Minnesota Hoops

The Big Game 1-28-12: St. Thomas at Gustavus Doubleheader

2012-01-28T16:38:00.001-06:00

St. Thomas and Gustavus split the big MIAC doubleheader in St. Peter. The Tommies women stayed unbeaten at 15-0 in the conference with an eye-popping 20 point win, while the Gustavus men finally put the Tommies away in the last seconds of OT to gain a tie for 1st place in the conference.

St. Thomas Women 72 Gustavus 52

If #1 beats #2, and does it on the road, no less, and if #1 further wins by a ridiculous wide margin, then who in the world is going to beat #1?

If you haven't guessed, #1 is shorthand for the unbeaten 15-0 St. Thomas women, who massacreed 2nd place Gustavus today in St. Peter 72-52. Gustavus led 3-2, but Taylor Young gave the Tommies the lead for good at 4-3 with a layup at 16:28. Shortly, it was 14-3. And, though Gustavus got back within 16-13 and, in the 2nd half, 51-47, St. Thomas had all the answers it needed this day.

At 16-13 the Tommies got a 3 from Ali Johnson, then a pair of throws and a jumper by Maggie Weiers. By half-time it was 37-26.

In the 2nd half the Gusties got within 4, but Kellie Ring responded with a 3 and Sarah Smith with a steal and a feed to Taylor Young for a layup. A Kelly Brandenburg throw got the margin back into double figures, and the closest Gustavus ever got was 8 points.

The bottom line is Gustavus shot 30 percent from the field, 10 percent from beyond the arc. Whether that was just bad luck or "one of those nights," or whether the Tommies defense had something to do with it, you decide. But I saw St. Thomas hold Hamline to a 35 FG percentage the other night, and the Tommies defense had everything to do with that. The St. Thomas guards successfully pressured Hamline's ball handlers at the 10 second line, disrupting things and forcing Hamline to take shots other than the ones they wanted and/or as the shot clock was winding down.

Of course, the Pipers do not have an elite pair of guards, Gustavus does in Molly Geske and Colleen Ruane. Well, I didn't see exactly what St. Thomas was doing on defense today, but Geske, as it turns out, shot 1-for-13. Check and mate, as they say.

Here, for those of you keeping score at home, is the Tommies' rotation today:

C- Maggie Weiers 29 minutes 21 pts 8 reb; Sarah Smith 11 min 12 points 6 mine

PF- Sarah Smith 19 min; Haley Loesch 7 min 2 reb; Anna Smith 9 min 4 pts 2 reb; Taylor Young 5 min 2 pts

SF- Taylor Young 31 min 15 pts; Kelly Brandenburg 9 min 3 pts

PG- Carolyn Dienhart 23 min 4 pts 2 asts; Kellie Ring 17 min 3 pts

SG- Ali Johnson 25 min 3 pts; Brandenburg 15 min 4 pts

This has the look of a rotation that is going to finish 22-0 in the MIAC. I mean, like I said, if they can win in St. Peter, are they going to lose at St. Ben's or Augsburg, or at home to Macalester, St. Kate's, Concordia, Bethel or St. Mary's? I didn't think so.

Gustavus Men 82 St. Thomas 77 (OT)

The Tommies men appear to be nowhere near as unbeatable as the women, but that could hardly be construed as a criticism. I mean, here are the defending national champions, having lost their three-guard offense and defense in Teddy Archer, Alex Healy and Tyler Nicolai to graduation, coach Steve Fritz to retirement, and now senior post Tommy Hannon to injury. Despite all of that, here they are in 1st place in the MIAC--tied, now, with Gustavus at 10-3, to be sure--but in 1st place.

Gustavus led by as many as 9 at 41-32 at 17:16 of the 2nd half before St. Thomas rallied to lead by 5 at 63-58 11 minutes later. Gustavus scored 6 straight to retake the lead at 64-63 at 3:52 and neither team led by more than 2 until the Gusties scored 3 of the 1st 4 buckets of OT. Will DeBerg hit a 3 to tie it up at 75, and a Noah Kaiser dunk brought the Tommies within 78-77 at 1:22 of OT.

At that point Paul Blacklock rescued Seth Anderson and the Gusties. Anderson, the MIAC's leading scorer and the leading scorer in this game with 26 points, missed 3-of-4 FT down the stretch, but Blacklock grabbed the rebound and 30 seconds later Ben Biewen hit 2 throws to make it 80-77. Blacklock then blocked DeBerg's shot and Biewen then hit 2 more throws for the final score.

Blacklock scored just 9 points but led both teams with 7 boards and 2 blocks. Biewen added 15 points and 6 assists for the winners. John Nance scored 21 and DeBerg 20 for the Tommies. Nance had 4 assists while both had 2 steals apiece.

The bottom line, again, was FG shooting. Gustavus shot 60 percent, the Tommies 44.

So, the plot thickens in the MIAC. St. Thomas and Gustavus are 10-3, Augsburg and St. Olaf, both winners today, are 9-4. Hamline, idle today, remains at 8-5. While it's true that "on any given day," these would nevertheless be the games to watch for:

Wednesday Feb. 1--St. Olaf at Gustavus
Saturday Feb. 4--St. Thomas at Augsburg
Monday Feb. 13--St. Olaf at Augsburg

The Big Game 1-27-12: Cichy Scores 52

2012-01-27T23:11:00.001-06:00

Friday night still belongs to the high schools, and there were a bunch of big games this Friday night.

Hill-Murray outlasted host Mahtomedi 101-96 in 4OT as Tessa Cichy scored 52 points. Yes, if that looked like a "5" and a "2" to you, that would be correct. 52. Cichy played much of the 2nd half and all of the OT periods with 4 fouls, and made a school record 24-of-27 FT.

An Eden Prairie Kind of Night

2 of the biggest games, as suggested by the polls, both involved Eden Prairie. The #3AAAA EP girls won at #4AAAA Edina 53-46, as Jackie Johnson and Shayne Mullaney scored 16 and 14 points, respectively. Katybeth Biewen led all scorers for Edina with 21. The Hornets have now lost 2 straight in the ridiculously tough Lake Conference--to #1AAAA Hopkins and to EP--after starting 16-0. And it doesn't get any easier with 5 straight road games at Minnetonka, Wayzata, Hopkins and EP again, and non-conference foe Champlin Park.

Meanwhile the #5AAAA EP boys took it on the chin 78-74 at the hands of visiting #3AAA Mpls. Washburn. Dwight Anderson scored 18 for the winners, Sander Mohn 23 for the losers.

Also Among the Girls

Also in the Lake, Wayzata manhandled Minnetonka 71-43. Hopkins defeated Park Center 65-45 in a non-conference tilt. I was a bit surprised the margin was only 20, but then I saw that neither Sydney nor Nia Coffey played, nor did Cayla McMorris for Park Center.

#9AAAA Eastview beat #2 Bloomington Kennedy 61-59 as Maddie Guebert scored 25 for the winners, and Jade Martin 21 for Kennedy.

And White Bear Lake beat Forest Lake 42-47 as Alexis Foley scored 29.

And Among the Boys

Apple Valley edged Jefferson 63-59 as Tyus Jones scored 21.

St. Paul Johnson defeated St. Paul Central 88-67 as Marcus Marshall scored 25.

Pelican Rapids defeated defending state champ Perham 51-43.

Owatonna edged Austin 37-34 in a match-up of the top 2 in the Big 9.

Player of the Day

Tessa Cichy

Coach of the Day

Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls, and Reggie Perkins, Mpls. Washburn boys

The Big Game 1-26-12: Badgers Embarrass Gophers

2012-01-26T13:57:00.001-06:00

You can read my pre-game comments below if you want. But basically I said, don't let Taylor Wurtz go nuts, and somebody's gotta step up and help Rachel Banham.

It didn't happen.

Especially over the game's 2nd 5 minutes, from the 15:00 mark to the 10:00 mark. Wisconsin led 9-6 at 15:00. At 10:00 it was 31-15. 22 points in 5 minutes. That's a 176 point pace. The Badgers hit 8-of-10 shots, and Wurtz made 3 (2 of them from 3-point range) and assisted on 3 more. I think you could say she went nuts.

Meanwhile, Banham scored twice--a bucket and 2 FT. Leah Cotton scored once. Kionna Kellogg scored one possession on a pair of FT, but missed on a pair of FG attempts. Their teammates were 0-for-4 with a pair of turnovers. Overall: 2-for-9.

8-for-10. 2-for-9. Game over.

Minnesota got within 44-39 with 17 minutes to go in the 2nd half, but again self-destructed. Wisconsin got 2 fast-break baskets, one off a steal/turnover, and then a third, and it was 50-39 before the Gophers could score again. After that, the closest they got was the final score, 78-72.

Wisconsin shot about 50 percent in each half. The back-breaker was 7-of-11 3s in the 1st half, several by Wurtz who led all scorers before intermission with 13 points.

But while Wurtz went nuts, I guess you could say that somebody stepped up to help Banham. Banham led Minnesota with 19 points. Katie Loberg added 15 and Kionna Kellogg 10 plus 13 boards.

But as noted below, Wisconsin has been a bad shooting team, has gotten out-rebounded on average, and has given up 3 more turnovers per game than their opponents. Nothin' like a game at Minnesota to cure what ails ya.

The Gophers remain tied for 7th, but now with both Iowa and Wisconsin at 3-5. They have lost 4 of 5 since a modest 2 game winning streak.

Sorry, no player or coach of the day today.

Pre-Game Analysis

The Wisconsin Badgers and new head coach Bobby Kelsey, formerly a Stanford assistant, come to Williams Arena Thursday night. 2010 Ms. Minnesota Basketball Cassie Rochel is part of the entourage, too. She's been coming off the bench for 14 minutes a night, and contributing 4 points and 4 boards on 53 percent shooting.

Wisconsin is of course but 6-13. They're a lousy shooting team at 39 percent--their opponents shoot 44 percent. They're getting out-rebounded 34-33 and they're giving up 3 more steals and committing 3 more turnovers than their opponents.

Along with Rochel, Anne Marie Brown of St. Peter is also a Badger. She plays but 5 minutes and averages 1 point on 16 percent FG shooting.

This one is there for the taking. It's just a matter of slowing down senior forward Taylor Wurtz, the only Badger scoring in double figures at 15, with 8 boards, on 40 percent shooting, and then of somebody stepping up to help out Rachel Banham on the offensive end.

It says here: Minnesota 68 Wisconsin 57.

The Big Game 1-25-12: A Night on Snelling Avenue

2012-01-26T09:12:00.000-06:00

It was a rare weeknight MIAC double-header, but not the usual kind. The St. Olaf women and men both played at Macalester tonight. But the undefeated St. Thomas women (13-0 in the MIAC before tonight's game) were also nearby, and seemed to be a more attractive option than the Macalester men with their one lonely win (1-11). So after watching the Macalester-St. Olaf women at 5:30 p.m., I high-tailed it up to the Hutton Arena at Hamline, about 10 minutes away for the Hamline-St. Thomas women's game at 7:30.

Macalester took an early lead over St, Olaf, then hung on for dear life 59-50 as a result of holding the Oles to the ridiculous FG percentage of 24. St. Thomas clobbered Hamline 76-53 in the 2nd game, and it really was nowhere near that close,

Macalester 59 St. Olaf 50

The host Scots led the Oles by as many as 16 points at 40-24 at 17:20 of the 2nd half. But the Oles ripped off a 17-6 run to get within 5 at 46-41 and still 10 minutes left to play. Then St. Olaf didn't score for over 5 minutes by which time the lead was back up to 9.

The Scots opened with an 11-2 lead as 5 different players scored, and the Oles made just 1 of their first 11 shots. 6 minutes later it was 22-8 as 6-foot senior post Holly Schiedermayer and 5-9 senior guard Shannon Rene each scored for a 2nd and a 3rd time. Rene hit a trio of long FG, 2 of them for 3 points, while Schiedermayer was very active in the paint and scored on a pair of FG and a pair of FT. Rene and Schiedermayer each assisted on 1 of the other's buckets, too.

The Scots finished the 1st half shooting 43 percent while St. Olaf shot just 21 percent. In the 2nd half, the Oles got back into the game because Macalester went into the deep freeze, too. The Scots shot just 19 percent in the 2nd half while the Oles shot 26 percent.

The Oles made their move when 6-2 freshman post Nikki Frogner checked into the game. She made a pair of FT at 16:21 to cut the Scots lead to 40-28. She scored off the offensive glass at 14:30 to make it 41-30, and another bucket off an over-the-top feed from Brittany Weber at about 13:00 made it 44-35. Finally she scored off a classic pick-and-roll from Mackenzie Wolter at 10:45 to make it 46-39.

Wolter then scored to make it 46-41 but that's as close as the Oles could get. Macalester went 6 minutes without a FG but made 7-of-8 FT. Their next bucket, a layup by Maggie Wood on a feed from Schiedermayer at 3:42, made it 55-45.

Schiedermayer out-scored the Oles' posts, Erin Haglund and Frogner, 19-8, and she also contributed 6 boards, 3 blocks and 2 assists. She got to the FT line 14 times, making 9. Her teammates made another 11-of-15 FT for a total of 20-of-29, while the Oles made just 13. The FG were even at 17 apiece.

The Scots starting guards shot 9-for-22 and the Oles just 5-for-28. Rene was the only guard hitting her shot at 5-of-7. But the fact is that there was terrific guard play. The shots wouldn't fall, but much of the Oles success this year owes to Mackenzie Wolter and Kirstee Rotty, while Shannon and Jessica Rene are solid for Macalester. Shannon Rene scored 14, while Wolter and Sheridan Blanford scored 11 each for St. Olaf but made only 6-of-29 FG between them.

St. Thomas 76 Hamline 53

Meanwhile, up the road at Hamline's Hutton Center, St. Thomas stuck it to the Pipers 76-53 in a game that was not that close. Hamline led 7-6 and stayed close through about 22-15, depending on your definition of close. But suddenly it was 35-17, then 44-27 at the half. The largest lead was 37 at 68-31 at 12:42 and 70-33 at 10:34. Hamline scored 9 in a row and had a 23-9 advantage over the last 10 minutes for a more respectable final score.

This game was like the good old days, when St. Thomas and/or St. Ben's or maybe Concordia would dominate in the MIAC, then compete nationally to the Elite Eight or Final Four or perhaps the final 2. The Cobbers and Tommies each won a national D3 title, as you might recall. But over the past decade there's been unusual parity in the MIAC which, among other things, means that the top teams weren't good enough to compete at the national level.

This St. Thomas team has the look of a team that might break that drought. They have tremendous depth, the basic rotation being 9 deep.

C- Maggie Weiers, 6-2, soph., 24 minutes, 12 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists; the #1 player
PF- Sarah Smith, 6-foot, sr., 22 min., 11 pts., 4 reb, 4 assists, 3 steals; Haley Loesch, 5-11, sr., 12 min., 2 pts.; Anna Smith, 6-foot, fr., 15 min., 11 pts., 10 boards
PG- Carolyn Dienhart, 5-6, sr., 16 min.; Kellie Ring, 5-5, jr., 17 min., 5 pts.
W- Taylor Young, 5-11, soph., 21 min., 12 pts., 6 reb, 2 steals; #1 scorer on the year; Kelly Brandenburg, 5-9, soph., 20 min., 2 pts, 2 assists
W- Ali Johnson, 5-11, sr., 23 min., 15 pts., 3 reb., 3 assists

7 other players, for a total of 16, played, though only Annessa Hicks and Laura Margarit scored among the other 7. Freshman Jenna Dockter looks like the most likely to contribute over the long term, but she's had foot problems and isn't in game shape.

Bu the main point is not that coach Ruth Sinn can run 9 or 16 players out there, it's that they're productive. On offense, they move the ball, they move without the ball. When somebody breaks open, their teammates get them the ball. You can see them transition seamlessly from their 1st option to their 2nd option and, then, say the shot clock is winding down, to the 3rd option. They're well-organized and well-drilled. Bottom line: They take good shots, and if the shot isn't there, they move the ball some more. They shot 50 percent, and the starting 5 shot 60 percent.

St. Thomas dominated the boards 49-27. When the Tommies missed a shot, Hamline corralled 14 defensive boards while the Tommies grabbed 22 offensive boards. On the Hamline end, St. Thomas had a 27-13 advantage. Actually, those 13 offensive boards for Hamline are undoubtedly more than coach Sinn would like, but almost half were of the "team" variety, balls that bounced out of bounds and were awarded to Hamline.

On defense, the Tommies held Hamline to 35 percent shooting. Still, I don't know if they're a great defensive team. The rest of the Pipers shot just 12-of-41, but an athletic player like Jordan Sammons was able to roam fairly freely and made 7-of-13 shots for 19 points. But there was nobody on the Hamline roster to complement Sammons on the offensive end. The turnovers and blocked shots were both dead even, not what you would expect against a 3-11 opponent.

St. Thomas is an experienced team, starting 3 seniors and 2 sophomores. The seniors--S. Smith, Dienhart, Ali Johnson--are extremely poised, they know what to do. The younger players--Weiers and Young, plus freshman Anna Smith--are more dynamic and, while it's a bit early to be thinking of next year, they make you wonder whether this team will be even better in the future. Ali Johnson and Sarah Smith will be missed, to be sure, but reinforcements are available.

Player of the Day

As much as I love Sarah Smith and Ali Johnson--and Mackenzie Wolter can play on my team any day, too, by the way, despite today's 3-for-15 shooting performance--but aside from all of that, I didn't get to see the player of the day in the MIAC. That would be Brittany Zins of Augsburg who scored a career-high 27 points to go with 9 rebounds and 6 steals as the Auggies edged Bethel 55-52. This on the heels of a 20 point, 12 rebound performance against St. Kate's the other day and I guess you could say that Zins is hot.

Coach of the Day

Mandy Pearson of St. Mary's, which won at St. Ben's for the 1st time since 1986, before any of her current players were even born. Equally importantly, of course, the Cardinals upped their record to 9-5, good for a tie for 3rd place and a spot in the rapidly approaching MIAC playoffs. All this from a team that has won 17 and lost 49 MIAC games the past 3 years.

And Another Thing....

Where's Peter Boyle when you need him? All I could say was "Holy Crap!" when I saw that the Timberwolves had beaten the defending NBA champions in Dallas last night and by the ridiculous score of 105-80. We spoiled the Mav's party, as they handed out their championship rings last night as a special courtesy to T-Wolve J.J. Barea who was an integral part of that championship last year. Of course, returning to the topic of the game itself, Dallas was without Dirk Nowitzki, too (along with Barea), so maybe the Wolves' win could have been foreseen. Not by me. Kevin Love did his usual Superman impression, but then Ricky Rubio played (ah, let me think) Batman (?), playing 46.5 minutes out of 48 and scored 17 points with 12 assists and 7 rebounds. Love's numbers were 31 and 10. Ordinarily, one of those would be player of the day but after spending 5 hours on Snelling Avenue last night, I'm sticking with the MIAC.

100 Years of Minnesota State High School Tournament Basketball #4: Top Boys Players

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-06:00

The MSHSL's series celebrating 100 years of high school tournament basketball continues this week with the top players in the boys tournament. You can see the MSHSL's commentary at http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp, and you should because I'm not going to be repeating it here. The commentary below is my own.

Top Five Players

The MSHSL selected as its top 5:

• Khalid El-Amin, Mpls. North 1995-96-97
• Jim McIntyre, Mpls. Patrick Henry 1944-45
• Mark Oberding, Melrose 1973-74
• Randy Breuer, Lake City 1978-79
• Isaiah Dahlman, Braham 2004-05-06

The 1st 3 are the correct picks of the best 3 players ever. El-Amin and Olberding you probably know. McIntyre was the 1st modern low-post center and he devastated opponents and the record book alike. The scoring records before Mac were 19 points per game for a tournament and 27 points in 1 game. He scored 29, then 36, then 43 points in a game, and 86 and then 100 for the tournament. He went on to set Big 10 scoring records and earn all-America honors at the U.

My choice at #4--and the #2 center--would be Ron Johnson, New Prague 1955-56 ahead of Breuer. #5, then, could be one of any number of players including of course Breuer and Dahlman. But Bob Zender and Dave Tschimperle are right there, too.

The MSHSL, as it happens, picked not only a top 5 but 20 "other notable players," and Johnson, Tschimperle and Zender are among them. So any disagreements with the list are fairly minor. The MSHSL's next 20 are:

Ron Johnson, New Prague 1955-56. Johnson scored 203 points in 6 tournament games against all comers, Breuer scored 181 against Class A competition. That is basically my argument for having Johnson ahead of Breuer, though it is true that Johnson went on to earn all-America honors at the U of M. Breuer had a great career as a Gopher, of course, and even led the Gophers to a Big 10 title, which Johnson (and most Gophers) have never done. So it's a close call, but I like Johnson.

Bob Zender, Edina 1966-67-68. I also like Zender among my top 5. He did something that only Khalid El-Amin has also done, and that is lead his team to 3 straight state titles against the highest level of competition available.

Bob Bruggers, Danube 1961-62

Martin Norton, Mpls. Central 1921. Set free throw records that stood until Cody Schilling 85 years later. 50 years later, Halsey Hall still had Norton on his all-time all-tournament five.

Cody Schilling, Ellsworth 2006-07-08. Only boy ever to lead the tournament in scoring 3 times.

Dave Tschimperle, Hopkins 1951-52-53. 1 of only 2 players to earn all-tournament honors 3 times in the single class era.

Tommy Nordland, Mpls. Roosevelt 1956-57

Barry Wohler, Bird Island-Lake Lillian 1980-81. Played in 6 games, all wins, and treated Bird Island fans and fans of the game to not 1, not 2, but 3 game-winning shots among those 6 games.

Ronnie Henderson, Mpls. Marshall-University 1981-82

Steve Lingenfelter, Bloomington Jefferson 1975-78

Bill Simonovich, Gilbert 1951

Jim Fritsche, St. Paul Humboldt 1949

Jake Sullivan, Tartan 1998-99-2000

Frank Wachlarowicz, Little Falls 1975

Mark Landsberger, Mounds View 1972-73

Hal Haskins, Alexandria 1943

Terry Kunze, Duluth Central 1961

Kevin Lynch, Bloomington Jefferson 1986-87

Lawrence McKenzie, Mpls. Patrick Henry 2000-01-02-03. The MSHSL says that "McKenzie led the Patriots to...four...state championships," which is a bit of hyperbole. 3, maybe. As a freshman in 2000, he scored 3 points in the 1st round, zero in the semi-final, and did not play in the final. He started as a sophomore and scored 27 points in 3 games, but was not among the 3 Henry players who won all-tournament honors.

Blake Hoffarber, Hopkins 2005-06

Well, I would say that the list is light on old-timers--only Norton from before WWII, only McIntyre and Fritsche from the 1940s. Here are some of the old-timers that deserve to be remembered on the occasion of the tournament's 100th year.

Harold Gillen, Stillwater 1914. Went on to earn all-America honors at the U.

Butsie Maetzold, Red Wing 1920-21-22. Later coached Hopkins to 2 state titles.

Earl Moran, Moorhead 1928-29-30. One of only 2 boys to earn all-tournament honors 3 times in the single class era.

Johnny Dick, Buhl 1935-36.

Willie Warhol, Mpls. Edison 1935-36-37. The best player on the best team of the pre-war years.

To put a little more order to the chaos of these 28 names, here are my all-time all-tournament teams.

First Team

C- Jim McIntyre, Mpls. Patrick Henry 1944-45
PF- Mark Olberding, Melrose 1974
SF- Dave Tschimperle, Hopkins 1951-52-53
PG- Khalid El-Amin, Mpls. North 1995-96-97
OG- Willie Warhol, Mpls. Edison 1935-36-37

Second Team

C- Ron Johnson, New Prague 1955-56
PF- Bob Zender, Edina 1966-67-68
SF- Isaiah Dahlman, Braham 2004-05-06
PG- Butsie Maetzold, Red Wing 1920-21-22
SG- Cody Schilling, Ellsworth 2006-07-08

Third Team

C- Randy Breuer, Lake City 1978-79
PF- Hal Haskins, Alexandria 1943
SF- Martin Norton, Mpls. Central 1921
PG- Terry Kunze, Duluth Central 1961
SG- Blake Hoffarber, Hopkins 2005-06

Fourth Team

C- Steve Lingenfelter, Bloomington Jefferson 1975-76
PF- Kris Humphries, Hopkins 2002-03
SF- Bob Bruggers, Danube 1961-62
PG- Kevin Lynch, Bloomington Jefferson 1986-87
OG- Earl Moran, Moorhead 1928-29-30

Fifth Team

C- Chad Kolander, Owatonna 1989-90
PF- Jim Fritsche, St. Paul Humboldt 1949
SF- Tom Nordland, Mpls. Roosevelt 1956-57
PF- Barry Wohler, Bird Island-Lake Lillian 1980-81
SG- Jake Sullivan, Tartan 1998-99-2000

Sixth Team

C- Ed Nylund, Buhl 1941-42
PF- Mark Landsberger, Mounds View 1972-73
SF- Johnny Dick, Buhl 1935-36
PG- Jeff Nessler, St. James 1972
SG- Ben Johnson, DeLaSalle 1997-98-99

Honorable Mention

C- Como Pontliana, Duluth Central 1971; Joe Regnier, White Bear Lake 1984-85; Bill Simonovich, Gilbert 1951

PF- Bill Davis, Richfield 1960; Kevin McHale, Hibbing 1975-76; Rick Rickert, Duluth East 2001; Dean Veenhof, Edgerton 1960-61

SF- Arvesta Kelly, Cretin-Derham Hall 1991-92-93; Tom Mulso, Sherburn 1970; Jabbar Washington, Mpls. North 1995-96-97

PG- Ronnie Henderson, Mpls. Marshall-U 1976; Lawrence McKenzie, Mpls. Henry 2002-03; Jordan Taylor, Benilde-St. Margaret's 2007-08

SG- Joe Coleman, Hopkins 2009-10-11; Jake Sullivan, Tartan 1998-99-2000

Minnesota Girls in D1

2012-01-25T08:31:00.000-06:00

Here are some statistical leaders among Minnesota high school grads now playing women's D1 basketball. I don't claim to have checked in on everybody, there are probably a few women who are doing better than what is listed here, but these are the women that came to mind.

Scoring

1. Tayler Hill, Ohio State, 22 ppg. And shooting 51 percent. No surprise here, the greatest girls scorer ever with 3,888 points in high school. (Mpls. South)

2. Brittney Chambers, Kansas State, 16. But shooting just 36 percent. (Jordan)
3. Rachel Banham, Minnesota, 15. Shooting 40 percent. (Lakeville North)
4. Jennie Sunnarborg, South Dakota State, 14 and 42 percent. (Osseo)
5. Kiara Buford, Minnesota, 13.5 and 41 percent. (St. Paul Central)

6. Courtney Boylan, Michigan, 13 and 47 percent. (Chaska)
7. Kiara Strickland, Illinois-Chicago, 12 and 50 percent. (Mpls. Roosevelt)
8. Kamille Wahlin, Iowa, 11 and 43 percent. (Crookston)
9. Katie Loberg, Minnesota, 10 and 41 percent. (Princeton)
   Brittnye McSparron, Drake, 10 and 37 percent. (Eastview)
   Tempestt Wilson, South Dakota, 10 and 36 percent. Just a freshman. (Elk River)

FG Percentage

1. Ashley Olson, South Dakota, 80 percent. (Blue Earth)
2. Ojulu, 56 percent.
3. Rochel, 53 percent.
4. Hill, 51 percent.
   Stephanie Sension, UW-Green Bay, 51 percent. (Hopkins)
6. Suriya McGuire, Miami (Fla.), 50 percent. (Mpls. Roosevelt)
7. Beth Doolittle, Iowa, 49 percent. (Hill-Murray)
8. Burich, 48 percent.
9. Boylan, 47 percent.
10. Molly Duehn, Northern Colorado, 45 percent. (Burnsville)

Rebounds

1. Janae Burich, North Dakota State, 9. (Roseville)
2. Loberg, 7.
3. Banham, 6.
   Chambers, 6.
   Sunnarborg, 6.

6. Strickland, 5.5.
7. Apiew Ojulu, Marquette, 5. (Lakeville North)
   Gina Lange, Valparaiso, 5. (Forest Lake)
9. Jackie Voigt, Minnesota, 4.5. (Park)
10. Hill, Boylan, Buford; Cassie Rochel, Wisconsin (Lakeville North); Megan Nipe, GW (Centennial); McSparron; Leah Dietel, South Dakota State (Jordan), all with 4.

Assists

1. Wahlin, 4.
2. Banham, 3.
   Buford, 3.
   Hannah Linz, North Dakota State, 3. (Eden Valley-Watkins)
5. Hill, Boylan; Kate Thompson, Michigan (Wayzata); Chambers, Strickland, McSparron; Nicole Smart, North Dakota (Ada-Borup), all with 2.

Steals

1. Hill, 2.5.
2. Banham, Buford, Lange; Brianna Williams, North Dakota (Hopkins), 2 each.

Blocks

1. Burch, 3. The only player with more than 1.

The Minnesota All-Stars

C- Katie Loberg, Minnesota (Princeton), jr.
F- Jennie Sunnarborg, South Dakota State (Osseo), sr.
   Kiara Buford, Minnesota (St. Paul Central), sr.
G- Rachel Banham, Minnesota (Lakeville North), fr.
   Tayler Hill, Ohio State (Mpls. South), jr.

Second Team

C- Janae Burich, North Dakota State (Roseville), jr.
F- Apiew Ojulu, Marquette (Lakeville North), fr.
G- Kamille Wahlin, Iowa (Crookston), sr.
   Courtney Boylan, Michigan (Chaska), sr.
   Brittney Chambers, Kansas State (Jordan), jr.

Diaper Dandies (Soph. or younger)

C- Cassie Rochel, Wisconsin (Lakeville North), soph.
   Beth Doolittle, Iowa (Hill-Murray), fr.
F- Apiew Ojulu, Marquette (Lakeville North), f.
G- Rachel Banham, Minnesota (Lakeville North), fr.
     Brianna Williams, North Dakota (Hopkins), fr.
   Kahla Becken, North Dakota State (Centennial), fr.
   Morgan Van Riper-Rose, Denver (Eden Prairie), fr.

The Big Game 1-24-12: Lakeville North boys 68 Apple Valley 54

2012-01-24T23:47:00.001-06:00

The Lakeville North boys roared back from a 10 point, first half deficit to pull away from Apple Valley on the Eagles home court 68-54.

Apple Valley's 2-3 zone defense frustrated Lakeville North in the 1st half. Dennis Austin and company were able to keep North out of the paint. And, while Lakeville made 3-of-7 3-pointers, they made only 7-of-17 2-pointers. The Eagles' Tyus Jones slashed to the basket more or less at will and had 13 points at the half.

North led 9-4 at 13:45 but then the Eagles went on a 19-5 run to lead 23-14 at 6:53, then had their biggest lead at 30-20 at 3:15. North stopped the bleeding at that point to stay within 8 at the half at Apple Valley 32 Lakeville North 24. Apple Valley shot 47 percent, Lakeville 41 in the 1st half.

Whatever happened in the 1st half, the opposite happened in the 2nd. Now it was Lakeville shooting 54 percent to the Eagles 35. The Panthers, who had gotten just 1 offensive rebound in the 1st half, got 4 in the 2nd and scored on 3 of them. And after being more or less shut out of the paint by the Eagles Dennis Austin, James Horton, Mitch Hechsel and Jones in the 1st half, Tyler Flack and Ryan Saarela lived in the paint in the 2nd half, scoring 24 of their 34 points (between them) on the night.

The turning point was Austin's 3rd foul at 17:17 of the 2nd half. Apple Valley still held their half-time margin of 32-24 when Austin sat down. And his replacement, Matt Christianson, went down with an ankle injury a minute later. Suddenly the Panthers were finding passing lanes into the low post against the 2-3. Flack hit a pair of FT, and scored on an alley-oop from Grant Erickson. Then Trey Heid hit a 3 on another Erickson feed. Flack scored again, then snared an offensive board and fed Tyler David for 2. Finally, Zach Creighton hit a pair of 3s.

After all of that, Lakeville still trailed 50-45 but it had shot 7-of-11 since Austin's departure. Apple Valley had started the 2nd half making just 1-of-its-1st-6-shots, but then made 6-of-their-next-7.

But, now, the Panthers continued their onslaught, scoring on 11-of-their-final-14 possessions, while the Eagles went cold, scoring on just 2 possessions the rest of the way. Saarela scored on a high-low pass from Robert Tobroxen, then on an in-bounds feed from Chris Laymon for North's 1st lead since 9-6. Then, Saarela scored still another 6 points, and Flack 4 plus an assist, and suddenly it was 65-54 at 2:29, and the Eagles never scored again.

It was an exhibition of incredible poise by the Panthers, coming from behind before a hostile crowd and against a world-class opponent in Tyus Jones.

Flack impressed mightily with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Saarela added 16 and Creighton 12, both off the bench. The inside passing game of Flack, Saarela and Brett Rassmussen was exceptionally effective in the 2nd half, while Trey Heid and others made Jones work for his 22 points on defense.

Jones led all scorers with 22, and added 4 boards, 3 assists, a steal, a block and just 1 turnover. North slowed him down mostly with aggressive man-to-man coverage, but frequently switching out fresh players to guard him as the game went on.

Player of the Day

Tyler Flack

Coach of the Day

John Oxton, Lakeville North

The Big Game 1-23-12: Rockets 107 Timberwolves 92

2012-01-23T22:17:00.000-06:00

If you want to win in the NBA, you've gotta win the 4th quarter. Coach Kevin McHale's Houston Rockets won the 4th quarter Monday night at the Target Center, 31-21, and won the game 107-92. Houston took the early lead, but the Timberwolves fought back to lead 70-65 late in the 3rd. From there it was all Houston--or, at least, it was 42-22 Houston. The Wolves went down pretty much without a whimper.

Player of the Day

Kevin Love scored 39 points on 13-of-19 shooting (68 percent). His teammates shot 20-for-61 (33 percent). Luke Ridnour and Anthony Randolph combined to shoot 10-of-19 (53 percent). The rest of the Wolves shot 10-for-42 (24 percent).

Coach of the Day

Who else but Minnesota native Kevin McHale, owner of a 7 game NBA winning streak.

The Big Game January 2012

2012-01-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! The Big Game for each day in January 2012 is as follows, based on the way things look today, January 1. There will be a The Big Game report each day in January. (Based on the results, it may or may not be the game that was foreseen here.)

Wed., 1-25--Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas. Wanna bet the T-Wolves embarrass the Mavs again, this time on their own home court? I didn't think so.

Thurs., 1-26--Wisconsin women at Minnesota Gophers.

Fri., 1-27--#4AA Perham boys at #9AA Pelican Rapids. Perham won round 1 on its home court when the 2 teams were rated #1 and #2. Now the Pelicans' turn? Perham goes into the game with 1 loss, Pelican Rapids with 3.

Sat., 1-28--St. Thomas men and women at Gustavus. The only MIAC double-header in the month of January in which all 4 teams are title contenders. As of 1-23, the Tommies men are 9-2 (1st place) and the women are 13-0 (1st place). The Gusties men are 8-3 (3rd) while the women are 12-1 (2nd).

Sun., 1-29--Ohio State women at Minnesota Gophers. Tayler Hill says hi. Also L.A. Lakers at Minnesota Timberwolves. Kobe says hi.

Mon., 1-30--Gustavus men at Augsburg. Could be playing for 2nd place in the MIAC.

Tues., 1-31--Hopkins boys at Eden Prairie. #2 at #5. EP gave the 31-1 Royals its only loss a year ago.

HS Girls Ratings Update 1-23-12

2012-01-23T07:47:00.000-06:00

I'm adopting the new format today--that is, all 4 classes rolled into one. There's been very little change in the pecking order the past 2 weeks. Very few upsets recently.

1. Hopkins 15-0

2. Edina 16-0. Things will begin evolving this week as the Lake Conference swings into action. That means Edina plays #1 Hopkins and #4 Eden Prairie.

