The Runs #2

The Lynx did it again last night to the San Antonio Silver Stars--ripped off one of their patented runs, that is, en route to an 85-75 win at the Target Center. That ran their won-lost record to a remarkable 22-6 and lowered their magic number to 1.

The Lynx led the Stars just 61-57 after 3 periods and San Antone was on an 11-5 run. But over the next 7 minutes the Lynx outscored the Stars 17-1 for an insurmountable 78-58 lead with 5 minutes to play.

The killer-diller was a series of 3 straight possessions on which the Lynx scored off the offensive glass. The Lynx had already scored the 1st 6 points of the period on a 3 by Moore and a 2 + 1 by Augustus, when Whalen missed a shot, but Seimone grabbed the board and put it back in. 26 seconds later Moore missed a 3 but Taj put it back in. And another 37 seconds later Brunson missed the shot but Moore put it back up and in. Suddenly it's 73-57 and the Stars took the obvious timeout...too late.

Moore scored 8 of the 17 and Augustus 5 in the run, and all 5 starters had an offensive board. Whalen had 2 assists and a steal.

The Lynx coasted from 78-58 and won by 10.

Overall the Lynx won the possession game with 14 offensive boards to 6 for San Antone. Turnovers were about even, and so the Lynx got off an extra 10 FGA, making 6. The shooting percentages were about even.

All 5 Lynx starters were in double figures--Augustus led with 19, Moore scored 18 thanks to 4-0f-8 from 3-point land, Brunson 15, Whalen 14 with 9 assists, and Taj 10. The Lynx bench, recently something of a dynamo, went flat, getting outscored 39-9.

The Silver Stars have lost 6 in a row and have been a shadow of their early selves since rookie forward Danielle Adams got hurt. She's back and scored 10 off the bench. Right now the Lynx would draw the Stars in the 1st round of the playoffs and with Adams back they are not to be underestimated. Still the Lynx have a lot of weapons are have beaten the Stars 3-out-of-3. The rest of the league has got to be wondering if and how the Lynx can be beaten.

USA to Play for 5th Place

The previously undefeated USA fell to 4-1 Lithuania 76-74 in the quarter-finals of the World University Games. This was the same Lithuanians who had already lost to the Russians by 15 and would go on to lose in the semis to Canada (Canada!) by 15.

But the USA had a horrible shooting day, making just 23-of-67 (34%) of FG and 5-for-30 (17%) on 3s. Trevor Mbakwe led the USA with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks but shot 0-for-3 from the field.

The USA bounced back to beat Romania 94-63 in the consolation semi-final but that was small, er, consolation. Mbakwe had 7 points and, again, a team-high 8 boards.

Canada will play Serbia for gold. The USA will meet Germany for 5th place.

Meanwhile the USA women won the University Games, hammering Taiwan 1o1-66.

Mythical Mr. Basketball 1970-1974

Mostly easy choices, even 1970 though Krebs is not remembered much today.

1970 Stan Krebs, Eveleth

Jeff McCarron, Sherburn

Tom Mulso, Sherburn

Mike Peroutka, Faribault Bethlehem

Dennis Riley, Robbinsdale

1971 Kurt Knoff, East Grand Forks

Scott McDonald, Two Harbors

Como Pontliana, Duluth Central

Emanual Rogers, Mpls. Central

Kim and Ken Van Sickle, Welcome

1972 Mark Lindahl, Duluth East

Larry Mulder, Renville

Jeff Nessler, St. James

Jim Riles, Austin

Kevin Smith, Mpls. North

1973 Brad Akason, St. Cloud Apollo

Keil Anderson, Preston

Tim Casey, Chisholm

Warner Huss, Osseo

Mark Landsberger, Mounds View

1974 Brian Denman, Richfield

Mark Olberding, Melrose

Mike Vesel, Tower-Soudan

Jack Vogel, Bemidji

Randy Williams, Mpls. Washburn

Mythical Mr. Basketball The 1960s

Mostly pretty easy choices except for 1964 and 1967.

