Top Scorers
Class AAAA--Steven Crowl 68 Zeke Nnaji 62 Drake Dobbs 58 Kerwin Walton 53 Tyler Wahl 45
Class AAA--Medi Obang 82 J'Vonne Hadley 80 Jamison Battle 75 Malik Willingham 71 Andrew Morgan 63
Class AA--Jalen Suggs 65 Preston Keaveny 58 Nathan Heise 57 Chet Holmgren 53 Camden Berger 52
Class A--Isaac Fink 88 Decker Scheffler 67 Mason Miller 59 Sam Fisher 57 Alex Folk 56. Fink's 88 points are the most since J.P. Macura's 97 in 2014. Fink scored 30, 23 and 35.
Top Rebounders
Class AAAA--Tyler Wahl 44 Dane Zimmer 43 Zeke Nnaji 31 Dain Dainja 27 Steven Crowl 25. Wahl's 44 boards is not even close to the record of 69, which has stood from 1964 to the present, or for 56 years now. It is one of the oldest records in the state tournament record book.
Class AAA--Jon Stimmler 42 Andrew Morgan 31 J'Vonne Hadley 30 Tyrell Terry 24 Malik Willingham 23 Kyreese Willingham 23
Class AA--Chet Holmgren 37 Josh Jeziorski 32 Jalen Suggs 26 Riley Fischer 26 Davon Townley 26
Class A--Isaac Fink 38 Mason Miller 36 Trevor Morrison 32 Decker Scheffler 32 Parker Freeburg 27
Top Assists
Class AAAA--Drake Dobbs 13 Dane Zimmer 12 Henry Abraham 12 (2 games) Jared Rainey 11 (2 games) Tyler Wahl 11
Class AAA--Tyrell Terry 25 Charles Johnson 25 J'Vonne Hadley 17 Malik Willingham 17 Kyreese Willingham 11 Tate Laabs 11. Terry and Johnson's 25 is just 5 short of the tournament record of 30 held by Bryce Tesdahl, now East Ridge coach, then Crosby-Fronton point guard.
Class AA--Jalen Suggs 21 Jake Wohlers 10 Eli Campbell 9 Nathan Heise 8 Chet Holmgren 8 Jensen Beach 8
Class A--Andrew Quade 21 Isaac Fink 19 Sam Fisher 17 Cade Goggleye 15 Decker Scheffler 15
Top Blocks
Class AAAA--Tyler Wahl 10 Dain Dainja 7 Dane Zimmer 6 Ben Carlson 4 Ariel Bland 4 Zeke Nnaji 4
Class AAA--Kyreese Willingham 8 Spencer Konecne 6 (2 games) Jon Stimmler 5 Andrew Morgan 5 Dongrin Deng 3 Cole Chapman 3 Jalen Travis 3
Class AA--Chet Holmgren 20 Finn Diggins 4 Eli Campbell 2 Nathan Heise 2 Reagan Nelson 2. The tournament record book does not list a record for blocks, but Holmgren's total has to be close. The state record for blocks in a single game is 22. Holmgren's biggest game was 10.
Class A--Mason Miller 12 Parker Freeburg 7 Mitchell Buerkle 5 Caden Grinde 3 McCaleb Alleman 3
Top Steals
Class AAAA--Emmanuel Tamba 10 Drake Dobbs 9 Dane Zimmer 8 Ben Carlson 7 Tyler Wahl 7
Class AAA--Medi Obang 17 J'Vonne Hadley 12 Agwa Nywesh 11 Charles Johnson 9 Max Gerstner 9. The tournament record book also does not list a record for steals, either for a tournament game or for a tournament. The state record for the regular season is 18 by Cade Goggleye who of course played in this tournament with North Woods and finished 2nd for the 3rd straight year. He managed only 6 steals in 3 games this year.
