser). So that's the setting for this year's rematch, which for a unknown reason was at Richfield again.
Tied at 75 with 2:09 to go. South leads 78-75 with 1:29 to go and gets called for a block. Hiser is not happy and is yapping at the official. Not showing the official up, not yelling at him, no histrionics and without warning he gets a T. I was opposite the South bench and this T looked really really questionable. A ref can't have a short fuse in that situation in my mind. But I didn't hear anything he said, so he may have earned it but Hiser didn't think so. Richfield now has 4 FTs (shooting foul + the T) and the ball. They hit 3 FTs but didn't score on the possession, we're tied at 78 with about a minute left.
Richfield takes the lead on a South turnover, but South comes right back gets a bucket and a foul. Missed the FT though so we're tied at 80 with about 35 seconds left. Richfield misses with about 15-20 seconds left and South has a chance for the win. With 5 seconds left, DeAaron Hearn gets a steal and gets out on the break. He makes a nice pass in a 2 on 1 for what appears to be the game winning layup but a South player comes from nowhere and swats it away to save the game. We go to OT tied at 80.
At the end of the OT its 89-86 South, Chris Daly, Richfield's top shooter, gets an open look at a 3 and misses. A scramble ensues and Daly gets off a prayer at the horn that hits iron and stays out. South hangs on 89-86.
Very fun up and down race horse basketball 8 or 9 guards on the floor at a time. Lots of post ups by South guards which was fun too.
Tied at 75 with 2:09 to go. South leads 78-75 with 1:29 to go and gets called for a block. Hiser is not happy and is yapping at the official. Not showing the official up, not yelling at him, no histrionics and without warning he gets a T. I was opposite the South bench and this T looked really really questionable. A ref can't have a short fuse in that situation in my mind. But I didn't hear anything he said, so he may have earned it but Hiser didn't think so. Richfield now has 4 FTs (shooting foul + the T) and the ball. They hit 3 FTs but didn't score on the possession, we're tied at 78 with about a minute left.
Richfield takes the lead on a South turnover, but South comes right back gets a bucket and a foul. Missed the FT though so we're tied at 80 with about 35 seconds left. Richfield misses with about 15-20 seconds left and South has a chance for the win. With 5 seconds left, DeAaron Hearn gets a steal and gets out on the break. He makes a nice pass in a 2 on 1 for what appears to be the game winning layup but a South player comes from nowhere and swats it away to save the game. We go to OT tied at 80.
At the end of the OT its 89-86 South, Chris Daly, Richfield's top shooter, gets an open look at a 3 and misses. A scramble ensues and Daly gets off a prayer at the horn that hits iron and stays out. South hangs on 89-86.
Very fun up and down race horse basketball 8 or 9 guards on the floor at a time. Lots of post ups by South guards which was fun too.
Get Well Stripes
Those who know me know that I've had my share of "disagreements" with officiating over the years and still do as you've seen from Thursday's PACT at Blake JV game. In the spirit of this post, I'm being nice. Besides, I'm mostly beyond the officiating now as focusing on it takes away from my enjoyment of the game itself. I reserve my biggest wrath for players, but you all already knew that from reading the other posts on this blog. :)
All of that said, some of you may have seen the Pioneer Press article where a referee had a seizure on the court at Fridley on Thursday night. I had a source at that game and it was a very scary situation. Thankfully it sounds like the ref will be OK. So while some have referred to me as a certain part of the male anatomy (which I can be at times), even I wouldn't wish anything like this on anyone, especially during the holiday season.
Get Well Stripes.
All of that said, some of you may have seen the Pioneer Press article where a referee had a seizure on the court at Fridley on Thursday night. I had a source at that game and it was a very scary situation. Thankfully it sounds like the ref will be OK. So while some have referred to me as a certain part of the male anatomy (which I can be at times), even I wouldn't wish anything like this on anyone, especially during the holiday season.
Get Well Stripes.
Week 3 Friday scoreboard watching
Scores from Friday 12/14/07 that caught my attention.