1960 Sid Bostic, Pipestone

Bill Davis, Richfield

Ron Hanson, Thief River Falls

Merle McClung, Montevideo

Clayton Reed, Austin

1961 Bob Dropp, Chisholm

Terry Kunze, Duluth Central

Dave Nelson, Mpls. Roosevelt

Mike Patterson, Mahtomedi

Dean Veenhof, Edgerton

1962 Bruce Ackland, St. Louis Park

Bob Bruggers, Danube

Herb Hasz, Ada

Joe Mucha, Montgomery

Chuck Wobbrock, Medford

1963 Dick Braun, Rothsay

Bobby Kelly, Bloomington

Greg Lens, Marshall Central Catholic

Dave Meisner, Cloquet

Alan Redman, Wells

1964 Bryan Grohnke, Edina

Bob Laney, Proctor

Larry Mikan, Benilde

Terry Porter, Marshall

Greg Thone, Luverne

Best class of the decade but only Mikan among the 5 went D1.

1965 Dave Daugherty, Rochester John Marshall

LeRoy Gardner, St. Paul Central

Del Jessen, Luverne

Dave Lobb, Austin Pacelli

Tom Weaver, Faribault

1966 Steve Gagnon, Waverly St. Mary’s

Carl Johnson, Balaton

Marty Jorgenson, Worthington

Bob and Dick Peterson, Henning

Steve Strandemo, Kenyon

1967 Steve Fritz, Rochester Lourdes

Jim Hill, St. Paul Central

Joe Keenan, Mankato Loyola

Tom Masterson, Walnut Grove

Kurt Shellhas, Edina

This could go any which way. I could make a case for any one of the 5. Fritz would be #2. Keenan is underrated. I was shocked to learn that Hill never led the St. Paul City in scoring.

1968 Vic Moore, Montgomery

Mike Poepping, Pierz Memorial

Phil Rogers, St. Paul Central

Rick Webb, Alexander Ramsey

Bob Zender, Edina

1969 Dennis Fitzpatrick, St. Thomas

Bill Gross, Hayfield

Dan Halvorsen, Owatonna

Rolf Iverson, Waseca

Tony Jenkins, Shattuck

Lew Rickert, Duluth East

A big year in southeastern MN and of course Rochester John Marshall won it all. I have no idea who was the best player in the SE which is how it ends up with Rickert. Gross or Halvorsen would be a good choice and Jenkins was the only one who went D1.

Mythical Mr. Basketball 1950s

1950 Charles “Buzz” Bennett, Duluth Central
Pete Castle, Anoka
Don Dale, Robbinsdale
Ron Dreas, Winona Cotter
Irwin St. John, Bemidjji

1951 Gene Auck, St. Paul Monroe
Burdette “Burdie” Halldorson, Austin
John Horan, St. Thomas Academy
Bill Simonovich, Gilbert
Jim Smith, Brainerd

What a class! The 6-10 Simonovich outscored Halldorson 35-4 in the state tournament and went on to play at the U. Halldorson played for Colorado and had a productive post-college career. Horan played for Dayton U and the Minneapolis Lakers.

1952 Jim Akason, Halstad
Vern Bagenstoss, Albany
Maynard Meyers, Mountain Lake
Ervin Mickelson, Canby
Don and Doyle Rasmussen, Austin

1953 Jerry Dreier, St. Paul Marshall
Leroy German, Madelia
Omar Larson, Granite Falls
Bernie Raetz, Red Wing
Dave Tschimperle, Hopkins

1954 Bob Anderstrom, Willmar
Warren Jeppeson, St. Louis Park
Art Johnson, Thief River Falls
Rod Skoog, Brainerd
Norris Stenson, Starbuck

1955 Charles Benson, Roseau
Harold Bergstedt, Esko
Jim Colosimo, Eveleth
Jerry Olson, Austin
Dick Peterson, Ortonville

1956 Larry Exel, Mpls. Roosevelt
Lee Hopfenspirger, Morgan
Ron Johnson, New Prague
Jerry Olson, Glenwood
Virgil Sonju, Kennedy

1957 Dick Erickson, Anoka
Jon Hagen, Belview
Paul Lehman, DeLaSalle
Tom Nordland, Mpls. Roosevelt
Cal Sabatini, Hibbing

Another super class but now its the jump shooters and guards. Hagen broke Ron Johnson's record for career points. Lehman played at the U. Nordland was widely regarded as the best jumper shooter ever.

