2020-21 Season in a Nutshell

The Czar's 2020-2021 Season Preview series concludes with the traditional Season In A Nutshell preview.  This is a higher level season overview for casual fans who don't eat, sleep and breathe hoops.  Its who and what you need to see and when and where to see it.  If you missed any of the 14 conferences or 144 teams that I previewed, a full list of them can be found here.  (Czar's Note: for continuity reasons, I left the schedule sections as they were before this latest season delay was announced)

New Coaches
It was a fairly quiet season on the local coaching carousel.  The most noteworthy move was former Gopher Damien Johnson moving from a successful run at North St. Paul to Benilde-St. Margaret's.  I think he brings the Red Knights back to prominence quickly.  Before he took the North St. Paul job, he was an assistant at Eden Prairie.  

North St. Paul went back to that well as they hired assistant Cornelius Gilleyelen from Eden Prairie.  Eden Prairie also loses assistant Corey Christopherson who takes over at Chanhassen.  Both have significant rebuilds ahead.  How does this impact the Eden Prairie staff as they look to rebuild from last season?  

Speaking of rebuilds, John Carrier moved from Henry Sibley to Nova Classical to take on that major rebuilding task.  He's one of 3 new coaches in the Skyline.  St. Olaf assistant Tony Taylor takes over at New Life Academy.  Former Edina assistant Mike Landers takes over at Maranatha as head coach and athletic director.  Pat Buchanan takes over for Zach Goring at Apple Valley.  Big challenge there after a very successful run with the Mayer Lutheran program.

Local Events
One of the major COVID impacts of this season is the loss of all the big events.  No Border Battle, no Breakdown events, no Southside Showcase etc etc.  No holiday tournaments either.  While section level tournaments are still on the docket, the odds of anything beyond that is very very slim right now.  Feels kind of like last season in that way.

10 Non-Conference Games to Watch

• Hopkins at De La Salle - Dec 8th
• Richfield at Minneapolis North - Dec 10th 
• Minneapolis North at De La Salle - Dec 12th
  
• Hopkins at Minnehaha - Dec 17th
• Wayzata at Chaska - Dec 17th
  
• Minneapolis North at Minnehaha - Dec 30th
• Waseca at Minnehaha - Jan 2nd 
• St. Croix Prep at Twin Cities Academy - Jan 19th 
• Wayzata at Minnehaha - Feb 4th
  
• Minneapolis North at Hopkins - Feb 22nd
  

Non-conference games take a major hit with the schedule being cut from 26 to 18 games.  Many teams will play a conference schedule with minimal leftover room beyond that.  Teams in the South Suburban, Suburban East and Northwest Suburban will not play outside their leagues so you won't see them here.  But the cupboard isn't totally bare.   Minnehaha was still able to load up their schedule.  They have the rivalry games with Hopkins and Minneapolis North.  A big clash with Waseca and a late season matchup with Wayzata.  Not to mention a back to back at Duluth East and Hibbing.  Minneapolis North has a loaded 6 game non-conference schedule with a tough group of AAA teams and the usual game vs Hopkins.  Chaska only gets 1 mention in the list but they visit Minnehaha in December too.  The St. Croix Prep vs Twin Cities Academy game is a matchup of 2 of the best in section 4AA.

10 Conference Games to Watch

• Chaska at Robbinsdale Cooper - Feb 9th
  
• De La Salle at Richfield - Feb 9th
• Totino-Grace at Champlin Park - Feb 11th
  
• Hopkins at Wayzata - Feb 12th
  
• Lakeville North at Lakeville South - Feb 18th
  
• Tartan at South St. Paul - Feb 18th
  
• St. Croix Prep at Cristo Rey - Feb 19th
• Mound-Westonka at Orono - Feb 19th
  
• Columbia Heights at De La Salle - Feb 23rd
• East Ridge at Cretin-Derham Hall - Feb 26th

All of these games are late season 2nd meetings.  The 1st 3 are favorites facing what is arguably their toughest road test in league play.  Nothing like a late season rivalry game with the league crown potentially on the line in Lakeville.  How about South St. Paul playing at home possibly with the outright Metro East crown on the line.  In the Skyline and Wright County East, its a battle not just for conference supremacy but also section implications.  Then the last 2 I love as late season spoilers.  Columbia Heights is the name that comes up in De La Salle upsets.  Coach Willie Braziel seems to have a knack.  The now traditional East Ridge vs Cretin-Derham Hall finale once again will have section and likely conference impact.