- Apple Valley pulls another upset beating Burnsville.
- Lakeville N beats Jefferson, maybe Lakeville N will make some noise in the Lake.
- St. Louis Park blows out Totino-Grace, ouch.
- Edina beats Prior Lake
- Minnehaha with a nice win over Roosevelt.
- Edison beats Breck at Breck.
- Henry beats Arlington, no surprise there, but they gave up 86 pts. Arlington is my sleeper pick in the St. Paul City so this may be a good sign.
- SW blasts Oh Day Aki. I think we can officially put all of the Oh Day Aki as a contender in in section 4A talk to rest.
- Harding upsets Mounds View, big shocker there.
- Tartan beats Duluth East by 28, wow.
- Central avenges another non-conference loss from last season by beating Holy Angels.
Hopkins vs BSM
Hopkins at Benilde-St. Margaret's. Best game I've seen so far this year. Great environment thanks to 2 good student sections, a solid band and a high intensity game. Benilde hung tough, but Hopkins depth did win out. Jordan Taylor had a tough night with Marcus Williams and Moses Sundufu being quick enough to keep him from going into the lane at will. Hopkins did a great job helping too. Benilde won't be happy with their FT shooting. They had some chances late to hit FTs and didn't make em, especially the back end of the double bonus which kept them from getting into any full-court defensive pressure. Stu Neville is a nice 3rd option for them and gives them some size. They've also got a couple of shooters around Taylor to keep defenses honest so BSM will still be a tough team to beat this year.
Mike Broghammer was just a beast in 2nd half to keep Hopkins ahead. And props to Ken Novak for finally going with the lineup that I've been talking about for a while now. 4 guards and Broghammer. Di Loreto didn't play much in the 2nd half and he wasn't needed. Marvin Singleton and Sundufu had solid nights off the bench for Hopkins. Trent Lockett is a stud and Marcus Williams does a nice job running the team. Hopkins wins 77-66 and is every bit worth their #2 ranking in 4A.
Mike Broghammer was just a beast in 2nd half to keep Hopkins ahead. And props to Ken Novak for finally going with the lineup that I've been talking about for a while now. 4 guards and Broghammer. Di Loreto didn't play much in the 2nd half and he wasn't needed. Marvin Singleton and Sundufu had solid nights off the bench for Hopkins. Trent Lockett is a stud and Marcus Williams does a nice job running the team. Hopkins wins 77-66 and is every bit worth their #2 ranking in 4A.
Week 3 Thursday Thoughts
Some thoughts on Thursday scores.
- PACT blows out Blake, now Blake is awful (but the Williams soph that they have is a nice player), but PACT is 3-0 with a nice roster. Far better than I expected. Could they be this year's Oh Day Aki? Probably not, but they are a very solid class A team. Now that I've appeased all the people who think I'm a charter school hater, lets move on.
- The JV game in the PACT/Blake affair may have been the worst officiated game I've ever seen.
- St. Francis beats Chisago Lakes. Hard to figure that one as St. Francis was dreadful last year. But they took Anoka to OT Monday night, so they might be much improved.
- CHOF beats SW Christian by 17 at the SAL. Might have to review the evaluation of SW Christian. Road losses at PACT and CHOF don't make them a top section team, but only losing by 8 on the road to a very good Bethlehem Academy team means something must be there. CHOF is a decent A team, but why people don't pressure the daylights out of their point guard, I don't understand. I may find out Saturday when they host Bethany. Nick Butler is a having a big season for CHOF and Nate Fiscus is a good post player for them.
- Osseo beats up Buffalo, no surprise there.
- South gives Mounds View a game, a little surprised at that, but based on my reading it appears Mounds View knew how to win and South didn't at the end. That's no surprise. Basketball IQ is in the city is surprisingly bad.
- Along the same line, city coaches, teach your kids the new rules emphasis already will ya. I'm sick and tired of kids whining about touch calls when that's exactly what the refs have been instructed to call. The kids have to know this and that's ultimately the coach's responsibility.