1958 Ray Cronk, Bemidji
Norm Grow, Foley
Orris Jirele, Austin Pacelli
Steve Malmar, Red Wing
Bill Mattson, Virginia

Grow finished up as the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Minnesota. Cronk and Grow played at the U, Jirele was point guard for St. Bonaventure when the Bonnies were rated as high as #3 in the nation in 1961. Malmar was more of a football QB, Mattson played hoops at UMD.

1959 David Erickson, Duluth Cathedral
Tom Kezar, Austin
Dick Longworth, Mora
Dick Peik, Brownton
Dick Reidberger, Hawley

Mythical Mr. Basketball 1940s

For the 1940s, I've got 5 candidates for most years. Mythical Mr. Basketball is again the fellow in boldface type.

1940 Orlando Bonicelli, Chisholm

Ray Cimbura, Breckenridge

Tony Jaros, Mpls. Edison

Donald “Red” Mattson, Mpls. Marshall

Howie Schultz, St. Paul Central

This was a monstrous class. Jaros was among the best ever to that time. Schultz of course played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, not to mention the Hamline basketball team. Mattson played at the U. Cimbura led his team, improbably, to the state title this year. If they played it 10 times, Mpls. Marshall wins 5.

1941 “Big Bill” Ekberg, Mpls. Marshall

Kleggie Hermsen, Mpls. Vocational

Jim Lewison, Owatonna

Dave Ruliffson, Mpls. Washburn

Junior “Spike” Skoglund, Hopkins

Kids are getting taller. Lewison was 6-8, Ekberg was "Big" (his nickname), Hermsen was "big" and played at the U. Ruliffson was not big and played at the U. Skoglund was in between and played at Gustavus.

1942 Jack Hiller, Marshall

Jack Johnson, St. Paul Mechanic Arts

Ed Nylund, Buhl

Wally Salovich, Mpls. Marshall

If there's a 5th wheel it's Nylund's teammate John Klarich. Buhl was the 2nd team to win back-to-back state titles. Salovich played at the U.

1943 Tom Corrigan, Bemidji

Hal Haskins, Alexandria

Dick Kaess, St. Paul Washington

Bill Madden, Cretin

Stewart Skoglund, Hopkins

Haskins became an all-American at Hamline, but Kaess and Washington demolished his team at the state tournament. Skoglund joined his brother at Gustavus.

1944 Ed Jacobson, Crosby-Ironton

Bob Leiviska, Virginia

Duane Nelson, Mankato

A down year for this decade, but Leiviska played at Hamline.

1945 Jim Korth, Mankato Loyola

Jim McIntyre, Mpls. Henry

Vern Mikkelson, Askov

McIntyre became an all-American at the U but it was Mikkelson who had the Hall of Fame career in the NBA.

1946 Don Avikainen, Tower-Soudan

Don Gruber, New Ulm Holy Trinity

Jim Malosky, Crosby-Ironton

Dick Ravenhorst, Austin

C-I was rated #1 in the state coming into the state tournament but Austin was the champ.

1947 Dave Hegna, Granite Falls

Herb Mickelson, Canby

Rudy Monson, Duluth Denfeld

Ray Wall, Mountain Lake

Monson was an easy choice.

1948 Chuck Grover, Bemidji

Lawrence Krause, Waseca

Virgil Miller, Hopkins

A tough choice this year.