3. Bloomington Kennedy 13-2
4. Eden Prairie 12-2
5. Wayzata 15-1
6. Osseo 13-3
7. Benilde-St. Margaret's 12-2 (Class AAA)
8. Roseville 14-2
9. Fergus Falls 18-0 (Class AAA)

10. Providence 13-3 (Class AA). Lost only to AAAA Eden Prairie and Lakeville North and AAA Fergus. Defeated Lakeville North, Richfield and DeLaSalle.

11. White Bear Lake 11-6. Bouncing back nicely from a December injury bug.
12. Buffalo 14-3. Moves up with a win over Minnetonka.
13. Mounds View 13-3
14. Eastview 12-4
15. Braham 15-1 (Class AA)
16. Richfield 13-3
17. Minnetonka 12-4. Drops after losses to Buffalo, St. Michael-Albertville and Braham
18. St. Paul Central 11-5
19. Lakeville North 9-6
20. Chanhassan 13-3

21. Maranatha Christian 12-3 (Class A)
22. Chisago Lakes 13-3 (Class AAA)
23. DeLaSalle 12-3 (Class AAA). Mariah Adanane probably out for the season.
24. Robbinsdale Cooper 12-3
25. Hill-Murray (Class AAA) 11-5

January 2012 Award Candidates

2012-01-23T07:38:00.000-06:00

January 2012 award candidates through Monday, January 3.

Player of the Month

Must be a Player of the Day during the month.

Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Joey King, Eastview boys
Katybeth Biewen, Edina girls
Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women

Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves

Sean Scott, Spring Lake Park boys
Taylor Sheley, Bethel women
Joe Coleman, Minnesota Gopher men

Nia Coffey, Hopkins girls

Siyani Chambers, Hopkins boys

Seth Anderson, Gustavus men
Tyler Flack, Lakeville North boys

Andy Grzesiak-Grimm, Augsburg men
Rebekah Dahlman, Braham girls

Taylor Stafford, Duluth East boy

Julian Welch, Minnesota Gopher men

Dion Bradley, St. Paul Highland Park boys

Darin Haugh, Eastview boys

Kiara Buford, Minnesota Gopher women
Johnny Woodard, Duluth East boys

Jake Hottenstine, UMD men
Serenae Levine, Augsburg women

Team of the Month

Must play in the Big Game during the month.

Eastview boys

Edina girls

Hopkins boys
Minnesota Timberwolves
St. Thomas women

Hopkins girls

Minnesota Gopher men
Winona State men

Moorhead State men

Minnesota Gopher women

Lakeville North boys

Braham girls

Bethel women
Augsburg men
St. Thomas men

Gustavus men

Coach of the Month

Must be Coach of the Day during the month.

Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves
Mark Gerber, Eastview boys
Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher men
Mike Leaf, Winona State men
Matt Nilsen, Edina girls

Chad Walthall, Moorhead State men
Aaron Griess, Augsburg men
Dan Elhard, Grand Rapids boys
Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women
Dave Stromme, St. Olaf women

John Oxton, Lakeville North boys

Greg Slaathaug, Fulda girls

Scot Sorenson, Buffalo girls

Markus Okeson, Redwood Valley boys

Bryan Schnettler, Rosemount boys

Annette Wiles, UMD women
John Herbrechtsmayer, Bethel women
Jeff Westlund, Bethel men
Vern Simmons, St. Paul Johnson boys
David Flom, Eden Prairie boys

Jon DePerry, St. Paul Highland Park boys
Mark Hanson, Gustavus men

The Big Game (of the Month)

Must be the Big Game (of the Day) during the month.

Prairie Seeds boys 165 Math & Science 37
Minnesota Gopher men 77 Indiana 74
Eastview boys 64 Madison Memorial 37
Minnesota Timberwolves 99 Dallas Mavericks 82
Eastview boys 91 Apple Valley 84

Minnesota Gopher women 71 Michigan State 65
Minnesota Gopher women 84 Indiana 43

UMD men 101 Augustana 99

Eastview boys 54 Lakeville North 48

Bloomington Kennedy girls 56 Lakeville North 47

Duluth East 86 Rice Lake (WI) 71

Braham girls 56 Esko 54
Minnesota Gopher men 80 Penn State 66
Duluth Denfeld 100 Duluth East 99 (OT)
Minnesota Gopher women 68 Northwestern 60

St. Thomas women 68 Bethel 66
St. Thomas men 78 St. Olaf 77
Bethel men 69 St. Thomas 68
Augsburg men 57 St. Olaf 55
Minnesota Gopher men 75 Northwestern 52

Duluth East boys 63 Mpls. Washburn 62
Grand Rapids boy 67 Duluth East 64
Lakeville North boys 68 Apple Valley 54

The Big Game 1-22-12: Gopher Men Hammer Northwestern 75-52

2012-01-22T22:39:00.001-06:00

The Minnesota Gopher men won their 3rd straight Big 10 game Sunday night by hammering the Northwestern Wildcats 75-52 at Williams Arena. The Gophers broke out of a tie with the Wildcats for 9th and 10th in the Big 10 (at 2-4), moving up 1 slot to a tie with the Iowa Hawkeyes for 8th and 9th (at 3-4). And just in time, too, as 3 of the next 4 games are on the road and the 4th is against #22 Illinois.

But the Gophers should go into this next clutch of games with confidence high after manhandling Northwestern from end to end. It was 11-0 after 6 minutes of play, then 21-4 after 9 minutes. and 36-14 after 16. The score at the half was 41-24. Northwestern got within 16 in the 2nd half at 60-44, 62-46 and 64-48 but an 11-4 run to the final buzzer brought Minnesota its largest lead of the night.

Minnesota simply out-shot Northwestern from 2-point land, 27-for-40 (67.5 percent) to 10-for-29 (35 percent), and also from the FT line 71 percent to 40 percent (8-for-20). The Wildcats out-shot the Gophers from beyond the arc 31 percent to 25 percent, had 8 offensive rebounds to Minnesota's 5, and had 10 turnovers to Minnesota's 12.

The Gophers out-rebounded Northwestern 40-28 overall, though that's just because the Wildcats missed so many shots. And Minnesota had 10 steals and 5 blocked shots to Northwestern's 5 and 3.

5 Gophers scored in double figures--Joe Coleman with 16, Julian Welch with 14, Austin Hollins and Rodney Williams with 11, and Ralph Sampson with 10. Welch and Sampson had 6 boards apiece, Welch 5 assists and Williams 3 blocks.

Gopher Women Lose

Meanwhile, the Gopher women trailed Nebraska 27-23 at 4:48 of the 1st half. Early in the 2nd half they trailed 47-23. In between they shot 0-for-9 with 5 turnovers. Meanwhile Nebraska scored on 9-of-11 possessions.

Player of the Day

Julian Welch 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assist

Coach of the Day

Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher men

The Second Season: Gopher Men

2012-01-22T15:20:00.000-06:00

Last in a series of posts about "The Second Season," consisting for most teams of the conference season. After the "pre"/non-conference season and before the playoffs.As for the Minnesota Gopher men:

What a difference a week makes. What a difference the 1st road win over a top 10-ranked opponent in 30 years makes. What a difference Joe Coleman makes, once both he and coach Tubby Smith have confidence in what he can do.

So now, the Gophers are still only 2-4 but with a winnable home game against Northwestern. A respectable 3-4 is within reach. And, sure, the schedule toughens up, but .500 is within reach and possibly even an NCAA tournament berth.

Seriously. 9-9 in the conference would probably be good for 6th or 7th place, which gets you a 10th or 11th place match-up in the Big 10 tournament--probably Iowa, Northwestern, Nebraska or Penn State. Winnable. So now you're 22-10 overall, a conference semi-finalist with Michigan or Illinois between you and a berth in the Big 10 final. So you lose. You're 22-11, 6th in the Big 10 and pretty much of a lead pipe cinch for an NCAA tournament berth.

Of course, to get there (9-9), you probably have to win at Iowa and Nebraska, and at home against Illinois, Wisconsin and/or Indiana. Not a slam-dunk. It depends on who shows up. The bunch that lost to Iowa at Williams Arena, or the one that toughed it out at Bloomington, IN.

And nobody knows the answer to that one. But here's the schedule

1-22 Northwestern--must win
1-25 at Michigan State--it ain't gonna happen
1-28 Illinois--we almost beat 'em down there, though that doesn't make it easy
2-1 at Iowa--we lost to 'em at home, but that doesn't mean it can't be done
2-5 at Nebraska--1st ever conference meeting with the 'Huskers, a must win
2-9 Wisconsin--will the real Badgers please stand up? For tonight let it be the one's that lost to Iowa
2-14 Ohio State--it ain't gonna happen
2-18 at Northwestern--tough game, we haven't played well in Evanston
2-22 Michigan State--even here, it ain't gonna happen
2-25 Indiana--well, we beat 'em down there, why not here? Well...
2-28 at Wisconsin--it ain't gonna happen
3-3 Nebraska--everything will be riding on this game and so, well, we just gotta win

So that adds up to 3 wins, 4 it ain't gonna happens, and 5 swing games--Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Nebraska here, and at Northwestern. Win the games we should win and 4 of these 5 (I mean, 4 of 'em are at home), and that gets you 9-9. But how tough is 9-9? We gotta beat Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana here. Very tough to do. And that's why I figure that's the upside.

In order to do that, the Gophers will have to prove that they are the team that beat Indiana and Penn State, and that they are quite emphatically not the bunch that lost to Iowa. Here's who's gotta do it, with the number of minutes they're playing. They add up to more than 40 minutes because some guys have missed some games. But you get the idea.

C- Sampson 22 Eliason 13 Ingram 8
PF- Williams 30 Oto 11
SF- Coleman 13 Armelin 15 but with Mbakwe's minutes gone this will have to be more like Coleman 23 Armelin 17
PG- Welch 25 Ahanmisi 18
SG- Austin 26 Andre 16

Is this a Big 10 caliber rotation?

Center

Sampson is of course a big disappointment. He just does not attack the hoop. Still, he shoots 53 percent, he gets 5 boards and 2 blocks. Plus he gets 2 assists and is one of the better passers on the team. All in all, the guy is a senior, he is what he is. Which is to say, offensively not much, but overall a decent ballplayer. Cut him some slack. And Eliason has been productive off the bench, Ingram not so much. Grade: C

Power Forward

Rodney has stepped up since Trevor went down, but still disappears at times. Ralph takes a shot every 3.5 minutes and people complain about his lack of aggressiveness. Rodney takes a shot every 4.2 minutes. You'd like to see a guy who shoots 58 percent take more shots. But, then there's 6 boards, 2 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks. Depending on the match-up, he is sometimes a stellar defender. This is a fine all-around player. Oto is sometimes very effective, other times not at all. I like his future, but right now we need Rodney on that floor. Grade: B

Small Forward

To go 9-9, the Gophers need Joe to be the guy who scored 23 points at Penn State, not the occasionally bewildered freshman who scored 4.5 ppg prior to that. If he is truly the latter, 9-9 is out of the question. Given that our two bigger and more experienced fellows are so loath to take the big shot, however, Coleman is exactly the kind of guy needed at this position. I mean, he only takes a FG attempt every 4 minutes, but unlike Ralph and Rodney, he gets to the FT line. He's shooting 46 percent from the field and 82 from the line. And though he's 6-4, he plays more like 6-7 on offense. He gets to the rim and he knows how to finish once he gets there, even against bigger guys.

Chip Armelin is a fine back-up, sometimes an outstanding one, but he's certainly up-and-down. More of an instant offense guy even than Coleman, he takes a shot more than every 3 minutes and makes 44 percent. He's shooting only 42 percent from the line, however, so he's never gonna be out there at crunch time.

Grade: C trending toward a B.

Point Guard

Julian Welch and Maverick Ahanmisi share the spot and together make almost a whole "1." Welch shoots the ball every 3 minutes (making 47 percent) and gets an assist every 10. Ahanmisi shoots it every 5.5 minutes (making 38 percent) but gets an assist every 7 minutes. Welch turns it over every 11 minutes, Mav every 13.

Mav is more of a "1" at heart, but in this lineup Tubby needs Welch's scoring threat. Grade: C

Off Guard

Austin and Andre Hollins share the position for now. Each shoots the ball a little more than every 4 minutes. Austin makes 45 percent, Andre the freshman 35 percent, which is why Austin gets 2/3 of the minutes. Well, that and he gets more rebounds, more assists, more steals and even more blocked shots. But the main number is 14 ppg and little more than 40 percent shooting between them at what is for most teams the #1 scoring position. Grade: D

Summary

Think, by the way, of an A as an all-conference player, B as a solid starting type player, and C and D are average to well below average. The Gophers are clearly better than average at only 1 position. So all the others better be average and not below, and collectively they're not all there yet. So, there is zero margin for error.

Or, in other words, are we ready to win all the games we should plus Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin at Williams Arena? Again, that would seem to be a little bit much to hope for. 9-9 remains the goal, the upside, and unlikely. 7-11 or 8-10 seems more likely, and that doesn't get you that coveted NCAA tournament bid.

The Big Game 1-21-12: East Metro Showcase indeed

2012-01-22T07:13:00.000-06:00

It was the East Metro Showcase today. Unlike yesterday, when the visitors won 2 and the east metro 1, today's result was 3-2 in favor of the east metro. All are boys games.

Roseville gave St. John's Lutheran of Ocala, FL, its a second shellacking of the showcase 106-49 as Logan Brown led a balanced attack with 17 points.

Hopkins beat Milwaukee Riverside 91-58 as Siyani Chambers scored 20.

Onalaska (WI) edged St. Paul Johnson 61-59 despite Marcus Marshall's 15 points.

Eden Prairie 72 LaCrosse (WI) Aquinas 45. Sander Mohn and Abien Carpenter scored 15 points each for EP.

Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau (WI) 66 St. Paul Central 44

In 2 other games of note:

Edina girls 63 Woodbury 50 as Katybeth Biewen scored 28. Make that 3-3 for the east metro.

Duluth East boys 63 #2AAA Mpls. Washburn 62. Shaq Coleman made 2 FT with 4 seconds remaining for the win. Taylor Stafford scored 21, Johnny Woodard 13. On Friday night, East lost to #4AAA 67-64 as Coleman led East with 14 points, Akolda Manyang scored 10 with 13 rebounds and 8 blocks, and Stafford and Woodard added 25 between them. More to the point, Grand Rapids' Austin Pohlen scored 23 and Alex Illikainen 18.

Player of the Day

Katybeth Biewen, Edina girls

Coach of the Day

David Flom, Eden Prairie boys

Mariah Adanane, DeLaSalle girls, out with fractured skull

2012-01-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

Even with all the talk of athletic injuries lately, skull fractures on the basketball court haven't been much discussed. And, truth be told, they're pretty rare. But DeLaSalle senior guard Mariah Adanane suffered just such an injury the other day. She is expected to be hospitalized about 5 days. Coach Faith Johnson Patterson said she would be out at least a month, but given the severity of her injury I (and others) are assuming that her high school career is over. Best wishes for a full recovery to Mariah.

She has a nose for the basket and is a very creative and intuitive scorer whose talents are acutely missed by her team. The defending state AAA champs have now suffered 3 losses to White Bear Lake, Providence and Hopkins. They're still unbeaten in their class but rank #2 behind Fergus Falls, who defeated Providence. They've come to be regarded as, well, not quite the slam dunk to repeat that many thought coming into the year. The loss of Adanane cannot help.

The Big Game 1-20-12: East Metro Showcase Gets Underway

2012-01-21T08:03:00.000-06:00

St. Paul Highland Park98 St. John’s Lutheran, Ocala, FLA, St. John’s 36

It’s called the East MetroShowcase, and it certainly started out showcasing St. Paul Highland Park’squickness in a 98-36 rout of the visitors from St. John’s Lutheran, Ocala, FL.

St. John’s turned the ballover 19 times in the 1^st half alone, resulting in 22 Highland pointsand a 54-17 score. The 2^nd half was not quite as bad for the simplereason that it went to running time at 90-32 at the 8 minute mark, but stillthere were 11 more turnovers for 12 Highland points. Most of the turnovers cameoff of half-court traps near the 10-second line, resulting in fast breaklay-ups for the Scots. (All of the numbers are my unofficial stats.)

Junior guard Dion Bradleywas St. John’s chief tormenter. He and senior guard Elijah Jackson forced theturnovers, mostly, and it would be Bradley who would take the ball to the rimor dish it off at the other end. He made 7-of-9 2s, mostly lay-ups, but also4-of-7 3s and 11-for-11 from the FT line for 37 points, and added 4 assists.One of Bradley’s many highlights was the rare 3+1 to make it 71-24 at about13:15 of the 2^nd half.

But everybody got into theact. 9 Scots scored in the 1^st half alone, 12 overall. SeniorsTy’shaun Williams and Nate Anderson also got into double figures with 10points.

Highland put the game awayabout half-way into the 1^st half. It was 19-10 at about 11:30. Atabout 8:00 it was 33-10. 9 of the 14 points came in transition, the 1^st7 directly off of steals by Anderson, Isaiah Brower and Anderson again, withBradley, Bradley (for 3) and Mark Koenig finishing.

Only 1 point in thissequence came off the offensive glass, but overall 18 did. Many came on 2-on-1fast breaks, when the initial shot was missed by nobody from St. John’s gotback quickly enough to rebound or defend the follow.

Highland’s next run closedout the half, as St. John’s failed to score inside of 4:00 and it went from43-17 to 54-17. There was not much to do in the 2^nd half but waitfor running time, which prevented the Scots from hitting the century mark.

Later That Night....

From here, well, I hope you understand I just had to go back to the island, where I saw the Hopkins girls pull away from a 26-24 lead late in the 1st half to defeat DeLaSalle going away 76-53. I sent my report on that game to my buddy Kevin at www.kjasr.com.

And so I missed the rest of the bill at St. Paul Johnson, where it was much less an east metro showcase as the night wore on. Milwaukee Riverside trounced St. Paul Central 72-48 and the Hopkins boys defeated host Johnson for the 2nd time this season 99-83 though at it was apparently a much better game than the 100-74 game at Augsburg in December. Siyani Chambers scored 31 for Hopkins.

Player of the Day

Dion Bradley, St. PaulHighland Park, though I'm tempted to go with Nia Coffey, Hopkins girls. My numbers showed her with 20 points, but the official scorekeeper didn't agree with me. S/he showed Sydney Coffey with 20 and Nia with 18. But I also have Nia with 21--count 'em--rebounds and 5 steals. So I liked Nia as the top player in that game.

Coach of the Day

Jon DePerry, St. PaulHighland Park

The Big Game 1-19-12: Minnesota Gopher women 71 Michigan State 65; Biewen is Player of the Day

2012-01-20T04:51:00.002-06:00

The Minnesota Gopher women got a balanced scoring effort and evened their Big 10 record at 3-3, beating previously 2nd place Michigan State (4-2) 71-65.

• Rachel Banham had another superb game with 16 points, 7 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Tonight she had plenty of help.

• Kiara Buford with 22 points
• Jackie Voigt with 11 and 3 boards
• Micaella Riche with 9 points, 3 boards and 2 steals off the bench,
• Katie Loberg with 8 points, 7 boards and 3 blocked shots.

The Gophers jumped out to an 11-2 lead, but the Spartans came back to tie at 15-all. Eventually, the Gophers led 35-23 and 38-27 at the half. In the second half the Gophers opened up a 14 point lead at 53-39 but the Spartans got back within 6 at 57-51.

Then Buford hit a jumper from Leah Cotton, and then a pair of FT and Minnesota was back up by 10. The deficit was reduced to 6 again at 65-59 with 1:50 remaining, and the Gophers made just 6-of-12 FT after that. But the Spartans failed to score on 3 straight possessions between 1:00 and :30, and it was 69-59 inside of :30. Only a 3 at the final buzzer got Michigan State within the final score of 71-65.

The game's other crucial sequence came with the score tied at 15-all at 10:30 of the 1st half. Voigt blocked an MSU shot and Riche hit a pair of throws. Banham hit a jumper from Voigt, and a 2 off of a steal. State came back to within 21-17, but Buford hit 1-of-2 throws, Banham and Riche a pair of jumpers, and Voigt a pair of throws and suddenly it was 29-19. The Spartans would never again be closer than 6.

Minnesota shot 52 percent in the 1st half and 48 percent for the game, State just 36 and 41 percent. Even discounting those 12 FT inside of 1:00, the Gophers had already been to the line 26 times, making 21, to the Spartans' 10-of-15.

Player of the Day

Banham and Buford were stellar for the Minnesota Gophers, but player of the day honors go to Katybeth Biewen of Edina. The #2AAAA Hornets remained undefeated with a tough 62-57 road win at #3AAA Richfield. Biewen scored 25 for Edina, who continues to be without her running mate, MC McGrory, at the other guard spot. Richfield's star guard Jessica January scored 18 points, breaking a streak of 6 straight games with 20 points or more.

Coach of the Day

Matt Nilsen, Edina girls

The Biewens

2012-01-20T04:30:00.000-06:00

I first met the Biewens back in 2007. I was watching that incredible St. Paul Central girls team beat the living daylights out of the Edina Hornets in the state AAAA semi-finals. The final score was Central 79 Edina 41. Well, EC Biewen played for that Edina team and, like her teammates, she had a pretty tough go of it. She came off the bench to play 15 minutes and failed to score, though she corralled 2 rebounds, but also turned the ball over twice.

Now, keep in mind, I was never much of an Edina fan. I grew up in the 1960s when Edina just had too much success and it was quite fashionable to hate Edina and call them the "Cake-Eaters." In fact, it was the very 3 years when I lettered on my high school team that the Hornets boys became the 1st team ever to 3-peat at the Minnesota State High School Basketball Tournament. So, anyway, I had no reason to sympathize with Edina that night.

But the fact is that the Edina girls on the court and the parents and other fans in the stands, with whom I happened to be sitting, handled their thumping with such class that I couldn't help but admire them. I also recognized the Biewen name--Gene Biewen had coached Mankato Wilson in the fabulous boys Class A final in 1976, when Wilson pushed a great Mpls. Marshall-U team into OT before losing 64-59. Paul Biewen scored 21 points in that game.

So, as it happened, I asked some Edina fans if the Biewens were in the crowd and could they point them out to me. They could and they did. And I not only met Paul Biewen, who turned out to be EC's dad, but also his dad, Gene, and being interested in the good old days of Minnesota high school basketball as I am, I had a nice chat with Gene for maybe 30 minutes or so.

Well, a week later I was at probably the most exciting day of high school basketball I've seen since the MSHSL went to 4 classes in 1997. Ellsworth beat Cass Lake-Bena in a classic in Class A and after a couple more excellent games, Buffalo knocked off Armstrong on a last-second shot in Class AAAA. Well, shortly after the start of that game I saw that none other than Gene Biewen sitting across the aisle from me. His grand-son Carter, son of John Biewen, played for Armstrong and scored 11 points with 10 boards in that game. Carter played at Carleton, where he completed his eligibility last spring. That is his cousin Ben, son of Paul, who is now a senior at Gustavus.

What a basketball family. And now, 5 years later, Mitch Biewen, son of John, is a junior guard for Armstrong and Katybeth Biewen, daughter of Paul, is a senior guard for the Edina Hornets.

And unlike that Armstrong team of 5 years ago, the Falcons are struggling this year at 2-9. I'd like to say they're getting better but the fact is they're 0-5 in the new year, though in fairness one would have to note that they've played 5 teams with winning records, 2 of whom are top 10 and 1 of whom is Hopkins, nuff sed. But in those 5 games Mitch has scored 71 points for a team-leading average of 14.2, up from an average of 4 ppg last year as a sophomore.

Meanwhile, Katybeth is trying to close out an illustrious career with her 1st trip to the state tournament and the team's 1st since that fateful year of 2007. I remember the 1st time I saw Katybeth. She was a freshman, and her team was getting hammered (again) this time by Richfield in the 2009 sectional playoffs. Katybeth came off the bench and immediately exerted very strong leadership on her older teammates, got 'em organized, got 'em focused, got 'em competing. They lost, but they were so much a better team with this skinny little 9th grader on the court than without that I raved to anybody that would listen about her and her future potential.

Well, the Hornets improved from 12-13 in 2009 to 26-2 in 2010, not entirely due to Katybeth's play, to be sure. This team had Taylor Young, in her senior year, Grace Veker, also in her senior year, and Jamie Bresnahan as a junior, along with Katybeth, then a sophomore. They lost to Chaska in a memorable section final 45-43, only because Young, now starring at unbeaten (in MIAC play) St. Thomas University, tweaked her knee early in that game and hobbled around throughout. Still, Edina led most of the way before Brooke Brown took over for Chaska. The truth is she overpowered Katybeth (outscoring her 20-7) and the entire Edina team down the stretch and willed her team to the win. Still--and no disrespect to Brown and Ellen Degler and Brianna Tisch--but if Young can go 100 percent, Edina wins. And even then, Chaska only won when Katybeth's 3-point shot from half-court at the final buzzer got halfway down the bucket before spinning out.

Sans Young and Veker, Edina slumped to 18-10 last year but Biewen was joined in the starting lineup by another tiny but oh-so-savvy young guard (then a sophomore) Mary Claire (MC) McGrory. But now, returning Biewen and McGrory and junior Vivian Engen at guard along with forward Lindsey Johnson, the Hornets are a powerhouse again, running up a 14-0 record even as McGrory has missed the last several games, presumably due to an injury.

In the last 2 games of 2011, Edina swept a pair of games at the St. Michael-Albertville holiday tournament as McGrory scored 20 ppg and Biewen 17.5. In the 1st game of the new year, Katybeth scored 18 and McGrory 9. I don't know if that's in the full game or whether she went down sometime during this game. But she hasn't played since. Yet, Edina is 3-0 as Biewen has picked up the slack, scoring 21 ppg, including 26 points (57 percent of the team total) in a 45-35 win over Duluth East.

Obviously the Hornets success in the fiendishly difficult Lake Conference and the equally tough section 2AAAA will depend on McGrory's return to 100 percent. The Lake of course includes #1 Hopkins, #4 Wayzata, #5 Eden Prairie and #8 Minnetonka as well as #2 Edina. Section 2AAAA includes #4 Bloomington Kennedy and #5 Eden Prairie as well as the Hornets. The prospects for a conference title are not good as long as Hopkins is in the mix. The prospects for a sectional title are better, but even then they'll be facing at least 3 high-D1 recruits--Jackie Johnson and Shayne Mullaney of EP, and Jade Martin of Kennedy.

Edina by comparison at present boasts no D1 recruits, which of course begs the question of what Katybeth Biewen will be doing with the next phase of her basketball career.

Historically she's not been highly regarded in the most oft-cited player rating around at gPrep.net. I remember her rated in the high teens among her class a couple years ago, though it's true that Mullaney and Johnson were rated in that same neighborhood at the time. Johnson and Mullaney have climbed up to #1 and #7, respectively, while Hill-Murray guard Tessa Cichy has dropped from #1 to #9 and Whitney Tinjum of Chisago Lakes from #3-4 to #10. Katybeth has moved only up to #14 at the present time. I've always had her in my top 10 and currently I'd have her on my 2nd all-state 5. But never has there been any word of a D1 scholarship offer, and maybe that's right. She's still challenged in the size department. But her court IQ and her ability to take charge of her team on the court and navigate the whole enterprise toward the goal is right up there with Mullaney's. Her mental toughness and intensity is 2nd to none. Her scoring ability, those 26 points against Duluth East nothwithstanding, is not as good as Mullaney's or Tinjum's or Marissa Janning's. She's not somebody who is defined by her quickness or leaping ability or athleticism generally. She's defined by her basketball IQ and mental toughness. And that, in my experience, very often beats pure athleticism. And, so, with the possible exception of Mullaney, if I have to play an elite opponent with a tough pressure defense, I'm pretty sure I want Katybeth to handle the ball for me.

To me, in other words, the 2012 guards--and they are a terrific group--rate like this:

1. Mullaney (Minnesota)--has the same attributes at Biewen, plus she's physically stronger and a better shooter
2. Janning (Creighton)--great all-around skills, a little quicker, maybe--42 points last night!
3. Tinjum (Washington State)--a great scorer
4. Biewen--another 25 points last night, outscoring Jessica January 25-18 on the road
5. Cichy--more athletic, a great defender, nowhere as solid offensively
6. Mariah Adanane--a great scorer

7. Kali Peschel (Iowa)--a good scorer, good size, currently injured

8. Alexis Foley (Illinois State)--excellent all-around offensive player

9. Brittney Scherber (Bradley)--does it all

10. Mikayla Bailey (Minnesota)--a great competitor, a great defender, up and down offensively
11. Whitney Olson (Wayne State)--a very good scorer
12. Lexi Long--great court IQ, moves and moves the ball

I see Sydney Coffey as a forward, by the way, which is why she's not on this list.

So, anyway, that's what I know about the Biewens. Well, except I haven't even told you about grandpa Gene, who played his ball at Austin St. Augustine (yep, a long time ago) and St. Mary's in Winona before getting into the coaching racket. I learned just the other day from Orris Jirele that Jirele succeeded Biewen when he came to Rochester Lourdes in 1966. That'll have to wait for another day, I guess.

100 Years of Minnesota High School Tournament Basketball #3: Top Girls Players

2012-01-20T04:00:00.001-06:00

The MSHSL continues its weekly series of the "best of" the Minnesota state high school basketball tournaments. This week it's the top girls players. You can view their choices and their commentary for yourself at http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp, then click "100 Years of BB" in the upper left. And you should because I'm not repeating their commentary here, but rather inserting my own.

It's hard to argue with 4 of their 1st 5 choices.

Janet Karvonen, New York Mills 1977-79-79-80
Coco and Kelly Miller, Rochester Mayo 1993-95-96-97
Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central 2006-07
Tayler Hill, Mpls. South 2007-08-09

I won't say which of the 5 isn't like the other 4, but I will say this. There's no "big" on the top 5. There ought to be a "big" on the top 5 and the obvious choice there is:

Liz Podominick, Lakeville 2001-02

Luckily, the MSHSL goes on to pick 15 "Other Notable Players," and Podominick is one of those. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I helped the MSHSL pick their list of the best girls players, and all their other "best of" lists, and I didn't find too much fault with this list at the time. So it's not fair to complain now. But with that as a caveat, I will now complain a little bit, or at least suggest some names of girls who might be as good as the 20 who have been identified by the MSHSL.

My second comment, then, is that only 4 of the 20 girls selected played in the 1970s and '80s, and 16 played in in the 1990s and 2000s. Now that I see it in the cold light of day, that doesn't seem quite right. In order to have the same number of girls per year for the 1st 2 decades as for the most recent 2 decades, you'd need about 10 girls from the 1970s and 1980s.

I agree wholeheartedly, of course, with the choices of Karvonen and:

Laura Gardner, Bloomington Jefferson 1976-77-78
Kelly Skalicky, Albany 1978-79-80-81
Mary Jo Miller, Milroy, Tracy-Milroy 1985, 1987-88

But in addition to that, I would just say that the following get you to 10:

Joan Kowalsky, St. Margaret's, Benilde-St. Margaret's 1976-77
Lisa Lissimore, St. Paul Central 1976-77-78
Leah Blackwell, Edina 1983-84
Judy McDonald, Chisholm 1984
Janice Streit, Eden Valley-Watkins 1983-84
Laurie Decker, Rochester Lourdes 1986-87

Then you've got 11 more honorable mentions from the 1990s through the present day:

Shannon Loeblien, St. Paul Harding 1990-91
Tamara Moore, Mpls. North 1997-98
Hana Peltjo, Osseo 1997, 20000
Shannon Bolden, Marshall 2001-02
Kelly Roysland, Fosston 2001-02-03
Leslie Knight, Hopkins 2002-03-04
Mia Johnson, Mpls. North 2001-02-03-04-05
Katie Ohm, Elgin-Millville 2002-03-04-05
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central 2005-06-07-08
Brittney Chambers, Jordan 2007-08-09
Rachel Banham, Lakeville North 2007-10-11

This gets you to 25, which is a good round number, except there's 1 other name that is missing, and that is Jenna Smith of Bloomington Kennedy 2004-2005. I don't remember how we managed to overlook her, but she would clearly be the #2 post behind Podominick.

And if there are 4 more girls who deserves to be listed--and who get you to another round number (30)--it would be:

Stacy Sievers, Rochester Lourdes 1989-90-91
Lori Lawler, Rochester Lourdes 1989-90-91
Tricia Wakely, Burnsville 1991-92
Erin Ditty, Hastings 1996

The Big Game 1-18-12: The Tommies Giveth, the Tommies Taketh Away

2012-01-18T22:18:00.002-06:00

The St. Thomas University men lost to Bethel Monday night on a last second, buzzer-beater shot by Bethel's Kellan Dahlquist. Tonight, John Nance scored as time expired to give the Tommies a dramatic 1-point win in over St. Olaf 78-77. Nance scored 6 of the Tommies' final 11 points and assisted on 2 more, as St. Thomas overcame a 70-67 deficit in the final 4 minutes of play.

The Oles had led by as many as 12 in the 1st half, at 20-8, 22-10, 24-12 and 26-14, but the Tommies stormed back to tie it up at 39-39 all America. The largest lead of the 2nd half fell to St. Thomas, 51-47, and the score was tied 11 times in the 2nd half alone.

Both teams shot over 50 percent, but the Tommies also made 87 percent of their FT while St. Olaf made just 14-of-23.

Augsburg and Gustavus remained in a 1st place tie with the Tommies at 8-2. Augsburg won at St. John's 65-49 as Andy Grzesiak-Grimm scored 24 points with 15 boards. Gustavus hammered Hamline 105-79 as Seth Anderson lit it up to the tune of 34 points. Gustavus shot 59 percent in the 2nd half, and also made 28-of-29 colors.

Player of the Day

Seth Anderson, Gustavus

Coach of the Day

Mark Hanson, Gustavus

The Big Game 1-17-12: Eastview boys 65 Rosemount 45

2012-01-18T07:45:00.000-06:00

The host Eastview Lightning started and finished in high-flying mode Tuesday night. In between, the Rosemount Irish turned it into a grinder but, hey, Eastview grinds, too. The result was a decisive 65-45 win against a not-bad Rosemount team.

6-9 Joey King opened the scoring for the Lightning with an easy 7-footer in the lane. He then fed 6-9 junior Ben Olberfeld on the give 'n go. Chris Narum drilled a 3 off of an offensive board and assist by Quinn Trusty, and King scored on a fast break alley oop from Darin Haugh to make it 9-0 after just 3 minutes of play.

By half-time it was 31-11, and 42-19 at 12:31 of the 2nd, but Rosemount fought back. Then, inside of 4 minutes in the 2nd half, King hit a couple of dunks about a minute apart--1 off a Narum steal and assist, and another from Olberfeld on yet another fast break. Olberfeld then scored off the offensive glass, and Narum and Haugh applied to coup de grace with a 3 apiece. Suddenly, it was 62-41 at 1:28, and all the starters came out for the victorious Lightning.

Eastview shot an unconscious 12-of-18 in the 1st half, 10-of-14 (71 percent) from 2-point range, all this with King largely ineffective and/or on the bench. He barely played the last 7 minutes after picking up his 2nd foul, and he didn't score again in the 1st half after the 1st 3 minutes. Haugh and Olberfeld picked up the slack with 13 and 8 points respectively. (All are my unofficial stats.)

Then, even with King back on the floor, the Lightning were largely grounded in the 2nd half, shooting just 9-of-30. If the 1st half was this-is-how-we-played-against-Tyus-Jones, then the 2nd half was this-is-how-we-beat-Lakeville-North.

But Eastview dominated the possession game both halves to more than make up for any shooting issues. The Lightning had 13 offensive boards and 13 turnovers, the Irish 8 offensive boards and 19 turnovers.

More to the point, Rosemount shot just 3-of-20 in the 1st half. The Irish wanted to work the ball inside to 6-8 Matt Nelson and 6-5 Brandon Forcier, but everytime they touched the ball inside, Eastview's 6-9/6-9 offered them absolutely nowhere to go. And Eastview was quicker on the perimeter, and so the Irish had a hard time moving the ball around, running their sets and getting the ball to people where they wanted them to handle it. The 2nd half was better, however, as Rosemount started out 3-of-3 and finished 12-of-25. The Irish had 7 assists in the 2nd half to just 1 in the 1st.