10 Impact Transfers

• Patrick Bath - Fargo Shanley (ND) to Totino-Grace
• Ibo El-Amin - Burnsville to Minnetonka
• Andre Gray - Hopkins to Minneapolis North
• Donovan Hinsz - Moorhead to Columbia Heights
• Hassan Kamara - Osseo to Columbia Heights
• Chiang Ring - Brooklyn Center to Minneapolis South
• DeWayne Thompson - Henry Sibley to Tartan
• Demarion Watson-Saulsberry - Minnehaha to Totino-Grace
• Shawn West-Zimpel - North St. Paul to South St. Paul
• Max Wilson - South St. Paul to Hopkins

10 Upperclassmen to Watch

• Prince Aligbe - Minnehaha 
• Kendall Blue - East Ridge
• Alonzo Dodd - South St. Paul
  
• Cade Haskins - De La Salle
  
• Camden Heide - Wayzata
  
• Tre Holloman - Cretin-Derham Hall
  
• Chet Holmgren - Minnehaha
• Hercy Miller - Minnehaha
• Elvis Nnaji - Hopkins
  
• Davon Townley - Minneapolis North
  

10 Underclassmen You Need to Know

• Patrick Bath - Totino-Grace 
  
• Taison Chatman - Totino-Grace
• Jack Janicki - White Bear Lake 
• Mercy Miller - Minnehaha
  
• CJ O'Hara - Totino-Grace
  
• Lincoln Palbicki - Maple Grove
  
• Chiang Ring - Minneapolis South 
• Max Shikenjanski - Stillwater
  
• Max Wilson - Hopkins
• Nolan Winter - Lakeville North
  

10 Local Teams to Watch

• Chaska
• De La Salle
  
• East Ridge
• Hopkins
  
• Lakeville South
• Minneapolis North
  
• Minnehaha Academy
• Osseo
  
• Totino-Grace
  
• Wayzata
  

Current Streaks of 10 Games or More In Conference Play

• De La Salle - 54 wins. Last loss was 1/28/16 at St. Croix Lutheran.  Read about that thriller here.
• 75 home wins.  Last home loss was 2/14/09 vs Minnehaha.  Read what I saw back then.
• Minneapolis North - 51 wins.  Last loss was 2/5/16 at Minneapolis Washburn.
• 32 home wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 vs South
• Minnehaha - 35 wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 at St. Paul Academy
• 21-0 home record all-time in IMAC play
• Hill-Murray - 26 road losses.  Last road win was 2/10/17 at South St. Paul.
• St. Croix Prep - 22 wins including last 8 wins in the MCAA.
• 14 home wins.  Last home loss was 2/9/18 vs New Life Academy
• East Ridge- 21 home wins.  Last home loss was 1/30/18 vs Cretin-Derham Hall
• Twin Cities Academy/Great River - 19 wins (now independent).
• Mounds Park Academy - 17 losses.  Last win was 2/9/18 at home.
• 63 road losses including their years in the Tri-Metro.  Last road conference win was at St. Paul Academy 2/1/2008
• AFSA - 17 losses.
• Minneapolis Roosevelt - 16 losses.
• Eden Prairie - 15 wins.
• Prior Lake - 14 home wins.  Last home loss was 1/22/19 vs Lakeville North 
• St. Paul Como Park - 14 losses
• Nova Classical Academy - 14 losses 
• St. Michael-Albertville - 13 losses including their final game in the Mississippi 8.
• Maple Grove - 12 wins vs north division
• Anoka - 12 losses
• 11 road losses.  Last road win was 2/22/19 at Osseo
• St. Paul Central - 11 wins
• 14 road wins.  Last road loss was 2/5/18 at St. Paul Johnson
• Park of Cottage Grove - 11 road losses.
• Chaska - 10 wins.  
• 14 home wins.  Last home loss was 2/13/18 vs Bloomington Jefferson

Season Thoughts

This is going to be a very different season.  You'll see limited, if any, fans at games this season.  Seeing a full gym appears to be highly unlikely right now.  But if the fall season is any indication, look for lots more availability of events online.  Prepspotlight.tv has already decided to go from free to $60 a season for games.  Look for NFHS subscriptions to go up as well with more schools likely going that route like the IMAC already has.  But also expect plenty of individual school feeds to be available.  

Based on the football season, also expect plenty of last minute cancellations and games moving around.  As of now its 2 games per week with the ability to play 3 games a week for the last 2 weeks of the regular season.  I was really hoping the MSHSL would call for a game moratorium between Dec 23rd and January 4th to keep everybody somewhat healthy.  With losing only 1 week of the full calendar but cutting 8 games, there's a lot more room to move games around.  So expect the unexpected.

Class AAAA is down this year which was expected after seeing one of the most talented senior classes in Minnesota history graduate.  While there are favorites like Lakeville South and Wayzata to name a couple, they are very beatable.  Class AAA should be really fun with Minnehaha, Totino-Grace, De La Salle and Orono all being top teams.  Class AA will be strong at the top with the likes of Waseca, Caledonia, Stewartville, Minneapolis North and Perham.

So now that all the predictions and off season work are in, its time to let the season play out on the court.  Good luck to all and I hope everyone will #ShockTheCzar.