1949 “Shorty” Cochrane, Rochester

Neil Fedson, Lyle

Don Frye, Cotton

Jim Fritsche, St. Paul Humboldt

Milan Knezovich, Hibbing

The toughest choice ever. Fritsche led the St. Paul Conference in scoring twice and led Humboldt to the state title in '49. And Mpls. Central beat Hibbing 37-34 in the 1st round, then lost to Humboldt 53-47 in the semi. Still, Knezovich was the state's all-time leading scorer at the end of the season with more than 1,400 points.

Mythical Mr. Basketball 1930s

For the 1930s I've picked 3 finalists. The Mythical Mr. Basketball is in boldface.

1930 James Delmont, St. Paul Mechanic Arts

Don Laidlaw, Redwood Falls

Earl Moran, Moorhead

1931 Joe Malkovich, Chisholm

Wilbur “Bud” Marquard, Moorhead

Chester Thompson, Buffalo

1932 O.J. Belluzzo, Chisholm

George “Stinky” Davies, Winona

Joe Perpich, Crosby-Ironton

1933 Don Griffin, Mpls. North

Everett Hanson, Mountain Lake

Art Lillyblad, Red Wing

1934 Gordon Burich, Chisholm

Wendell “Buzzy” Gray, Cass Lake

Marty Rolek, Mpls. Edison

1935 George Lindner, Glencoe

Ken Skyberg, Luverne

Marvin Vernstrom, St. Paul Humboldt

1936 Myrvin DeLapp, Luverne

Johnny Dick, Buhl

Norm Galloway, Bemidji

1937 John Barger, Farmington

John Frahm, Tri-Mont

Willie Warhol, Mpls. Edison

1938 Clark Mickelson, Thief River Falls

John Norlander, Virginia

Nick Pepelnjak, Virginia

1939 Louis Bozich, Gilbert

Ruben Epp, Mountain Lake

Nick Vujovick, North St. Paul

Mythical Mr. Basketball 1900-1929

The Minnesota Mr. Basketball award began in 1974. Who would have or should have won it prior to 1974? Here are my choices.

1901--George Tuck, St. Paul Central

1911--"Slip" Little, Madison

1913--"Bunk" Harris, Duluth Central

1914--Harold Gillen, Stillwater

1915--Raymond Hanson, Red Wing

1916--William Rooney, Virginia

1917-- Fred Enke, Rochester

1918--Albert Tousley, St. Paul Humboldt

1919--Carl Nordly, Red Wing

1920--Frank Cleve, Mpls. South

1921--Martin Norton, Mpls. Central

1922--Clarence Martin, Duluth Cathedral

1923--Matthew Turk, Aurora

1924--Mally Nydahl, Mpls. South

1925--Ted Catlin, Buffalo

1926--Bennie Lichtenegger, Gaylord

1927--Harold Schoening, Appleton

1928--Cliff Halmrast, Moorhead

1929--Steve Smerkar, Ely

More to come.

Mbakwe Contributing to U.S. Gold Medal Pursuit

Trevor Mbakwe of the U of M has been a big contributor so far as the U.S. men seek the gold medal at the World University Games. The U.S. finished pool play at 5-0 and #1 in Pool D. They'll play Lithuania (4-1 and #2 in Pool C) in the quarter-finals on Saturday. If victorious it's likely that they'll get the weakest of the 4 remaining, possibly Germany. And if successful again in the semi-final, they should draw Russia in the final.

The U.S. has defeated Mexico, Hungary, South Korea and Finland by an average score of 110-66. Game #5 was the toughest by far as the U.S. edged Israel 94-84, and Mbakwe came up big with 12 points and 13 rebounds plus 3 blocked shots.

Overall, Mbakwe is the team's #5 scorer and #1 rebounder after 4 games with 11.5 points and 9 boards. He started 2 of the 1st 4 games (I haven't seen a box score for the Israel game yet). He had double-doubles against Mexico with 12 points and a team-high 10 boards, and against South Korea with 14 points and 11 boards. He also led the U.S. in rebounding with 9 vs. Hungary.

