Couldn't help but notice....
Park Center
In Class AAAA, defending champion and #1 seed could end up playing all of the 3 same teams they played a year ago. In 2022, they beat Andover 74-60, Eastview 54-39 and Wayzata 58-53.
In 2023, they open with Andover. If Eastview and Park Center both win (or both lose), they'll play in the semi-finals again. It's just, which one. Championship semis or consolation semis. And, again, if Park Center and Wayzata both do the same things (both win-win, both win-lose, or both lose-win), then they'll play in one of the 3 finals--championship, 3rd place or 5th place. Has that ever happened, where a team plays the same 3 teams 2 straight years? I have no idea. Probably yes, but I don't have time to look it up right now.
Totino-Grace
Grace will not play 3 teams from last year as they open with St. Francis, who hasn't been in the tournament since 2015. But they could play Mankato East in the semis and DeLaSalle in the finals, both for the 2nd straight year. Last year they clobbered East 77-39, then eased by DeLaSalle 50-44. If that's how it works out, I expect both of those games to be closer this time around.
In Class AA
Only Minnehaha and Pequot Lakes return from last year's field, but they did play each other for 5th place with Minnehaha winning 79-56. They're in opposite brackets again, so they would only play in one of the 3 finals.
But if it's real history you crave and not the ersatz kind that they call deju vu, there's this. Holy Family and Maple River could play in the semis if they both win-win or lose-lose. You may recall that they played in the 2007 AA final on one of the really great days of Minnesota boys basketball, when Ellsworth edges Cass Lake 74-73 on a last-second 3, then Holy Family surprised Maple River 60-57 in OT, and then St. Thomas and Buffalo followed with their titles.
The AA tournament was a thriller from day one, when Maple River shocked 3X defending champion Braham 68-59 in the 1st round. Meanwhile, Holy Family barely escaped Bagley 58-54. Both won easily in the semis. In the final, Trent Johnson and Mike Quammen went 2-against-5 and won as Johnson scored 16 points with 10 rebounds, 10 blocked shots, 6 assists and 5 steals. Incredible.
Pequot and Plainview-Elgin-Millville played that year, too, but not each other. It was Pequot whom Maple River defeated in the semis 61-44. They finished 3rd. PEM did not win a game and did not play either of the main protagonists. A Maple River-Pequot matchup this week would have to happen in one of the finals.
Minnehaha has been in several recent tournaments but they have only played Pequot among this year's AA field. On the other hand, they played both Alexandria and DeLaSalle in 2020, when they played up in AAA, but needless to say, they won't play either of those guys this year.
And In Class A
The very first game is a replay as is the 4th. RTR defeated Nevis last year 74-71 in a consolation semi. In fact, no less than 5 Class A entries are returning--RTR, Nevis, Cherry, Sacred Heart and New Life. New Life defeated Sacred Heart 64-58, also in the 1st round. So those repeats are sure things.
Cherry beat Nevis 68-57 in the 1st round last year and they could play this year in the 2nd. New Life clobbered Cherry 75-50 for 3rd place. Lots of people think they'll play for all the marbles this time around.
So, overall, you've got a lot of deja vu going on but the renewals that might turn out to be truly historic are more likely to be Holy Family-Maple River, Park Center-Wayzata and Totino Grace-DeLaSalle. The latter 2 would be in Saturday's finals, the former in Thursday or Friday's AA semis.
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