- Elk River played Princeton tough, interesting. Berggren had a monster night with 28, 17 and 8 blocks. If DeMarcus Cousins of LeFlore is eligible by the time the TWolves shootout comes around, that will be an interesting matchup (Cousins is the #5 Junior in the nation). But Berggren's track-record in AAU ball against quality bigs like this isn't promising.
- St. Croix Lutheran hammers Trinity. Did Chris Breuer turn into his dad? 18 pts for him last night. I'm surprised that it was blowout.
- How does Hutchinson keep it close with Waconia? I'll find out this afternoon when Hutch plays BOLD at the Target Center.
Week 3 Mid-Week Observations
Mid-week random musings.
- Tough loss for Sibley on a buzzer beater at Osseo. Carrington Tankson is the kind of guy who will shoot you out of a game or cut your heart out.
- St. Bernard's with a nice win at Breck.
- Last Friday SW Christian goes to PACT and gets beat in OT and then they go to Bethlehem Academy and only get beat by 8. Hard to figure that one.
- Apple Valley beats Rosemount. Do I really need more Andrew Brommer material? I wrote this about him in Sept.
- I did watch the 1st half of Cooper/Armstrong on tape. Armstrong is much better than expected. The Cruz kid is a nice player for them and JD Robinson is playing the Carter Biewen role this year. Greg Miller runs as many set plays that work as anybody.
- Speaking of Armstrong, coming from 15 down at the half to beat St. Thomas is a big win.
- Cooper at Hopkins was beyond ugly. Cooper sans Rodney Williams so they had a tough time generating offense.
- Holy Family with a nice win over Waconia. I'm looking forward to the HF game at Minnehaha next Friday.
- Heritage beat SPA Monday night. Stu Herman can really light it up and I couldn't help but think of Chris Mullin when watching John Hirte.
Minnesota's best juniors suspended
The Star Tribune is reporting that Royce White (DLS) and Rodney Williams, Jr (Cooper) are both suspended. Williams did not play against Hopkins for academic reasons (so the report says) and White is suspended for yelling at a teacher (so the report says).
High school is not rocket science. Go to class, do your homework, respect the teachers. If these kids can't do these things at the high school level, future life is going to be difficult.
High school is not rocket science. Go to class, do your homework, respect the teachers. If these kids can't do these things at the high school level, future life is going to be difficult.
Week 2 observations and week 3 schedule
Friday night Eden Prairie gets blown out in the 2nd half by CDH. This was a 6 pt game at half despite Michael Floyd having 24 in the 1st half with John Nance on the bench with foul trouble. Ethan Wragge kept EP in it in the 1st half. But 2nd half, EP could get no offense and they get routed. Surprising result. I wonder where EP will get points from besides Wragge.
Saturday: Rocori will be a nice team again this year. While I hate the flex with a passion, they do a nice job with it. I wish they'd play more of their zone though. Monticello had no clue against it, but Rocori stayed away from playing it.
Como Park was tied with Forest Lake with 4 minutes left and couldn't close the deal. CP kids had no idea of the new rules emphasis and kept hand-checking and complaining. CP has a 5'5 sophomore that starts and has absolutely no business playing. I'm surprised Dan Brink would play such a kid when he's got plenty of other options (like his other sophomore).
I didn't see much of the St. Bernard's vs SW game, but I can say that SW is much improved. I thought this was going to be a blowout (and it was that when I left with 7 minutes to go), but SW only got beat by 10. Bernard's is small but has a bunch of athletes so they'll be entertaining.
Maranatha beat the daylights out of Minnetonka Christian. Everybody knows about David Hanson, but Josh Hanson (yes another Hanson) is a nice player for them and they have a really good 8th grader starting at the point (Darian Pittman). They'll return 5 of their top 8 (but not David Hanson) next year and 4 of those kids are sophomores or lower.