The other double figure scorers for the U.S. are:

• Ashton Gibbs, 6-2, senior, G, Pitt, 13.5 ppg

• John Jenkins, 6-4, junior, G, Vanderbilt, 13.0

• JaMychal Green, 6-8, senior, F, Alabama, 12.3

• Scoop Jardine, 6-3, senior, G, Syracuse, 11.0

Next up: Lithuania in the quarter-finals on Saturday. If the U.S. keeps winning, then there will be a semi-final on Sunday and the finals on Monday. For my money, it'll be the U.S. vs. Russia for all the marbles.

Chris Palmer Transfers to River Falls

Chris Palmer is leaving St. Mary's University and will be playing ball this season at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Combined with the graduation of senior guards Will Wright and Lukas Holland, this leaves the cupboard pretty much bare down in Winona.

Meanwhile the Falcons enter 2011-2012 with high hopes, having earned their 1st NCAA tournament bid ever last year and having 4 starters coming back from that 20-8 team. The one big loss to graduation just happens to be at Palmer's position where local boy Jake Voeltz (of River Falls, that is) has completed his college eligibility. Chief among the returnees is 6-6 senior guard Shane Manor who scored 15 ppg last year with 6 boards, 2 assists and a steal. 6-4 guard Aaron Anderson from Stillwater and 6-7 forward Ollie White from Mound also return.

Palmer played his high school ball at Faribault Bethlehem Academy under coach Franz Boelter.

End-of-Summer High School Highlights--BOYS

The king is dead! Long live the king! Long live King Eastview, winners of the Sweet 16 and (just a week earlier) of the Minnesota Invitational Tournament, both sponsored by Pacesetter Sports. Eastview hammered Stillwater and Spring Lake Park in semis and finals of the MIT but that, of course, doesn't prove nothin.'

Sweet 16

So, by way of punctuation, Eastview beat Rocori 69-35, Grand Rapids 77-43, Duluth East 74-52 and finally the Royals themselves, the Kings of boys basketball, the Hopkins Royals 79-73 in OT in the finals of the Sweet 16.

The various finals at the Sweet 16 went like this:

1st Eastview (4-0) 79 Hopkins (3-1) 73 (OT). Hopkins had beaten Pelican Rapids 64-62, Windom 99-43 and Benilde-St. Margaret's 69-66.

3rd Duluth East (3-1) 78 Benilde-St. Margaret's (2-2) 77.

5th Mankato East 78 Ellsworth 62. Mankato hammered Perham and Grand Rapids but lost to Duluth East 91-87. Ellsworth surprised Osseo and Windom, but lost to B-SM and Mankato.

7th Grand Rapids 54 Windom 48. Windom beat Spring Grove, then lost 2 by big margins. Spring Grove surprised Perham but lost 3 other games.

9th Montevideo 70 Rushford-Peterson 40. Montevideo lost to B-SM by 13, then beat Pelican Rapids by 3, Spring Grove by 20 and R-P by 30.

11th Perham 69 Spring Grove 55.

13th Osseo 72 Rocori 60. Osseo lost a surprise to Ellsworth 70-60 and then a real shocker to Montevideo 66-63. Then they Maranatha 69-55.

15th Osseo 77 Maranatha 55. Osseo lost to Ellsworth and Montevideo. What's with that"

MIT

In the MIT Eastview beat Litchfield in the North pool final.

Some MIT surprises: Pierz 52 Cooper 50. Austin 75 Braham 46.

Some MIT great games: Tartan 52 Waconia 50. Delano 58 Montevideo 57. Spring Lake Park 61 Marshall 60.

1st Eastview 84 Spring Lake Park 53

3rd Woodbury 81 Stillwater 53

5th St. Michael-Albertville 74 Forest Lake 57

7th Litchfield 71 Marshall 68

9th Huron, SD 82 Tartan 77

11th Dawson-Boyd 77 Delano 67

Summer Showcase Gold

Meanwhile, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown served notice that it will contend for the AA state title again in 2012, beating host Lakeville South in the Gold division final. Guards Tate Harmon and Grant Pope led the way for the Buccaneers.