Still, on the night, Eastview was 21-of-48, Rosemount 15-of-45.

The officials nearly lost control of this one, by the way. It got way too rough and then way too chippy in the 2nd half, and it was lucky that nobody got hurt. But, hey, Eastview does chippy, too, and collected several more chips than Rosemount did. But for about 5 minutes there they were collecting chips instead of buckets, and that's when the Irish pulled within 50-35. Eastview finally took to the air again and put it away.

Haugh scored 22 points overall, King and Olberfeld 12 each. 6-5 Tyler Liermann came off the Rosemount bench to score 11 points and guard Charlie Broback added 10.

Three Questions

1. How good is Eastview? Can they really beat Hopkins? Well, of course, they can. They beat Benilde, who beat Hopkins. But will they? Well, Zach Stahl does just about everything Joey King does, and the Royals' guards are way quicker than Eastview's. That leaves 6-9 Ben Overfeld as the Lightning's main possible difference-maker against Hopkins. He is just a load. He is a reasonably skilled player, but mainly he's just very very strong under the hoop. But can Eastview's guards get him and King the ball against Hopkins' pressure defense?

2. How good is King? Now, don't get me wrong. Joey King is terrific, though he only had 2 short runs of high-flying dominance. It's just that, so is Zach Stahl. What I don't get is how in the heck Joey King is going to Drake, and Stahl is going to Lehigh. Both of these kids are Big 10 players. They both do it all. They run, they jump, they score inside and out, they defend, they hit the boards. King, of course, is 6-9, Stahl is 6-6. But if you've seen Wally Ellenson, and Tubby Smith has recruited Wally Ellenson, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH JOEY KING? Is it too late to talk him into staying at home at the U?

3. How good is Rosemount? The 6-8 Nelson is a very very nice player who has a nice D2 career ahead of him. He can play faced the hoop, he can score from the inside and out. His teammates are well-schooled and play hard. Rosemount is now 7-6 with losses to Minnetonka, Benilde, Jefferson, Prior Lake, Kennedy and Eastview. Middle of the pack. In other words, a 20-point margin at home was a good night's work for Eastview and should do nothing to diminish their #1 ranking.

Player of the Day

Darin Haugh

Coach of the Day

Bryan Schnettler, Rosemount, had his kids ready to against #1

The Second Season: MIAC Men

2012-01-17T10:06:00.002-06:00

By strange coincidence, there are 6 MIAC men's teams above the .500 mark, and the 6 of them square off among themselves in a crucial slate of games this Wednesday, January 18.

Augsburg (7-2, T1st) at St. John's (5-4, 6th)

Hamline (6-3, T4th) at Gustavus (7-2, T1st)

St. Thomas (7-2, T1st) at St. Olaf (6-3, T4th)

There could be significantly more clarity in the MIAC race after Wednesday night, or not.

The surprises, such as they are, are Gustavus, picked for 5th place in the coaches' pre-season poll, now 3.5 places higher than that in the standings, and St. Olaf, picked for 2nd and now 2.5 places below that expectation. (I don't know if something got into the water in Northfield, but Carleton is the other big disappointment, picked for 4th and currently 8th at 3-6.)

A quick look at the schedule reveals that the advantage lies with Augsburg and Gustavus. Each has lost only to fellow contenders on the road, and each has defeated a contender on the road. Augsburg knocked off St. Olaf last week 57-55 while Gustavus won at Hamline way back in November. Each, then, has 2 road games left against fellow contenders--Augsburg this week at St. John's, Gustavus at Augsburg on January 30.

St. Thomas, meanwhile, has lost at St. John's and to Bethel at home. It has 3 road games at contenders Augsburg, Gustavus and St. Olaf. A win at St. Olaf this week is essential to the Tommies hopes for a repeat MIAC regular season title (which it shared with Carleton a year ago).

Hamline has road games remaining at all 5 of its fellow contenders, starting at Gustavus this Wednesday. St. Olaf and St. John's also have just 2 such games remaining, but of course both also trail the front-runners in the loss column.

Augsburg Gets Favorite's Tag

On paper, Augsburg looks like the team to beat. They lead the MIAC in winning margin at 71-60. They're the top defensive team, they're by far the top rebounding team with an average margin of 36-30, they're 3rd in FG shooting at 47 percent, and they're among the leaders with 1.2 assists per turnover.

Cory Polta was all-conference a year ago. His scoring has dropped off to 13 ppg, but he's still among the league leaders with 2 blocks and 2 offensive boards per game. Guard Tyler Schmidt is scoring 14 ppg, making 3 3s per game at a 46 percent clip, and leads the league in FT shooting at 92 percent. But the big story is Andy Grzesiak-Grimm. The 6-6 senior has emerged as player of the year candidate with 15 ppg, a league-leading 8 boards and a league-leading 64 FG percentage.

A win at St. John's Wednesday night will cement their favorite's status, as it leaves a highly favorable schedule the rest of the way.

Don't Count the Tommies Out

The Tommies are adjusting to life without Steve Fritz as well as guards Tyler Nicolai, Alex Healy and Teddy Archer. It hasn't been easy--which at St. Thomas means they're limping along with a 7-2 record. John Nance and Will DeBerg score 11 points with 2 steals apiece, but new Tommies coach John Tauer comes at you in waves and every night it seems to be somebody different that is leading the charge. Still, it wouldn't hurt if senior post Tommy Hannon, who has been out with an injury of late, returned to full strength. Soon.

Still, the schedule's a bit tougher the rest of the way than some others, or I suppose you could say that home court loss to Bethel the other night means that now they have to win one that they probably should lose--such as a game at Augsburg or Gustavus.

The Tommies chief strategies for doing that is scoring a league-leading 77 points with a league-leading shooting percentage of 50. They also shoot a league-leading 40 percent from beyond the arc, out-rebound their opponents 31-28 and get 1.2 assists for every turnover.

Seth Anderson a One-Man Gang for Gusties

Gustavus has the same schedule advantage as Augsburg. They're lost only at St. Olaf and St. Thomas, and they got a win at Hamline. Remaining road games against contending teams are at Augsburg and St. John's.

The Gusties will attack that schedule with player of the year candidate Seth Anderson, from Maple River, who leads the MIAC with 25 ppg on 58 percent FT shooting. They shoot 48 percent as a team, out-rebound their opponents just 31-30 and post 1.2 assists for every turnover.

Hangin' On

St. Olaf, Hamline and St. John's are just 1, 1 and 2 games out of 1st place, respectively, with 10 games left to play, but the odds of leap-frogging all 3 of the current 1st place teams would seem to be slim. Hamline has the most hazardous schedule remaining: They haven't played any of the contenders on the road yet, but that also means that they have the biggest opportunity to make up some ground. The testing begins at Gustavus this week.

St. Olaf has a favorable schedule with an immediate opportunity to insert itself back into the race--St. Thomas comes to town on Wednesday. A win will require big games from forward Stu Neville, who scores 17 ppg with a league-leading 7 defensive rebounds, and guard Bobby Fong, who scores 15 ppg. His running mate, Albert Jaryan, distributes the ball to the tune of a league-leading 4 assists per game and he also leads the MIAC with 2 assists for every turnover.

The Pipers are 2nd in the MIAC in scoring but last in defense (76-73). Their 46 FG percentage is the lowest among the contenders, they out-rebound their opponents just 32-31, and their assist to turnovers ratio is the poorest among the contenders at 0.9. But Mike Campbell scores 16 ppg on 59 percent shooting, while he and Noah Aguirre tally 4.5 steals per game.

St. John's is hangin' on by a thread. But a win over the Auggies Wednesday would forcefully insert the Johnnies back into the race, and the schedule is favorable from there on out. Aaron Barmore scores 13, Andy Burns 12 and Seth Marx 10 for the Johnnies, and Burns is 2nd in the MIAC with 4 assists per game. He shoots 88 percent from the line, while Marx shoots 44 percent from behind the 3-point line.

My Final Answer

I think they'll finish in the order they're discussed above: Augsburg, St. Thomas, Gustavus, St. Olaf, Hamline and St. John's. What's even more certain is that, whatever the order, these are your 6 playoff participants. The Auggies should end up hosting St. Olaf in the semi's, while the Tommies host Gustavus. If there's an upset lurking it's probably Gustavus over St. Thomas. I mean, it's too early to be picking playoff winners, anyway, we'll need to know who's playing how well the last week of the season. But these teams are close enough that an upset in the grand finale could even be expected, and I've just put Gustavus in the position to do it.

The 1st all-conference team right now today would be:

Seth Anderson, Gustavus
Pierce Peters, Macalester
Andy Grzesiak-Grimm, Augsburg
Caleb Rosenow, Carleton
Stuart Neville, St. Olaf

2nd Team

Mike Campbell, Hamline
Andy Burns, St. John's
Tyler Schmidt, Augsburg
Cory Polta, Augsburg
Caleb Rosenow, Carleton

3rd Team

Bobby Fong, St. Olaf
Albert Jaryan, St. Olaf
Tommy Hannon, St. Thomas
Aaron Barmore, St. John's
Seth Marx, St. John's

Coach of the Year

Aaron Griess, Augsburg

1949--62 Years Ago

2012-01-17T08:27:00.001-06:00

The year of 1949 was one of the greatest years in Minnesota basketball history. Here's why.

Story #1--Hamline wins its 2nd NAIA championship

Hamline and coach Joe Hutton won 17 of 20 MIAC championships through 1953, but it's greatest team by far was the 1949 aggregation led by Vern Mikkelson and Hal Haskins. Consider that in January, the Pipers were the last unbeaten college team in America and were rated as the #5 team in the nation, regardless of class or division. Kentucky was #1, followed by St. Louis, Oklahoma A&M (now State), Illinois and Hamline. The Minnesota Gophers, then 13-1 and second in the Big Ten, were rated #7.

The Pipers lost three games that year. Two of the losses were to the powerful Phillips Oilers sponsored by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The Oilers had represented the U.S. in the 1948 Olympics and featured 7-foot Bob Kurland, who had out-played George Mikan when they were in college. Mikkelson out-scored Kurland 16-14 and 18-14 in the two games. The third loss, to St. Thomas under coach Paul Sokol, created a tie for the MIAC title and almost knocked the Pipers out of the national tournament.

But in the end, Hamline was invited to play in the NAIA tournament, and defeated Arkansas State 76-43 and Indiana Central 83-66 as Haskins scored 53 points in the two games. Then Mikkelson scored 28 as the Pipers knocked off Texas Tech 80-56. Beloit and star guard Johnny Orr, later the Michigan coach, was the next victim 52-43, as Haskins and Mikkelson each scored 18 and Haskins held the high-scoring Orr to just eight. Finally Regis was dispatched 57-46 as Haskins scored 21 points and was named tournament MVP. Hamline finished the year at 31-3.

Story #2--The Gophers rebound under Ozzie Cowles

Long-time Gopher coach Dave MacMillan retired for the second time after the 1948 season. As his successor, the Gophers hires Ozzie Cowles, a Browns Valley, Minnesota, native and Carleton grad who had coached Dartmouth to the Final Four and then brought Michigan its first Big Ten title in almost 20 years. Now, he coached the Gophers to their best record (18-3) since the Gophers undefeated 1919 season, and a top ten ranking. But, a heart-breaking 45-44 loss at eventual Big Ten champion Illinois relegated the Gophers to second place in the conference.

Story #3--St. Paul Humboldt wins high school championship

The state's three top teams squared off in the lower bracket of the 1949 state tournament. Hibbing, led by 6-5 center Milan Knezovich, had defeated Mpls. Central earlier in the year, and was a heavy favorite. Instead, Central turned the tables on Hibbing in the 1st round 37-34. Then it was St. Paul Humboldt, with 6-6 center Jim Fritsche and 6-4 forward Myron Finn, who surprised Central 53-47. Finally, Humboldt easily dispatched Mankato 47-35 in the final as Fritsche became the second boy ever to score 20 or more points in all three tournament games. Humboldt finished 19-5.

Story #4--The Minneapolis Lakers win again

The Lakers moved from the NBL to the BAA for the 1948-1949 season, but the result was the same. They actually finished behind the Rochester Royals in the Western Division, but swept the Chicago Stags and the Royals to advance to the BAA finals. There they beat the Washington Capitals 4 games to 2, easily winning game 6 at the St. Paul Auditorium 77-56 to close out the series. George Mikan scored 40 points or more 7 times, and 50 or more twice, while leading the BAA with a 28.3 ppg scoring average.

Story #5--St. Thomas nearly derails the Hamline juggernaut

St. Thomas shocked Hamline 45-43 early in 1949, and lost in the MIAC only in its rematch with the Pipers. Initially the MIAC announced that there would be a play-off for the right to represent the conference in the NAIA District 13 play-off but, instead, for reasons that are unknown, it was then decided to flip a coin instead. The Tommies won the coin flip and defeated Mankato Teachers 56-55 to advance to the national tournament. Eventually the NAIA announced that Hamline would play, too, filling a vacancy because the New York district would not be sending a team. Mankato fans were enraged at their slight, but Hamline went on to justify the NAIA's selection by winning the national title. St. Thomas, for their part, won one game, then lost to the eventual runner-up, Regis, 53-52.

Player of the Year

1. Vern Mikkelson, 6-7 senior center, Hamline Pipers

2. Hal Haskins, 6-3 junior forward, Hamline Pipers

3. Jim McIntyre, 6-10 senior center, Minnesota Gophers

4. George Mikan, 6-10 center, Minneapolis Lakers

5. Jim Fritsche, 6-6 senior center, St. Paul Humboldt
6. Milan Knezovich, 6-5 senior center, Hibbing
7. Whitey Skoog, 6-2 sophomore forward, Minnesota Gophers
8. Jim Pollard, 6-6 forward, Minneapolis Lakers
9. Don Olson, 6-3 senior forward, Mankato State
10. Bob Leiviska, senior guard, Hamline Pipers

Team of the Year

1. Hamline Pipers 31-3, NAIA national champion

2. Minnesota Gophers 18-3, Big Ten runner-up

3. Minneapolis Lakers 44-16 and 8-2 in post-season, BAA champion

4. St. Paul Humboldt 19-5, state high school champion

5. St. Thomas, co-MIAC champion
6. Mankato State, NTC champion
7. Mankato, state high school runner-up
8. Hibbing, state high school consolation champion, rated #1 to start the tournament
9. Rochester, state high school 3rd place
10. Mpls. Central, state high school 4th place

Coach of the Year

1. Ozzie Cowles, Minnesota Gophers

2. Joe Hutton, Hamline Pipers

3. Paul Sokol, St. Thomas Tommies

4. John Kundla, Minneapolis Lakers

5. Steve Ruzich, Dawson
6. Art Peterson, St. Paul Humboldt
7. Jim Withan, Mankato State
8. Mario Retica, Hibbing
9. Whitey Thoreson, Mpls. Central
10. Louis Todnem, Mankato

Game of the Year

1. Philips Oilers sweep Hamline 52-38 and 49-46

2. St. Thomas shocks Hamline 45-43

3. Gophers lose a heart-breaker at Big Ten champion Illinois 45-44

4. Hamline 52 Beloit 43 in NAIA semi-final

5 (tie). Mpls. Central upsets Hibbing in 1st round of state high school tourney 37-34

St. Paul Humboldt surprises Central 53-47 in state tournament semi
7. Gophers lose to Wisconsin 45-43 in final game
8. St. Thomas 56 Mankato State 55 for the right to play in the NAIA tournament
9. Regis knocks St. Thomas out of NAIA tournament, 53-52
10. Mpls. Lakers 77 Washington Capitols 56 to win NBA finals 4 games to 2

Game of the Year

2012-01-17T07:47:00.000-06:00

I never got around to picking a Game of the Year through the decades of Minnesota basketball. I previously had picked 3 games per decade, but it's time for a more thorough job. The games listed in boldface are the ones I will plan on going back to see as soon as I get my time machine running.

1896 Minnesota Aggies 9 Hamline 3 in the first intercollegiate game anywhere in the world
1897 Minnesota Aggies 19 Minnesota Gophers 3
1898 Red Wing Company G 22 Minneapolis YMCA 19 marking the end of the YMCA's dominance
1899 Minnesota Gophers 20 Minnesota Aggies 9 after Aggies beat Gophers 10 straight times

1900 Minnesota Lady Gophers 12 Stanley Hall 6 in 1st game ever for Lady Gophers
1901 Minnesota Gophers 42 Wisconsin 15
1902 Minnesota Gophers 32 Yale 23 in a match game for the national collegiate title
1903 Stillwater 26 Minneapolis Central 21, claims the mythical state high school championship
1904 Minnesota Gophers 28 Crawfordsville (IN) 23 after Gophers beat Indiana and Purdue more easily
1905 Columbia 27 Minnesota 15 as Gophers fail to beat #1 in the nation.
1906 Red Wing Red Men 20 Stockton (CA) 14 in match-up of 2 state champion senior men's teams
1907 Minnesota Gophers 21 Chicago 10 to clinch 1st Big 10 title
1908 Minnesota Gophers sweep Columbia 9-8, 16-11
1909 Chicago 27 Minnesota Gophers 2

1910 Minnesota Gophers split with Chicago 15-10, 15-18
1911 Madison HS 29 Ada 10 in match game for mythical state high school championship
1912 Wisconsin sweeps Minnesota Gophers 22-12, 29-26
1913 Fosston 29 Mountain Lake 27 to win 1st state high school tournament final
1914 Stillwater 30 Winona 4 in state high school final
1915 Red Wing HS 21 Red Wing Company L 19
1916 Virginia 20 St. Paul Mechanic Arts 9 in state high school final
1917 Minnesota Gophers 31 Iowa 19 to clinch Big 19 title
1918 Waseca 29 Duluth Central 10 in state high school final
1919 Minnesota Gophers 26 Illinois 9 to cap undefeated season and national title

1920 Crawfordsville (IN) 21 Mpls. Central 16; Central settles for 3rd in national HS tournament
1921 Indiana 24 Carleton 23
1922 Lexington (KY) 27 Duluth Cathedral 26; Cathedral also takes 3rd
1923 Aurora 24 Austin 14 in state high school final
1924 Carleton wins at Michigan State
1925 Ohio State 32 Minnesota Gophers 20 in 1st game at Kenwood Armory
1926 Gaylord 13 Gilbert 9 in state high school final
1927 Henning 28 Chisago City 18 in state high school Class B tournament final
1928 Ohio State 48 Minnesota 40 in 1st game at fieldhouse
1929 Jesse M. Stasch 27 Holy Cross Church 25 in Minnesota AAU championship

1930 Ascensions 31 Davis Hunt Club (Kansas City) 24 in national AAU
1931 DeLaSalle 23 Jaspar (IN) Academy 21 in national Catholic tournament final
1932 Thief River Falls 21 Chisholm 15 in state high school final
1933 Carleton 34 Wisconsin 29
1934 Dominium Electric 27 Rock Spring Sparklers 20 to win state AAU title
1935 Carleton 29 Minnesota Gophers 26
1936 Buhl 41 Mpls. Edison 32; huge upset, Buhl shoots 50% at a time when 20% is "good"
1937 Minnesota Gophers 34 Northwestern 33 to clinch Big 10 title
1938 Minnesota Gophers 56 Long Island U 41 at Madison Square Garden
1939 Mountain Lake 37 Mpls. Marshall 31 in state high school final

1940 Ascensions 41 Holy Cross 23 in state AAU final
1941 Bemidji State 41 San Diego State 32, beating defending national NAIA champs
1942 Buhl 30 Marshall 29 in state high school final
1943 Washington Bears 42 Rock Spring Sparklers 21 in national professional tournament
1944 Mpls. Henry 51 Crosby-Ironton 42 in state high school final
1945 Minnesota Gophers 45 DePaul 36, holding George Mikan to lowest college total of 11 points
1946 Lynd 58 Crosby-Ironton 47 in state high school final
1947 Duluth Denfeld 46 Crosby-Ironton 44 in state high school final
1948 Harlem Globetrotters 61 Minneapolis Lakers 59
1949 Philips Oilers sweep Hamline 52-38 and 49-46

1950 Minneapolis Lakers 75 Harlem Globetrotters 60
1951 Minnesota Gophers 61 Kentucky 57
1952 Ft. Wayne 19 Minneapolis Lakers 18
1953 Red Wing 92 Braham 73 in Region 4 high school final
1954 North Carolina State 85 Minnesota Gophers 84
1955 Minnesota Gophers 59 Purdue 56 (6 OT)
1956 Minneapolis Roosevelt 101 Blue Earth 54 in state high school final
1957 Minneapolis Roosevelt 73 Bemidji 70 (OT) in state high school 1st round
1958 Minneapolis Lakers 111 Harlem Globetrotters 100
1959 Boston Celtics 173 Minneapolis Lakers 139

1960 Edgerton 63 Richfield 60 (OT) in state high school semi-finals
1961 Duluth Central 51 Bemidji 50 in state high school final
1962 Minnesota Gophers split with Indiana: win 104-100, lose 105-104
1963 Marshall 75 Cloquet 74 in state high school final
1964 Augsburg 72 Duluth Branch 71 for right to play in national NAIA tournament
1965 Michigan sweeps Minnesota Gophers 91-78, 88-85
1966 Edina 62 Henning 55 (3OT) in state high school semi-finals
1967 Moorhead 73 Duluth Central 69 in state high school semi-finals
1968 Moorhead 108 St. Paul Highland Park 89 in state high school 1st round
1969 St. John's sweeps Winona State 53-50, 66-61 (OT) to move on to NAIA tournament

1970 Sherburn 78 South St. Paul 62 in state high school final
1971 St. Thomas 64 Augsburg 63 to move on to NAIA tournament
1972 Ohio State 50 Minnesota Gophers 44 in "basketbrawl"
1973 Iowa 79 Minnesota Gophers 77 to knock Gophers out of Big 10 title
1974 Melrose 58 Bemidji 42 in state high school "overall" final
1975 Little Falls 54 Chisholm 50 in state high school "overall" final
1976 Bloomington Jefferson 60 Hibbing 51 in state high school Class AA final
1977 Prior Lake 52 Duluth Central 49 in state high school Class AA final
1978 St. John's 98 Moorhead State 85 to move on to NAIA tournament
1979 New York Mills girls 61 Albany 52 in state high school girls Class A final

1980 Virginia 58 Minnesota Gophers 55 in NIT final
1981 Kansas 67 Minnesota Gopher women 61 in regional final
1982 Minnesota Gophers 57 Iowa 55 (3OT) en route to Big 10 title
1983 Woodbury 56 Coon Rapids 50 (OT) in state high school Class AA final
1984 White Bear Lake 51 Mpls. North 47 in state high school Class AA final
1985 White Bear Lake 67 Mpls. North 62 in state high school Class AA final
1986 Bloomington Jefferson 52 Duluth Central 51 in state high school Class AA final
1987 Blaine 62 Moorhead 56 (5 OT) in state high school Class AA semis
1988 Concordia (Moorhead) women 65 St. John Fisher 57 for NCAA D3 championship
1989 Duke 87 Minnesota Gophers 70 in Sweet 16

1990 Minnesota Gophers 82 Syracuse 75 in Sweet 16
1991 St. Thomas women 73 Muskingum 55 for NCAA D3 championship
1992 Minnesota Gophers 62 Georgetown 61 for NIT title
1993 Cretin-Derham Hall 72 Elk River 69 (2OT) in state high school Class AA semi
1994 Minnesota Gopher women 81 Notre Dame 76 in NCAA tournament
1995 Mpls. North 54 Staples-Motley 52 in state high school Sweet 16 final
1996 Mpls. North 67 St. Thomas 65 in state high school Sweet 16 semi-final
1997 Wabasso 117 Red Lake 113 (OT) in state high school Class A semi's
1998 Anoka Ramsey CC women 73 DuPage (IL) 48 for NJCAA D3 title
1999 Washington (St. Louis) women 74 St. Benedict's 65 for NCAA D3 title

2000 Minnesota Timberwolves 101 Indiana 100 on half-court shot by Malik Sealy
2001 Lakeville girls 53 Woodbury 52 (OT) in state high school girls Class AAAA 1st round
2002 Minnesota Gopher women 92 Wisconsin 85
2003 Minnesota Gopher women win at #9 Stanford to advance to NCAA Sweet 16
2004 Minnesota Gopher women 82 Duke 75 for a trip to the Final Four
2005 Hopkins 71 Eastview 60 (OT) in state high school Class AAAA final; Hoffarber's "butt shot"
2006 Winona State 74 Mankato State 71 after trailing by 16 in NCAA D2 regional game
2007 Winona State 69 Minnesota Gophers 64 in exhibition game
2008 Jordan girls 79 Crookston 74 as Chambers scores 47 in state high school girls Class AA semi
2009 Mankato State women 103 Franklin Pierce 94 in D3 women's championship game

2010 St. Paul Johnson 86 Hopkins 78
2011 St. Thomas 78 Wooster 54 in NCAA D3 championship game
2012

The Big Game 1-16-12: Bethel, Tommies Split a Pair

2012-01-16T23:05:00.002-06:00

The 1st place St. Thomas men and women took on Bethel tonight, and the Royals pulled 1--and almost 2--upsets. But surprisingly, it was the Bethel men, just 2-6 going in, who pulled the upset, on the road no less, rather than the 7-3 Bethel women at home. Kellen Dahlquist scored off the offensive glass as the final buzzer sounded to bring Bethel the 69-68 win.

Like the Bethel men, the women trailed early and rallied heartily in the 2nd half. Unlike the men, they didn't quite get it done, as a pair of missed shots inside of 10 seconds let the Tommies escape with a 68-66 win.

St. Thomas women 68 Bethel 66

The Bethel women trailed 41-22 at the half, shooting just 34 percent in the 1st half, and still trailed 51-30 at 15:12. From there the Royals out-scored the Tommies 36-17. Bethel finally made it a 1-possession game on a 3 by Taylor Sheley at :56. A Sheley 2+1 got 'em within 1 at 67-66 with :36 to play. But the Royals would not score again. Sheley led all scorers with 32 points, 28 of them after intermission. Taylor Young scored 19 points for St. Thomas, 14 of them in the 2nd half.

The Tommies remain unbeaten at 11-0, 1 game ahead of Gustavus Adolphus in 1st place in the MIAC. The Bethel women, who started 6-0 in the conference, drop 4 games back at 7-4.

Bethel men 69 St. Thomas 68

At the same time, a similar script was unfolding at St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena, where the Tommies men led Bethel most of the way. But, as with the women, it was the visitors who rose to the occasion at the end.

The Tommies went ahead 68-67 on a Will DeBerg FT at :47. Daniel Baah's 3-pointer missed for Bethel at :04 but Dahlquist banked it home for the win. Bethel ended a 4-game losing streak as well as a 16-game losing streak vs. St. Thomas. DeBerg scored 22 for the Tommies, Taylor Hall 18 for Bethel.

Player of the Day

Sheley would be a good choice, but I'm gonna get Kevin Love back into the mix. Love scored 33 points and corralled 11 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 99-86 win over the Sacramento Kings. Luke Ridnour added 25 points and 9 assists. But Love scored 10 of the Wolves' final 24 points as they pulled away from a 75-73 lead at 7:10 to the easy win.

Coach of the Day

Jeff Westlund, Bethel men

The Big Game 1-15-12: Gopher men 80 Penn State 66

2012-01-15T19:51:00.002-06:00

The Minnesota Gopher men made it 2 straight wins on the road for the 1st time in 3 years. Following the heart-stopping with an #7 Indiana, this time the victim was cellar-dwelling Penn State. The Gophers took a 7-2 lead early, but Penn State led throughout most of the 1st half, with 23-15 at 7:27 the Lions' largest lead of the day.

The Gophers closed out the 1st half on an 18-5 run to lead 33-31 at intermission, and never trailed again. Penn State tied it up at 33 to open the 2nd half, but the Gophers scored the next 11 points. Penn State scored the next 8 to make it 44-41 but the Gophers then scored another 11 unanswered points to lead 55-41 at 9:33. From 15-23, Minnesota out-scored the Lions 40-18. The closest Penn State got after that was 62-57 at 4:10, but again the Gophers got a big run, 13-3, to put it away at 75-60 with 1:20 on the clock. The final, as you saw above was 80-66.

Joe Coleman, in his 2nd start as a Gopher, scored 10 of those 18 points to close out the 1st half on 3-for-3 FG and 4-for-4 FT. Chip Armelin added 5 points, and Julian Welch 3. Again in the 2nd half, it was Coleman who led the way with 8 points in those 2 11-point runs. Austin Hollins added a pair of 3s, Rodney Williams 4 points, Elliot Eliason a 2 + 1 and Maverick Ahanmisi a FT after a steal.

All together in the 3 runs, Coleman had 18 points on 5/6 FG and 8/8 FT, plus 2 assists. Austin Hollins had 6 points on 2-of-2 3-pointers, and he also had 2 assists. Armelin scored 5 points on 2/4 shooting with a rebound. Welch and Eliason each scored 3 on 1/1 shooting. Welch had 2 assists and a rebound, Eliason 2 boards and a block. Ahanmisi had the 1 point and 1 steal. The Gophers assisted on 9 of 11 buckets during these runs. All in all a very productive few minutes of play from a bunch of contributors.

But it was Joe Coleman was took charge whenever Penn State made a run. He finished with 23 points on 5-of-8 FG and 13-of-14 FT. Ralph Sampson had just 4 points but added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 blocks.

The Gophers overall shot a blistering 55 percent (21-of-38) including 5-of-10 3s. Which is a good thing because they were out-rebounded 15-3 off the offensive glass.

Player of the Day

Joe Coleman

Coach of the Day

Tubby Smith

High School Boys Top 20 Ratings 1-15-12

2012-01-15T11:29:00.000-06:00

In compiling my ratings of the high school girls last week, I completed Class AAAA and got no further. It's a big job. Seeing the error of my ways, I figure I might as well just do 1 rating with all 4 classes. So that's what I've done this week for the boys.

Boys Top 20 1-15-12

1. Eastview 13-0. Up from #2 after what has to be one of the most productive weeks any Minnesota high school basketball team has ever had. The Lightning beat #4AAAA Lakeville North and #3AAAA Apple Valley on the road, then hammered the undefeated, defending Wisconsin big school champ, Madison Memorial, 64-37 on a neutral court, but a neutral court in Wisconsin. You could have made good money betting that the Lightning could win all 3 of those games, not that I advocate wagering on high school sports, mind you. Nine words: Joey King has more help than Tyus Jones does. Now the challenge will be to avoid a let-down against Rosemount or Prior Lake this coming week.

2. Hopkins 12-1. Nothing against the Royals but they drop from #1 through no fault of their own. Eastview just had too big of a week. But if the Lightning and Royals should meet for the state tournament 2 months hence, and if neither has lost a game in the interim, it will still be called an upset if Hopkins should lose, don't you think?

3. Benilde-St. Margaret's (Class AAA) 11-1. Beat Hopkins, lost to Eastview.

4. Lakeville North 11-1. Lost only to Eastview, beat Eden Prairie.

5. Eden Prairie 9-2. Lost only to Lakeville North and Benilde, but beat Apple Valley.

6. Apple Valley 10-2. Lost to Eastview and Eden Prairie. Two words: Tyus Jones.

7. Wayzata 13-0. Hard to tell how good they are, they haven't really played or beaten anybody.

8. Minnetonka 11-2. Rebuilding rapidly under 2nd year coach Tom Dasovich. Lost to Benilde and Dasovich's former team, Henry Sibley.

9. Osseo 12-1. Lost only to Champlin Park.

10. Mpls. Washburn (Class AAA) 10-1. Lost only to Lakeville North.

11. Spring Lake Park (Class AAA) 10-1. Lost only to Eastview, won at Tartan.

12. Moorhead 9-1. Lost only to Eastview.

13. Duluth East 5-7. An unconventional choice, but all losses were with senior Johnny Woodard and 7-foot post Adoldo Manyang out. Woodard is scoring 30 ppg and the Greyhounds are unbeaten since his return.

14. Grand Rapids (Class AAA) 11-2. Austin Pohlen and Alex Illikainen make the Thunderhawks a threat in AAA.

15. Tartan 9-3. Lost only to Apple Valley, Duluth East and Spring Lake Park.

16. Chanhassan 9-4. Lost to Lakeville North, Hopkins and Eden Prairie...oh, and Buffalo. A program on the rise.

17. Roseville 9-3
and Woodbury 10-2. The Royals beat the Raiders, but for the moment it's still hard to separate the 2 of them.

19. Champlin Park 9-3. Lost only to Lakeville North, Spring Lake Park and Maple Grove.

20. Mounds View 9-3. In the running with Roseville and Woodbury for the Suburban East title.

They Also Ran--Perham 11-1 and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 11-0 are #1 in Class AA and Class A, respectively. My intuition is that the AA champion in any given year is probably around the #25AAAA team, and the A champion is probably below the middle of the pack among the approximately 64 Class AAAA teams (i.e. #32ish). Also Honorable Mention among the bigger schools are Owatonna 10-3, Prior Lake 6-6, Rochester Century 10-3, Mahtomedi 7-3, Maple Grove 7-4.

Minnesota High School Coach of the Year

2012-01-15T10:40:00.000-06:00

Previously I've picked a Coach of the Year, many of whom have been high school coaches. But with the MSHSL's recent selections of Minnesota's all-time state tournament coaches, it occurred to me to choose high school coaches of the year through the decades. Coaches listed in boldface are the overall Minnesota coach of the year. Coaches listed in italic are multiple winners of high school coach of the year honors.