Class AA--Eli Campbell 13 Nasir El-Amin 7 Jalen Suggs 7 Preston Keaveny 6 Jensen Beachy 6
Class A--Sam Fisher 12 Micah Pocernich 9 Ethan Mischke 9 Andrew Quade 7 McCaleb Alleman 7
Commentary
Class AAAA
Tyler Wahl is the only player in any class to make all 5 lists. Needless to say, he made all-tournament. Dane Zimmer was one of just 4 players in all classes to make 4 lists. He made all-tournament. Zeke Nnaji and Drake Dobbs made 3 and made all-tournament. Steven Crowl, Dain Dainja and Ben Carlson made 2 lists. Carlson did not make the all-tournament team. The committee went with the East Ridge senior Courtney Brown over the juniors Carlson and Kendall Brown. I would have preferred Kendall over his older brother. Courtney outscored Kendall 44-43, but Kendall outdid Courtney in every other category. Still, I would have kept both Courtney and Kendall, and I would have dropped Jack Rusch.
Rusch did make a little bit of history by becoming as far as I'm aware the 3rd player ever to make all-tournament without starting a game for his team.
Class AAA
In Class AAA, J'Vonne Hadley made 4 of the 5 lists; Andrew Morgan, Malik Willingham and Kyreese Willingham all made 3 lists, and all 4 made all tournament. Tyrell Terry, Medi Obang, Jon Stimmler and Charles Johnson made 2 lists and half of them--the first half--made all-tournament.
I would have picked Stimmler over teammate Adam Williams if necessary, but in truth I would have picked them both. I would also have picked Charles Johnson. This is in fact an almost bizarre case. Consider that for Holy Angels, Charles Johnson had 28 points, 20 rebounds, 25 assists and 9 steals. He did not make all-tournament. Certainly, 28 is not a lot of points but 25 assists ties for #1 across the entire tournament.In total, he accounted for 82 "things." Also, for Holy Angels, Emmett Johnson, just a 9th grader, had 58 points, just 6 rebounds, but 10 assists, 2 blocks and 7 steals, for a total of 83 things. finally, Matt Banovetz amassed 89 things including 60 points and 21 rebounds. Meanwhile, Holy Angels' Max Gerstner racked up, well, 49 things, and made all-tournament. I saw Holy Angels twice. Granted, I did not see their 2nd game when Gerstner scored, well, 4 points. But this was shocking, not just because Gerstner seems like such a marginal choice, but because not one but 3 of his teammates had better tournaments.
When all is said and done in Class AAA, I wouldn't have picked Kameron Givens of DeLaSalle, or Kyreese Willingham of Waseca, or Gerstner. I would have kept Adam Williams of Princeton, however, but I would have added Stimmler of Princeton, and Charles Johnson of Holy Angels. For DeLaSalle, I preferred Jalen Travis to go along with Terry and Battle.
Class AA
Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren made 4 lists for Minnehaha, Nathan Heise of Lake City and Eli Campbell of North made 3, and Preston Keaveny of Melrose and Jensen Beachy of Perham made 2. All but Beachy made all-tournament. Campbell had a tough tournament shooting, scoring in 3 state tournament games just the 17 points he usually scores in each game but he piled up the assists and steals. Beachy and teammates Josh Jeziorski and Finn Diggins could all make a strong case for all-tournament honors. The committee chose Diggins.
I thought Esko deserved a little all-tournament love after pushing North down to the wire, though they lost to Keaveny and Melrose in the 5th place game. I guess I would have picked Trevor Spindler of Esko ahead of Campbell, and in the end I would stick with Diggins for Perham. Ten was a very difficult cutoff among these players.
Class A
4 players made 3 of the top 5s. They include Sam Fischer of state champion Henning, plus Isaac Fink and Decker Scheffler of Springfield, and Mason Miller of Ada. All 4 made all-tournament, and so they should. The 3 who made 2 of the lists--Parker Freeburg and Andrew Quade of Westbrook-Walnut Grove, and McCaleb Alleman of CHOF--did not. Freeburg, a 6-7 post, did the traditional post things with 41 points, 27 boards and 7 blocks. Quade, a 6-0 guard, did the guard stuff with 21 assists and 7 steals. Alleman, a 6-1 forward, had the odd combo of blocks and steals. CHOF lost 2 games and probably didn't deserve an all-tournament pick. WWG won one game and any one of 3 of its players played well enough to make all-tournament.