3rd Osseo 51 Bemidji 29

5th Pelican Rapids 60 Mankato East 46

7th Roseville 75 Holy Family 47

End-of-Summer High School Highlights--GIRLS

Pacesetter Sports has had a busy couple of weeks, with the MN Invitational Tournament 10 days ago followed by the Sweet 16. So busy, in fact, that they haven't got any Sweet 16 results up on their Web site as of yet. Hey, it's only been 48 hours. You'd have to be moving at the speed of your average turtle to get the results up already! C'mon guys.

Below are the results for the Sweet 16 Girls, MIT Girls and other summer girls.

Sweet 16 Girls

Fortunately, I can find the girls results, thanks to Kevin Anderson at kjasr.com. And it was Hopkins in a cakewalk after the Royals settled for 2nd place the past 2 years. Of course, it's really the Sweet 12 this year, so they divided into 4 pools of 3 each.

East--Hopkins hammered Prior Lake and Fulda, while Prior Lake edged Fulda 61-58 for the #2 seed.

West--Wayzata won easily, while New Prague beat Staples-Motley 63-58 for #2.

North--Kennedy had a surprisingly tough time of it, but defeated Providence 53-50 and Fergus Falls 47-45. Providence defeated Fergus for #2.

South--Braham won easily, while Lake Crystal-Welcome Memorial beat Sebeka easily for #2.

Semi-Finals

#1 Bracket--Hopkins was up 24-6 and cruised, 72-52. Kennedy defeated Braham 67-49.

#2 Bracket--Lake Crystal-WM shocked Providence 50-36 while New Prague edged Prior Lake 50-48.

#3 Bracket--Fulda beat Staples-Motley 57-52 while Fergus hammered Sebeka.

Finals

1st--Hopkins beat Kennedy 53-41 as Nia Coffey scored 17, Sydney 13 and T.T. Starks 11.

3rd--Wayzata 62 Braham 60

5th--Lake Crystal-WM 52 New Prague 35. LCWM is the breakout story of the Sweet 16.

7th--Providence 54 Prior Lake 43

9th--Fergus Falls 70 Fulda 32

11th--Sebeka 59 Staples-Motley 53

Girls Minnesota Invitation Tournament (MIT)

A week earlier, 31 teams played in the MIT, and Centennial White emerged as champion with a 60-46 win over Moorhead. The big surprises (to me, at least) were Moorhead's win over White Bear Lake 54-50 in a semi-final, followed by Cambridge-Isanti knocking off the Bears 58-56 in the 3rd place game.

The teams played in 4 8-team (well, the East had 7) divisions. Based on Saturday's pool play, they all advanced into 1 of 8 4-team divisions on Sunday.

5th place went to Hawley 41-33 over St. Cloud Tech, and 7th to Sartell 55-53 over Goodhue.

9th--Pelican Rapids 59-40 over Norwood-Young America

11th--New London-Spicer over Centennial 61-42. It seems odd that Centennial White finished 12 spots ahead of Centennial, but that's the way it is. And Pelican Rapids 52 New London 39 in the 9th place semi-finals seemed like a bit of a surprise.

13th--Crookston over Sebeka 57-56. Sebeka finished 2-8 in the 2 tournaments.

15th--Cook County over Cloquet 54-39

17th--Irondale edged Esko 57-44.

19th--Eden Valley-Watkins lulled Howard Lake-Winsted-Wavely to sleep 43-20.

21st--Fergus Falls beat Foley 53-35. Fergus was 9th in the Sweet 12 and 4-5 overall.

23rd--Litchfield beat Buffalo Lake-Hector 60-50.

25th--Perham lost to Estelline (ND) 60-40.