Monday: Heritage at SPA (Highland Park at Roosevelt)
Tuesday: Cooper at Hopkins (Sibley at Osseo in another big game, Henry at TG, AHA at Minnehaha)
Thursday: CDH at Highland Park, SW Christian at CHOF might be interesting too. Buffalo is at Osseo but that game might not be all it appears after seeing the Armstrong/Buffalo result.
Friday: BOLD vs Hutchinson (Target Center 3:15), Hopkins at BSM. Other games of note include Duluth E at Tartan (Dyami Starks vs Mark Sonnen), Minnehaha at Roosevelt, AHA at Central
Saturday: If you can make the trip to Marshall for the Breakdown tip-off classic do it. Locally though we have these games.
Providence at SPA (1:30) or Chicago Forman at North (1:00)
Winona Cotter at HP (3:00)
Bethany at CHOF (5:00)
South at Richfield (7:30)
YTD Stats
Saturday: Rocori will be a nice team again this year. While I hate the flex with a passion, they do a nice job with it. I wish they'd play more of their zone though. Monticello had no clue against it, but Rocori stayed away from playing it.
Como Park was tied with Forest Lake with 4 minutes left and couldn't close the deal. CP kids had no idea of the new rules emphasis and kept hand-checking and complaining. CP has a 5'5 sophomore that starts and has absolutely no business playing. I'm surprised Dan Brink would play such a kid when he's got plenty of other options (like his other sophomore).
I didn't see much of the St. Bernard's vs SW game, but I can say that SW is much improved. I thought this was going to be a blowout (and it was that when I left with 7 minutes to go), but SW only got beat by 10. Bernard's is small but has a bunch of athletes so they'll be entertaining.
Maranatha beat the daylights out of Minnetonka Christian. Everybody knows about David Hanson, but Josh Hanson (yes another Hanson) is a nice player for them and they have a really good 8th grader starting at the point (Darian Pittman). They'll return 5 of their top 8 (but not David Hanson) next year and 4 of those kids are sophomores or lower.
- Oh Day Aki lost by 48 at Columbia Heights and got beat at Humboldt. Back to reality for another charter school. See also my post on why section 4A stinks. This won't help the cause.
- Armstrong almost beat Cooper and hammered Buffalo (at Buffalo) by 17, maybe they're much better than I thought.
- New Life beat down CHOF 79-58. This was a close game at CHOF last year. NLA will still be there in the MCAA.
- After beating Burnsville, Prior Lake didn't have enough against Eastview (63-46 loss). Eastview is a team to watch in the Lake.
Monday: Heritage at SPA (Highland Park at Roosevelt)
Tuesday: Cooper at Hopkins (Sibley at Osseo in another big game, Henry at TG, AHA at Minnehaha)
Thursday: CDH at Highland Park, SW Christian at CHOF might be interesting too. Buffalo is at Osseo but that game might not be all it appears after seeing the Armstrong/Buffalo result.
Friday: BOLD vs Hutchinson (Target Center 3:15), Hopkins at BSM. Other games of note include Duluth E at Tartan (Dyami Starks vs Mark Sonnen), Minnehaha at Roosevelt, AHA at Central
Saturday: If you can make the trip to Marshall for the Breakdown tip-off classic do it. Locally though we have these games.
Providence at SPA (1:30) or Chicago Forman at North (1:00)
Winona Cotter at HP (3:00)
Bethany at CHOF (5:00)
South at Richfield (7:30)
YTD Stats
- 18 games split 10 boys and 8 girls with 8 of those in Wisconsin (4 each). This also counts the 11 minutes of SW at St. Bernard's
- 11 buildings (2 Wisconsin)
- 35 teams split 20 boys and 15 girls, 16 of those teams (8 each) are Wisconsin teams.
- 2 genders
Opening night boys thoughts
Some thoughts on the opening night of the Minnesota boys season.
1) I was at the New Life Academy vs Concordia (Roseville) game. Max Banchy of NLA reminds me of Max Holmgren of days of old. Joe Mann will become a similar player to Mark Mann of days of old (he lit up the JV game). Concordia hit everything off of drive and kick in the 1st half and put up 56 pts. Final score was 105-64. Concordia now has some size which they haven't had in the past they are scary. And when you have a 6'6 center that looks amazingly like Screech from Saved by the Bell, life can't be bad.