1914 Harry Gammons, Stillwater
1915 Raymond Hanson, Red Wing (player-coach)
1916 Alfred Jackson, Virginia
1917 Endre Anderson, Rochester
1918 Leigh McQueen, Waseca
1919 Hartness Taylor, Albert Lea

1920 Art Rolfe, Red Wing
1921 Weston Mitchell, Mpls. Central just ahead of Roland Church, New Ulm
1922 Reginald Kraemer, Madison
1923 Harold Taylor, Aurora
1924 Louis Benson, Two Harbors
1925 Edwin McKee, St. Paul Mechanic Arts
1926 B.F. Borchert, Gaylor
1927 Otto Engenbrecht, Mpls. South ahead of Neal Heis, Faribault
1928 Glen Hanna, Moorhead
1929 Ed Buckley, Ely just ahead of Ray Parkins, Mpls. Edison

1930 Peter Deanovic, Columbia Heights
1931 Jack Sterrett, Glencoe
1932 Roger Dooley, Thief River Falls
1933 William Dammann, Brainerd
1934 Harvey Roels, Chisholm
1935 Thomas Antil, Glencoe
1936 Anthony Chermak, Wadena
1937 Ray Parkins, Mpls. Edison
1938 George Lee, Thief River Falls
1939 Sam Ettinger, South St. Paul

1940 Walt Mikulich, Breckenridge
1941 Muxie Anderson, Buhl
1942 Bernard Cole, Marshall
1943 Harry Falk, Alexandria
1944 Frank Cleve, Mpls. Patrick Henry
1945 Dick Buckley, Ely
1946 Chet Bisel, Lynd
1947 Len Espeland, Granite Falls
1948 Butsie Maetzold, Hopkins
1949 Sam Ruzich, Dawson

1950 Roger Isaacson, Canby
1951 Wayne Keto, Gilbert
1952 Butsie Maetzold, Hopkins over Bert Munson, Mountain Lake
1953 Mario Retica, Hibbing
1954 Fred Kellett, Brainerd
1955 Clarence Johnson, Esko
1956 Wayne Courtney, Mpls. Roosevelt
1957 Dick Reinhart, DeLaSalle
1958 Ove Berven, Austin
1959 Jack Thurnblad, Wayzata over Dick Nielsen, Carlton

1960 Richie Olson, Edgerton
1961 Bun Fortier, Bemidji
1962 Lloyd Holm, St. Louis Park
1963 Glenn Mattke, Marshall
1964 Ray Merry, Luverne
1965 Ron Eickhoff, Franklin
1966 Dick Beetsch, Windom
1967 Duane Baglien, Edina over Shocky Strand, Moorhead
1968 Orris Jirele, Rochester Lourdes over Duane Baglien, Edina
1969 Al Wold, Rochester John Marshall

1970 Dennis Christopherson, Sherburn
1971 Jim Hastings, Duluth Central over Del Schiffler, Melrose
1972 Judge Veglahn, St. James
1973 Bob McDonald, Chisholm
1974 Del Schiffler, Melrose over Janet Willand, Glencoe girls
1975 Bob McDonald, Chisholm over Al Baumann, Little Falls
1976 Ed Prohofsky, Mpls. Marshall-U over Gene Biewen, Mankato Wilson
1977 John Nett, Winona Cotter
1978 Mike Jerabek, Prior Lake
1979 Jim Hastings, Duluth Central

1980 Tony Queen, Mpls. North over Jerry Cool, Little Falls girls
1981 Jerry Wohler, Bird Island-Lake Lillian
1982 Jack Evens, Bloomington Jefferson over Donna Mark, St. Cloud Apollo girls
1983 Del Schiffler, Woodbury
1984 Jerry Cool, Little Falls girls over Jim Galvin, White Bear Lake
1985 Ron Beachy, Staples-Motley girls
1986 Phil Frerk, St. Louis Park girls
1987 Jack Evens, Bloomington Jefferson
1988 Bob Brink, Rocori
1989 Len Olson, Owatonna over Dave Thorpe, Osseo girls

1990 Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes girls
1991 Len Horyza, Cretin-Derham Hall
1992 Len Horyza, Cretin-Derham Hall over Dave Tank, Anoka
1993 Terry Hunst, Bloomington Jefferson girls
1994 Louis Boone, Mpls. Washburn
1995 Lynn Peterson, Staples-Motley
1996 Nikki Scholl, Hastings girls
1997 Mike Dreier, New London-Spicer girls
1998 Faith Johnson Patterson, Mpls. North girls
1999 Ziggy Kauls, Mounds View

2000 Lawrence McKenzie, Mpls. Patrick Henry over John Carlson, Litchfield
2001 Terry Culhane, Marshall
2002 Lawrence McKenzie, Mpls. Patrick Henry over Andy Berkvam, Lakeville girls
2003 Brett McNeal, Mpls. North
2004 Bob Vaughan, Braham over Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
2005 Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes girls over Percy Wade, Bloomington Kennedy girls
2006 Tom Vix, Rushford-Peterson
2007 Nicholas Guida, Buffalo
2008 Shannon Hartinger, Totino-Grace girls
2009 David Smart, Ada-Borup girls

2010 Vernon Simmons, St. Paul Johnson
2011 Dave Cresap, Perham

The Big Game 1-14-12: Eastview 64 Madison Memorial 37

2012-01-14T08:49:00.001-06:00

Final: Eastview boys 64 Madison Memorial 37

The Eastview Lightning boys manhandled the #1 rated, undefeated, defending Wisconsin big school champions from Madison Memorial in what a blogger for the LaCrosse Tribune understated as "an impressive showing by the top team in Minnesota." Ben Oberfeld scored 16 for the Lightning. Chris Narum opened the game with a 3, opened the 2nd half with a pair of 3s to make it 37-19 and finished with 5 3s and 15 points overall. Joey King added 11.

Eastview led all the way: 11-4 early and 15-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. Yes, the still play quarters in Wisconsin. How quaint. It was 21-10, then 31-19 at the half, and 45-33 after 3.

Thank goodness for Eastview, by the way. The other 4 Minnesota teams all went down to defeat.

GET 49 Austin 34
Onalaska 54 Owatona 36
Whitefish Bay Dominican 78 St. Paul Johnson 46
Milwaukee Riverside 47 Roseville 45

See preview below.

Player of the Day

Taylor Sheley of the Bethel women scored 24 points with 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, and hit 6-of-6 FT inside of the final minute as Bethel edged Hamline 60-58 in the MIAC.

Coach of the Day

One more time: Mark Gerber, Eastview. Has any MN high school team ever had a week like this, beating #4 and #3 on the road, then #1 in a neighboring state (technically a neutral court)? I doubt it.

Preview: North or South?

If I were able to undertake a road trip, which I'm not by the way, but if I were, it would be tough to decide which direction to go. North to Moorhead, where one can see 4 1st place college teams in action? Or south to LaCrosse, where there are 6 high school games, 5 of them featuring a Minnesota vs. Wisconsin theme, including #1AAAA Eastview vs. undefeated and defending Wisconsin big school champion Madison Memorial.

Moorhead

1 p.m.--1st place St. Thomas women (9-0, 11-1) vs. Concordia (Moorhead) (6-3, 8-4)
3 p.m.--1st place St. Thomas men (6-1, 9-3) vs. Concordia (Moorhead) (3-5, 5-8)
4 p.m.--Winona State women (5-5, 10-6) vs. Moorhead State (3-7, 6-8)
6 p.m.--Winona State men (9-1, 14-2) vs. Moorhead State (9-1, 13-1)--the 2 teams being tied with one another for 1st place a pretty much the coup de grace for the day

LaCrosse

Midwest Players Tournament at LaCrosse Center

10:45 a.m. Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau (WI) vs. Austin (MN)

12:30 p.m. Milwaukee Riverside vs. St. Paul Johnson

2:15 Whitefish Bay Dominican vs. Owatonna

4 Roseville (MN) vs. Onalaska

5:45 Madison Memorial vs. Eastview--MN's #1AAAA vs. WI's unbeaten, defending large school champ

7:30 LaCrosse Aquinas vs. Kaukana

The Big Game 1-13-12: Eastview Sweeps Lakeville and Apple Valley, Faces Madison Memorial

2012-01-14T07:54:00.002-06:00

Well, I said it couldn't be done, but #1AAAA Eastview completed a big road sweep of the #3AAAA and #4AAAA boys basketball teams in Minnesota in a span of 4 days. I mean, how hard is it to be at top 10-rated opponent on the road? The Minnesota Gophers hadn't done it in 30 years until the other night.

And not only did Eastview sweep the 2 games, they did it in completely different styles. On Tuesday, it was Eastview 54 Lakeville North 48 as Joey King scored 18 and Darin Haugh 13.

Last night, it was Eastview 91 Apple Valley 84. King, the 6-9 senior forward, scored 37 points, Haugh another 13, Quinn Trusty 15 and Ben Oberfeld 12.

For Apple Valley, 6-3 sophomore guard sensation Tyus Jones scored 39 points, 10 points above his season's average. Henry Sonie added 13, Dennis Auston 12 and Dustin Fronk 10.

Today, the plot just keeps on getting thicker, as the Lightning travel to LaCrosse, WI, where they will play undefeated Madison Memorial (10-0) and defending Wisconsin state champion with a record of 22-6. This was their 3rd state title, the others coming in 2005 and 2009, along with runner-up finishes in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 and a loss in the quarter-finals in 2007.

Madison swept 3 games in a holiday tournament in Detroit, including a win over Michigan's #4 team in Detroit King 71-69 as Jamar "Popcorn" Morris had 15 points and 12 boards, Jester Weah 14 and 11, and Junior Lomomba 11 points. A week ago, Memorial beat Madison LaFollette 76-59 as Lomomba sat out due to disciplinary reasons. Ngisol Songolo picked up the slack with 23 points.

This game is part of a 6-game set titled the Midwest Players Tournament.

10:45 a.m. Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau (WI) vs. Austin (MN)
12:30 p.m. Milwaukee Riverside vs. St. Paul Johnson
2:15 Whitefish Bay Dominican vs. Owatonna
4 Roseville (MN) vs. Onalaska
5:45 Madison Memorial vs. Eastview
7:30 LaCrosse Aquinas vs. Kaukana

I rated Eastview #2 in my mid-season rankings because I thought they'd lose to Lakeville North or Apple Valley. If they can get by Madison, I think they've earned that #1 rating even from me. Who knows, maybe even if they don't.

Player of the Day

Joey King, Eastview, and Tyus Jones, Apple Valley

Coach of the Day

Mark Gerber, Eastview

Girls Ratings 1-13-12: AAAA

2012-01-13T10:58:00.000-06:00

Good luck to all on this Friday the 13th!

The most widely viewed high school poll, developed by the Minnesota Basketball News and distributed by the AP, came out yesterday. But they're not the only rankings. Breakdown Sports published theirs last Sunday, while the QRF ratings were published at www.minnesota-scores.net, also yesterday (Thursday). Gary Knox's ratings at gPrep.net aren't dated and I have a feeling his are more than a week old, but they're included here. Mine are brand new today. Here is my take on Class AAAA. I might get to the other classes and I might not.

AAAA

1. Hopkins 14-0. Doh. It's hard to picture the Royals losing but, hey, Lakeville North almost did it. A loss a week from today at DeLaSalle is a possibility, I suppose, as is a road loss in the fiendishly tough Lake Conference. Still, they're unanimously rated #1, as they should be, as they still appear to be a lead-pipe cinch for the #1AAAA seed at state.

It gets interesting from there.

2. Edina 13-0. The Hornets are rated everywhere from #2 to #4. MBN seems more geared toward rewarding teams for their caliber of play today, and Edina is playing terrific ball, even with Mary McGrory out. The Breakdown seems to have an eye on the future and who has the potential to do best in the post-season, and therefore has Kennedy and Eden Prairie #2 and #3.

3. Eden Prairie 11-2. Lost only to Hopkins and Kennedy. Sometimes it feels like they're going 2-against-5. Range is from #3 to #6.

4. Bloomington Kennedy 10-2. Will the real Eagles please stand up? The team that lost to Wayzata and Richfield? Or the one that handled EP and Lakeville North? Range is from #2 to #7.

5. Wayzata 12-1. Lost to White Bear Lake, beat Kennedy. Like EP, a 2-tent pole team. Range is from #2 to #5.

6. Osseo 10-3. Total is less than the sum of the parts so far with surprise losses to Coon Rapids and Cooper. I am Osseo's best friend as other ratings range from #8 tie to #11. The talent is there, it will find its way to the same page.

7. Lakeville North 7-6. What's more surprising, that the Panthers are 7-6 or that they 7-6 and rated #5 and #7 by 2 of us. But the losses are to Hopkins, Edina, Eden Prairie and Kennedy plus Eastview and Providence. Deep talent in search of an identity and Andy Berkvam will find it.

8. Minnetonka 11-2. A surprise to me, at least, though the loss to Buffalo was a surprise of the bad kind. Getting a lot of mileage out of the available talent, not that it isn't a nice, deep pool but like Lakeville North it seems to lack a central identity unless it's just mind-numbing consistency running its patterns and playing solid position basketball, spacing the floor correctly and doing all the little things. Ratings range from #5 to #8.

9. Roseville 11-2. There's a huge gap between #6-7-8 and #9. The Raiders may or may not be the best team in the Suburban East, time will tell. But they've got a go-to in Jackie Poss. Ratings range from #9 to #15.

10. Chanhassan 10-2. A program on the rise, a very possible Missota champion this year. Lost only to Kennedy and Hill-Murray. Ratings range from #6 (MBN)(!) to outside of the top 15.

11. White Bear Lake 8-6. Has struggled this year--especially, with Alexis Foley out they've really struggled to score some points. Even with Foley, they've struggled to score as a reliable #2 hasn't stepped up. Tarah Hobbs might be it, but she's been hurt too. The point of this #11 is the Bears will be back, assuming the injury bug flies off to new pastures. Tuesday Foley scored 19 and Hobbs 4 in 65-52 win over Woodbury, so all may be returning to normal soon. Ratings range from #8 to out of the top 15.

12. St. Paul Central 8-5. A young team that has played everybody and therefore has taken some lumps--but, hey, from Lakeville North, DeLaSalle, Hopkins, Benilde and Osseo. No shame in that. Betsy McDonald is the poor man's Grace Coughlin. Ratings range from #11 to out of the top 15.

13. Buffalo 11-3. Got on the radar with a win over Roseville. Lost only to Chanhassan and Wayzata among Minnesota teams. Ratings rang from #7 to outside the top 15.

14. Mounds View 10-3. Lost to Kennedy, Braham, Roseville. Could still be the best of the east metro. Ratings range from #13 to outside of the top 15.

15. Eastview 9-4. Reloading. Lost to White Bear, Hopkins, Kennedy, Minnetonka. The next star of the East(view) is freshman Maddie Guebbert.

Also receiving votes: Robbinsdale Cooper, Prior Lake, Maple Grove are rated in one top 15 or other. Cooper is a 2-tent pole team, Maple Grove has 1-tent pole, and Prior Lake's would-be tent-pole, Molly Simpkins, is pretty much hobbling around on bad knees. So I'm in wait-and-see mode on these 3.

100 Years of Minnesota State High School Tournament Basketball 2: Girls Coaches

2012-01-13T07:34:00.000-06:00

Last week the MSHSL announced an ongoing feature on its Web site, that is, the "best of" the Minnesota state basketball tournaments. This is all in honor of the 100th year of high school tournament play. Each week the MSHSL will announce the "best of" in one category or another. This week it's the girls coaches. Their top 5 is as follows. The comments are mine. To see the MSHSL's commentary on this, visit http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp and click on 100 Years of BB in the upper left.

MSHSL's Top 5 Girls Coaches

Jerry Cool, Little Falls
Terry Culhane, Milroy, Tracy-Milroy, Marshall
Mike Dreier, New London-Spicer
Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes
Faith Johnson Patterson, Mpls. North, DeLaSalle

It's very hard to disagree with this list. The 5 have over 50 state tournament appearances and 23 titles among them. By the same token, it's very hard to leave coaches like Andy Berkvam, Brian Cosgriff and Terry Hunst off the list. Well, the MSHSL goes on to list....

Other Notable Coaches

Andy Berkvam, Lakeville, Lakeville North
Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins
Ray Finley, Blake, Breck, Providence
Terry Hunst, Bloomington Jefferson
Willie Taylor, Mounds View, St. Paul Central

Here's another 14 state championships represented. But here again, once I name these fellows, it's hard for me to draw the line above the following:

Doug Boe, Burnsville
Phil Frerk, St. Louis Park
Gary Gillis, Storden-Jeffers, Red Rock Central
Dave Preller, Woodbury

Still the 2 lists the MSHSL has published are excellent lists. And while nobody can deny that Myron Glass is the dean of his profession in Minnesota with those 8 state titles, 2 of my personal favorites would have to be Faith Patterson, with whom I serve on a board and who I have found to be as energetic when it comes to high school basketball as a person can be, and Brian Cosgriff of Hopkins. Cos takes a lot of hits because the Hopkins girls and boys just have too much success and they wear people out. But he promotes the hell out of the game and is unfailingly helpful and forthcoming if you want to promote high school basketball and want some help.

This is nothing against any of the others, but these are 2 people I know and admire a lot.

The Big Game 1-12-12: Gopher Men Shock Indiana!

2012-01-12T22:12:00.002-06:00

It was shades of Illinois. The Gophers had Indiana on the ropes. They had 'em beat. Could they put 'em away. No, not quite. Not yet. Not now. But finally, NOW! The final was Minnesota 77 Indiana 74.

The Gophers led 70-62 with 1:45 left to go after Ralph Sampson hit just his 2nd bucket of the night off a feed from Maverick Ahanmisi. At 1:11 Rodney Williams made 1-of-2 FT to make it 71-62. 13 seconds later Indiana hit a 3. 71-65. At :50, Mav missed the front end of a 1-and-1. 8 seconds later, Joe Coleman missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but the Hoosiers turned it over. Julian Welch returned the favor. Cody Zeller got the steal and an assist, Victor Oladipo got the 2, Welch the foul, and Oladipo the +1. 71-68. Still :40 to play.

But this time Coleman hit 2 FT and, after Matt Roth hit a 3 for Indiana, Coleman hit 2 more FT. 75-71 with :28 to go. 11 seconds later Zeller got the 2+1. 75-74 at :17. Austin Hollins made 2 FT at :15 and Indiana's Christian Watford finally missed a 3 at :05. Welch missed a pair of throws at :02 but Indiana couldn't get off a shot.

Whew!

But, hey, great show. Minnesota ran off 8 straight points to go ahead 29-20 at 7:30 of the 1st. Indiana tied it up at 32 but the Gophers led 37-34 at the half. Minnesota shot 14-for-28, including 6-of-13 on 3-pointers. In the 2nd half, the Gophers led 43-34, then 56-47, and finally 68-62 when Sampson hit his 2nd bucket.

Overall the Gophers shot 29-for-62 (47 percent), Indiana 24-for-55 (44 percent). Minnesota snared 16 offensive rebounds to 14 for Indiana, though the Hoosiers converted that into 22 2nd chance points, Minnesota just 13. But Indiana had 16 turnovers, Minnesota 11, and the Gophers scored more points off turnovers, 17-13. The good news is the Gophers didn't win with 1 truly amazing weapon. They did everything well--or, well enough.

Austin Hollins scored a career high 18 points, Williams 14 and Welch 10. Sampson scored just those 4 points, but led the team with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Does this mean the Gophers are back? Can they contend? Well, let's take it 1 game at a time, whaddya say? Well, OK, the next 2 games. We're at Penn State (1-4) and Northwestern at home (1-3), A couple wins get Minnesota to a respectable 3-4 and then you can start thinking about anything more.

Player of the Day

About once a month I pick a non-Minnesotan. This is one of those nights. Brittney Rayburn of Purdue hit 12-of-15 3s for 38 points against the Gophers at Williams Arena, and a Purdue team that was lucky to beat Minnesota at home clobbered 'em on the road 72-55.

Coach of the Day

Tubby Smith, who somehow got his guys to believe they could compete with Indiana at Bloomington. I mean, you didn't believe it, did you? Nor did I. Good job by Tubby and his guys. Now, can they play that well again?

The Second Season, Sort Of: Minnesota Timberwolves

2012-01-12T12:50:00.003-06:00

Ordinarily, the Minnesota Timberwolves and their fellow NBA franchises would be 35 games into their season by now. One could reasonably describe November and December play as their First Season, and January as kicking off the Second. This year, of course, was different. Due to the owners' lockout, play only began on December 26 and the Wolves turned the page to the new year with an 0-3 record.

2012 started with a bang, however, as the Wolves knocked off the powerful Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs back-to-back 99-82 and 106-96 on January 1 and 2. Suddenly the playoffs seemed within reach for the 1st time in more than half a decade.

Since then, unfortunately, the Wolves have more resembled their 2011 selves than that group that showed up for work on January 1 and 2. Minnesota has now lost 4 of 5 games, including unexpected and dispiriting losses to also-rans like Cleveland and Toronto.

So, who and what are the real Minnesota Timberwolves? How do they grade out for the First Season, short as it has been? What are the prospects for the Second, not to mention the Third (the playoffs)? Is there a chance?

Well, long story short, no. It ain't gonna happen. The rest of January will see about 4 more wins and 7 more losses for a 7-14 record, a little better percentage-wise (.333) than today (.300). The Wolves currently are tied for last place (OK, 13th, 14th and 15th) in the West, and would need to stay ahead of Houston and New Orleans, with whom they're now tied) and also leap-frog 5 other teams to get up to 8th place and the playoffs. That would mean getting at least to .500 or maybe a bit above .500. And 7-14 isn't close. If they closed January on a 7-4 run, they'd be 10-11 and still in all likelihood a game or two out of the playoffs.

So 2012 will be all about continuing to test combinations and individuals in order to figure out who can and will help the Wolves get to the next level, which would be competing seriously for the playoffs (2013?) and then making the playoffs (2014?).

So far, injuries have not helped either in the W-L column or in terms of that testing. Guard J.J. Barea, who may yet prove to be the Wolves' best player, has missed several games in the early going, while enigmatic forward Michael Beasley is now out for several games. Both have had foot injuries.

But here's what we think we know at this stage--again, to be proven out over the next 56 games--with roster moves hopefully to follow based on what is learned and/or confirmed.

The Good

Kevin Love. Ricky Rubio. Rick Adelman. Hopefully J.J. Barea. Surely, Derrick Williams?

These may be the only pieces that will remain when the Wolves become truly competitive.

Kevin Love has been the same old (young) Kevin Love. His rebounds are hovering around 15 per game, good enough to lead the league both last year and so far this year. His scoring is up from 20 to 24 ppg. That's because he's taking more shots, 17 versus 14 last year, and his percentage is down from 47 to 42 percent. From 3-point range it's down from 42 to 40. And, the fact is he turns the ball over a bit (3 per game) and gets his shot blocked quite a bit and he is not an elite defender. So he's probably not as good as the average 24/15 player, except of course that there is no such thing as a 24/15 player not named Kevin Love. So obviously you play him as much as his body can stand, and you do everything you possibly can to sign him to a long-term deal. And, fortunately, he's got 2 reasons to sign up long-term that he didn't have last year at this time. Ricky Rubio and Rick Adelman.

When Ricky Rubio moved from the juniors to the senior level in Europe, his numbers plummeted. Some said his game was better suited to the NBA, which is a more open, full-court game whereas they mostly grind it out in the half court in Europe. I was skeptical. I was wrong. Obviously, he's got a gift for seeing the court and pushing and moving the ball and getting it to bigger fellows where they can score. And shooting out of more of a flow has done wonders for his accuracy, now 46 percent overall and 47 percent on the 3. So obviously you play him as much as is consistent with his continuing development as an NBA 1. I don't know if that means getting lots and lots of minutes, or if it means slotting him in where he can be successful, or if it means avoiding unnecessary wear and tear on his body. But whatever it is, that's what you do, even if that means sacrificing a few wins in the short term.

The 6-8 Williams is of course a rookie who is viewed as having an almost unlimited upside--sort of like Beasley 2 or 3 years ago. Like Beasley, right now he's scoring a point about every 2.5 minutes, and Beas gets a rebound ever 4.5 minutes, Williams every 5 minutes. But Williams is shooting 5 percentage points better and 15 from the line. He turns it over every 15 minutes, Beas every 10. He throws up too many 3s. And, again, he's a rookie. He'll get better, and he's already approximately as good as Beas. So obviously you play him as much as is consistent with his continuing development as an NBA 1. I don't know if that means getting lots and lots of minutes, or if it means slotting him in where he can be successful, or if it means avoiding unnecessary wear and tear on his body. But whatever it is, that's what you do, even if that means sacrificing a few wins in the short term. (You may note, this last comment is verbatim what I said about Rubio.)

Collectively, the Wolves are 7th in the NBA in offensive rebounds--though that's in part because we miss more shots--and 12th in overall rebounding. We're above the middle of the pack on 3-point defense.

The Bad

The enigmatic Michael Beasley. Adelman noted after one recent loss that the Wolves' ball movement had been much better than in previous games. Asked why, Love intimated that it was because Beasley is out. Well, doh! And, get this. Taking 14 shots per game, the same that Love was taking a year ago, Beasley is scoring 12 ppg versus Love's 20 last year. And he's turning it over with the same frequency as Love, 3 times per game, in 7 fewer minutes and with about half as many assists. He makes an average of 1 FT out of 3 attempts per game. Anthony Randolph shoots as many FT per game in well under half as many minutes. This is not a productive offensive player, neither in terms of his own scoring or anybody else's.

So what to do? You package him up with whatever guard--Wes Johnson, or Luke Ridnour, or Wayne Ellington--or whatever player--Milicic, Randolph, Tolliver, whatever--the market will accept (and who is not named Love, Rubio, Williams or Berea), and you acquire a competent professional who can play within a team concept and probably score 12 points on half the shots it takes Beasley (or Johnson and Ellington combined) to get there.

Because, hey, the Wolves' options among their 2s go from worse (than Beas) to worser. Johnson and Ellington play 38 minutes a game and score 9 points on 34 percent shooting. And this is a prime go-to scoring position in the NBA. Not good. Black hole.

Collectively, the Wolves are not a good shooting team--10th in the NBA 3s, but 21st overall, and 24th from the line. They assist on about half of all FG. Only Memphis, Sacramento and Washington do less. Only Miami has more turnovers, and the assist-to-turnover ratio is about 1-to-1. Only Sacramento is worse. We're 3rd from the bottom on turnover differential (-3.2). Only 11 teams have fewer steals and 3 have fewer blocked shots. We're dead last in blocked shot differential. We're not quick or athletic or explosive. We're below the middle of the pack on defensive FG percentage.

So, those wins over Dallas and San Antone not withstanding, there's a ways to go.

The OK for Now

The Wolves' bench could be considered to be pretty good if you mean the guys who start the game there--Rubio and Derrick Williams, for example--as opposed to the guys who finish there. Adelman has been starting Milicic, Love, Beasley, Ridnour and Wes Johnson, but he's generally been finishing with Love, Williams and Rubio. Barea and Ridnour have both played with that 4th quarter platoon, while the small forward in this package could be just about anybody.

But just for the sake of example, the 2nd team on the depth chart is Randolph, Tolliver, Williams, Berea
and Rubio. Rubio we've discussed.

• The 6-11 Randolph is scoring 8 points in 14 minutes on 54 percent shooting, but gets only 2 boards. Still, he's played some solid minutes and been a valuable player.

• The 6-8 Tolliver contributes 5 points and 4 boards in 24 minutes, but shoots 37 percent. Still, he's played some solid minutes and been a valuable player.

• We might rate Barea higher than this--i.e. among The Good--but for his injuries. Omigod, is he injury-prone? He's scoring 11 ppg on 40 percent shooting, 31 percent from 3, which is not great. He's not a great defender, but he protects the ball. He's played some solid minutes and been a valuable player.

• Ridnour. Luke is suddenly a more valuable player when you put him on the floor with Rubio. (Oh,wait, everybody is better with Rubio out there. But Ridnour perhaps most of all.) You could almost describe him as a 2. He's shooting 54 percent and still getting 3 assists per game. He's out-sized at the 2 but has proven to be better than the other alternatives. He's played some solid minutes and been a valuable player.

A Year from Now

So where does that leave us? I'm bullish. I am even bullish on David Kahn's ability to make the right roster moves now that we're talking short--or at least medium-sized--strokes, as opposed to turning over an entire roster. A year from now the Wolves' depth chart will look like this:

C- Milicic, Love
PF- Love, D. Williams
SF- A competent professional such as a Richard Jefferson or Vladimir Radmanovic
PG- Rubio, Barea
SG- A competent professional such as a Jamal Crawford or Daniel Gibson

And while right now we're 3-7 and headed for 7-14 at month's end and realistically 25-41 overall, a good 10 games out of the playoffs. Next year at this time I'd be looking for a 20-20 record en route to something in the vicinity of 26-24 at month's and 44-38 overall, somewhere within 1 or 2 games either way of the playoffs.

So there's nothing to do this year except sit back and watch Ricky Rubio pass the ball, and David Kahn try to shore up those glaring weaknesses that are holding back those building blocks of Love and Rubio and Adelman and Williams and maybe Berea from getting where they are destined to go.

The Big Game 1-11-12: MIAC Night

2012-01-12T07:49:00.002-06:00

The MIAC had a full slate of games last night.

Among the men, 5 teams opened the night with 2 losses, 1 game behind St. Thomas in the loss column. 2 of those teams, Augsburg and Gustavus, beat 2 more of them, St. Olaf and St. John's, to clarify the race at the top of the standings.

The Augsburg men edged St. Olaf 57-55 as Andy Grzesiak-Grimm scored 16 points and added 12 boards. Augsburg led early 20-11 but the Oles stormed back to tie at 22. The Augies pulled back ahead 29-26, but St. Olaf scored the last 7 points of the 1st half to 33-29. The Oles extended their lead to as much as 5 points at 36-31 but Augsburg out-scored them 21-11 to lead 52-47, and held on to the end.

Grzesiak-Grimm scored 11 of Augie's 21 points during its decisive run. But there was cold shooting on both sides, as Augie made just 8-of-29 shots but hauled in 9 offensive boards on those 21 misses. Augsburg shot 38.5 percent on the night, the Oles 37.

Meanwhile the Gustavus men defeated St. John's 63-49. Seth Anderson scored 20 points for the winners, Andy Burns 20 for the losers. The Gusties roared out to a 24-5 lead and led 31-20 at the half. The Johnnies got within 6 at 3:25 of the 2nd half at 38-32 but Ty Moore hit a pair of 3s to push the lead back up to 13.

So the Augsburg and Gustavus men share 2nd place at 5-2, 1 game behind St. Thomas at 6-1.

The Tommies women also have 1st place at 9-0. Gustavus is at 8-1, while Bethel, Concordia (Moorhead) and St. Olaf are all at 6-3.

St. Mary's knocked off the Bethel women 46-42 at Bethel as Jessica Thone contributed 16 points, 10 boards and 5 assists. Taylor Sheley led Bethel as always with 10 points, 3 boards, 3 blocks and 2 steals, but shot just 4-for-17. Bethel shot 24 percent overall. Bethel lost its 3rd straight game after a 6-0 start. St. Mary's led 10-9, then 30-19 and 32-22 at the half. The Royals tied it up at 38 but scored just 4 points in the final 11:33. Thone and Jamie Stefeley of the Cardinals scored the next 4 points and St. Mary's led the rest of the way.

Player of the Day

Serenae Levine, Augsburg women, 21 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block, as Augie beat St. Olaf 61-51.

Coach of the Day

Aaron Griess, Augsburg men

The Big Game 1-10-12: Big Night for the Visitors

2012-01-11T07:42:00.000-06:00

There were 3 games that matched rated high school teams last night.

The #1AAAA Eastview boys took to the road for the 1st of 2 big challenges this week, and knocked off #4AAAA Lakeville North 54-48 as Joey King scored 18 points. Friday the Eagles are at #5AAAA Apple Valley led by sophomore guard Tyus Jones.

The #10A Battle Lake Battlers boys also won on the road at the #6A Ashby Arrows 51-44. The Battlrs led 30-19 at the half. Ashby battled back to tie it at 39, but ran out of gas. Battle Lake was led by Alex Ukkelberg (14 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists), Tyler Ukkelberg (13 points, 7 rebounds) and Petric Van Erp (11 points, 4 rebounds). Leaders for the Arrows were Riley Mickelson with 18 points and 11 rebounds, Blake Ohren with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks, and Tanner Langlie with 7 points, and 4 rebounds. Jon Quernemoen had 8 assists for the Arrows.

And the #3AAA Richfield Spartans girls made it 3-for-3 for the visitors, knocking off the #4AAA Hill-Murray girls in the Pioneers' fieldhouse 67-48. Richfield took a 40-15 half-time lead and coasted home. Jessica January scored 26 points for Richfield, Tessa Cichy 21 for Hill-Murray.

Player of the Day

It's another 3-way for Player of the Day.

St. Paul Johnson took on #7AAAA Eden Prairie without guard Marcus Marshall last night, and lost at home 66-65. Wayland Johnson II stepped up for the Governors, scoring 30 points.

Sean Scott also scored 30 as #4AAA Spring Lake Park took yet another road win at Totino-Grace 84-69.

Finally, a win at home, as the new Duluth East Greyhounds were unveiled in a 95-52 win over Esko. Johnny Woodard, in his 2nd game back from injury, scored 33 for East. Guard Taylor Stafford added 26. And 6-10 post Akolda Manyang scored 11 in his 1st game.

Coach of the Day

Mark Gerber of the Eastview boys is still having the best year, but Vern Simmons of St. Paul Johnson probably got the most out of his kids on this particular date.

The Second Season: High School Boys

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

The question of the year 2012 is the same question as most every other year: Can anybody beat Hopkins? Well, Benilde-St. Margaret's has already done it. But I mean, can anybody in Class AAAA beat Hopkins when it counts, at the state tournament or in section 6AAAA? And, if Hopkins cruises to a 4th straight AAAA title, will Benilde still be in the conversation as the possible #1 team in the state?

AAAA

1. Hopkins 11-1. OK, Benilde beat Hopkins, Eastview beat Benilde. Under ordinary circumstances, I would rate Eastview #1AAAA on that basis. But these are not ordinary circumstances. Hopkins is currently 3rd boys team ever to win 3 straight state titles at the highest level. (Edina 1966-67-68 and Mpls. North 1995-96-97). As such, until somebody beats 'em at crunch time, they're #1. Coach Kenny Novak has his kids just flying right now, out-scoring opponents by an average of 89-60. I think they'll skate through the toughest conference in the state and finish up with a 25-1 record. Projected section 6AAAA champ and #1 seed.

2. Eastview 9-0. I hear ya. But I don't think they'll get through the tough South Suburban Conference undefeated and, in fact, I think they'll take their 1st loss this week yet--either Tuesday at Lakeville North or Friday at Apple Valley. 24-2 sounds about right for the regular season. Still, ya gotta see 6-8 forward Joey King. Great high school player. And hats off to coach Mark Gerber. This is a great high school team, out-scoring opponents by an average of 78-50, but 2nd to Hopkins until they beat 'em in the post-season. Projected section 3AAAA champ and #2 seed.

3. Lakeville North 10-0. Coach John Oxton is another great high school coach who's got his team to where it can contend in the South Suburban and at the sectional level year in and year out. Out-scoring opponents by an average of 65-55. Projected section 1AAAA champ and #3 seed.

4. Osseo 11-0. 6-8 sophomore center Ian Thiesen, son (obviously) of coach Tim, will be one of the best by the time he's done. Out-scoring opponents 71-52. Projected section 5AAAA champ and #4 seed.

5. Eden Prairie 7-2. Another perennial under coach David Flom, with sophomore guard Andre Wallace leading the way. Out-scoring opponents 70-57. Projected section 2AAAA champ.

6. Wayzata 12-0. Out-scoring opponents 69-54, but no signature win. Will face Hopkins in section 6AAAA.

7. Apple Valley 9-1. Sophomore guard Tyus Jones is regarded by many as already the best high school player in Minnesota, and will certainly be the most heavily recruited Minnesota boy by the time he finishes his high school career. And the Eagles have other weapons as well. Only loss is to Eden Prairie by 4. 2 games each vs. Eastview and Lakeville North give 'em a chance to move up. Out-scoring opponents 80-68. Will face Eastview in section 3AAAA.

8. Minnetonka 10-2. Rebuilding in a hurry under coach Tom Dasovich. Lost to Benilde by just 3 (Hopkins lost to Benilde by 5, Eden Prairie by 12). Out-scoring opponents 76-63. Will face Hopkins in section 6AAAA.

9. Tartan 8-2. Lost to Apple Valley and #2AAA Spring Lake Park. Out-scoring opponents 64-51. Projected section 4AAAA champion.

10. Chanhassan 7-4. A young program very much on the rise. 3 of its 4 losses are to Hopkins, Lakeville North and Eden Prairie. Out-scoring opponents 66-64. Let's be honest, there's a big drop-off after the top 6-8 teams. Will face EP in section 2AAAA.

11. Duluth East 3-7. Ordinarily a 3-7 team wouldn't get a sniff of my top 20. But East has played the toughest schedule known to man, including Hopkins, Eastview, EP, Tonka--all without superstar guard Johnny Woodard. Guard Taylor Stafford stepped into the breach, scoring as many as 45 points one night and into the 30s routinely. Then, Woodard returned against Rice Lake (WI) in the Timberwolves Shootout last Saturday and scored 31 as East defeated Rice Lake 86-74. If the chemistry is right, East can play with the big boys. Projected section 7AAAA champion.

12. Woodbury 8-2.
13. Roseville 7-2.
14. Mounds View 8-2. Top contenders in wide open Suburban East race.
15. Mahtomedi 7-1. Unbeaten against Minnesota competition. All 4 will face Tartan in section 4AAAA.

16. Maple Grove 8-2.
17. Champlin Park 7-3. Both will face Osseo in section 5AAAA.

18. Moorhead 7-1. Projected section 8AAAA champion.
19. Prior Lake 5-5. Playing all comers. Middle of the pack in section 2AAAA.
20. Rochester Century 8-2. Will face Lakeville North in Section 1AAAA.

State tournament semi-finalists--should be the #1 through #4 seeds Hopkins, Eastview, Lakeville North and Osseo, but I'll predict that Eden Prairie will upset somebody in the 1st round, with Osseo the most vulnerable of the four seeds. It depends on the draw, of course.

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret's 9-1. Beat Hopkins, Tonka, Eden Prairie, lost to Eastview. The only AAA team that can and does compete with the elite AAAAs. Out-scoring opponents 72-62. Projected section 6AAA champion and #1 seed.

2. Spring Lake Park 10-1. Shocked #9AAAA Tartan on its home court in the Tartan holiday tournament, but lost to Eastview 86-63. Sean Scott is a multi-skilled scorer. Out-scoring opponents 75-61. Projected section 3AAA champion and #2 seed.