27th--Montevideo 47 Crosby-Ironton 43

29th--Thompson (ND) defeated Lake of the Woods and CHOF in a round-robin.

Summer Showcases

The Lakeville South Invitational is the 9th of 9 showcases sponsored by the folks at the Breakdown, and it's the only Invite. And they played in 2 divisions, Blue for the girls and Gold for the boys. And, also among the boys, you also had the Big Four featuring 4 of the best teams in the state, one from each class. Watch for a separate report on the boys.

Wayzata took the Blue division beating New Prague 44-21, Champlin Park 50-23 and then Alexandria by 16 in the final. Buffalo beat Champlin for 3rd, and New Prague beat Orono for 5th. 1st team all-Showcase included Kayla Timmerman and Marissa Grossfeld of Wayzata, not surprisingly, Lauren Trumm of Alexandria, young Alexis Alexander of Champlin, and Anna Rynda of New Prague.

The other summer showcases had the following results:

June 18 at Prior Lake: Hutchinson hammered New Prague in the final by the improbably score of 53-18. But that's what they did to their other opponents: Red Wing 42-17 and Rockford 50-17.

June 25 at St. Michael-Albertville: Hopkins took the Red division 66-27 over Alexandria. The hosts took 3rd over Cambridge-Isanti 40-25. Braham took the Black division over Staples-Motley 58-40, while Eden Valley-Watkins beat New London-Spicer 49-40 for 3rd. Forest Lake won the Silver division over St. Michael-Albertville Gold 40-18.

July 9 at Grand Rapids: Wadena-Deer Creek beat the hosts on the Blue division, while Northwoods edged Northwestern in the Red division.

July 9 at Mankato: Caledonia and Kenyon-Wanamingo won the titles--Caledonia in Blue over Worthington 40-34 with Hutch 3rd over Roseville 42-33. St. Peter hammered New London-Spicer 54-18 for 5th. Kenyon beat Dassel-Cokato 39-27 in White.

July 16 at St. Michael-Albertville: There were 15 boys and girls divisions, 7 for the girls, 5 of them at the varsity level. Champions include Sebeka (over Big Lake) in Silver, New London-Spicer (over St. M-A) in Orange, Rogers (over Alexandria) in Blue, Champlin (over Sartell) in Red, and Wadena-Deer Creek over Isle in Green. The best game was probably New London-Spicer's 30-26 win in Orange. But lest the Wildcats get a big head or anything, it should be mentioned that St. M-A beat NL-S 33-28 for 3rd place in Silver.

July 23 at St. Cloud: Here there were 8 divisions, 4 of them girls, 3 of those varsity, where Mora, Pelican Rapids and Spring Lake Park were victorious. Mora beat Litchfield 49-44 in Maroon, the Pelicans beat ACGC 55-38 in Gold, and Spring Lake Park beat Stillwater 43-34 in Blue.

July 23 at Lakeville North: Forest Lake defeated Jackson County Central 48-32 for the title. In Junior Varsity, Mt. Iron-Buhl shocked the hosts 31-28.

On July 30 at Lakeville South, the day before the Invite: Wayzata also won this one in Blue 43-38 over Forest Lake. Jackson County Central edged Barnum 46-43 in Maroon.

Rankings

After all is said and done, Kevin ranks them as foll0ws. 2. Osseo 3. Eden Prairie 4. Jefferson 5. Wayzata 6. Lakeville North 7. St. Paul Central 8. Centennial 9. White Bear Lake 10. Alexandria 11. Prior Lake 12. Cambridge 13. Minnetonka.

Oh yeah: 1. Hopkins. Duh. But, Kevin, where's Kennedy?

Lacks pri

The Runs

The Lynx B Hot! Hot. That's one word that comes to mind. The other is, well, two words. The runs. No, not that kind. I mean the kind that just kills basketball teams. You know, like 22-to-8, 19-2, 26-to-13, or 21-to-4. Runs. Where everything goes right, and everything goes wrong.