2) Central puts a beatdown on Richfield. Surprising, but I thought Central would rebound this year. Don't be surprised to see them drastically improve their 1-13 non-conference mark from last year and make a run at the St. Paul City title. It also proves what I've said about the Breakdown's analysis of Richfield, they are NOT a good defensive team. They went from beating Central by 17 last year to losing by 32 this year. Now home court and the loss of Santino Clay make a difference but that much?
3) Lakeville N put a beating on Owatonna. Big 9 or Lake, hmm? I think I'll take the Lake.
4) Prior Lake with a nice win over Burnsville. Burnsville is a top half team in the Lake Conference but don't over look Prior Lake, they will make a run at the Missota title.
5) Officiating was tight (especially in the 2nd half), but I didn't see the real nickel-dime stuff all night that I expected. We'll continue to watch this as the season progresses.
1) I was at the New Life Academy vs Concordia (Roseville) game. Max Banchy of NLA reminds me of Max Holmgren of days of old. Joe Mann will become a similar player to Mark Mann of days of old (he lit up the JV game). Concordia hit everything off of drive and kick in the 1st half and put up 56 pts. Final score was 105-64. Concordia now has some size which they haven't had in the past they are scary. And when you have a 6'6 center that looks amazingly like Screech from Saved by the Bell, life can't be bad.
2) Central puts a beatdown on Richfield. Surprising, but I thought Central would rebound this year. Don't be surprised to see them drastically improve their 1-13 non-conference mark from last year and make a run at the St. Paul City title. It also proves what I've said about the Breakdown's analysis of Richfield, they are NOT a good defensive team. They went from beating Central by 17 last year to losing by 32 this year. Now home court and the loss of Santino Clay make a difference but that much?
3) Lakeville N put a beating on Owatonna. Big 9 or Lake, hmm? I think I'll take the Lake.
4) Prior Lake with a nice win over Burnsville. Burnsville is a top half team in the Lake Conference but don't over look Prior Lake, they will make a run at the Missota title.
5) Officiating was tight (especially in the 2nd half), but I didn't see the real nickel-dime stuff all night that I expected. We'll continue to watch this as the season progresses.
Why Section 4A Stinks
On MN Preps I've been ripped for my opinion that Section 4A is the worst section in the state. So here I provide details on my point of view. I'm willing to concede that maybe it isn't the worst section around, but I'm convinced that the section is certainly not worth the best in 1A hype that Breakdown gave it.
Thoughts
Breakdown ranked New Life Academy #9 in their 1A rankings, but they weren't even in the top 5 in the section when the section was previewed. That along with statements like "Richfield will be a good defensive team" cause the Breakdown to lose considerable credibility. Also when the 4th and 5th teams in the rankings are a combined 26-26 with only 2 quality wins (1 of which was on a home floor and later avenged by 17 pts), that's a serious sign of weakness.
I decided to take the QRFs for each team last year and then average those QRFs across this year's sections (where possible). The results were as follows.
You'll see that section 4 finished 7th with 5 sections being noticeably better. With Maranatha being a lesser team this year and St. Agnes being noticeably worse without Jordair Jett, considerable strength is lost at the top of the section. Not to mention that this section has more teams that finished below 100 and below 150 in the QRF last year than any other 1A section.
Lets look at the top teams in the section in detail
Maranatha: They lose Alex Thomas but return David Hanson so they are still a section contender. The opponents last year that they beat had a record 0f 305-380 with 5 quality wins (2 each over Lester Prairie and SW Christian + a win over Trinity). Still a very good team, but not the powerhouse of years past.
MN Transitions: Their style of play and schedule can make a quick look at them deceiving. The opponents they beat had a record of 202-193, but only 2 of their 19 wins were quality wins (at New Life and a big win at Park Christian, I can find no record of them playing Lester Prairie). One could even argue that the New Life win isn't a quality win as we'll see later, but I give credit for it since it was on the road.