3. Mpls. Washburn 7-1. Lost only to #3AAAA Lakeville North. Out-scoring opponents 73-53. Paired with Benilde is section 6AAA.

4. Grand Rapids 9-1. Destined to be highly rated for a long time, as its stars are junior guard Austin Pohlen and freshman post Alex Illikainen. Out-scoring opponents 67-52. Projected section 7AAA champ and #3 seed.

5. Blake 8-1. Knocked off DeLaSalle to open the year, lost only to AAAA Chaska. Out-scoring opponents 64-45. Also paired with Benilde and Washburn in section 6AAA.

6. Mankato East 8-1. Out-scoring opponents 85-64. Projected section 2AAA champion and #4 seed.

7. DeLaSalle 7-2. Out-scoring opponents 77-48, but paired with Spring Lake Park in section 3AAA.

8. St. Paul Johnson 4-3. Losses only to AAAA Hopkins, Lakeville South and Roseville. Projected section 4AAA champion.

9. Willmar 6-1. Out-scoring opponents 65-51. Faces Mankato East in section 2AAA.

10. Zimmerman 7-3. Faces Grand Rapids in section 7AAA.

11. Waconia 7-4. 3 of 4 losses vs. AAAA opponents. Another section 2AAA resident.

12. Austin 6-2. Knocked off Mankato East but lost to Rochester Mayo. Projected section 1AAA champion.

13. Richfield 6-4. Another 6AAA resident.

14. Duluth Denfeld 8-2. Paired with Grand Rapids, to whom they have already lost 70-58, in section 7AAA.

15. Little Falls 8-1. Projected section 8AAA champion.

Section 5AAA favorite--Rocori 7-4.

State tournament semi-finalists--should be the 4 seeds Benilde, Spring Lake Park, Grand Rapids and Mankato East, and I don't see anybody else crowding any of these out.

AA

1. Perham 9-1. Dropped all the way to #5AA after loss to Ellsworth, but I think they're still the best team in AA. Defeated then-#2AA Pelican Rapids as well as AAA St. Thomas. Projected section 8AA champ, gets section 1AA champ in 1st round, then section 4 vs. 5 winner.

2. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 7-1. 2 starters back from last year's state tournament team, plus a big-time foreign exchange student was added. Explosive. Projected section 2AA champ, gets section 7AA in 1st round, then section 3 vs. 6 winner.

3. Watertown-Mayer 10-1. Lost only to AAA Waconia. Projected section 5AA champ, gets section 4AA in 1st round, then 1 vs. 8 winner.

4. Maple River 10-1. Paired with WEM in section 2AA. A serious threat to go all the way.

5. Redwood Valley 9-0. Features superstar Michael Busack, defeated Marshall and Windom in Southwest conference already. Projected section 3AA champion, gets section 6AA in 1st round, then 2 vs. 7 winner.

6. Pelican Rapids 7-3. Lost only at Perham, and to AAAA Minnetonka and Moorhead. Projected section 6AA champ, gets section 3AA in the quarter-finals, then the winner of the 2 vs. 7 game.

7. United South Central 9-2. Lost to WEM, beat Maple River. Features 6-8 forwrad Kyle Bauman. Another section 2AA resident.

8. Braham 10-1. Lost only to Hopkins. Led by coach Bob Vaughan and son Tyler. Projected section 7AA champion. Gets section 2AA in 1st round, then section 3 vs. 6.

9. Montevideo 7-3. Lost only to AAA Spring Lake Park, Mankato East and Marshall, then turned the tables on the latter. Will face Redwood Valley in section 3AAA.

10. St. Peter 9-1. Another section 2AA resident.

11. Hayfield 10-3. Also a 2AA resident.
12. Fairmont 8-2. And another 2AA resident.
13. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 11-0. Defeated defending sectional champ Upsala, another 6AA resident.

14. Plainview-Elgin-Millville 9-3. All losses are to AAAA and AAA opponents.
15. Byron 8-1. Lost only to Hayfield, defeated AAA Red Wing. PEM or Byron is projected as the section 1AA champion. Gets section 8AA in the 1st round, then the winner of section 4 vs. 5.

Section 4AA favorite--toss-up among New Life, Concordia, Minnehaha, St. Croix Lutheran.

State semi-finalists? You tell me. OK, I'll go with Perham over PEM, Watertown Mayer over whomever, Waterville over Braham, with Redwood and Pelican a toss-up. Then Perham and Waterville. But this one is wide open. Darn near everybody through #15 is a threat.

A

1. Southwest MN Christian 6-1. The four-peters from 1999-2002 will contend again, starting right now. Out-scoring opponents 75-40. Lost only at AA Worthington by 1 point. Projected as section 3A champion, gets section 6A in the 1st round.

2. Dawson-Boyd 7-1. Outscoring opponents 77-43, lost only at AA power Montevideo 74-63. Also a section 3A resident.

3. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 9-0. Senior-dominated state runners-up of 2011 give way to a young Jaguars squad this year. Out-scores opponents 73-48, has had just 1 winning margin in single digits so far. Projected as section 6A champion, setting up a #1 vs. #3 in the 1st round.

4. Prairie Seeds Academy 8-0. Turned some heads with a state record 165-37 win over Math & Science Academy. Out-scoring opponents by an average 106-55. Projected as section 4A champion, getting section 5A champ in the 1st round and the winner of sections 1 vs. 8 in the semis.

5. Browerville 9-1. Outscoring opponents 67-49. Projected as section 5A champion, getting the 4A champ in the 1st round.

6. FAIR Academy 10-1. The Mpls. charter school has lost only to Prairie Seeds 84-83. Out-scoring opponents 83-55 on average. Will face Prairie Seeds in section 4A.

7. Lakeview Christian 8-2. Out-scoring opponents 88-73 behind the scoring exploits of Anders Broman, who as a junior is well on his way to becoming Minnesota's all-time leading scorer. Projected as the section 7A champions, getting section 2A in 1st round state tournament action.

8. Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 9-1. Fresh off 50-48 win over Ellsworth, out-scoring opponents 61-51. Projected as section 2A champions, drawing section 7A champ at state.

9. Ashby 8-0. Walloping opponents 76-49. Opposite BBE in section 6.

10. Rushford-Peterson 10-2. 2-time state champs are projected as section 1A champ, and draw section 8A champ in 1st round.

11. Battle Lake 9-0. Out-scoring opponents 58-33. Section 6A.
12. Ellsworth 8-4. Recently lost Casey Schilling to a wrist injury, possibly for the season. Section 3A.
13. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 9-1. Lost only to Ellsworth. Section 3A.
14. Goodhue 7-3. Section 1A.
15. Cass Lake-Bena 9-1. Lost only at Red Lake 112-107 in OT. Projected as section 8A champ.
16. Fosston 6-0. Section 8A.
17. Spring Grove 8-2. Out-scoring opponents 74-43, lost to Rushford-Pete and Goodhue. Section 1A.
18. Faribault Bethlehem 9-2. Section 1A.
19. MCCRAY 7-3. Section 3A.
20. Maranatha Christian 5-4. Section 4A.

State semis might feature Lakeview Christian and Anders Broman vs. Southwest MN Christian, and Rushford-Peterson carry good old public school pride vs. Prairie Seeds Academy.

All-State

Tyus Jones, Apple Valley, 6-3, soph., G, 28 ppg, Player of the Year
Siyani Chambers, Hopkins, 5-11, sr., G
Joey King, Eastview, 6-8, sr., F, 28 ppg
Sanjay Lumpkin, Benilde-St. Margaret's, 6-6, sr., G
Rashad Vaughan, Robbinsdale Cooper, 6-5, soph., G, 29 ppg

2nd Team

Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian, 6-1, jr., G, 46 ppg
Kyle Bauman, United South Central, 6-8, sr., F
Michael Busack, Redwood Valley, 6-4, sr., G
Tyler Vaughan, Braham, 6-0, sr., G
Sean Scott, Spring Lake Park, 6-4, sr., F, 26 ppg

3rd Team

Johnny Woodard, Duluth East, 6-3, sr., F
Taylor Stafford, Duluth East, 6-0, sr., G, 33 ppg
Zach Stahl, Hopkins, 6-5, sr., F
Mark Schumacher, Perham, 6-6, sr., C
Marcus Marshall, St. Paul Johnson, 6-2, sr., G

Coach of the Year

Mark Gerber, Eastview

The Big Game 1-9-12: Toronto 97 Timberwolves 87

2012-01-09T22:42:00.001-06:00

The sometimes spectacular, always inconsistent Minnesota Timberwolves took it on the chin again, this time at the Toronto Raptors who, like the Wolves, came into the game at 3-5. Toronto dominated the last 5 minutes of the 1st half and 5 minutes near the end of the game to beat the Wolves 97-87.

The Wolves led 47-39 with 5:20 left in the 1st half, but Toronto ripped off a 16-2 run to lead 55-49 at the half. The Wolves fought back to tie it up early in the 4th quarter at 73-all, then took an 80-77 lead with 7:58 to play. This time, Toronto out-scored the Wolves 14-2 to lead 91-82 with 40 ticks left on the clock. Altogether, it was Toronto 30 Minnesota 4 at crunch time.

On the court for Minnesota during both of these crucial Toronto runs were:

• Kevin Love who went 0-for-4 (0-for-2 on 3-pointers) with a turnover
• Luke Ridnour went 0-for-2 (both for 3)
• Ricky Rubio 0-for-3 with 2 turnovers
• Derrick Williams 1-for-3 (0-for-1 3 pointer) with a turnover

J.J. Barea, Wayne Ellington, Anthony Randolph and Anthony Tolliver were on the court for 1 of the runs or part of 1 of the runs, and the 4 of them went 0-for-5 with 3 turnovers. Together, they scored on 3-of-21 possessions, making 1-of-17 shots with 7 turnovers.

Meanwhile Toronto scored on 14-of-21 possessions, hitting 9-of-17 shots, including 1-of-4 3s and 10-of-11 FT, with 1 turnover. There's a reason why Rubio was backup to Jose Calderon at point guard on the Spanish national team. At crunch time in the second half, Calderon had 4 points on 2-of-2 shooting with 1 rebound. Rubio was scoreless at 0-for-2 with a turnover.

So say what you like about Ricky Rubio, it's all true enough. But so's this. He's a rookie and tonight, at least, he got exposed at crunch time as the Wolves blew an 80-77 lead with 7 minutes to go. Still, he was the Wolves' best player...again.

Player of the Day

Ricky Rubio, Timberwolves 13 pts, 6 assists, 4 boards, 3 steals

Coach of the Day

Markus Okeson, Redwood Valley boys, has his team at 9-0 and #9 in the latest rankings from Minnesota Basketball News. (They're #2 at Breakdown Sports.) Minnesota Valley Lutheran is the latest victim 78-39.

The Big Game 1-8-12: Minnesota Men Bounce Back

2012-01-08T19:21:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, no, I'm not talking about the Minnesota Gophers. Rather, I'm talking about the Minnesota teams in the Northern Sun. In December, the 8 Minnesota schools in the NSIC won 14 games while losing 7 to the 6 teams located in other states. In 3 rounds of January play, it was Minnesota 6 North and South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska 5.

But on Saturday January 7 the "other guys" won 3 games while losing 2. Moorhead State took its 1st loss of the year to Mary 72-51, thus falling out of sole possession of 1st place. Less surprising were UM-Crookston's loss at Northern State 80-77 and Bemidji's loss at Augustana 103-93. St. Cloud State, meanwhile, defeated Upper Iowa 74-68 and UMD beat Wayne State 74-71.

So, overall, the Minnesotans are accustomed to success, but not like this. Today it was Minnesota 5 "other" 0, with all 5 games played elsewhere. Still, 3 of the Minnesota wins were more or less as expected:

Moorhead (now 8-1, tied for 1st place) defeated Northern (5-5), 81-74, as guards D.J. Hamilton, Charlie Chapman and Jordan Riewer combined for 55 points on 16-of-29 shooting, including 7-of-14 on 3-pioint shots.

Bemidji (now 6-3, 4th tie) defeated Wayne State (3-7), 67-61, as James Ellisor and Lance Rongstad scored 16 points apiece and the Beavers shot 57 percent from the field.

Concordia (St. Paul) (still just 3-6, 9th tie) beat Upper Iowa (1-8), 84-73, thanks to a 35-10 run spanning 12:30 of the 2nd half. Peter and Kenny Olafeso combined for 39 points and 11 assists for the Bears.

But 2 of the 5 wins could be considered to be upsets:

UM-Crookston pulled off a bit of a surprise, gaining its 1st conference win of the season over Mary (2-9), 56-53, as Jacolby Anderson scored 27 points.

The highlight game, however, saw the UMD Bulldogs (now 6-3, 4th tie) knock off the Augies of Augustana in a 101-99 thriller. The Augies were the pre-season favorite in the NSIC but now have slumped to 6-4 (7th place). This was a game of surge and counter-surge. UMD took an early lead and led by as many as 9 at 12:31 of the 1st half. By half-time, Augie had not only caught up but took a 4-point lead 47-43. Its largest lead was 8 at 61-53 at 15:11 of the 2nd half. But UMD played 7:30 of nearly flawless ball to lead by as many as 8 on several occasions, the last at 96-88 at 3:48. Augie stormed back to within 2 at 100-98 with still 1 minute to go, but a Cody Schilling turnover just about sealed it.

Schilling continued in probably the 1st shooting slump of his life, hitting 5-of-13 shots for 16 points, while running mates at guard, Cameron McCaffrey and Drae Murray combined for 47 points on 16-of-23 shooting. He (Schilling) is averaging 15.5 ppg this year after scoring more than 21 a year ago.

Jake Hottenstine led UMD with 31 points and 8 rebounds, while Ryan Rasmussen and Brett Ervin scored 19 and Reece Zoelle 17 points. Duluth shot an unconscious 62 percent (41-for-66) from the field.

In the one all-Minnesota game, host Winona defeated St. Cloud 87-77 to retain a share of 1st place at 8-1. St. Cloud falls to 3rd at 7-2. Grant Johnson scored 28 points for the winners.

Player of the Day

Jake Hottenstine, UMD 31 points 8 rebounds

Coach of the Day

Chad Walthall, Moorhead State, and Mike Leaf, Winona State, who have their teams tied for 1st in the NSIC

The Second Season: The Minnesota Gopher Women and the Big 10

2012-01-08T13:56:00.000-06:00

Minnesota Gopher Women's Outlook

The Minnesota Gopher women turned the corner from the first to the second season by winning 2 out of 3 conference games--losing a heart-breaker at 1st place Purdue, then hammering Indiana at home, and withstanding a Northwestern rally to win their 1st road game of the year. All in all, enough to renew a sense of optimism among Gopher women faithful.

Yet this optimism would have to be described as cautious. Pam Borton's Gophers, after all, have been down over the past several years, and rely on a freshman for their offensive production more so than any other Big 10 team. And, on top of that, the schedule is not much of a help. With the Big 10's 16-game schedule, every team plays 5 opponents twice and 6 once. The voids in the Gopher schedule include all 4 of the #9 through #12 teams, whereas we play all 4 of the currently rated teams twice apiece. And the schedule concludes with a pair of games at #22 Penn State and #19 Ohio State.

Given the degree of difficulty presented by the schedule, any continued success would have to begin with a win next Thursday against 1st place Purdue. A week ago I would have said that this wouldn't/shouldn't be possible but after barely falling short at West Lafayette, I'd say this game is now a toss-up. A win, and 9-7, 17-13 would seem possible. Still not enough for an NCAA bid, but enough to declare that the future will be better than the recent past.

If so, we owe it all to that freshman guard, Rachel Banham from Lakeville North. Banham is the Gophers' leading scorer at 15 ppg (on 40 percent shooting), with 5.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Senior guard Kiara Buford adds 14 ppg (on 44 percent shooting), with 4 boards, 3.5 assists and 2 steals. Junior post Katie Loberg is much improved at 10 ppg with a t eam-high 7..5 rebounds, but she still shoots below 40 percent.

The Gophers overall are, in fact, not a good shooting team and they also turn the ball over a little too much. So, they're prone to the same devastating droughts that have hurt so much in recent years. And, so, while that 9-7 Big 10 record mentioned above remains possible, 7-9 is more likely and would be an acceptable conclusion to this rebuilding/reloading year.

Life at the Top

The pre-season coaches' poll had Penn State, Purdue, Iowa and Michigan State 1 through 4, with multiple time defending champion Ohio State only slated for 5th place. But the most recent national rankings more closely resemble our sense of reality in the Big 10:

#9 Ohio State 2-0, 15-0
#18 Purdue 3-0, 13-3
#19 Nebraska 2-0, 13-1
#22 Penn State 1-1, 11-3

Well, the Buckeyes and Boilers at #1-2 seems familiar. But Nebraska and Penn State at 3-4? Not so much. This is, of course, the Cornhuskers' 1st year jn the Big 10 and its national ranking totally unexpected. Coach Connie Yori is the Big 10 Coach of the Year so far in 2011-2012. Soph forward Jordan Hooper has blossomed with 21 points and 9 boards per game, giving the Huskers a leg up on the inside in what has become a guard-oriented league.

Penn State, of course, had plenty of success under former coach Rene Portland but, since her departure, not so much. Now coach Coquese Washington and guards Alex Bentley, Maggie Lucas and Zhaque Gray have the Lions contending for a Big 10 title again. Bentley, the pre-season Player of the Year, is scoring 19 pppg with 5 boards and 3 steals; Lucas is adding 15 ppg with 2 boards, 6 assists and 3 steals; and Gray is at 11 ppg, 3 boards and 2 assists. And it helps their cause that, again, there's not a lot of really strong inside players in the league this year, unlike, say, the Ohio State teams of the recent past.

Ah, Ohio State. Surely they miss all-America posts Jessica Davenport and Jantel Lavender, who seem to have roamed the paint for the Bucks for the past decade or more. Surely they miss them! Well, they're 15-0 and very likely to be 17-0 before losing for the 1st time at Michigan State or, failing that, 21-0 before losing to the Gophers at Williams Arena. And, surprise, it's not pre-season all-conference choice Sam Prahalis leading the charge, it's our own Tayler Hill from Mpls. South with 22 ppg. Prahalis, to be sure, is next with 18 ppg plus 5 boards and 7 assists. And the fact is that most Big 10 teams this year are unequipped to exploit the Buckeye's lack of strength in the pivot.

The Middle of the Pack

This is where the Gopher women reside with the likes of Iowa, Michigan State and Michigan.

I thought Iowa would contend, and of course they did for a half at Ohio State last night, leading by as many as 16. But the Buckeyes caught up by half-time and pulled away to an 84-71 win. The fact is that Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder has had trouble figuring out how to deploy her 3 guards including senior Kamille Wahlin from Crookston, MN; junior Jamie Printy; and freshman Sam Logic. The 3 score about 36 ppg among them, barely more than the Gopher trio of Banham, Buford and Leah Cotton; and shoot only about 40 percent as a group. Logic was rated more highly than Banham coming in but has had to compete with Wahlin for the ball, and so she's had the tougher time adjusting.

Michigan State usually contends and this year they've again found a way so far. Pre-season all-conference pick Lykendra Johnson hasn't blossomed, however; she's scoring 9.5 ppg. Senior guard Porsche Poole is leading the way with 11 ppg, so I think you can say they're doing it with mirrors.

Michigan continues to improve, thanks in part to Minnesota guards Courtney Boylan (13 ppg on 49 percent shooting) and Kate Thompson (9 ppg). But with Ohio State and Penn State up next, their middle-of-the-packness will shortly be reinforced.

They Also Ran

Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin are now 0-11, and this is where they shall remain until another year. Northwestern is young and was expected to improve dramatically. But injuries and youth have put those plans on hold. Time will tell when Illinois, Indiana and the Badgers can escape "also ran" status anytime soon.

In Summary

1. Ohio State 14-2, #1 seed conference tournament, tournament champion; 30-2, NCAA bid
2. Penn State 12-4, #2; 22-7, NCAA bid
3. Purdue 12-4, #3; 23-8, NCAA bid
4. Nebraska 11-5, #4; 23-7, NCAA bid
5. Michigan State 9-7, #5; 18-13, WNIT bid
6. Iowa 8-8, #6, 3 wins (2 upsets) in conference tournament, runner-up; 18-14, WNIT bid
7. Michigan 8-8, #7; 19-11, NCAA bid
8. Minnesota 7-9, #8;16-16, WNIT bid
9. Northwestern 5-11, #9; 15-15
10. Illinois 4-12, #10, 1 upset win in conference tournament; 11-20
11. Indiana 3-13, #11; 8-22
12. Wisconsin 3-13, #12; 7-22

All-Conference

Sam Prahalis, Ohio State, g
Tayler Hill, Ohio State, g
Alex Bentley, Penn State, g
Maggie Lucas, Penn State, g
Jordan Hooper, Nebraska, f

2nd Team

Brittney Rayburn, Purdue, g
Jamie Printy, Iowa, g
Rachel Banham, Minnesota, g
Kendall Hackney, Northwestern, f
Karisma Penn, Illinois, f

3rd Team

Morgan Johnson, Iowa, c
Lykendra Johnson, Michigan State, f
Kiara Buford, Minnesota, g
Lindsay Moore, Nebraska, g
Taylor Wurtz, Wisconsin, g

The Second Season: Northern Sun Women

2012-01-08T06:40:00.000-06:00

The Northern Sun women have thrown a variety of curve balls this fall, rendering a look back at my pre-season picks an acute embarrassment. My picks, as compared to the current standings (1-8), are off by an average of 4 places for every team. Now, in fairness, I will also note that the NSIC coaches are currently off by an average of 3 places. What happened?

Well, nobody saw it coming--that Winona State and Moorhead State would struggle so mightily in 2011-2012. And nobody foresaw that Mankato State, Mary, Bemidji, UM-Crookston and Southwest State would play as well as they have.

Winona State was coming off the post-season championship a year ago with its 2 sparkplugs returning in Michelle McDonald and Katie Wolff. Great things were expected. Instead, the Warriors lost their 1st 2 home games to Bemidji and UMD and have not recovered. They're 3-5 in a tie for 9th place. McDonald has played well enough with 15 ppg and 7 boards on 55 percent shooting. Wolff has not at 10 ppg on 37 percent shooting, with 4 assists and 3 turnovers. Winona has started 11 different players, in no small part due to a variety of injuries. But with a win last night over Concordia (St. Paul) 64-51, there is plenty of time to move from 9th into a playoff position where a repeat of last year's run is not out of the question.

Moorhead entered 2011-12 with the intriguing duo of senior all-conference forward Angie Jetvig and sophomore D1 transfer Angela Christianson. It's all gone south as the Dragons are now 1-7 and in sole possession of 13th place. Christianson did not play until the 4th game and she has yet to start. Rather she's playing 10 minutes per game and scoring 4 points on 30 percent shooting. Not what was expected from a player who scored 8 ppg last year at D1 Drake. Jetvig's shooting has fallen off to 40 percent though she's scoring 17 points with 9.5 boards. Returning starters Haley Thomforde and Marissa Yernatich also missed time to injuries. And suddenly it's too late to think about the 2012 playoffs. The Dragons are now looking ahead to next year. The talent is here but the chemistry is a mess.

Mankato has been in decline since its 2009 national championship--or, had been, right up until 3 weeks ago. The Mavs were picked for 9th place by the coaches and obliged by starting the conference season 0-3. Then came 3 December wins--all at home--and now 3 January wins--all on the road--for a 6-game winning streak, a 6-3 conference record and sole possession of 4th place. Seniors Jenny Noreen and Laura Weber have led the way with 23 points and 13 boards between them. Still, you could characterize the Mavs resurgence as a youth movement. Freshman forward Jamie Bresnahan has moved into starting lineup and is contributing 8 points and 6 boards. Freshman guard Aubrey Davis is scoring 10 ppg and is the team's assist leader with 36. Still the Mavs shoot 39 percent from the field and 64 percent from the line, so how long can this go on? A pair of road trips to Winona, UMD and Bemidji later this month will tell the tale.

Minnesota-Crookston has been a Cinderella story ever since coach Mike Roysland came on the scene. An absolute doormat for too many years, they've become competitive and would be in the playoffs as of today at 4-4 and 7th place. The coaches picked them for 11th. Point guard Brittani Wiese is the tent-pole here with 17 ppg and 4 assists, but Megan Eul adds 13 points and 6 boards. Their 39 FG percentage is pretty typical, but they're a good FT shooting team at 74 percent, but they get out-rebounding. So .500 and 7th place is a worthy goal for this over-achieving program.

Not much was expected of Southwest State, either, and granted, they're only 4-5, so let's not make too much of this. Still, picked for 12th, they're now in 8th place. How did it happen? Can it continue? This is a classic two tent-pole team. Senior post Abby Kenneally and sophomore guard Bree Holleman lead the way, Kenneally with 15 points (and just 4 boards) on 50 percent shooting, Holleman with 11.5 points, 4 boards and 2+ assists. So, no, I don't think the talent runs deep enough to persevere the rest of the way.

Bemidji was picked to finish 13th and right now they're in that logjam for 9th place at 3-5. What's the upside? Well, there's no depth beyond the starting 5. They shoot 40 percent from the field, but a stellar 80 percent from the line. However, they don't get to the line as much as their opponents, they get out-rebounded and they've turned the ball over 4 times per game more than their opponents. So there is no margin of error here. 3-5 and 9th place is pretty representative of the ball they've played.

Finally, the big surprise: Mary, picked for 8th, currently tied for 2nd at 7-2. To tell the truth, I don't follow the non-Minnesota teams so much, so I have no idea how this happened. But I see now that they've won at home (4-2) and away (6-1) and they have a signature win--1st place Wayne's only loss 72-64. And where this is another lousy shooting team (38 percent) they are perhaps the best rebounding team in the league with an average margin of 44-36. 5 players score 8 ppg or more, and Linda Murray, Shauna Knife and Kaitlyn Haag scarf up 20 rebounds a game among them. I think they're for real. Putting the ball in the basket off the offensive glass counts for 2 points, same as your initial offense.

As Expected

So those are your surprises, accounting for about half the conference. Performing more as expected are the following.

1. Wayne State--picked #1 by the coaches, only #4 by me, but 8-1 in 1st place
2T. Augustana--picked #2 by the coaches, only #7 by me, tied with Mary at 7-2
5. UMD--picked #5 by the coaches, #2 by me, 5-3, 5th place
6. Northern--right where the coaches and I picked 'em
9T. Concordia (St. Paul)--picked 7th by the coaches, 5th by me--now 3-5
9T. St. Cloud--picked for 10th by the coaches and 11th by me, also 3-5
14. Upper Iowa--right where picked--0-8

Looking Ahead

Common sense says everybody trends toward the mean. Mankato and Mary aren't as good as they've looked, Winona is better, whereas for Wayne, well, the mean is just that good. And clearly I was way too gung-ho for the Minnesota women's teams in the NSIC this year.

1. Wayne--playoff semi-finalist
2. Augustana
3. UMD--playoff semi-finalist
4. Mary--playoff semi-finalist
5. Mankato
6. Northern
7. Winona--playoff semi-finalist
8. Concordia
9. UM Crookston
10. St. Cloud
11. Moorhead
12. Bemidji

13. Southwest St.

14. Upper Iowa

All-Conference

Ashley Arlen, Wayne
Katrina Newman, UMD
Michelle McDonald, Winona
Brittani Wiese, UMC
Angie Jetvig, Moorhead

2nd Team

Krista Rabenberg, Northern
Molly Hayes, Augustana
Shelley Stemper, UMD
Alex Feeney, Augustana
Abby Kenneally, SW State

3rd Team

Jenny Noreen, Mankato
Megan Eul, UMC
Linda Murray, Mary
Shauna Knife, Mary
Anika Whiting, Concordia

The Big Game 1-7-12: East, Woodard Blitz Rice Lake, Ellenson

2012-01-08T04:42:00.001-06:00

The feature game of this year's Minnesota Timberwolves Shoot-Out turned out to feature a team with 2 wins and 7 losses. It's a deceptive record because the Greyhounds of Duluth East have taken on all comers--#1 Eastview, #2 Hopkins, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka et al--and they've done it with their best player, guard Johnny Woodard, out with an injury.

Well, Woodard returned to action Saturday at the Target Center and the result was a signature win, 86-74 over Rice Lake (WI). Not only that, but Woodard scored 31 points to just 9 for Rice Lake's Minnesota Gopher recruit Wally Ellenson.

Also at the Shootout:

Benilde-St. Margaret's 68 St. Thomas More (SD) 50
Minnetonka 86 Pelican Rapids 66
Cedar Falls (IA) 67 Prior Lake 56
Hopkins 97 Sioux City (IA) East 74
Apple Valley 66 Onalaska (WI) 64

Player of the Day

Woodard

Coach of the Day

Dan Elhard, Grand Rapids boys, won at Zimmerman 64-56. And Greg Slaathaug, Fulda girls, who won at Worthington 73-67.

The Big Game 1-6-12: Bloomington Kennedy, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin win

2012-01-07T06:58:00.001-06:00

3 high school games matched rated teams Friday night, one metro, one rural; one boys, one girls; one big (schools) and one small.

Boys

#8A Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin edged #4A 50-48. Casey Schilling had wrist surgery earlier in the week and may be out for the season for Ellsworth.

Prairie Seeds Academy, a charter school located in Brooklyn Center, MN, set a state scoring recored by beating Math & Science Academy 165-37. Trent Pollard scored 37 points, Gage Deis 34, Mike Miller 29, Devin Buckley 24 and Dominick Jackson 20 for the winners.

Girls

#4AAAA Bloomington Kennedy beat #7AAAA Lakeville North 56-47 as Tonoia Wade scored 17 points. Kennedy led 31-17 at the half.

Buffalo (#10AAAA) won at #7AAAA Minnetonka 49-47 as Emily Spier scored 18 points for the winners.

Player of the Day

Katybeth Biewen scored 26 points and added 7 rebounds as the Edina girls defeated Duluth East 45-35.

Coach of the Day

Scot Sorenson, Buffalo girls, has his team at 10-3 and rated #10AAAA, and with road wins at top 10-rated Roseville and Minnetonka.

100 Years of Minnesota High School Tournament Basketball

2012-01-06T07:32:00.000-06:00

2012 marks the 100th year of Minnesota state high school tournament basketball. The boys have been playing since 1913, the girls since 1974. The MSHSL has now crowned more than 260 state champions in both genders and all classes.

The MSHSL and, hopefully, Minnesota basketball fans, will be celebrating this milestone in a variety of ways. First up is a series of "best of the state tournament" features on the League's Web site. Go to the home page at http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp, then click on 100 Years of BB near the top left of the page.

First of what promises to be a weekly feature is the Top 5 Boys Coaches. And it's a darn fine list. I mean, I was honored to be asked to help the MSHSL put these lists together, so of course it's a fine list. For the record, here are the top 5 boys' coaches, whom the League lists in alpha order, as follows. The comments are mine, the MSHSL has different commentary, so go check it out. Again, that's at http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp.

Jack Evens, Bloomington Jefferson--1st coach to win 4 state titles in 1976, '82, '86 and '87.

Jim Hastings, Duluth Central--won titles in 1961, 1971 and 1979.

Russell "Butsie" Maetzold, Hopkins--his 91 winning percentage (508-62) is thought to be the state record. He won state titles in 1952 and 1953, and also played on Red Wing's 1920 and 1922 state champs.

Bob McDonald, Chisholm--51 years, a record 970 wins, state titles in 1973, '75 and '91.

Kenny Novak, Hopkins--a boys record 6 state titles, all within the past 10 years.

I said it's a fine list, I didn't say it was perfect. I would have to find a way to get Harvey Roels of Chiholm on the list. Harvey won just 1 state title in 1934. But here's what Harvey did. Most Minnesota high schools, including Chisholm, hired their 1st full-time, permanent coach just after WWI, and most of them installed a slow-down, defensive-minded, ball-control style of play 1st popularized by coach Doc Meanwell at Wisconsin. They took the air out of the ball. And so, the 1926 state title game was decided by a score of 13-9, and as late as 1933 it was 16-13. Roels defied the trend and preached a faster-paced, more offensively-oriented style, and the Bluestreaks became the dominant power on the Iron Range with this style. Most of the other Iron Range schools copied Roels' successful style.

Chisholm came to the state tournament every year from 1930 to 1934, finally winning the title in '34. Its "point-a-minute" pace thrilled and entertained state tourney fans as it had done on the Range. So, in short, what Roels did was to keep uptempo basketball alive in Minnesota at a time when it might otherwise have disappeared.

After its top 5, the MSHSL also lists 13 other "notable coaches," and Roels is listed right there at the top of the 2nd tier, so it's not much of an oversight. The true oversight would be Mario Retica, who led Buhl to its 2nd of 2 straight titles in 1941, then returned with Hibbing 5 times in the 10 years from 1948 to 1957, taking the runner-up slot in 1953.

And I might also have found a slot for Lloyd Holm, the only coach to bring 3 different schools to a state title game--Red Wing in 1942, Duluth Denfeld in 1947 and St. Louis Park in 1962.

Still, this is a darn fine list. Enjoy. http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp

The Second Season: High School Girls

2012-01-05T13:46:00.001-06:00

The First Season clearly confirmed defending state champs Hopkins (#1AAAA, 12-0) and Maranatha (#1A, 9-3 with 1 loss each to Class AA, AAA and AAAA teams), and defending state AA runners-up Providence (#1AA, 9-3 with losses to #5 and #7AAAA Eden Prairie and Lakeville North and #1AA Fergus Falls), as favorites for 2012 titles.

Meanwhile, it muddied AAA where pre-season #1 Benilde-St. Margaret's lost to #5AAAA Eden Prairie 51-50 in OT and, more to the point, #4AAA Hill Murray 49-39. As a result, 10-0 Fergus Falls takes over the top spot in the latest rankings from Minnesota Basketball News (MBN).

The ratings below are mine. Those referred to above are from MBN.

Class AAAA

1. Hopkins 12-0. Before the Royals' holiday tournament game with Prior Lake, coach Brian Cosgriff said he feared that the Lakers would try to slow his club down into a half-court. Well, they tried and even succeeded intermittently. Otherwise the score would have been more decisive than it was at 67-29. 2 nights later defending state runner-up Eden Prairie, led by 2 Minnesota Gopher recruits, tried to play at a faster pace and lost 83-51. Not as deep as in previous years but with awesome front-line talent led by the daughters of former Gopher Richard Coffey, 6-1 junior guard-forward Nia and 5-11 senior forward-guard Sydney. Projected Section 6 champ and state tourney #1 seed.

2. Eden Prairie 11-2. Dropped all the way to #5 in MBN rankings after the Hopkins debacle, but I think they'll beat MBN's #2AAAA Edina for the Section 2AAAA title and the #2 seed at state. The Gopher recruits are a classic inside-outside combo, seniors Jackie Johnson, a 6-2 post, and Shayne Mullaney, a 5-9 guard.

3. Edina (11-0). Unrated in pre-season but guards Katybeth Biewen and junior MC McGrory are a most dynamic duo. The Classic Lake schedule, including #1, #2, #3, #6 and #7 teams in this ranking, will resolve how good these teams are, really, not to mention Section 2 which includes #2, 3, 4 and #11.

4. Bloomington Kennedy (8-2). Probably has better talent 1 through 5 than #2 and #3 but lacks the on-the-court senior leadership of Mullaney and Biewen. But that may be hair-splitting as Kennedy's point is also a Gopher recruit, sophomore Kenisha Bell. Junior forward Jade Martin is an even bigger talent.

5. Lakeville North (7-4). Unlike EP, tried to slow Hopkins down...and did, losing 46-41 in OT. Lakeville promptly lost to Edina 47-38 and to EP 62-56. Still, nobody has handled Hopkins pressure defenses as well as senior guard Taylor Stewart. Projected Section 1 champ and #3 seed.

6. Wayzata (11-1). Led by Iowa recruit, post Kayla Timmerman, and forward Marissa Grossfeld. Don't let a conference record under .500 fool you, but of course they also draw #1 Hopkins in sectional play.

7. Minnetonka (10-1). A surprise, but for real, I think. 8th grade center-forward Courtney Frederickson an emerging star. But like Wayzata, the Skippers draw Hopkins both in conference and section.