That's the Lynx. First, they're on a 4-0 run since the all-star game, in which they so surprisingly placed 4 players including 2 starters, Maya Moore and Rebekah Brunson. Of if you prefer, they're on a 7-0 or a 9-1 run. Overall they're a league-best 14-4. When was the last time a Minnesota basketball team got on a run like that? The Gopher men in 1997? The women in 2004? The Timberwolves? Never!

Because I'm not just talking about 4-0 or 9-1. I'm talking about those runs, where everything goes right for the Lynx and everything goes wrong for their opponent, and they just steamroll 'em long enough to say, "Game over."

Like that 22-8 run, for instance. The Lynx outscored the L.A. Sparks 22-8 to open the second half of the season at the Target Center. The Lynx hit 10-of-their-1st-13 shots, got assists on 8-of-the-10 buckets, and registered 6 assists in the 1st 6:29. By then, Lindsay Whalen had 6 points, 4 assists and a steal and Taj McWilliams-Franklin 8 points, 2 steals, an assist and an offensive board.

L.A. got within 4 at 45-41, but then came a 24-13 run and a 69-54 lead after 3 quarters. The final was 82-75.

Then there's that 19-2 run. The victim there was the defending WNBA champs, the Seattle Storm, though without WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson the Storm is more of a little Drizzle. The Lynx trailed 14-11 in the early going, then busted it open. This time Augustus hit 3 2-point buckets in the final 2:43 of the 1st quarter and Candice Wiggins hit a pair of 3s and added 2 assists, and suddenly it was 30-16. The Storm got within 9, but soon it was 46-26, then 89-57 and, finally, 92-67.

Then the other night at San Antone, well, I gotta admit they didn't run roughshod over the Silver Stars. But trailing 42-30 at half-time, they did just enough damage in the 3rd quarter to get back into the game, then pulled it out on a Whalen jumper with 1.5 seconds left. It was in fact all Lindsay all the time. For the game she had 23 points, 7 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals. She keyed the 3rd quarter rally with 12 point, 3 assists and a pair of steals. It was her assist to Brunson that gave the Lynx their 1st lead since 13-12 with 1.7 seconds left in the 3rd. Then with the game on the line, she took it herself and instead of a 1st place tie with San Antone (a Stars' win and they're both 12-5), the Lynx were 2 games up at 13-4 versus the Silver Stars' 11-6.

Then tonight it was Phoenix, the last team to beat the Lynx. Oh, and the last team to really embarrass the Lynx, coming from 11 down (91-80 at 6:31) with a barrage of 3s to beat the Lynx 112-105 in OT. Not tonight. This one was close for almost 3 quarters; in fact, it was 60-all with 1:21 left in the 3rd. By 7:29 of the 4th it was over, as Augustus and Charde Houston each scored 8 points and the Lynx had 4 assists on 6 buckets. Defensively, the Lynx stifled the Mercury with 2 steals (Adair and Augustus) and 2 blocks (Houston and Moore). From 78-62, Phoenix got with 12 but the final was 90-73.

So now on this 4 game run the Lynx are dominating the possession game. They're getting off 68 FG attempts per game to the opponents' 58, and making 48.5 percent of them to 41 for the other guy. The result is a ridiculous 9 more FG than their opponents. That's because they're getting 10 offensive boards (to their opponents' 6) and turning the ball over 14 times (to their opponents' 17).

Over these 4 games Augustus is scoring 17 points, Whalen 15, Taj 12.5, Moore 11.5, Wiggins 8 off the bench, and Brunson 7. Taj and Brunson are cornering 15 boards between 'em, while Whalen leads with 5 assists and Moore with 3 steals.

I admit that I doubted the Lynx' ability to play this well as a team, and especially to play this well on defense, and I doubted Cheryl Reeve's ability to coach at this level. So far, wrong, wrong, wrong. To which I say, more, more, more. Over the past month, this is the best basketball team (above high school level) that Minnesota has seen in at least 7 years.