It would take a real curmudgeon to object to a player from a championship team being all-tournament, but Henning won with terrific balance, and one of WWG's players might belong on the all-tournament team ahead of Henning's Isaac Fisher. I guess I'd say Freeburg.
All-Tournament
So my 1st all-tournament team regardless of class would be as follows.
Center--Chet Holmgren, Minnehaha, 7-0, sophomore, 53 points, 37 rebounds, 8 assists, 20 blocks, 5 steals
Power Forward--Zeke Nnaji, Hopkins, 6-11, senior, 62 points, 31 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 5 steals
Wing--Tyler Wahl, Lakeville North, 6-7, senior, 45 points, 44 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 blocks, 7 steals
Point Guard--Tyrell Terry, DeLaSalle, 6-3, senior, guard, 56 points, 24 rebounds, 25 assists, 2 blocks, 3 assists
Combo Guard--Jalen Suggs, Minnehaha, 6-4, junior, guard, 65 points, 26 rebounds, 21 assists, 1 block, 7 steals.
Overall Tournament MVP--Zeke Nnaji.
2nd Team
Center--Dain Dainja, Park Center, 6-10, junior, 41 points, 27 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 blocks, 3 steals.
Power Forward--Dane Zimmer, Hopkins, 6-8, senior, 26 points, 43 rebounds, 12 assists, 6 blocks, 6 steals.
Forward--Steven Crowl, Eastview, 6-10, junior, 68 points, 25 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals.
Point Guard--Isaac Fink, Springfield, 6-4, senior, 88 points, 38 rebounds, 19 assists, 4 steals.
Shooting Guard--Medi Obang, Austin, 6-0, senior, 82 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 17 steals.
3rd Team
Center--Jon Stimmler, Princeton, 6-7, senior, 48 points, 42 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 blocks, 3 steals.
Power Forward--Andrew Morgan, Waseca, 6-8, sophomore, 63 points, 31 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks, 1 steal.
Snall Forward--J'Vonne Hadley, Mahtomedi, 6-6, junior, 80 points, 30 rebounds, 17 assists, 8 blocks, 12 steals.
Point Guard--Sam Fisher, Henning, 5-10, senior, 57 points, 15 rebounds, 17 assists, 1 block, 12 steals.
Combo Guard--Malik Willingham, Waseca, 6-2, senior, 51 points, 23 rebounds, 17 assists, 2 blocks, 6 steals.
5 Players Who Should Have Made All-Tournament and Did Not
Center--Stimmler
Power Forward--Jalen Travis, DeLaSalle, 6-7, junior, 34 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 3 steals.
Small Forward--Trevor Spindler, Esko, 6-0, senior, 50 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals.
Point Guard--Kendall Brown, East Ridge, 6-7, sophomore, 43 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals.
Shooting Guard--Emmett Johnson, Holy Angels, 5-9, freshman, 58 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 7 steals.
The Baby Boom--Sophomores and Younger
Center--Holmgren
Power Forward--Morgan
Small Forward--Kyreese Willingham, Waseca, 6-4, sophomore, 35 points, 23 rebounds, 12 assists, 8 blocks, 7 steals.
Point Guard--Kendall Brown
Shooting Guard--Emmett Johnson
2nd Team Diaper Dandies
Center--Davon Townley, Mpls. North, 6-7, sophomore, 34 points, 26 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals.
Power Forward--Elvis Ohagwu Nnaji, Hopkins, 6-9, freshman, DNP. Just be forewarned.
Forward--Prince Aligbe, Minnehaha, 6-5, freshman, 46 points, 23 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.
Point Guard--Donovan Smith, Minnehaha, 5-9, freshman, 10 points.
Combo Guard--Ryan Dufault, Waseca, 6-0, sophomore, 36 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal.
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