8. Osseo (8-3). Supremely talented. Senior guard Mikayla Bailey is a Gopher recruit while junior forward Phyllis Webb has offers from Minnesota and Iowa, at least. Still they've struggled with chemistry since senior forward Olivia Antilla arrived from Benilde. Projected Section 5 champ and #4 seed.

9. Buffalo (9-2). Surprised Roseville the other day. Projected Section 8 champion.

10. White Bear Lake (6-5). Struggling, as the W-L record shows. Obviously, I think they'll be back as some injuries heal. Led by Illinois State recruit Alexis Foley. Projected Section 4 champ.

11. Chanhassan (8-2)--a program on the rise
12. Roseville (10-1)
13. St. Paul Central (8-4)--incredibly tough schedule
14. Mounds View (7-2)
15. Eastview (6-4)--rebuilding/reloading, Projected Section 3 champ
16. Prior Lake (4-6)
17. St. Michael-Albertville (8-2)
18. Robbinsdale Cooper (9-2)
19. Andover (6-5). Projected Section 7 champ.
20. Centennial (8-2)

In theory the 4 state tournament semi-finalists would be Hopkins, Eden Prairie, Lakeville North and Osseo. The most likely to be derailed is Osseo and the most likely to sneak into the final four is White Bear Lake.

Class AAA

1. DeLaSalle (8-2). White Bear and Providence snuck up on the Islanders and probable losses to Hopkins and Eden Prairie loom in January. But a February contest with Benilde will settle the question of the #1AAA seed. Juniors Tyseanna Johnson and Allina Starr, ah, star. Projected Section 3AAA champ and #1AAA seed.

2. Benilde-St. Margaret's (6-2). Lost to AA Providence and surprised by Hill-Murray. With the transfer of Antilla and the emergence of 5-8 soph guard and Minnesota Gopher recruit Grace Coughlin, the Red Knights have become more of a perimeter tean, and that's been a double-edged sword as 6-0 senior forward Khadidjah Shunpert's production slipped. Still, the talent is there. Projected Section 6AAA champ and #2 seed

3. Fergus Falls (10-0), with a come-from-behind win over #1AA Providence who has subsequent wins over Benilde and Lakeville North. Senior post Mariah Monke and soph guard Brianna Rasmussen lead the way. Projected Section 8AAA champ and #3 seed.

4. Hill-Murray (8-3) with losses only to 3 teams from the mighty Lake. Guard Tessa Cichy remains an enigma. 36 points vs. DeLaSalle in the 2010 state tournament followed by a melt-down in '11. Down from #1 in her class on gPrep to #8. But the upside is there, and she's got help, too. Projected Section 4AAA champ and #4 seed.

5. Richfield (9-2) and squares off with Hill-Murray in the Classic Suburban conference, junior guard Jessica January facing Cichy. The good news is they won't face 'em in section play. The bad news is they'll face the Red Knights in Section 6.

6. Hutchinson (10-2) with losses only to Osseo (in OT) and Milwaukee Rufus King at the Dick's holiday tournament. Upcoming game with Mankato East will help sort out a highly competitive section. Point guard Alicia Retterath is a good one. Projected Section 2AAA champ.

7. Holy Family (7-2). Another Section 6er.

8. Park Center (6-3) with losses only to AAAA teams in the tough Northwest Suburban conference. Soph forward Cayla McMorris is rightfully now rated #1 in her class. Will face DeLaSalle in Section 3AAA.

9. New Prague (5-4) but 3 of the 4 losses are to AAAA teams. Ann Rynda has emerged as the Trojans' latest star. Section 2.

10. Thief River Falls (9-2)
11. Mankato East (8-1)--also a threat in Section 2AAA
12. Chisago Lakes (7-3) behind Wisconsin recruit Whitney Tinjum. Projected Section 7AAA champ.
13. Detroit Lakes (7-2)
14. Alexandria (8-1)
15. Marshall (8-3)

Section 1AAA favorite--Kasson-Mantorville (12-0)
Section 5AAA fave--Big Lake (3-7)

In theory, the final four should be DeLaSalle, Benilde, Fergus and Hill-Murray. The most likely upset is Richfield over Benilde in Section 6, or at the state tournament level Hill-Murray might be vulnerable to Hutchinson.

Class AA

1. Providence (9-3) with losses to #2 and #5AAAA EP and Lakeville North and #3AAA Fergus Falls in OT, and they reversed the loss to North 41-33 at the Rochester tournament. Projected champion in section 5AA.

2. Braham (10-1). Defending state champ, Rebekah Dahlman well on her way to becoming state's all-time girls scorer. Projected section 7AA champion.

3. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (10-0) and projected Section 2AA champ.

4. Esko (8-1) with only a 2-point loss to Braham. A rematch in Section 7AA seems likely. The Eskomos are led by 6-8 junior Savanna Trapp.

5. Staples-Motley (8-2). Projected Section 6AA champion.

6. Pine Island (12-0). Projected Section 1AA champion.

7. Jordan (8-1) with only loss to AAAA Shakopee. Will have to find a way to surprise Providence in Section 5AA.

8. St. Peter (8-2) with losses only to AAA Mankato East and #3AA NRHEG. Section 2AA.

9. Hawley (6-1). Projected Section 8 champ.

10. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (8-1). Projected Section 3AA champion.

11. New London-Spicer (8-1)

Section 4 fave--Minnehaha (5-5) with all losses to rated or Class AAAA teams

Tournament pairings are 1 vs. 8, 4 vs. 5, 2 vs. 7 and 3 vs. 6. Semi-finalists should be Pine Island vs. Providence and Staples-Motley vs. Braham.

Class A

1. Maranatha Christian (6-3) with all losses to AA, AAA and AAAA schools. The defending state champs took Braham down to the wire before losing 77-70. Projected Section 4A champ.

2. Goodhue (10-1). The 2010 champs are led by the Tipckes, senior Ericka and soph Mikayla. Projected Section 1 champ.

3. Parkers Prairie (11-0). Coach John and daughter Micaela, a sophomore guard, lead the way but there's lots of help. Projected Section 6 champ.

4. Spring Grove (11-2) with losses to Goodhue and Waukon, IA. Section 1A.

5. Fulda (8-1) with a loss to Sisseton, SD. Projected Section 3 champ.

6. Minneota (8-1). Lost only to Marshall. Underdog to Fulda in Section 3, however,

7. Hancock (6-1). Lost only to Minneota. Led by senior Kendra Schmidgall. Underdog to Parkers Prairie in Section 6.

8. Upsala (7-1). Lost only to AA Staples-Motley. Projected Section 5A champion.

9. Sebeka (8-2) with losses only to AA schools. Section 5.

10. Mountain Iron-Buhl (12-0). Projected Section 7 champ.

Section 8A fave--Win-E-Mac (10-0)
Section 2A fave--Minnesota Valley Lutheran (7-3)

Pairings are the same as Class AA above, so the semi-finals would feature: Goodhue vs. Maranatha, and Parkers Prairie vs. Mountain Iron-Buhl. Upset specials are Minneota over Fulda in Section 3, and Sebeka over Upsala in Section 5. Minneota or Fulda over Parkers Prairie is the upset special at state.

But let's be honest. Class A is a crap shoot. There are too few interregional games and common opponents to know how the regions stack up. All you can do is go by history, which says that the regions rank roughly as follows: 5, 4, 2, 1, 3, 8 and 6 all send down tough teams roughly in the order listed. Section 7 lags. Just on history, without knowing anything about the specific teams, you'd pick 1 over 8, 5 over 4, 2 and 3 over 6 and 7. This year I'm only picking the historically stronger section in 1 of 4 games. This says to me to be ready for some surprises.

Mid-Season All-State Picks

Nia Coffey, Hopkins, jr.
Rebekah Dahlman, Braham, jr.
Shayne Mullaney, Eden Prairie, sr. (Minnesota)
Jackie Johnson, Eden Prairie, sr. (Minnesota)
Tyseanna Johnson, DeLaSalle, jr.

2nd Team

Whitney Tinjum, Chisago Lakes, sr. (Wisconsin)
Jessica January, Richfield, jr.
Marissa Jannning, Watertown-Mayer, sr. (Creighton)
Katybeth Biewen, Edina, sr.
Jade Martin, Bloomington Kennedy, jr. (Georgetown)

3rd Team

Tessa Cichy, Hill-Murray, sr.
Phyllis Webb, Osseo, jr.
Marissa Grossfeld, Wayzata, sr.
Sydney Coffey, Hopkins. sr. (Marist)
Khadidja Shumpert, Benilde, sr.

4th Team

Cayla McMorris, Park Center, soph.
Savanna Trapp, Esko, jr.
Kenisha Bell, Bloomington Kennedy, soph. (Minnesota)
Ann Rynda, New Prague, sr.
Alexis Foley, White Bear Lake, sr. (Illinois State)

5th Team

Kayla Timmerman, Wayzata, sr. (Iowa)

Kendra Schmidgall, Hancock, sr.

Madison Dean, Jordan, soph.
Mariah Adanane, DeLaSalle, sr.
Allina Starr, DeLaSalle. jr. (Georgetown)

The Big Game 1-5-12: Gopher Women Hold on to Win

2012-01-05T07:26:00.001-06:00

Last night, the Gopher men couldn't hold a lead on their home court. Tonight the Gopher women did it on the road, defeating the Northwestern Wildcats 68-60.

Minnesota led from 6-4 and throughout the rest of the game. The largest leads were 37-21 at 1:13 of the 1st half (on a steal and fastbreak layup by Leah Cotton and 43-26 at 17:46 of the 2nd on a steal by Kiara Buford and fastbreak layup by Rachel Banham. The Gophers still led 60-49 at 3:12, but 2 minutes later it was 61-58 and another 30 seconds later it was 63-60. Banham made another fastbreak layup + 1 and then 2 more FT for the final score.

Banham scored 26 points with 3 assists, while Buford had 19 points. Northwestern out-scored the Gophers 50-46 from the field but Minnesota made 22-of-31 FT to 10-of-19 for the Wildcats. The Gophers also scored 18 points off turnovers to 11 for Northwestern.

Next up for the Gophers is Purdue at Williams Arena a week from tonight.

Player of the Day

Rachel Banham 26 pts 8 boards 3 assists

Coach of the Day

Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women

The Big Game 1-4-12: Defeat from the Jaws of Victory X 2

2012-01-04T22:05:00.001-06:00

Wow. Ouch. Sh**. What a night. The Gophers and Timberwolves both went into the deep freeze at crucial points, blew hard-won leads and lost eminently winnable games on their home courts.

Memphis Grizzlies 90 Minnesota Timberwolves 86

The Wolves missed 11-of-their-first-12 shots and fell behind 8-0 and 18-3. They caught up at 43-43 in the 3rd and led by as many as 5 at 54-49 in the 3rd and 68-63 in the 4th. Surely a team that can handle Dallas and San Antone could hold on against the Grizzlies.

But no. The Wolves missed their next 6 FG and 4 straight FT, turned the ball over twice and committed a flagrant foul. By then they'd been out-scored 13-0 to trail 76-68. Twice, they got within 2 and had the ball but they turned it over and then missed the shot with 1 tick left on the clock.

Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 boards. Michael Beasley shot 5-of-16 for 11 points, and committed 5 turnovers including that crucial one at crunch time. The Wolves' 2s, Wes Johnson and Wayne Ellington, shot 1-of-9 for 2 points.

Iowa Hawkeyes 64 Minnesota Gophers 62

As dispiriting as the Wolves' loss was, it was nothin' compared to what Tubby Smith's Gophers did. Leading Iowa 32-21 late in the 1st half, Minnesota missed 4 shots on 2 possessions and turned the ball over 3 times. A turnover by Austin Hollins at :06 led to an Iowa fast-break basket that brought the Hawks within 32-31. With that kind of momentum (Iowa's) and ineptitude (Minnesota's), Iowa clearly would not be denied, and they were not.

Iowa took is 1st lead since 5-4 at 40-38 and led by as much as 58-51. The Gophers had a chance to tie or win at the final buzzer but Maverick Ahanmisi missed a 3.

Minnesota made 4-of-23 3s, but kept hoisting them up there instead of 2s that they could make (22-of-35, 62%). As a result, they shot 10 FT, making 6. Pitiful.

Some declared moral victories in close losses at 12-3 Illinois and 12-2 Michigan. Now somebody's got to declare, If you can't beat 9-6 Iowa at home, who exactly can you beat? Purdue at home? Doubtful. At Indiana? No? OK, now you're 0-5. Then you're at Penn State and Northwestern at home. A couple winnable games. If not, you're 0-7 and well on the way to 0-18. Seriously.

Player of the Day

Taylor Sheley of the Bethel women had 20 points, 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals but it was not enough to prevent the Royals from taking their 1st loss in MIAC conference play to St. Ben's 66-56, and relinquishing a piece of 1st place.

Coach of the Day

Dave Stromme of the St.Olaf women who hammered Concordia (Moorhead) 66-51 to take over 4th place in the MIAC at 5-2.

The Big Game 1-3-12: Braham girls, Duluth Denfeld boys win a pair of thrillers

2012-01-04T05:31:00.002-06:00

The Duluth area was the center of the Minnesota basketball universe last night with classic games among both the boys and the girls.

Duluth Denfeld boys 100 Duluth East 99 (OT)

Denfeld prevailed in this high-scoring, overtime match-up despite 45 points by East guard Taylor Stafford. Stafford, small but quick-on-quick with great offensive instincts, has stepped up big time in the absence of the Greyhounds' Johnny Woodward. Denfeld was led by Andrew Laughlin with 31 points, Robinson Jodeston 27 and Derek Meger 25. Shaq Coleman added 24 for East.

Robinson hit the game-winner, a 3 as time expired in OT. Stafford's lay-up had forced OT at 88-all. Laughlin's 3-pointer in OT gave the Hunters a 97-96 lead, but Rell Ladd's 4th 3-pointer of the game put the Greyhounds back in front 99-97.

Denfeld is 6-2, East a deceptive 2-7 with losses to 4 top 10 metro Class AAAA teams--#1 Eastview, #2 Hopkins, #5 Eden Prairie and #9 Minnetonka. It was Denfeld's 1st win over East after 8 straight losses since January 2007.

Braham girls 56 Esko 54

Here it was #2AA and defending state champion Braham (10-1) squeezing by host Esko (#4AA, 8-1) 56-54. Rebekah Dahlman scored 40 points, 29 in the 2nd half. Esko was led by 6-8 Savanna Trapp with 26 points and 16 rebounds.

Player of the Day

Taylor Stafford, Duluth East boys and Rebekah Dahlman, Braham girls

Coach of the Day

Annette Wiles, UMD women, who won at Bemidji State 74-54 to stay within 1 game of 1st place in the NSIC at 5-2. Katrina Newman scored a career high 30 points for the Bulldogs, and added 8 boards.

The Second Season: NSIC Men

2012-01-03T13:37:00.000-06:00

The Northern Sun men's basketball season so far has gone nothing like anticipated. Take the latest round of conference play--that is, the 1st round of play in the Second Season (January 2-3), for example. The pre-season favorite (in the coach's poll), Augustana, was ravaged by St. Cloud State, who was picked for 6th place in the coach's poll, 86-61 on Monday. And, on Tuesday, the Augies lost at Concordia-St. Paul, picked for 4th but currently at #11 in conference play, 81-77. Pre-season player of the year, Cody Schilling, was held to 8 and 12 points in the 2 games and is now averaging just 15.5 points, 10th in the conference. Last year he led the NSIC in scoring at 21.2 ppg .

Meanwhile Moorhead State, picked for 5th, edged Mankato State, picked 3rd, 66-65, and Southwest State 75-67 to remain unbeaten in 7 game. The Dragons took sole possession of 1st place when Winona State, picked 2nd and now tied for 2nd, lost at Northern, picked 10th by he coaches, 60-58.

St. Cloud, picked 6th and now tied for 2nd, and Bemidji, picked for 7th and now at #4, are the other big surprises.

The biggest disappointments to date are Mankato, the defending regular season champion, now tied for 9th place at 3-5, and Concordia-St. Paul.

To recap, NSIC men's standings as of January 4:

1. Moorhead 7-0, picked 5th
2. Winona 6-1, picked 2nd by the coaches, defending playoff champion
    St. Cloud 6-1, picked 6th
4. Bemidji 5-2, picked 7th
5. Augustana 5-3, picked 1st
   Southwest State 5-3, picked 8th
7. UMD 4-3, picked 9th
8. Northern 4-4, picked 10th
9. Wayne 3-5, picked 11th
    Mankato 3-5, picked 3rd, defending regular season champion
11. Concordia St. Paul 2-5, picked 4th
12. Upper Iowa 1-6, picked 13th
13. Mary 1-7, picked 12th
14, MN-Crookston 0-7, picked 14th

Here's What I Think Is Going to Happen Next

I picked Winona to win it all anyway, so I'm going to stay with 'em. Clayton Vette emerged as a big time player in last year's playoffs, and so far this year he's at 17 points and 8 boards. Behind him there's no #2, but rather a cast of thousands, and that's a good thing.

We're far enough along to know that Moorhead is for real, though #1 or #2 still might be a bit much to hope for. Still, guard D.J. Hamilton has emerged as a PoY candidate with 15 ppg, 4 assists, a steal, a pair of 3s, 90 FT% and 2 assists per turnover. And newcomer Jake Lindfors with 15.5 ppg on 54 percent shooting has helped to elevate the Mustangs as well.

But St. Cloud is also for real, as is Augustana, and the 3 of them (Moorhead, St. Cloud and Augie) will duke it our for 2nd. All 4 will get home ice for the 1st round of playoff games. Augustana, for the record, is still trying to integrated Drae Murray, a D1 transfer, into its 3-guard set with returning all-conference guards Cameron McCaffrey and Schilling. The talent is there, the chemistry has been harder to come by. If it comes, they're still a huge playoff threat. But the loss last night at Concordia St. Paul, which is even more desperate, put them 3 games down in the loss column and probably ended their hopes for a regular season championship.

The four road slots in the 1st round of playoffs right now look like they should go to much-improved Southwest State, Bemidji and UMD, along with, ah, er, well, how about Northern? That would leave Mankato and Concordia on the outside looking in, along with Wayne, Mary, Upper Iowa and MN-Crookston. That would make Mankato and Concordia the biggest disappointments by far. CSP in particular has brother act Kenny and Peter Olafeso each at 17 ppg, but they're not getting much help. Coach Kelly Boe's job security has got to be an issue if this collapse continues. Mankato will, of course, be back as long as coach Matt Marganthaler is on the job. But right now they're too young to make a run in 2012.

The playoffs are a crap shoot, of course, but surely 1 of the roadies will pull a 1st round upset. The most likely is Bemidji with a projected visit to Augustana. If that happened, you'd have Winona over Bemidji in the semi-final, while Moorhead vs. St. Cloud would be a toss-up.

All in all, it's shaping up as a great year for the old Minnesota teachers colleges. 8 of the NSIC's 14 members are Minnesota public schools and together, right now, they're 36-22.

All-Conference

All-conference so far are the aforementioned Hamilton of Moorhead (MVP), plus:

• James Ellisor of Bemidj 20 ppg (#1), 8 boards, a steal, 50% 3-pt shooting in 32 minutes
• Jake Hottenstine of UMD 18 ppg, 3 3s per game, plus 84 percent FT shooting
• Peter Olafeso of Concordia 17 ppg, 3 assists, a steal, better than 1 assist per turnover in 35 minutes
• Vontrell Seroyer of Wayne 4 assists, 2 assists per turnover, 92% FT shooting in 32 minutes

2nd Team

• Ryan Rasmussen of UMD
• Kenny Olafeso of Concordia
• Alex Novak of Moorhead
• Brett Putz of St. Cloud
• C.J. Erickson of Winona

Note that returning all-conference players Schilling and Cameron McCaffrey of Augie, Vette of Winona, Brett Barz of Concordia, Pryor of Northern and Shelby of Wayne are all projected to fall short of repeating. Some of them surely will sneak in but that doesn't mean that they're among the top 10 players so far.

Coach of the Year

That's easy. Chad Walthall of Moorhead even if Winona comes back to take the regular season title.

The Big Game 1-2-11: Gopher Women Put a Whippin' on Indiana 84-43

2012-01-02T16:30:00.002-06:00

The Minnesota Gopher women put a whuppin' of Biblican proportions on the Indiana Hoosiers Monday afternoon at Williams Arena. The biggest lead was 44 points at 68-24 at 13:13 of the 2nd half, and the final was 84-43.

From 7-6 at 14:11, the Gophers ripped off 18 straight points to lead 25-6 at 9:20. Rachel Banham hit her 2nd, 3rd and 4th of 4 straight 3s to start the run, and Katie Loberg and Leah Cotton each scored twice. Minnesota started out shooting 2-of-10, then went 8-of-14 during the big run, followed by 6-of-10 for the rest of the 1st half. The score at the half was 48-17 as Banham already had 15 points and 8 boards, while Kiara Buford had 10 points and 4 assists.

By game's end, the Gophers were shooting 44 percent, including 64 percent for 3s, 40 percent for 2s, and 70 percent for 1s. Indiana finished at 24 percent, including 14 percent for 3s, 27 percent for 2s, and 46 percent from the FT line. Minnesota led in points off turnovers 16-2, and points in the paint 36-18. Indiana led in 2nd chance points 13-7, though the Gophers had more offensive boards, 21-17. When Minnesota missed a shot, the Hoosiers got 22 of those rebounds, the Gophers 21. Rurnovers were 15 for Indiana and just 12 for Minnesota.

Coach Pam Borton's rotation looked like this.

Gopher Minutes

C- Loberg 27 Dvorak 13
PF- Voigt 24 Kellogg 15 Clay 1
SF-Buford 13 B. Mastey 25 N. Mastey 2
PF- Banham 35 Cotton 3
OG- Cotton 24 Buford 16

Sari Noga, as you may know, is out with an ankle sprain.

Up Next

Up next is a game at Northwestern on Thursday, and the next time I think about it it's too late. Then Purdue at home a week after their loss on the own floor.

Player of the Day

Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women, 19 points, 11 boards

Coach of the Day

Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women

The Second Season--MIAC Women

2012-01-02T08:37:00.000-06:00

The MIAC second season is setting up around the question, Can anybody challenge St. Thomas? The Tommies are 5-0 and tied for 1st place, which is where the coaches picked Ruth Sinn's crew to be in its pre-season polling.

And the best answer one can give at this stage is, It seems unlikely, given the following embarrassment of riches.

Center--Maggie Weiers, 6-1 sophomore, 13 ppg, 51 FG%, 5 boards, 2 assists, a block, a steal, 24 minutes
Forward--Sara Smith, 6-0 senior, 11 ppg, 65 FG%, 8 boards, 2 assists, a block and a steal in 33 minutes
Forward--Taylor Young, 5-11 soph, 12 ppg, 42 FG%, 4 boards, 2 assists, a block, a steal, 28 minutes
Guard--Ali Johnson, 5-11, senior, 8 ppg, 50 FG%, 43 3-pt FG%, 3 boards, 2 assists, 24 minutes
Guard--5-6 sr Carolyn Dienhart, sr Haley Loesch and 5-5 jr Kelli Ring have split the 5th starting spot

Off the bench coach Sinn can call on 5-9 sophomore guard Kelly Brandenburg, who is scoring 7 ppg on 50 FG%, with 3 boards and a team-leading 3 assists. And freshman 6-0 Anna Smith is scoring 3 ppg on 57 FG%. Meanwhile, 5-9 freshman guard Jenna Dockter will be back from injury shortly.

Add it all up and St. Thomas is out-scoring its opponents 69-54 and out-shooting them 49 percent to 39. The only issue would appear to be the offensive boards where the Tommies get 9 and give 9. And I'm sure coach would like to see fewer than 16 turnovers per game, 3.5 of them from Young.

Still, this has the look of the best MIAC women's team since the heyday of the Tommies under Ted Riverso and of St. Ben's, when one or the other or both would get deep into the D3 playoffs most every year. Has it really been a decade since then? Well, happy days are here again, perhaps.

And yet, I don't mean to dampen Bethel's title hopes. Hey, they're unbeaten in MIAC play, too. What's most remarkable is that coach John Herbrechtsmayer's squad has done it without post Scotti Moats, who has chosen not to return for her senior season. Unlike St. Thomas, this is now a tent-pole team, senior guard Taylor Sheley being the one who keeps the Royals' tent all the way up. She is scoring 19.5 ppg with 4.5 steals while making almost 50 percent of her 3-point attempts. She is without question the MIAC's MVP so far this year, and Herbie its coach of the year for the "first season."

Bethel is out-scoring its opponents 62-56, out-shooting them just 41 percent to 38 and is getting out-rebounded so far. It's hard to see Sheley and company competing for 40 minutes with a 10-deep St. Thomas team. We'll find out on Monday evening, January 16, at Bethel.

Behind Bethel and St. Thomas (5-0) are Concordia, Gustavus and St. Olaf at 4-1. Concordia and Gustavus boast nice balance and depth, while guard Mackenzie Wolter is St. Olaf's obvious leader and go-to player. No other MIAC team is better than 2-3.

Reversal of Fortune

For Augsburg's under new coach Billy McKee, 2-3 represents an amazing improvement over recent years. Meanwhile, 2-3 represents for St. Ben's under super coach Mike Durbin a shocking decline. The Auggies have already beaten the Bennies for the 1st time in Durbin's 26 years on the job, though it's true that Augsburg has now lost 3 straight after opening with a pair of shocking upset wins. St. Ben's, meanwhile, has won 2 straight after losing 2 out of 3. A surprising 81-64 win at Gustavus would suggest that the ship has been righted.

Individual Performance

Along with Sheley and Sara Smith, the "first season" MIAC all-stars would probably include 6-4 post Alexandra Lippert of Concordia (13 ppg, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks), guard Jenny Ramey of Carleton (14 points, 10 assists) and perhaps Serenae Levine of Augsburg (10 boards, 5 assists).

Freshmen Sarina Baker of St. Kate's and Jordan Sammons of Hamline are next (behind Sheley) in scoring at 18 and 15 ppg.

December Awards

2012-01-02T07:48:00.002-06:00

Player of the Month

Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves--Player of the Month. OK, I was a serious skeptic about Rubio. Now, he's played all of 4 games with the Wolves and he's Player of the Month? In a word, yes. He makes other guys better, period, end of story. And the Target Center is seeing excitement it hasn't seen since 2004.

Runner-Up--Tyus Jones, Apple Valley boys. The sophomore phenom returns vastly improved after a summer of international play with the U.S. 16U team.

Team of the Month

Eastview boys--started 7-0, moved up to #1AAAA after Benilde beat Hopkins 76-71. Eastview had beaten Benilde earlier 61-54. 6-8 senior forward Joey King leads the way for coach Mark Gerber.

Runner-Up--Moorhead State men, of whom little was expected, get to the new year undefeated and tied for 1st in the NSIC.

Coach of the Month

Mike Roysland, Minnesota-Crookston--has the former doormat at 3-2 and tied for 5th in the NSIC.

Runner-up--Billy McKee, Augsburg women--another erstwhile doormat opens with 2 shocking upsets of St. Ben's and Concordia (Moorhead).

Game of the Month

Minnesota Timberwolves 117 Milwaukee Bucks 96--sure, it was an exhibition, but the 1st game of the Adelman/Rubio era was a smashing success and a victory, too.

Runner-Up--Benilde-St. Margaret's boys 76 Hopkins 71--#1 over #1.

The Big Game 1-1-12: Timberwolves Throw a Perfect Game at NBA Champs

2012-01-02T04:30:00.001-06:00

The previously winless (0-3) Minnesota Timberwolves took no chances--nor any prisoners--in a 99-82 rout of the defending champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Wolves led 74-69 after 3. And, so it would be decided in the 4th quarter and who thought the Mavs, with NBA playoff MVP Dirk Nowitzki, would be denied?

Well, Ricky Rubio scored the 1st 5 points of the 4th on a finger roll and a 3, and soon the Wolves were up 80-69. The Mavs roared back within 84-82 when Kevin Love made a pair of 3s, Tolliver a 3, Love a dunk and Tolliver another 3 and suddenly it was all over at 98-82 with 2:02 to go. Oh, and Rubio assisted on 4 of the 5 buckets.

It was without a doubt the best 3:30 of basketball that T-Wolves fans have seen at the Target Center in 7-and-a-half years, courtesy of Tolliver, Love, Beasley, Ridnour and Rubio...and coach Rick Adelman. Not only did the Wolves score on 5 straight possessions with the game on the line, the Mavs failed to score a single point in the final 5:35.

Love finished with his usual 25 and 17. Nowitzki finished at 21 and 4. Rubio was next (on either team) with 14 points and led all players with 7 assists.

They Also Ran

Earlier in the day, the Minnesota Gophers played their 2nd strong Big 10 game but dropped to 0-2, falling at #18-rated Michigan 61-56. Freshman guard Trey Burke scored 27 to lead the Wolverines to their 7th straight win. The Gophers had 2 chances to tie or lead inside of 1 minute, but 3-pointers by Maverick Ahanmisi and Rodney Williams were off the mark.

Player of the Day

Ricky Rubio, T-Wolves guard, with 5 points and 5 assists in the 4th quarter in which the Wolves dominated the defending world champion Dallas Mavericks 25-13.

Coach of the Day

Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves.

December Award Candidates

2011-12-31T11:02:00.000-06:00

Player of the Month Candidates

Must be mentioned in Game of the Day posts. Listed in order from best to 25th best.

Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves--defending Player of the Year. Still the Wolves' best player, just not player of this particular month.

Tyus Jones, Apple Valley boys
Joey King, Eastview boys
D.J. Hamilton, Moorhead State men--has the darkest of darkhorses unbeaten and tied for 1st place in the NSIC.

Shayne Mullaney, Eden Prairie girls
Brittani Wiese, UM-Crookston women
Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women
Nia Coffey, Hopkins girls
Taylor Stafford, Duluth East boys

Tia Elbert, Tartan girls
Rebekah Dahlman, Braham girls
Julian Welch, Minnesota Gopher men
Sean Scott, Spring Lake Park boys
Jackie Johnson, Eden Prairie girls

Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian boys

Rodney Williams, Minnesota Gopher men

Ann Rynda, New Prague girls

Kiara Buford, Minnesota Gopher women

Clayton Vette, Winona State men

Phyllis Webb, Osseo girls
Jessica Thone, St. Mary's women
Pierce Peters, Macalester men
Seth Anderson, Gustavus men
Rashad Vaughan, Robbinsdale Cooper boys

Team of the Month Candidates

Must be mentioned in game, coach or player of the day posts.

Minnesota Timberwolves--hope springs eternal
Eastview boys
Hopkins girls
Moorhead State men
Hopkins boys

Benilde-St. Margaret's boys
Bethel women
Minnesota Gopher men--hope springs eternal
Perham boys
Augsburg women

Eden Prairie girls
Eden Prairie boys
Edina girls
Winona State men

Braham girls

Minnesota-Crookston women

Bemidji State women

Ellsworth boys

Gustavus men

Apple Valley boys

Lakeville North boys
St. Mary's women
Spring Lake Park boys
Bloomington Kennedy girls
Blake boys

Coach of the Month Candidates

They or their teams must be mentioned in game, coach or player of the day posts.

Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves
Mike Roysland, Minnesota-Crookston women
Billy McKee, Augsburg women
Mark Gerber, Eastview boys
Chad Walthall, Moorhead State men

John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women
Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
Kenny Novak, Jr., Hopkins boys
Mike Curfman, Bemidji State women
Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher men

Ron Gunderson, New Prague girls
Leah Dasovich, Minnetonka girls
Nick Rathmann, Blake boys
Mandy Pearson, St. Mary's women
Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls

Game of the Month

Must be mentioned in game, coach of player of the month posts.

Minnesota Timberwolves 117 Milwaukee Bucks 96--1st (pre-season) game of Adelman/Rubio era
Benilde-St. Margaret's boy 76 Hopkins 71--#1 vs. #1
Perham 51 Pelican Rapids 42--#1 over #2
Blake 50 DeLaSalle 44--nobody even remembers the last time Blake beat DLS
Moorhead State men 81 Augustana 76--the Dragons stay unbeaten

Hopkins girls 46 Lakeville North 41 (OT)--perhaps not unbeatable after all
Eden Prairie boys 89 Apple Valley 85--despite Tyus Jones' 38 points
Bethel women 52 Carleton 51
Oklahoma City 104 Minnesota Timberwolves 100--moral victory in 1st regular season game
Bemidji State women 69 Winona State 62--shocker

Spring Lake Park 63 Tartan 56--on Tartan's home floor and its own holiday tournament
Illinois men 81 Minnesota Gophers 72 (OT)
Ellsworth 71 Perham 57--#3A over #1AA
Providence girls 41 Lakeville North 33--#1AA over #5AAAA
UMD women 73 UMC women 72--otherwise UMC is a most unlikely undefeated team (in NSIC)

Irondale girls 55 Braham 50
Fairmont boys 81 St. Peter 77
Lakeville North boys 78 Mpls. Washburn 67
Edina girls 47 Lakeville North 38
Braham boys 85 Orono 75

Mankato East boys 81 Montevideo 77
Hopkins boys 100 St. Paul Johnson 74
Hopkins girls 83 Eden Prairie 51
Perham boys 62 St. Thomas 54
Bloomington Kennedy girls 61 Eden Prairie 55

Best Buy All-Stars Finals Day

2011-12-31T08:02:00.000-06:00

This based only on play on Friday.

1st Team

C- Tim Gill, Mpls. Patrick Henry, 6-6, senior, 24 points, 21 boards
F- Joe Tuss, Las Vegas Durango, 6-7, senior, 25 points
   Zach Stahl, Hopkins, 6-5, senior, 28 points
G- Taylor Stafford, Duluth East, 6-0, senior, 35 points
   Siyani Chambers, Hopkins, 5-10, senior, 23 points

2nd Team

C- Kevin Jensen, Chanhassan, 6-5, senior, 11 points
F- Latrell Love, Minnetonka, 6-4, senior, 19 points
   Riley Dearring, Minnetonka, 6-5, junior, 19 points
G- Darius Hill, Mpls. Patrick Henry, 6-2, junior, 32 points, 11 boards
   Marcus Marshall, St. Paul Johnson, 6-2, senior, 12 points

Hopkins 100 St. Paul Johnson 74 in Best Buy Holiday Classic Final

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-06:00

Two years ago I saw these same 2 teams in this same game on this same court. Johnson won 86-78. I said it then and I'll say it again, it was one of the most exciting regular season games I have ever seen. I came prepared tonight to say that neither of these is the team that played in that game. Now, after seeing Hopkins demolish Johnson 100-74, I don't know. I mean, Johnson, sure, they're a shadow of that great team, missing Estan Tyler and Maxie Rosenbloom more than words can say.

But Hopkins? Sure, their stars, Joe Coleman and Marvin Singletary, have moved on. But this team is a lot like that 2010 team. They play at a high rate of speed, t they get up and down the court in a huge hurry. They create turnovers, they get to the rim at will and they swarm the offensive glass, and they get to the FT line. But unlike that team, they also shoot the 3-ball.

Let me repeat that. Hopkins plays at a high rate of speed and they beat you down the court. Their very 1st bucket the tone. They beat Johnson down the court and Zach Stahl scored the fast-break lay-up at 17:27, 7 seconds after a made Johnson basket at 17:34.

Hopkins creates turnovers and, more to the point, they convert. Johnson had 17 turnovers, and not a single one in the final 9:00, by which time Hopkins led 81-55. And the Royals scored 19 points off of those 17 opportunities.

Hopkins gets to the rim, they swarm the offensive glass. 16 of their 21 2-point baskets were inside of 5 feet. The Royals had 11 offensive boards and scored 12 points off of 8 of those opportunities.

They get to the FT line. Hopkins was 25-for-29 from the line, including 3 and-1s.

Finally, the shoot the 3-ball. Hopkins was 11-for-21 from behind the arc. (All of this according to my unofficial stats. The Best Buy Classic did not provide any official stats beyond than individual points on the scoreboard.)