SW Christian: The opponents they beat had a record of 202-285. A quality win at home over MN Transitions was their best win. Also 2 quality wins over New Life (1 road, 1 neutral)
Oh Day Aki: The opponents they beat had a record of 196-241. That includes quality wins over MCA in the tournament, MN Transitions and SW Christian and a win over Minneapolis South.
St. Agnes: The opponents they beat had a record of 228-283 with 5 quality (DLS, Oh Day Aki who they destroyed by 21, Concordia, Minnehaha and SW Christian). But without Jordair Jett, don't expect them to be more than .500. They'll be hard pressed to finish 3rd in the Tri-Metro East.
Now the pretenders:
New Life Academy: The opponents they beat had a record of 135-268, but their best wins were at 15-12 West Lutheran and at 14-12 Heritage who finished 6th and 7th in the MCAA.
West Lutheran: The opponents they beat had a record of 111-206 and they had only 1 quality win (Trinity on a neutral floor in the MCAA tournament).
Heritage: The opponents they beat had a record of 98-185. Of their 14 wins, their top 5 wins came over 10-11 Spectrum (3) and 2 over a bad 11-14 Providence team that was 9th in the MCAA. No quality wins.
CHOF: The opponents they beat had a record of 108-165 and they had only 1 quality win which was at home over MN Transitions. Transitions avenged that loss later in the season on their court by 17 pts to show who really was the better team.
Four Directions was 17-8 but got a 7 seed in their half because they didn't play or beat anyone.
Nobody else was above 100 in the QRF and you have a mess of teams 149 or below (out of 171)
Moral of the story is that most of these teams play weak schedules and/or don't beat good teams.
Maranatha and Transitions are very good teams at the top but not powerhouses like an Ellsworth. SW Christian may be in that mix. Oh Day Aki could easily go 25-5 again or 5-25 based on demographics at the school so we shall see. Everybody else in the section is either OK or miserable. Any section with 20+ teams and only 2-4 of those teams worth mentioning is a fraud.
That said, if section 4A is the best in the state, I'm thankful. It means I get to see a great section final at Holy Angels on March 18th. And if this is the best class A ball in Minnesota, thank god I don't have to see the rest of it because it must be really really awful.
Thoughts
Breakdown ranked New Life Academy #9 in their 1A rankings, but they weren't even in the top 5 in the section when the section was previewed. That along with statements like "Richfield will be a good defensive team" cause the Breakdown to lose considerable credibility. Also when the 4th and 5th teams in the rankings are a combined 26-26 with only 2 quality wins (1 of which was on a home floor and later avenged by 17 pts), that's a serious sign of weakness.
I decided to take the QRFs for each team last year and then average those QRFs across this year's sections (where possible). The results were as follows.
| Section 1 Average | 85.10526 |
| Section 2 Average | 94.55556 |
| Section 3 Average | 79.71429 |
| Section 4 Average | 93.90476 |
| Section 5 Average | 84.42105 |
| Section 6 Average | 84.05 |
| Section 7 Average | 92.77273 |
| Section 8 Average | 78.57895 |
You'll see that section 4 finished 7th with 5 sections being noticeably better. With Maranatha being a lesser team this year and St. Agnes being noticeably worse without Jordair Jett, considerable strength is lost at the top of the section. Not to mention that this section has more teams that finished below 100 and below 150 in the QRF last year than any other 1A section.
Lets look at the top teams in the section in detail
Maranatha: They lose Alex Thomas but return David Hanson so they are still a section contender. The opponents last year that they beat had a record 0f 305-380 with 5 quality wins (2 each over Lester Prairie and SW Christian + a win over Trinity). Still a very good team, but not the powerhouse of years past.