How do you beat all of that? Well, I suppose you could ask Benilde. But add it all up and it was a lethal stew for Johnson. Granted, the Governors are 4-3 and unrated, but they've lost only to 3 AAAA teams with a combined 19-5 record and they've beaten 2 other AAAA teams, albeit with a 7-10 record.

Johnson led in the early going, as late as 8-6, and stayed within 14-13, 21-18 and 30-26 before Hopkins began to pull away. A pair of 3s by Siyani Chambers off of his own defensive rebound and sophomore Jacob Wright from Nick Jorgenson made it 36-26, and the score at the half was 40-32. Hopkins shot 45 percent in the 1st half and Johnson 50, but Hopkins was winning the possession game with 7 offensive boards and 5 turnovers to Johnson's 2 offensive boards and 11 turnovers. Hopkins was also leading 3-1 in 3s and 9-5 from the FT line.

Hopkins opened the 2nd half scoring on their 1st 8 possessions, hitting 3-for-3 from behind the arc and 6-of-6 from the line. Suddenly it was over at 60-40. But Hopkins kept on coming, scoring on 10-of-their-next-13 possessions as well, with 3 3s, an and-1, 4 2-point baskets and 4-for-4 from the line. 11 of 36 points through the 8:00 mark came off of Johnson turnovers. Only 2 came off the offensive glass but remember that Hopkins made 12-of-15 FG attempts during this run.

And, so, at the 8:00 mark it was Hopkins 83 Johnson 55. Marcus Marshall tried to keep the Governors in it, hitting 4 3s during this same period. In fact, Marshall shot 8-for-15 during this period including 5-for-6 3s, but couldn't get a stop.

Hopkins shot 69 percent from the field in the 2nd half (56 percent for the night). They committed just 5 turnovers playing at a rapid pace against a team that, like themselves, specializes in creating turnovers.

Stahl led Hopkins with 28, Siyani Chambers added 23, Demetrius Martin 16 and Jamal Davis 11. Stahl, a 6-5 senior, and Chambers, the smallish 5-11 guard (think Tyler Nicolai only a bunch quicker), are both underrated, I think. Little brother Kamali Chambers comes off the bench and contributes. A sophomore, he and fellow sophomores Wright and Stephon Sharpe represent the next generation of Hopkins state champions, I suppose. Davis is the only contributor from what must be accounted as a weak junior class.

Hopkins lost to Benilde, who lost to Eastview, so the Royals #2 ranking at this moment is well-deserved. And this team can't really be regarded as the equal to the Royals 3-time defending state championship teams until it, too, earns another trophy. But don't count these Royals out. They are at least a more versatile bunch than the one that won those state titles in 2010 and 2011.

Game of the Day Friday December 30: High School Tournaments Conclude

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

What Happened

Best Buy for Boys

There are full game reports on all 4 games, but briefly:

Hopkins thrashed Johnson 100-74 for the title. Zach Stahl and Siyani Chambers scored 28 and 23.

Chanhassan thrashed Henry Sibley 66-43 for 3rd place.

Minnetonka rallied past Duluth East 80-73 for 5th place, though the Greyhounds' Taylor Stafford lit it up for 35.

Las Vegas Durango defeated Mpls. Henry 79-71 for 7th though Darius Hill and Tim Gill of the Patriots combined for 56 points.

Dick's Sporting Goods for Girls

Hopkins thrashed Eden Prairie in a repeat of last March's state title game. This time it was 83-51 as the Coffey girls out-scored EP's Shayne Mullaney and Jackie Johnson 35-28.

Osseo beat St. Paul Central 64-61 in OT for 3rd as Mikayla Bailey scored 20 for the winners.

Milwaukee Rufus King took 5rd place 58-55 over Prior Lake.

Hutchinson beat Maple Grove for 7th 57-54.

Elsewhere

A pair of huge upsets. Well, Wayzata's win over Hill-Murray in the Pioneers' own tournament was a shocker only by virtue of the margin of victory, 66-27. It was 43-14 at the half. Marissa Grossfeld scored 18 for Wayzata.

And Spring Lake Park won the Tartan tournament, beating the hosts 63-56. Sean Scott scored 22 for the winners.

And the Wayzata boys also came up big, beating Cretin for the Catholic Spirit tournament title. The score was 75-71.

Player of the Day: Zach Stahl with his 28-point effort against St. Paul Johnson.

Coach of the Day: Kenny Novak, Jr., and Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins boys and Hopkins girls, winners of the 2 biggest prizes of this holiday tournament season.

Preview

Several of the "big" (8 team) tournaments conclude today. It seems like most of them can offer a pretty appealing championship game. But whose got more than 1 really good game to offer? Nobody? So here are some finals.

Boys

Best Buy--Hopkins vs. St. Paul Johnson. 2 years ago these 2 teams played in this same finale, and Johnson won one of the best regular season games I've ever seen 86-78. P.S. One Web site has today's games starting at 2 p.m., but the official Web site for the tournament says the 1st game is at 3 p.m. I will be at Augsburg today for all 4 games. Watch for my reports late tonight and/or early tomorrow morning.

Tartan--Tartan vs. Spring Lake Park
Catholic Spirit--Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Wayzata

Girls

Dick's--Hopkins vs. Eden Prairie in a replay of last year's AAAA title game.
Hill-Murray--Hill-Murray vs. Wayzata
Roseville--Buffalo vs. Eau Claire Regis. Roseville was upset by Buffalo yesterday.

Chanhassan, Minnetonka and Las Vegas Durango win in Best Buy consolation play

2011-12-30T22:00:00.000-06:00

Chanhassan hammered Henry Sibley 66-43 for 3rd place, Minnetonka rallied past Duluth East 80-73 for 5th, and Las Vegas Durango beat Mpls. Patrick Henry 79-71 for 7th place in the 3rd annual Best Buy boys basketball holiday tournament.

Chanhassan 66 Henry Sibley 43

The roller coaster ride continues for Henry Sibley. Up and down all year, the Warriors knocked off former coach Tom Dasovich and his Minnetonka Skippers 65-63 in the 1st round here Wednesday, then got buried by St. Paul Johnson and, now, Chanhassan. This is the same Chanhassan team that defeated Sibley in the 1st game of the year, but just by 7. Here the margin was 7 before I'd finished my pre-game hot dug.

Sibley led 4-3 when Chanhassan began to heat up, scoring on 6-of-8 possessions, the last 2 on Sibley turnovers that the Storm converted into home run baskets. Suddenly it was 18-7. Chanhassan scored on 4-of-its-next 5 possessions and Sibley on just 2-of-6, and now it was 28-13. And that was before another 10-0 Chanhassan run. So you get the idea. the half-time score was 42-17.

Mainly, Sibley couldn't seem to get its defense set up. I couldn't tell sometimes if they were in a man or a zone. Rotations didn't happen. 3-point shooters were left wide open. No wonder the Storm shot 52 percent for the half.

The 2nd half was better, Sibley actually out-scoring Chanhassan 26-24 and, early in the half, scoring on 5-of-6 possessions. But unable to get a stop on defense, the Warriors still trailed 52-31. The scoring pace declined precipitously later on, however, as the Storm managed just 1 bucket inside of 5 minutes.

Chanhassan put up a well-balanced effort, meaning that 4 players scored in double figures (Joey Stark 14, Cole Otto 11, Kevin Jensen 11 and Steve Gitzen 10) and also meaning that they scored inside and out, in transition and in the half court. Jensen, 6-5 and mobile, was especially impressive for the Storm, though it's true that he missed his 2 big moments, an alley-oop and a dunk attempt within about 1:30 early in the 2nd half.

Minnetonka 80 Duluth East 73

It was the Taylor Stafford show as Duluth East took a 43-38 half-time lead over the Skippers. Stafford finished the half with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

With their marching orders for the 2nd half crystal clear--if you wanna win, stop Stafford--'Tonka did, well, just enough of that. Stafford didn't score until the 11:40 mark, by which time the Skippers had a 51-47 lead. Stafford's 3 2 minutes later tied it up at 55, and he did score 15 in the 2nd half for a total of 35 but, most of the damage was done after 'Tonka had taken the lead.

Not that it was a safe lead by any means. The Greyhounds tied it up again at 65 but Tommy McDermott hit a 3, Riley Dearring a 2 off the offensive glass, and Andrew Turnblad a 2 to make it 72-67, and East never got off a shot that might have tied it up after that.

'Tonka shot 46 percent for the night, East 42, and Tonka won the battle on the boards with 15 offensive rebounds to just 6 for the Greyhounds. The Skippers made 21-of-26 FT, East 13-of-14. Riley Dearring and Latrell Love dominated inside with 19 points each, shooting 15-of-20 between them.

Las Vegas Durango 79 Mpls. Patrick Henry 71

It was 2-against-2, almost. Henry's 6-6 senior post Tim Gill and 6-2 junior guard Darius Hill combined for 56 points, out-scoring Vegas' 6-7 Joe Tuss and 6-0 Tyler Watts by 10 points. But Durango's supporting cast was better.

Gill was especially impressive, though his teammate Hill out-scored him 32-24. Gill is a big strong kid who looks and plays bigger than 6-6, and despite those skinny little ankles. He was dominant down low, especially on the offensive glass. His 24 points came on 9-of-19 shooting plus 5-of-8 throws, with 21 rebounds (10 offense and 11 defense) and 7 2nd chance points. Hill scored 32 on 12-of-23 shooting including 8-of-10 from the line but 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. He added 11 boards, 8 on the offensive end with 12 2nd chance points.

Vegas countered with the mobile Tuss who, despite his size, is fundamentally a perimeter player who has an offer from Air Force. He was the best player on the floor and finished with 25 points. Watts, described as a "crafty left-hander," and scored 21. Apparently, Durango's best player, Tre'Vonn Wells, is out of action.

Durango shot 14-of-24 (58 percent) in the 1st half to take a 41-33 lead. Henry shot just 11-of-44 (44!? Yes, 44 shots, many of them coming after 17 offensive boards.) The Patriots turned it around in the 2nd half, shooting 48 percent, but Durango better than matched that at 56 percent. Henry was within 5 at 44-39 when Durango scored 10 straight to lead 54-39. Henry battled back to within 5 again at 60-55 but turned it over their next 2 possessions. They were down 10 again at 65-55 by the time they scored again. But again they got within 5 at 71-66 but had 3 more turnovers before their next score, which didn't come until they trailed 74-66 inside of 1 minute.

In the end, Henry's 23 offensive rebounds were not enough to overcome Durango's hot shooting.

Spring Lake Park to Challenge Tartan for Holiday Tournament Title

2011-12-30T07:02:00.001-06:00

Spring Lake Park (7-1, #4AAA) will meet host Tartan ((6-1, #8AAAA) in the final of the Tartan Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament. Both advanced easily Thursday evening. The Spring Lake Park Panthers took it to the Hayfield Vikings 76-46, while the home team won by an almost identical score 76-49 over the Columbia Heights Hylanders.

Spring Lake Park Panthers 76 Hayfield Vikings 46

Hayfield was no match for the Panthers' quickness nor for Sean Scott's offensive fireworks. That quickness forced Hayfield into 23 turnovers and numerous hurries and a 31.5 shooting percentage. Meanwhile, Scott made 5-of-5 3s before intermission en route to a 31 point effort, 6 points above his average.

Scott already had 12 points at 11:30 of the 1st half--more than any of the Vikings would score on the night--including the ever-popular dunk off the fast break, and the Panthers were well in command at 17-0. The Vikings were 0-for-9 to open, with 6 turnovers. Hayfield's Brady Kramer finally broke the ice off the offensive glass at 11:00, making it 17-2. The Panthers extended their lead steadily throughout the half, with their largest lead being 43-17 at intermission. Scott had 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 3s, plus 5 boards and 2 steals.

The teams mostly traded baskets in the 2nd half though the lead got as high as 33 at 67-34, 69-36, 72-39, 74-41 and 76-43. Reserves Deon Wilson and Abbass Osman each scored twice during this exchange, Scott having departed the game for good at the 8:00 mark and his fellow starters followed over the next 2 minutes.

The Vikings provided the night's biggest highlight--that was an unexpected alley-oop dunk from Kramer to Cole Kruger in the 1st minute of the 2nd half. One would have expected such a play from the Panthers, who in fact attempted to match the Vikings' play a minute later. Scott settled for 2 FT on the play. And the next time Hayfield tried the alley-oop, Scott intercepted the ball at the rim and started a fast break the other way, leading to a Bryce Williams lay-up. Later the Panthers attempted a fast break alley-oop off the glass but that pass went awry.

The Panthers finished up with a 29-for-64 shooting night (45 percent) to Hayfield's 31.5. After making 7-of-15 3s in the 1st half, however, they were 1-for-8 in the 2nd. Hayfield made its living at the FT line, making 20-of-36, including 15-of-25 in the 2nd half.

Tartan Titans 76 Columbia Heights Hylanders 49

Columbia Heights led 10-8 in the early going and trailed just 11-10 at 10:30 mark, when a pair of 3s by guards Darrion Strong and Mike Hudspeth got Tartan going. They never trailed again.

Then, 6-8 sophomore post Brody Jackson entered the game and, in just 2 minutes, scored on the fast break, then on a nifty baseline drive and dish by Xavier Hall. Next he scored not once but twice off the offensive glass, then recorded a steal leading to a Marshawn Wilson FT. 4 minutes later, Hall closed out a 16-1 run with a 2 + 1 off the fast break and it was 36-17.

It was more of the same in the 2nd half. The 2 teams traded baskets from 40-21 to 55-40, then Tartan ripped off 11 points, Strong scoring 5 of them and Jackson 2 more. The Titans shot 54 percent in the 2nd half, and 50 percent for the game, making it unlikely that the Hylanders were going to come back from that 19-point half-time deficit.

Tartan's 5-headed monster at the guard slots includes Hall, Khaire Kirkland, Wilson, Hudspeth and Strong. All 4 are quick and strong. They gummed up the Hylanders' offensive patterns and launched fast break after fast break, most often finishing same with style. Hall led the way with 15 points, 7 in the 1st half, 8 in the second. Kirkland scored 8 in the 2nd half for a total of 10, Hudspeth 6 of his 7 in the 1st. Wilson scored 5 and 6 for 11, while Strong scored 6 and 8 for a total of 14. Strong is usually their leader, scoring 18.5 ppg to 10 for Wilson and 9 for Hudspeth.

All are juniors, except Marshawn Wilson who is a freshman. And with the 6-8 Jackson also back, Tartan could contend for a state title next year, if not this.

Meanwhile, Columbia Heights' best player, Deon Sanstad, is also a junior guard. He led all scorers with 20 points. But the Hylanders shot just 31 percent, including 3-of-17 from behind the arc. Still, they're a sound team that committed just 10 turnovers against a fairly high level of defensive intensity, and gave up just 7 offensive boards to the other side. But Tartan shot too many lay-ups--ergo the 50 FG percentage--for the Hylanders to really make a game of this.

Game of the Day Thursday December 29, 2011: More High School Action

2011-12-29T07:53:00.000-06:00

Review

The Lakeville North boys pulled away from a 31-30 half-time lead to a 78-67 win over Mpls. Washburn. North had 4 players in double figures to 3, led by Nick Anderson's 20 points, for Washburn.

The Mankato East boys edged Montevideo 81-77.

The Benilde-St. Margaret's boys beat Eden Prairie in their (EP's) own holiday tournament 80-68.

Class AA Providence girls beat Class AAAA Lakeville North 41-33 to win the Rochester Rotary tournament.

Meanwhile, the Big Two tournaments (Best Buy boys and Dick's girls) went like this.

Best Buy (Boys)

Championship Semis: A pair of blowouts. St. Paul Johnson 82 Chanhassan 56 and Hopkins 91 Henry Sibley 62. Marcus Marshall scored 23 for Johnson.

Consolation Semis: Duluth East 85 Mpls. Henry 76 as Stafford scored 40, and Minnetonka 99 Las Vegas Durango 57.

Dick's (Girls)

Championship Semis: Eden Prairie 51 Osseo 43 and Hopkins 61 St. Paul Central 31. Sydney Coffey scored 22 for Hopkins.

Consolation Semis: Milwaukee Rufus King got its sea-legs under it after a terrible performance against Eden Prairie. King 98 Hutchinson 68 as Alexis Eckles scored 27. And Prior Lake surprised, well, they surprised me, beating Maple Grove 50-39.

Player of the Day: Tyus Jones scored 39 points in leading the Apple Valley boys over Rocori 100-74.

Coach of the Day: Ray Finley of the Providence girls for leading his team over AAAA Lakeville North and winning the Rochester Rotary tournament.

Preview

The tournaments just keep on coming. The best tournaments--Dick's for the girls and Best Buy for the boys--move into the semi-final round. See my report for yesterday--game times are the same again today, though obviously the match-ups are different.

Still, today's Best Bets for individual match-ups look like this:

Boys: Lakeville North vs. Mpls. Washburn at Lakeville North. #4AAAA vs. #2AAA.

Mankato East vs. Montevideo at Southwest State. #7AAA vs. #3AA. East beat "home team" Marshall 89-80 last night. Monte won 62-35.

Girls: Providence vs. Lakeville North at Rochester. #1AA vs. #4AAAA. Each pulverized its opponent yesterday, Providence beat Jefferson by the unlikely score of 60-17 while North dominated White Bear Lake 55-30. Despite the 2 class difference, this is a toss-up.

Game of the Day Wednesday December 28, 2011: Best Buy or Dick's Holiday Tournaments

2011-12-29T07:50:00.000-06:00

What Happened

I spent my day at the Dick's holiday tournament at Hopkins, featuring the girls game. Eden Prairie, Osseo, St. Paul Central and Hopkins advanced to tomorrow's semi-finals, all but one (Osseo, which needed overtime to defeat Hutchinson) doing so with relative ease. I wrote a full report of these games and they'll be posted on kjasr.com (not here on MinnesotaHoops).

Results for Dicks' as well as Best Buy are summarized below. But the game of the day, as it turns out, well, on a day with around 200 high school games, the games (plural) of the day would have to be:

Boys: Ellsworth 71 Perham 57 in the championship of the Worthington tournament. Ellsworth is, of course, a 2-time Class A state champ (2007-2008) and home of the Schillings--Curt, Cody and, now in his senior year, Casey. Ellsworth came into the game rated #3A. Perham is the defending Class AA champ and rated #1AA going into last night's game.

Girls: Irondale 55 Braham 50. Braham is also the defending state champ in AA, and came into the game rated #2AA. Senior forward Jana Norgren came up big for Irondale, scoring 22, while super-duperstar Rebekah Dahlman scored 24 for the Bombers.

Player of the Day: Shayne Mullaney and Jackie Johnson, Eden Prairie girls, combined for 54 points, while Johnson added 21 boards and Mullaney 11 assists in a 77-66 win over Milwaukee Rufus King in the Dick's Sporting Goods tournament at Hopkins.

Coach of the Day: JD Roberts, Ellsworth boys. Last year was a disappointment for Ellsworth (24-5, and a loss to Hills-Beaver Creek in the sectional quarter-finals). There was even talk of dissension. There is no such talk this year as the Panthers have started 8-1 and now with a big win over the defending state champs and #1AA-rated Perham Yellowjackets.

Best Bets

The holiday tournament season goes full tilt. Among the boys the Best Buy classic at Augsburg is your best bet. First round games:

4 p.m. St. Paul Johnson vs. Durango (NV). Johnson won easily 94-75 as Marcus Marshall scored 20.
5:30 Chanhassan vs. Mpls. Henry. Chanhassan came from behind to win 63-58.
7 Duluth East vs. Hopkins. The Royals cruised 102-73.
8:30 Henry Sibley vs. Minnetonka. Tom Dasovich's former vs. his current team. This had to be a big thrill for the kids from Sibley to upset their old coach 65-63.

I will be at Augsburg for the final day of action in the Best Buy on Friday. Reports will be published here at MinnesotaHoops.

Among the girls, the Dick's Sporting Good tournament at Hopkins is almost always the best show. First round action:

2 p.m. Eden Prairie vs. Milwaukee Rufus King. EP out-scored King 43-15 in the middle section of the game, then held on to win 77-66.
4 Hutchinson vs. Osseo/. Hutch pushed Osseo into OT before succumbing 62-52.
6 Maple Grove vs. St. Paul Central. Central prevailed 63-60.
8 Hopkins vs. Prior Lake. The Royals cruised 67-29.

Game of the Day Tuesday December 27, 2011: Minnesotan Hoopsters Fall Short on the Road

2011-12-26T07:41:00.000-06:00

What Happened

The Minnesota hoopsters shot the ball miserably and fell behind--way behind--in the early going. They caught fire in the 2nd half, roared back to make a game of it, but couldn't make the plays down the stretch.

We're talking about the Minnesota Gopher men, of course...and about the Minnesota Timberwolves, too. Both used the same script and came to the same disappointing conclusion--a loss. You can't do all the bad things that both did, and win on the road against a Big 10 or an NBA opponent. It's that simple.

First, the Gophers. Tubby's crew shot 25 percent (8-for-32) for the 1st half, and trailed by as many as 13 at 37-24. The Illinois lead was still 13 at 48-35 when the Gophers ripped off runs on 10-0 and 19-6 to tie it up at 54. It stayed close from there until the Illini pulled away to an 81-72 double OT final. Julian Welch scored 15 points with 3 assists, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 FT opportunity with Minnesota leading by 2 and 15 seconds on the clock in regulation. Then with the score tied 70-all and 15 seconds remaining in the 1st OT, he missed a layup. Illinois out-scored the Gophers 11-2 after that.

Then there's the T-Wolves. They shot 35 percent (12-for-34) in the 1st half and trailed 60-48. Halfway through the 3rd the Bucks lead reached 20 points (at 75-55 and 79-59). But Minnesota scored the last 9 points of the 3rd to get within 9, then got within 2 at 94-92 with about 2 minutes remaining. But they then missed 4-of-their-last-6 shots. The final was Milwaukee 98 Minnesota 95.

Player of the Day: Nobody played 4 solid quarters for the Gophers or Wolves, so the Player of the Day is Whitney Tinjum of the Chisago Lakes girls, who scored 38 points as her team beat Park 64-55. Sydney Lamberty scored 25 for Park.

Coach of the Day: Bob Newstrom, Lakeview Christian. The Lions and star Anders Broman are erasing any doubt that they're for real this year. Now 6-0 after stepping up to Class AAA and thrashing Cambridge-Isanti 104-88. Broman scored 50.

Preview

For the next 4 days, the high schools take the spotlight with an annual glut of holiday tournaments for both the boys and girls. With Christmas on a Sunday this year, the week gets off to a slow start with no tournament games on Monday and just a few on Tuesday.

Today's best best is the Irondale girls tournament featuring Braham, Irondale, Mounds View and St. Paul Humboldt.

Or if you prefer the boys Benilde, Eden Prairie, Holy Family and Waconia square off at Eden Prairie.

Game of the Day Monday December 26: The T-Wolves New Era Officially Underway

2011-12-26T07:38:00.000-06:00

What Happened?

The Old T-Wolves would have declared a moral victory. Hell, I'll declare a moral victory, as the powerful Oklahoma City Thunder held on to defeat Minnesota 104-100 on Monday night December 26. The Wolves led 24-23 at the quarter break and took their biggest lead at 37-30 and 39-32. The Thunder used a 14-2 run to take the lead (almost) for good at 46-41, and led 52-46 at the half. The Thunder extended their lead to a high of 12 points at 67-55, but the Wolves came back to lead momentarily 94-93 and 96-95, but the Thunder answered each time, outscoring the Wolves 8-4 inside of 3 minutes.

Minnesota out-scored Oklahoma City in the paint 60-36, out-rebounded them 53-47, and had more 2nd chance points 13-8 and fewer turnovers 12-19. But the Wolves shot 3-of-22 from beyond the 3 point arc (Derrick Williams was 0-for-4 and Anthony Tolliver and Kevin Love each 0-for-3). Michael Beasley led the way with 24 points. Love added 22 with 12 boards.

Coach Rick Adelman went with a rotation similar to that which defeated the Milwaukee Bucks at the Target Center in its 1st exhibition win. In other words, Beasley, Love, Darko Milicic, Luke Ridnour and Wesley Johnson started, but guards J.J. Barea and Ricky Rubio ended up playing more minutes than Ridnour or Milicic. A small lineup of Love, Williams, Beasley, Barea and Rubio was on the court for the final 6 minutes, but was out-scored 13-12. After leading 96-95 they made 2-of-their-final-6 shots with 1 turnover, while the Thunder shot 2-for-4 and 5-of-5 from the line with 2 turnovers.

Player of the Day: Barea with 14 points and 2 assists.

Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman.

Best Bet

The Rick Adelman-Ricky Rubio-Derrick Williams era of the Minnesota Timberwolves officially gets underway as the Oklahoma City Thunder come to the Target Center. The Thunder, of course, feature all-star Kevin Durant. But for the moment fans are coming to the Target Center to see the Timberwolves again including the above-named plus Kevin Love. As much as one might anticipate some improvement, it's going to be hard to see initially as the Wolves have drawn a truly brutal early-season schedule. 7 of the 1st 10 are at home, to be sure, but the opponents include:

Oklahoma City 55-27 last year (7th in the NBA)
Miami 58-24 (3rd)
Dallas 57-25 (4th, but playoff champions)
San Antonio 61-21 (2nd)
Chicago 62-20 (1st)

So come out to see the Wolves, but stay to see Durant, LeBron, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and last year's NBA MVP Derek Rose.

Game of the Day Friday, December 30, 2011: The High Schools Still on Center Stage

2011-12-22T07:59:00.000-06:00

Some possible match-ups:

Hopkins girls vs. Osseo in the finals of Dick's Sporting Goods tournament
Hill-Murray vs. Wayzata in the finals of the Hill-Murray tournament

Hopkins vs. Mpls. Henry in the finals of the Best Buy classic
Lakeville North vs. Mpls. Washburn in the finals of the Lakeville North tournament

Game of the Day Friday December 23: NJIT Women at Minnesota Gophers

2011-12-19T07:01:00.001-06:00

What Happened

The Gopher women hammered New Jersey Institute of Technology 71-46 as Rachel Banham scored 20 points with 7 boards and 4 assists. The Gophers now go into Big 10 play with an 8-6 record.

Kiara Buford added 12 points, and has scored in double figures in all 14 Minnesota games this year. Katie Loberg added 10 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks and 2 steals.

Player of the Day: Joe King, Eastview boys, scored 24 points as Eastview beat Moorhead 64-46.

Coach of the Day: Mark Gerber, Eastview boys, has his team off to a 6-0 start and a #1AAAA rating.

Friday's Best Bet

Like the Gopher men, the women are back from a 9-day lay-off for their final tune-up before the Big 10 season opener at Purdue on 12/30. The opponent is the Hylanders of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. They're 4-5 with a 3-game losing streak, and get out-scored by an average of 61-58. They shoot just 35 percent from the field. Uju Nwankwo is the only player who averages in double figures at 10.7 and, considering that she shoots 54 percent, the rest of the roster must be particularly dreadful from the field. Still, with these Gophers one can never tell. It could be a game and it probably should be a grinder, if NJIT has anything to say about it.

Game of the Day Thursday, December 22, 2011: NDSU Men at Minnesota Gophers

2011-12-19T06:45:00.000-06:00

What Happened

Well, it was indeed a game as NDSU stormed to an early 14-2 lead. The Gophers came back to lead at the half 32-29, but the Bison still led late 53-52. Minnesota took the lead for good on a 2+1 by Maverick Ahanmisi, and made enough FT down the stretch to hold on 63-59. Ralph Sampson scored 15 points for the Gophers, Rodney Williams added 14 plus 8 boards, and Ahanmisi scored 13.

Player of the Day: But the player of the day is Tessa Cichy of the Hill-Murray girls. Cichy out-scored Benilde-St. Margaret's guard Grace Coughlin 20-16 to lead the Pioneers to a 49-39 win. You may recall that the 2 teams met in the 2010 AAA state title game, Benilde winning on a pair of buckets inside of 10 seconds. Going into today's game Benilde was rated #1AAA and Hill Murray #5AAA. But Benilde's Khadidja Schumpert was held to 4 points. Benilde needs more from her inside to justify that #1 ranking.

Coach of the Day: Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls. EP defeated Lakeville North 62-56 as Jackie Johnson and Shayne Mullaney each scored 22. Taylor Stewart scored 20 for North.

Best Bet

The Minnesota Gopher men get back into action after a 9-day layoff, as the North Dakota State Bison visit Williams Arena. These are the same Bison who defeated the Gopher football team 37-24 this past fall, though it's true that the Gopher roundballers beat the Bison a year ago 84-65. These Bison are now 8-2 and out-score their opponents a decisive 75-62. Four players score in double figures including Minnesotans Marshall Bjorklund (from Sibley East) and Mike Felt (of Redwood Valley) with 12 and 11 points, while Dylan Hale from Mpls. Washburn scores 8.5 with a team-high 2 blocks. This will be a game, and it will be the 11-1 Gophers' final tune-up before the Big 10 season opener at Illinois on 12/27.

Game of the Day Wednesday December 21, 2011: Timberwolves Roar Back from 11 Down with 2:00 to Go

2011-12-19T06:36:00.002-06:00

How It Went Down

Down 84-73 with 2:00 remaining, the Wolves scored the game's last 12 points--Kevin Love 10 and Michael Beasley 2--to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat 85-84. Love led all scorers and rebounders with 22 and 16.

Still, this was a 20 point turnaround from Friday's 21-point win, when J.J. Barea and Ricky Rubio combined for 20 points and 13 assists. Overall the Wolves guards had 41 points, 15 assists and 6 turnovers. Tonight, with Barea and Rubio playing 0 minutes due to minor injuries, the Wolves guards had 33 points, 12 assists and 8 turnovers, down from 2.5 assists/turnover to 1.5.

Still, it's a great and improbable win, the kind you (if you're Rick Adelman) can build on.

Player of the Day: You're kidding, right? Kevin Love.

Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman. Doh!

Best Bet

The Minnesota Timberwolves, fresh off an impressive 117-96 exhibition win over the Milwaukee Bucks, get a 2nd and final exhibition contest in this truncated season versus the, er, Milwaukee Bucks. (Then, of course, their 2nd regular season contest on Friday 12/30 will also be against these same Milwaukee Bucks.) The big news out of the Timberwolves camp was, of course, the play of Ricky Rubio. The other newcomers--J.J. Barea, Derrick Williams and coach Rick Adelman--also get passing grades so far.

Game of the Day: Tuesday December 20, 2011: High school stars come out

2011-12-18T07:26:00.000-06:00

Review

There were 4 great high school games in the metro area Tuesday night.

1) In our Preview Game of the Day, the #2-ranked Edina girls beat White Bear Lake as expected 59-52. Alexis Foley scored 29 for the Bears, who have yet to find a 2nd source of reliable offense, while Katybeth Biewen scored 21 for Edina, who is still without MC McGrory. A win over a quality opponent with 1 of its dynamic guard duo out more than justifies Edina's high rating.

2) The #2AAAA Eastview boys hammered #4AAA Spring Lake Park 86-63 as Joey King poured in 36 points.

3) #4AAAA Eden Prairie boys took its first loss to #6 Lakeville North 69-62. Brett Rasmussen scored 35 for North.

4) #1AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's boys gave #9AAAA Minnetonka its 1st loss 71-68. It was tight all the way, as Benilde held a 28-26 half-time lead. Tonka's Latrell Love led all scorers with 20 points, while Tommy McDermott of Tonka and Isaiah Gray and Sanjay Lumpkin of Benilde all added 18.

Finally, the Benilde girls also gave Minnetonka its 1st defeat, 55-48. Grace Coughlin, already a Gopher verbal as a sophomore, won the battle of the big name guards, out-scoring Joanna Hedstrom, rated #3 among the juniors by one rating service, 23-6.

Player of the Day: Joey King, Eastview 36 points

Coach of the Day: Tom Dasovich, Minnetonka boys. In transitioning from John Hedstrom to Dasovich a year ago, Tonka was dreadful. Add Riley Dearring, formerly of Hopkins and DeLaSalle, and voila! Tonka is back, despite its loss to Benilde last night.

Preview

The White Bear Lake girls opened the season ranked #5 and Edina #8. Since then, they've gone in different directions.

Edina has beaten 7 opponents by an average of 69-38, including a 47-38 win over then-#3 Lakeville North a few days after the Panthers had taken #1 Hopkins into OT. Edina is led by senior guard Katie Biewen and junior MC McGrory, each of whom is rated as the #8 Minnesota guard in her class.

White Bear is 5-2 and has fallen out of the top 10. A pair of upset wins--over #1AAA DeLaSalle in OT and at #6AAAA Wayzata--have been matched by a pair of upset losses to Prior Lake and Roseville. Senior guard Alexis Foley, an Illinois State commit, leads the way.

By next March, I expect the fortunes to have changed again. White Bear should return to the state tournament whereas Edina will face Eden Prairie and others in the tough Section 2, so it's touch 'n go for the Hornets. But as for now, Edina should be able to defeat the Bears on their home court.

Game of the Day Monday December 19, 2011: Boys Champs Square Off

2011-12-18T07:11:00.000-06:00

Review

The Springfield boys broke away from a 29-28 half-time lead to a 76-66 win at Minnesota Transitions Charter. It was the 2011 Class A state champs over the 2010 Class A state champs. Alex Fink led Springfield with 24 points.

Player of the Day: Takendra Elbert of Tartan scored 34 points, but it wasn't enough as the Titans lost to St. Paul Highland Park 78-65. Elbert had scored 48 points in a game last week.

Coach of the Day: Lance Larson, Springfield boys

Preview

The are 27 boys games throughout the state. The best of them match-ups the last 2 Class A state champions, as the Springfield Tigers journey back to Minneapolis to take on the host Minnesota Transitions Charter.

Game of the Day Sunday December 18, 2011: NSIC Action

2011-12-18T07:06:00.001-06:00

The Big Game

Going into today's game, the UM-Crookston Eagles and Wayne State Wildcats were the only 2 NSIC women's teams left with just 1 loss. Wayne, of course, is the defending regular season champion and #9-rated nationally, while UMC has never won a thing. So, I guess, Sunday afternoon could be described as more of the same. Wayne 66 UM-Crookston 37. It was 16-4 at 12:37 and 38-16 at the half. Crookston's closest approach of the 2nd half was 21 points at 45-24 and 51-30. All-American Ashley Arlen led Wayne, as usual, with 19 points and 8 boards. None of the Eagles scored in double figures. Wayne is 5-1, Crookston 3-2.

Still, Crookston under coach Mike Roysland have been a terrific success story, building steadily over several years now from doormat to contender.

The other big game went the other way--the underdog visitor from Minnesota (Moorhead State, picked for 5th place in the coach's pre-season poll) shocked the pre-season favorite Augustana. The Dragons pulled away from a half-time tie (and a final tie at 62-all as late as 7:21) to win 81-76. The Winona and Moorhead men are the last unbeatens in the NSIC. Moorhead is 5-0, Augie is 5-1.

The Wayne men (2-4) beat UMC (0-5), while the Augie (4-2) women hammered Moorhead (1-5) 98-66 in the other 2 NSIC games today. Angela Christianson came off the bench to score 15 for Moorhead. She should be cracking the starting lineup shortly for the disappointing Dragons.

Player of the Day: Charlie Chapman and Jake Lindfors, Moorhead men 18 points each on a combined 13-of-23 shooting.

Coach of the Day: Chad Walthall, Moorhead men, again.

Preview

There are 2 NSIC double-headers. Minnesota-Crookston at Wayne State, matching 2 women's contenders but 2 men's also-rans. And Moorhead State at Augustana, matching 2 men's contenders but also a disappointing (so far) Dragons women's team against yet another Augie contender.

Game of the Day: Saturday December 17, 2011: Timberwolves Open a New Era

2011-12-17T07:38:00.004-06:00

Saturday December 17

The Minnesota Timberwolves opened the Adelman-Rubio-Derrick Williams era with a 117-96 exhibition win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Coach opened with a starting lineup of holdovers Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Kevin Love, Darko Milicic and Luke Ridnour. But he had said prior to the game that starting doesn't matter, it's who finishes.