MN Transitions: Their style of play and schedule can make a quick look at them deceiving. The opponents they beat had a record of 202-193, but only 2 of their 19 wins were quality wins (at New Life and a big win at Park Christian, I can find no record of them playing Lester Prairie). One could even argue that the New Life win isn't a quality win as we'll see later, but I give credit for it since it was on the road.
SW Christian: The opponents they beat had a record of 202-285. A quality win at home over MN Transitions was their best win. Also 2 quality wins over New Life (1 road, 1 neutral)
Oh Day Aki: The opponents they beat had a record of 196-241. That includes quality wins over MCA in the tournament, MN Transitions and SW Christian and a win over Minneapolis South.
St. Agnes: The opponents they beat had a record of 228-283 with 5 quality (DLS, Oh Day Aki who they destroyed by 21, Concordia, Minnehaha and SW Christian). But without Jordair Jett, don't expect them to be more than .500. They'll be hard pressed to finish 3rd in the Tri-Metro East.
Now the pretenders:
New Life Academy: The opponents they beat had a record of 135-268, but their best wins were at 15-12 West Lutheran and at 14-12 Heritage who finished 6th and 7th in the MCAA.
West Lutheran: The opponents they beat had a record of 111-206 and they had only 1 quality win (Trinity on a neutral floor in the MCAA tournament).
Heritage: The opponents they beat had a record of 98-185. Of their 14 wins, their top 5 wins came over 10-11 Spectrum (3) and 2 over a bad 11-14 Providence team that was 9th in the MCAA. No quality wins.
CHOF: The opponents they beat had a record of 108-165 and they had only 1 quality win which was at home over MN Transitions. Transitions avenged that loss later in the season on their court by 17 pts to show who really was the better team.
Four Directions was 17-8 but got a 7 seed in their half because they didn't play or beat anyone.
Nobody else was above 100 in the QRF and you have a mess of teams 149 or below (out of 171)
Moral of the story is that most of these teams play weak schedules and/or don't beat good teams.
Maranatha and Transitions are very good teams at the top but not powerhouses like an Ellsworth. SW Christian may be in that mix. Oh Day Aki could easily go 25-5 again or 5-25 based on demographics at the school so we shall see. Everybody else in the section is either OK or miserable. Any section with 20+ teams and only 2-4 of those teams worth mentioning is a fraud.
That said, if section 4A is the best in the state, I'm thankful. It means I get to see a great section final at Holy Angels on March 18th. And if this is the best class A ball in Minnesota, thank god I don't have to see the rest of it because it must be really really awful.
Week 1 observations and Week 2 Schedule
11 games in the books thru the 1st full week of the season. With week 2 we get the start of the boys season (thank goodness). The new officiating emphasis has been inconsistent in the games. The last 2 nights it really hasn't been called, but it really was on night 1. I'll be interested to see how this plays out during the boys season, especially in the city leagues.
Week 2 schedule. Subject to change at any point.
Tuesday: Eau Claire North at La Crosse Central. I make a return trip to my alma mater to see top 10 national sophomore Evan Anderson beat up on my beloved Red Raiders.
Thursday: New Life Academy at Concordia (Roseville)
Friday: Cretin-Derham Hall at Eden Prairie.
Saturday:
1:00 Rocori vs Monticello (Target Center)
3:00 Forest Lake at Como Park (May skip this to go directly to
4:15 SW at St. Bernard's
8:00 Minnetonka Christian at Maranatha or the 7:00 TWolves vs Suns game as the nightcap
Week 2 schedule. Subject to change at any point.
Tuesday: Eau Claire North at La Crosse Central. I make a return trip to my alma mater to see top 10 national sophomore Evan Anderson beat up on my beloved Red Raiders.
Thursday: New Life Academy at Concordia (Roseville)
Friday: Cretin-Derham Hall at Eden Prairie.
Saturday:
1:00 Rocori vs Monticello (Target Center)
3:00 Forest Lake at Como Park (May skip this to go directly to
4:15 SW at St. Bernard's
8:00 Minnetonka Christian at Maranatha or the 7:00 TWolves vs Suns game as the nightcap
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