And the minutes went to: Johnson 30 Beasley 27 Love 27 Barea 26 Rubio 24. Meaning Love in the post and Beasley at the big forward spot, with newcomers manning the guard spots. Williams and Anthony Tolliver also played better than 20 minutes. Of course, it could all change before the Wolves' regular-season opener against Oklahoma City on Monday, December 26.

The Wolves led pretty much throughout including 62-52 at the half and 92-78 after 3. Beasley and Love scored 21 points each, Love led in rebounds with 15, while Rubio had 7 assists and Barea 6. Barea shot 5-for-10 for 14 points, Rubio 1-of-4 for 6.

Player of the Day: Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian, scored 48 in a 99-77 win over Heritage Christian. Broman is well on his way to breaking Kevin Noreen's all-time Minnesota boys career scoring record of 4,000 points, and this effort didn't hurt.

Coach of the Day: Who else but Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves.

Preview

The Timberwolves finally make their 2011-2012 debut vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at the Target Center. Finally, after 2 years, you'll begin to understand whether Ricky Rubio is the savior of this franchise or one of the biggest busts in NBA history--or, simply, somewhere in between. But you'll also get to see the other new point guard J.J. Barea, rookie Derrick Williams and new coach Rick Adelman. For my money, Adelman is the newcomer who really is going to make a difference, starting tonight.

Game of the Day: Friday December 16, 2011: High School Boys #1 vs. #1 and #1 vs. #2

2011-12-16T23:09:00.000-06:00

Friday December 16

A great night for boys basketball. Two #1s meet, and a #1 and a #2.

#1 vs. #1. It's always news when Hopkins loses. I mean, it happens about once a year, a true man-bites-dog tail, er, tale. This time it can hardly be described as an upset, however. When #1AAAA goes on the road to meet #1AAA, you'd have to think #1AAA would have a pretty good shot.

Well, the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights gave it better than a pretty good shot, rolling out to a 43-31 half-time lead. Hopkins threatened in the 2nd half before falling 76-71. Sanjay Lumpkin scored 22 for the winners, and Isaiah Zierden 20, Will Dunn 17 and Isaiah Grey 13. Demetrius Martin scored 22 and Siyani Chambers 17 for Hopkins, who was without the services of Zach Stahl tonight.

#1 vs. #2. Here it's the 2 top-ranked teams in AA meeting at Perham, defending state champs. Surprisingly, the Yellowjackets were the underdog at home against the #1-rated Pelican Rapids Vikings in what was billed up in those parts as "the game of the century." But the home team, Perham, emerged victorious 51-42.

Player of the Day: Tessa Cichy, Hill Murray girls, scored 33 points as the Pioneers edged Chanhassan 69-66 of the Day.

Coach of the Day: Mike Leaf, Winona State men. The Warriors ventured out on to the road, yet remained unbeaten in the NSIC. Winona clawed back from a 37-33 half-time deficit to defeat Southwest State 79-72. Clayton Vette scored 22 with 11 boards.

Apple Valley boys 80 Henry Sibley 62, or Tyus Jones Puts on a Show

2011-12-14T05:15:00.000-06:00

By the time of the final buzzer, it had become the Tyus Jones show.

But over the first 8:30, when the game was decided, it was the Harry Sonie show. Sonie, an unsung 5-10 junior guard for the Apple Valley Eagles, scored 10 points as Apple Valley sprinted to a quick 21-3 lead over the Henry Sibley Warriors.

Sonie opened the scoring at 16:40 with a fast-break lay-up off a Dustin Fronk feed. A minute later Fronk scored another fast-break layup off of a steal, and another 40 seconds later he added a 3 off a feed by Robert Tobroxen. Sibley's Nick Golberg scored 3 points, then the Eagles went back to work. Jones scored yet another fast-break layup off a steal, then Sonie hit a 3 from the top of the key as Sibley dared him to shoot. Mitch Hechsel scored off the offensive glass on another fast-break opportunity, Then Sonie hit a 3 off the fast-break, Hechsel hit a 2 off a Jones feed and Sonie a pair of throws after an offensive board.

As you can see, Sonie had lots of help, and not only from Tyus Jones, who ultimately scored 32 points to Sonie's 20. But Fronk was also in double figures with 13 and Hechsel with 12, and both helped trigger the Eagles fast break that broke the Warriors right out of the gate.

And they had lots of help from the Warriors themselves. Sibley started off playing with poise, protecting the ball and getting good looks at the basket. But only 1-of-their-first-18 good looks went down and stayed down. And, as the shots refused to go down and Sibley fell further and further behind, the shot selection quickly deteriorated. A timeout finally was called at 10:43 and at 17-3. but Apple Valley scored the 1st 2 buckets coming out of the timeout.

Sibley's Adam Heussner hit a pair of 3s for Sibley, who was able to trade buckets the rest of the half. But that's also when Jones also took over, hitting a 3 from the left wing, 2 on a drive into the lane, a fast-break layup off the defensive glass, then another fast-break layup off a Jones steal, making it 34-12 at 5:44. Later, as the final seconds of the first half ticked away, Jones got trapped at the top of the key. He split the trap but lost control of the ball, which bounced toward the Sibley defender in the lane. Jones put it into another gear to beat the Warrior to the ball, and touch-passed it to Hechsel underneath the basket for the final 2 that doubled up the half-time score 46-23.

Sibley won the 2nd half 39-34 by dramatically improving their shooting, from 8-of-33 (24 percent) in the first half to 15-of-28 (54 percent) in the 2nd. Unfortunately for them, the Eagles shot 56 percent in each half. The Warriors also had 23 turnovers on the night to just 10 for the Eagles.

Sibley is not a young team, but they're a junior team. (Okay, 6-7 center Alex Stafford and guard Dante Grant are seniors.) In any event, they've got some pieces and some potential. Stafford has some nice offensive moves and plays solid on the defensive glass. Heussner has a terrific 3 point shot, and his teammates found him with the skip pass all night long. Still, when the game was still on the line, those darn shots just wouldn't go down. I mean, what's with that.

The bottom line would seem to be that they have some pieces, but no glue. Nobody who can orchestrate the pieces and get the ball to guys in the places where they need to be receiving it. Nobody to protect the ball. And the defense was pretty much non-existent. The Eagles beat 'em down the floor repeatedly, which is not a good thing.

Meanwhile, as one former coach said to me, Apple Valley's not a one-man team. Jones has lots of help. But, hey, we're gonna talk about Jones anyway. First, let's acknowledge that he turned the ball over 7 times. But, seriously, his ball-handling and passing are nothing short of spectacular, but you knew that. He gets to the rim anytime he wants, but you knew that. But I don't know if you knew that he can shoot out the lights. Last night, he made 12-of-15 FG attempts including 2-of-3 from outside the arc. And 4-of-4 FT. And there were 4 rebounds and 4 steals and 3 assists to go along with those 32 points.

What I like best is that he plays the game at a pretty good pace. But every now and then, when he needs a little bit extra, he shifts into a higher gear and he is just gone.

Full Breakdown Tip-Off Schedule and Results

2011-12-10T12:35:00.000-06:00

Boys Breakdown Tip-off Saturday December 10 Minnetonka High School

West Court

11 a.m.--Duluth East vs. Eden Prairie. Johnny Woodard remains out with an injury, and EP took advantage 74-65. Taylor Stafford also took advantage of the opportunity to lead the Greyhounds and all scorers with 30 points.

12:30 p.m.--Champlin Park vs. Lakeville North. Lakeville won 63-50 as Rasmussen scored 25.

2:45 p.m.--Perham vs. St. Thomas Academy. The defending AA champs defeated AAA St. Thomas 62-54 as 6-7 Mark Schumacher scored 20 points

4:15 p.m.--Maranatha vs. Dawson-Boyd. Dawson-Boyd won 75-67 as Joey Lee scored 21.

6 p.m.--Montevideo vs. Spring Lake Park. SLP won 83-71 as Sean Scott scored 33.

7:45 p.m.--Apple Valley vs. Tartan. Tyus Jones scored 28 as AV defeated Tartan 79-69.

Main Court

10:30 a.m.--Roseville vs. Rocori. Roseville 77 Rocori 52.

12 noon--Braham vs. Orono. Braham defeats the defending AAA champs 85-75. Tyler Vaughan out-scores Brady Wohler 28-25. Vaughan also finished the game 2 3-point shots short of the state record held by Jordan Smith of, you guessed it, Orono.

1:45 p.m.--Osseo vs. Prior Lake. Osseo had to come from 9 points down with 6 minutes to go to win 70-67 in OT.

3:15 p.m.--Benilde-St. Margaret's vs. Eastview. Trailing by 3 at intermission, Eastview came back to win 61-54.

5 p.m.--Cooper vs. St. Paul Central. Oops, DeLaSalle played Cooper and the Islanders won 64-61 despite 30 points from Cooper's Rashard Vaughan.

6:45 p.m.--Hopkins vs. Cretin-Derham Hall. The Royals win easily 74-45.

8:30 p.m.--Buffalo vs. Minnetonka. Minnetonka won 59-47.

Boys Tip-Off Stars

C- Mark Schumacher, Perham
F- Rashad Vaughan, Cooper
G- Tyler Vaughan, Braham
Tyus Jones, Apple Valley
Brady Wohler, Orono

Girls Breakdown Tip-off Saturday December 3 Hopkins Lindbergh Center

Sunnyday's Girls Tip-Off All-Stars
1st Team
C- Onye Osemenam, 6-1 junior, Maranatha
F- Khadidja Shumpert, 6-0 senior, Benilde
F- Tyseanna Johnson, 5-10 senior, DeLaSalle
G- Rebekah Dahlman, 5-9 junior, Braham
G- Brianna Rasmussen, 5-10 sophomore, Fergus Falls

2nd Team

C- Mariah Monke, 6-2 senior, Fergus Falls
F- Jade Martin, 5-11 junior, Kennedy
F- Maria Grossfeld, 5-10 senior, Wayzata
G- Shayne Mullaney, 5-9 senior, Eden Prairie
G- Mariah Adanane, 5-11 senior, DeLaSalle

3rd Team

C- Kayla Timmerman, 6-4 senior, Wayzata
F- Nia Coffey, 6-1 junior, Hopkins
F- Courtney Frederickson, 6-0 8th grader, Wayzata
G- Jaqlyn Poss, 5-9 junior, Roseville
G- Joanna Hedstrom, 5-11 junior,Minnetonka

Main Court

11:15 a.m.--DeLaSalle vs. St. Paul Central. DLS made it a track meet with its full court pressure defenses and won going away, 91-61.

1 p.m.--Sartell vs. Osseo. Sartell made more of a game of it than expected. In fact, Osseo didn't take the lead for good until the final score with 5 seconds remaining, 55-53.

2:45 p.m.--Braham vs. Maranatha. Maranatha led 64-63 when 6-1 junior Onye Osemenam fouled out, but Braham pulled away to win 77-70. Rebekah Dahlman scored 47 points for the Bombers, Osemenam 27 for Maranatha.

4:30 p.m.--Braham boys vs. Hopkins boys. Hopkins won 102-67.

6:15 p.m.--Hill-Murray vs. Hopkins. Hopkins made it 40 minutes of hell-murray, leading 39-19 at the half en route to a 77-37 en route.

Old High School Gym

11:30 a.m.--Parkers Prairie vs. Isle. Parkers Prairie won 66-57.

1:15 p.m.--Roseville vs. Bloomington Jefferson, Jefferson played without the injured Britney Scherber and looked lost. Roseville's Jaqlyn Poss was the difference as the Raiders prevailed 59-35.

3 p.m.--Cambridge-Isanti vs. Wayzata. Wayzata won easily 83-44.

4:45 p.m.--Minnetonka vs. Richfield. Richfield seemed in command until a 7 minute drought midway through the 2nd half. The Skippers' 19-1 run turned a 42-34 deficit into a 53-43 lead. The final was 68-57.

6:30 p.m.--Minnetonka boys vs. Rogers boys. Tonka prevailed 93-83.

East Court

11:45 a.m.--Bloomington Kennedy vs. St. Michael-Albertville. Kennedy demolished the Knights 82-28,

1:30 p.m.--Providence vs. Fergus Falls. Providence led 55-50 but Fergus out-scored the Lions 12-2 the last 3 minutes plus OT.

3:15 p.m.--Woodbury vs. Chanhassan. Chanhassan pulled away to a 73-58 win.

5 p.m.--Eden Prairie vs. Benilde. It took OT but Eden Prairie prevailed 51-50.

Just when you thought the NBA had come to its senses....

2011-12-09T13:24:00.001-06:00

The NBA, as you know, is back with a CBA, no less, that will make it possible for smaller market franchises like the Timberwolves to contend.

But not content with doing one good deed for the smaller markets, commissioner David Stern had to go and screw it all up yesterday. I mean, by voiding a 3-legged trade that sent one of the best young point guards in the league, Chris Paul, from New Orleans to the L.A. Lakers.

Now, on paper I get it. Can't let the mega-filthy-rich Lakers get any richer, right? But, wait. It's supposed to be about the smaller markets. Has anybody really thought about this trade from the Hornets' perspective? Yeah, I have. Here's the proposed trade.

Houston--gives Goran Dragich, Kevin Martin, Louis Scola and a 1st round draft pick
   gets Paul Gasol

Los Angeles Lakers--give Paul Gasol and Lamar Odom
   gets Chris Paul

New Orleans--gives Chris Paul
   gets Goran Dragich, Kevin Martin, Louis Scola and a 1st round draft pick

Expectations are that Paul will resist signing a contract extension with the Hornets, and if so either they trade him or he walks as a free agent. And if not this trade, then what more are the Hornets going to get in another?

Here's New Orleans projected lineup status quo:

C- Emeka Okafor 7 ppg (playoffs)
F- Carl Landry 16
   Trevor Ariza 15.5
G- Chris Paul 22
   Marco Belinelli 10

Now, without Paul:

C- Okafor
F- Scola 18
   Ariza
G- K. Martin 23.5
   Bellinelli

And an extra 1st round pick in 2013 which, given Houston's roster after the unexpected retirement of Yao Ming, could be a pretty good one.

Or, alternatively, if Paul walks:

C- Okafor
F- Landry
   Ariza
G- Belinelli
   Jarrett Jack 6

And no extra 1st round draft pick in 2013.

No, this was not done to help the New Orleans Hornets, nor even to harm the Los Angeles Lakers. It was done to help the Dallas Mavericks and squeaky wheel-owner Mark Cuban, who was reported as protesting loudly to the NBA office about the trade. The proposed trade, after all, might make it harder for Cuban's Mavs to defend their Western Division and NBA titles against the Lakers. Or might not. After all, the Lakers are giving up Gasol and Odom. And while Paul would replace Derek Fisher in the Lakers' starting lineup, Matt Barnes and Shannon Brown would replace Gasol and Odom. Who?

And last time I looked, Dallas was not a small market but rather #4 in America after New York, LA and Chicago. And their owner, Cuban, one of the wealthiest men in America. He and his Mavericks do not need for NBA officials to come to a rescue, but that exactly what they've done.

And there's absolutely nothing that says Paul doesn't end up in L.A., anyway, only he might end up with Gasol and Odom on his side.

Gustavus Adolphus women 58 Augsburg 48

2011-12-08T02:54:00.001-06:00

I ran into former Staples coach Ron Beachy at the Breakdown Tip-Off the other day. He had come directly from Augsburg where, he said, the Auggies had smacked his daughter Jessie's Concordia (Moorhead) Cobbers, defending MIAC play-off champions. He could barely contain his incredulity at the loss, much less that "they beat us by 20 points!"

I pointed out that the Auggies had defeated St. Ben's a few days previous, the first time Mike Durbin had ever lost to Augsburg in his 26 years as Bennie's coach.

How did they (Augsburg) do it, I asked Beachy. "It's the coach," he said. "He's that good."

Never exactly what you'd call a powerhouse, the Auggies in fact last had a winning record in 1985. They've won 55 games in the past decade and just 17 (with 93 losses) the past 5 years. 4-18 in the MIAC a year ago, they were picked by the coaches to finish dead last in 2011-2012.

Who ya gonna call? Billy McKee, the turnaround specialist. At least, that's what the announcement of McKee's hiring said. "McKee...has led dramatic turnarounds of several basketball programs during his coaching career." The evidence shows a real turnaround only at Mounds View high school (2008-2011). The Mustangs were 16-36 in the 2 years before Billy, 62-18 during his 3 years there (including 24-4 in 2010).

Otherwise you'd have to say he helped the rich get richer--as an assistant at St. Thomas University, at Cretin-Derham Hall, at Blaine and at Anoka-Ramsey CC. But that won't be the case at Augsburg. Here, whatever success McKee and his Auggies experience must be credited in part to St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of desperate causes.

And starting out 3-0 this fall had every appearance of a miracle. The Augsburg roster is essentially the same as last year's when Serenae Levine (25), Nikki Borkhuis (23), Tracee Schrank (19), Brittany Dyshaw (18), Lexi Thompson (12), Katie Ahlstrom (9) and Brittany Zins (9) accounted for 115 starts out of the team's total of 125.

I can hear the Auggie's pitch to McKee this past off-season. The bad news, coach, is that we were 4-18 last year. The good news is that everybody's back.

But, hey, that St. Jude Thaddeus is a heckuva a guy. And McKee? "He's that good." Because a starting lineup of Levine, Borkhuis, Dyshaw, Thompson and Zins, with Ahlstrom the #2 reserve, miraculously started the season 3-0. First was a 70-46 whoopin' of North Central in which Dyshaw contributed 19 points and 9 boards. Then came the historic win at St. Ben's, 61-50 no less, as Levine and Zins combined for 33 points. Third was the 62-41 shocker over Concordia in which the Auggies held the Cobbers to a 29 shooting percentage.

But a pair of close losses now have followed. How close? Well, 9 and 10. But Augsburg trailed Bethel 59-57 with 57 ticks on the clock remaining and had a shot to tie with 35 seconds left. But Bethel made 6-of-6 from the FT line thereafter to seal its win.

The stats tell a similar tale of last night's loss, though it's true that Augsburg was never closer than 7 points inside of 10 minutes. But the Auggies were out-shot just 38 percent to 35 from the field. On 2-pointers Augsburg was 14-of-35, Gustavus 14-of-36. The Gusties hit 4 3s, the Augies 3. The possession game was pretty even--8 offensive boards to 11 for Gustavus, and 16 turnovers apiece. Gustavus apparently had better ball movement--that, after all, is their schtick--with 15 assists on 18 buckets versus Augsburg's 10 assists on 17 buckets. Gustavus won the battle in the paint 24-16 but points off turnovers, 2nd chance points and fast break points (Gustavus 2 Augsburg 0) were pretty even.

The difference, again (as at Bethel), was the FT line. Gustavus made 18-of-25, Augsburg 11-of-19. But that is mostly an artifact of who's ahead at the end. With 5 minutes remaining Gustavus had hit 13-of-18 FT, Augsburg 10-of-17.

So the truth is that Gustavus was just a tiny bit better on a bunch of dimensions rather than dominant in any aspect of the game. And so, after falling behind 12-4, the Gusties came back to take their 1st lead at 17-16. Augsburg responded with a pair of buckets by Dyshaw and Levine for their final lead of the night at 20-17. A Kelsey Florian layup at 2:00 on an assist by Julia Dysthe gave the Gusties the lead for good at 22-20, and Molly Geske padded that 17 seconds later with a steal and a breakaway layup. It was 26-23 at the half.

A turning point of sorts came from the 16:17 mark of the 2nd half to 9:49, a period of about 6:30. Gustavus scored on 8-of-11 possessions for 16 points, while the Auggies scored on 5-of-10 possessions for 10 points. Down 47-40, Augsburg began to press a bit and turned the ball over on their next 3 possessions. Of course, neither team scored again until 5:06 when Abby Rothenbuehler drained a pair of throws. Now down 49-40, Augsburg pressed some more, taking a pair of ill-advised shots that were blocked by Rothenbuehler and Florian. Augsburg never got closer than 8.

On the plus side for Augsburg: The Auggies shut down Gustavus' guards--and especially leading scorer Molly Geske, who scored just 1 FG--with a total of 25 points among a 5-guard rotation. Still, the Auggies' 5 guards combined for just 19 points as only Levine had more than 1 FG.

Posts Rothenbuehler for Gustavus and Borkhuis and Dyshaw for Augsburg did little enough damage either--just 10 points among them. But Rothenbuehler led all rebounders with 11 and led her team with 4 assists. She spends much of her time on offense up at the high post, where she threw a bunch of nice high-low passes to whomever had a size advantage posting up (usually Eli Benz or Florian).

And so it was the forwards--Benz and Florian for the Gusties, Zins and Kendra Ware for the Auggies--who combined for 46 of the game's 106 points, exactly 23 for each team. The Gusties' fowards scored mostly on those high-low passes from Rothenbuehler or Florian, who also had 4 assists, while Zins and Ware scored mostly on drives from the vicinity of the FT line or the elbow at either side of the line.

As an aside, it was fun to see kids from my backyard--Dysthe from White Bear Lake, and Abby Lugar of North St. Paul--on the court. Dysthe waited patiently for minutes through her freshman year, but now they're coming, and she's doing what she did for the Bears. Moving the ball, moving without the ball, letting the game come to her, feeding her teammates and, when the stars align, shooting that quick and well-nigh unstoppable stop and pop shot from 8 feet. She will be all-MIAC before she's done.

For Luger, on the other hand, the minutes are already coming in her freshman year. And why not, she is one of the toughest kids I've ever seen on the basketball court. She was the point guard several years ago on a young and, being honest, a terrible North High team and one of the worst ball-handling teams you could ever see. The ball was in her hands all night long, night after night against quicker and more athletic teams, and the turnovers piled up to the sky. But she took the pressure of protecting the ball off of her teammates and let them do what they did best. Eventually North became a competitive team and Luger came to be recognized for what always she was--their MVP. Last night she was the 3rd guard in terms of minutes, surpassing those of the veteran, Ahlstrom. She will never be all-MIAC. If McKee is able to bring respectability to the Auggies' long-suffering program, she may never be their starter at the point. If Dysthe is the thoroughbred, then Luger is the work horse. But I've rarely seen a tougher kid nor a girl grow and improve like she has done since her freshman year at North, and I wish her well.

But the big question is, so, has the bubble already burst for the Auggies? Well, they're not sneaking up on anybody anymore, if they ever did. They're not woeful in any aspect of the game, but the fact is there are no obvious strengths--no aspect of the game on which they can reasonably expect to dominate. So, with continued hustle, tough defense and an occasional 3, something approaching a .500 record is possible.

Meanwhile, the Gusties' guards cannot get shut down like the Auggies shut 'em down last night if they're going to realize their potential of an MIAC title.

St. Paul Johnson boys 68 Stillwater 60

2011-12-07T05:29:00.001-06:00

The St. Paul Johnson Governors slowly pulled away from the Stillwater Ponies in the 2nd half Tuesday night at Stillwater. The Ponies led 27-26 at the half but Johnson pulled out to its biggest lead of the night at 49-40. Stillwater got within 56-55 at 3:06 but never quite caught up. The final was 68-60.

Anybody can tell you that these Governors are a shadow of those great, great teams of 2010 and 2011, but they play at the same pace and with the same intensity. What they don't do is finish like those Governors finished. At 12:50 of the 1st half, Johnson was dictating to the Ponies--and trailing 8-4. The Governors already had 7 offensive boards, but was shooting 2-for-15. Stillwater had 4 turnovers and had taken only 4 shots, but had made 3 of them.

Johnson led only 10-9 and 24-23 in the 1st half as Stillwater recovered its composure and handled the pace pretty well the rest of the way. By half-time, turnovers were even at 11 apiece and both teams were shooting in the 20s--Johnson was 10-of-37 (27 percent), Stillwater was 5-of-19 (26 percent). What was not even was offensive boards, where Johnson had 11 (and 10 2nd chance points) to the Ponies' 2 and 4.

Oh, and the FT shooting was not even. Johnson was 7-of-13 (54 percent) while Stillwater was 14-of-16 (87.5 percent).

Johnson scored the 1st 5 points of the 2nd half to take a 31-27 lead and never trailed again. Quashingm Smith-Pugh, who had failed to score in the 1st half, came out with renewed energy and scored off the offensive glass, then on a steal, all within a few seconds. Wayland Johnson came off the bench to add 1-of-2 FT off the fast break. Stillwater quickly tied it up on buckets by junior forward Andrew Duxbury and 9th grade post Matt Anderson.

This became the pattern throughout the 2nd half as the Governors would put on a little run, and Stillwater would respond. Johnson took its biggest lead at 36-31 at 14:10, then the Ponies came back to within 36-35. At 8:30, it was 49-40 as Jalen Albritton hit 2 throws, a lay-up off the fast break and a 2 + 1 off a steal. Wayland Johnson added a bucket on a pair of aggressive drives down the left baseline and then down the lane, and Smith-Pugh a fast-break lay-up.

Still the Ponies kept coming to within a point on junior point guard Sam Lagus' 1st bucket of the night, a 3 off an inside-out feed from the freshman, Anderson. But Johnson responded with a 4-point possession. Albritton drove to the rim from the right elbow for a bucket and a foul. Smith-Pugh rebounded his missed throw, resulting eventually in a pair of Marcus Marshall FT. Stillwater never again got within 5.

Johnson shot 50 percent in the 2nd half, mostly by eschewing the 3. 0-for-7 on the long ball in the 1st half, Johnson attempted only 1 in the 2nd. Meanwhile, the pace began to tell on the Ponies. They shot a solid 40 percent from the field in the 2nd half, but their FT shooting faltered from 87.5 percent in the 1st half to 6-of-13 (46 percent) in the 2nd.

Albritton and Waylon Johnson led the Governors with 17 points apiece. Smith-Pugh scored 9, all in the 2nd half. Marcus Marshall had a tough night shooting (2-of-13) but was relied upon to direct traffic and protect the ball for Johnson. He left the game with his 4th foul at 12:30, Johnson leading 36-32, and this seemed like a possible turning point. But, no, he returned at 7:49, Johnson still leading 49-45, and played right to the final buzzer.

Stillwater was led by its inside pair of Duxbury (12 points) and Anderson (11), plus the perimeter shooting of Aaron Nickles (10 points). Duxbury and Anderson added 12 boards but also 10 turnovers. Lagus, like Marshall for the Governors, is probably Stillwater's MVP as he's the guy who handles the pressure. Like Marshall, Lagus got himself into foul trouble and eventually fouled out of the game at :57. Like Marshall, he also had a tough night shooting, missing his 1st 6 shots before making his 7th and 8th.

What these 2 teams have in common is they are well-coached, they know what coach wants them to do, and for the most part they do it. Other than that, of course, they have nothing in common. Stillwater wants to get good shots by running its offense inside-out, and for the most par they got good looks. Just not enough of them, as they were unable to protect the ball as well as they'd like. Johnson wants to create a little chaos and get to the rim in transition, and they did that with their half-court traps. They just didn't convert in the 1st half. So I guess they had that in common, too--neither team has the talent to execute its game plan 100 percent against a well-drilled opponent.

HS Update: The Boys

2011-12-06T11:56:00.001-06:00

Well, the boys are already underway. I saw part of Hopkins' (not unanticipated) demolition job on Braham (AAAA vs. AA, and all of that), and it reinforced the idea that Hopkins is the undisputed heavyweight champeen of Minnesota until somebody proves otherwise. They don't appear invincible as in past years but for now they're merely invinced, which carries the same weight. So, anyway, on with the final pre-season predictions.

The Hot Dozen

AAAA

1. Hopkins--like I said

2. Eastview--Eastview, Osseo? Osseo, Eastview? Well, Eastview beat 'em (Hopkins) in the Sweet Sixteen and Osseo didn't. It's not much, what with summer rosters not being the same as they are in-season, but there you have it.

3. Osseo
4. Apple Valley
5. Cretin--3 more that could make it to the state final

6. Tartan
7. Eden Prairie
8. Duluth East
9. Lakeville North
10. Maple Grove
11. Edina
12. White Bear Lake--all a half-a-cut to a cut below the top 5

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Mary's--could be the #2 team in the state
2. Grand Rapids--Alex Ilikainen a name to remember
3. DeLaSalle
4. St. Thomas--making this pretty much the private division
5. St. Paul Johnson
6. Mpls. Washburn
7. Rocori
8. Marshall
9. Zimmerman
10. Mankato East
11. Princeton
12. Columbia Heights

AA

1. Perham
2. Pelican Rapids--the AP poll has the Pelicans 1st; again, Perham is the best until somebody else proves otherwise

3. Braham
4. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown
5. St. Peter
6. Watertown-Mayer
7. Redwood Valley
8. St. Cloud Cathedral
9. Montevideo
10. Minnehaha Academy
11. Worthington
12. Plainview-Elgin-Millville

A

1. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrose--trying to make up for last year's championship game meltdown
2. MCCRAY
3. Maranatha
4. Ellsworth
5. Southwest MN Christian
6. Rushford-Peterson
7. Lakeview Christian
8. Dawson-Boyd
9. Spring Grove
10. Ada-Borup

Section Favorites

AAAA

I'm not aware that seeding all 64 teams is an option for 2012, or am I missing something? So we stay with our traditional sections for now.

1 Lakeville North
2 Eden Prairie
3 Eastview over Apple Valley and Cretin #2 seed
4 Tartan #4 seed
5 Osseo #3 seed
6 Hopkins #1 seed
7 Duluth East
8 St. Michael-Albertville

AAA

1 New Prague
2 Marshall
3 DeLaSalle #3 seed
4 St. Thomas #4 seed
5 Rocori
6 Benilde-St. Margaret's #1 seed
7 Grand Rapids #2 seed
8 Mankato East

AA

1 Byron
2 Waterville-EM over St. Peter #3 seed
3 Redwood Valley over Montevideo
4 Minnehaha
5 Watertown-Mayer over St. Cloud Cathedral #4 seed
6 Pierz over Litchfield
7 Braham #2 seed
8 Perham over Pelican Rapids, though AP has Pelican #1 and the defending state champs #2 Perham #1 seed

Oh, wait, there are no seeds. The actual brackets are Section 2 vs. 7 (Braham advancing), 3 vs. 6 (Redwood Valley advancing), 1 vs. 8 (Perham advancing) and 4 vs. 5 (Watertown-Mayer advancing). Then Braham over Redwood, and Perham over Watertown and then Braham in the final.

A

1 Rushford-Peterson
2 Lester Prairie
3 MCCRAY over Ellsworth and Southwest MN Christian and Dawson-Boyd; maybe we oughta be seeding Class A?
4 Maranatha
5 Barnum over Upsala and Nevis
6 Belgrade-BE
7 Lakeview Christian
8 Cass Lake-Bena

Again it's 2 vs. 7 (Lakeview), 3 vs. 6 (BBE), 1 vs. 8 (RP) and 4 vs. 5 (Maranatha).

All-State

Here I'm sticking with the picks I made previously.

Tyus Jones, Apple Valley, soph., G. Based on his play this summer for the U.S. 16U national team, now the pre-season Player of the Year.

Siyani Chambers, Hopkins, sr., G

Joey King, Eastview, sr., F. Led the Eagles to Sweet 16 final win over Hopkins. Mr. Basketball.

Isaiah Zierden, Benilde-St. Margaret's, sr., F

Michael Busack, Redwood Valley, sr., F-G-C. A stud, will be a superstar at Mankato State.

Coach of the Year: Mark Gerber, Eastview

2nd

Casey Schilling, Ellsworth, sr., G. He's no Cody, but quietly put together a hell of a career.

Sanjay Lumpkin, Benilde-St. Margaret's, sr., F

Tyler Vaughan, Braham, sr., G

Johnny Woodard, Duluth East, sr., G. The catch is he's hurt right now.

Riley Dearring, DeLaSalle, jr., F. Formerly Hopkins.

3rd

Zach Stahl, Hopkins, sr., F. Do not underestimate Stahl or Hopkins.

Cortez Tillman, Cretin-Derham Hall, sr., G. One of Cretin's 3-headed monster.

Thomas Sjoberg, St. Thomas, sr., C

Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian, jr., G. Will be state's all-time scorer by the time he's done.

Marcus Marshall, St. Paul Johnson, sr., G. Will try to replace Estan Tyler.

One of These Days, Alice

Alex Illikainen, Grand Rapids, fr., C. Played all-stater Shelby Moats to a draw last March.

Iam Theisen, Osseo, soph, C

Rashad Vaughan, Robbinsdale Cooper, soph., F

Reid Travis, DeLaSalle, soph., F

Tyus Jones, soph.

Early Surprises in Northern Sun

2011-12-06T05:37:00.001-06:00

We're about 1 month into it and some surprises have begun to emerge in the Northern Sun. But, first, not surprising are the following:

Men--Augustana 2-0, 5-1 and Winona 1-0, 6-1, picked 1st and 2nd in the coaches pre-season poll

Women--Winona 1-0, 6-1 and Augustana 2-0, 5-1 picked 2nd and 3rd, plus Wayne State 2-0, 8-0, picked 1st, not to mention Wayne's Ashley Arlen, pre-season PoY and now twice the weekly PoY

Surprises Among the Men

The three big surprises so far include Moorhead State 2-0, 5-0 and St. Cloud State 2-0, 6-0, picked 5th and 6th, plus Northern State, but as they're not a Minnesota team, I have nothing specific to say about them.

I should add that Mankato State 1-1, 2-4 and Concordia St. Paul 0-2, 3-3, picked 3rd and 4th, have also been surprises of the negative variety to date.

Everybody else is sitting within 2 slots of where the coaches had picked them in the pre-season poll.

Moorhead has almost everybody back from a 15-12 team, but coach Chad Walthall has swapped senior guards D.J. Hamilton (in) and Jake Driscoll (from Glyndon) (out) of the starting lineup, and Hamilton's scoring is up from 11 ppg to 19. Hamilton has been the MVP in the early going of the NSIC with 5 assists and 2 steals to go with a 53 percent FG percentage. He leads the Dragons in minutes played with 30. Guard Jordan Riewer, a redshirt freshman from Staples, is also new in the starting lineup while Charlie Chapman returns as the 3rd guard. Driscoll, again, is the 4th guard in a 3-guard lineup.

Up front, all-conference forward, 6-9 Alex Novak returns and is contributing 11 points, 8 boards and 2 blocks. Meanwhile, 6-10 newcomer Jake Lindfors has replaced the injured Dennis Williamson and (Lindfors) is contributing 17 points and 8 boards on 59 percent shooting. It is hard to see where the 6-6 Williamson will fit into things when he returns, but certainly would add depth to what, suddenly, is an imposing group of kids.

Now, the truth being told, the Dragons have yet to venture beyond the friendly confines of the Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse. So, no, they're not going to finish the NSIC season undefeated and its unlikely they'll continue to shoot 53 percent as a team. But the addition of Lindfors and the play of Hamilton would seem to make them a contender for conference honors that I hadn't recognized previously myself.

St. Cloud State is very similarly situated--unbeaten, unexpected, untested on the road. But while Moorhead gets another week at home (vs. UM-Crookston) before venturing out to Wayne State and Augustana, St. Cloud will be traveling to Southwest State and Mankato State this coming Friday and Saturday nights. What are we likely to see?

Well, also like the Moorhead Dragons, St. Cloud has started out undefeated with some hot shooting, a little better than 50 percent, collectively, which is all about post Tim Bergstrasser (St. Cloud Apollo) who is at 67.5 percent himself. Meanwhile, the 2 returning starters, forward Theo Rothstein (St. Michael-Albertville) and guard Brett Putz are shooting 54 and 47 percent. Guard Shaun Jensen (Spring Lake Park) and forward Mike Rostampour (Henry Sibley) are shooting 48 and 46 percent. And maybe those percentages can be maintained.

But the main difference between St. Cloud and Moorhead is that the Huskies under coach Kevin Schlagel have a tradition of success, including a D2 Final Four appearance just 2 years ago, that Moorhead hasn't had. So while both of these teams can contend, it would seem to be slightly more likely that St. Cloud might be at the head of the pack come March.

Still, Moorhead's "bigs"--Novak and Lindfors, with Williamson possibly returning--would seem to have a slight advantage over St. Cloud's Bergstrasser ad Rostampour. Meanwhile, I like St. Cloud guards Putz and Jensen a little better than Moorhead's Hamilton, Chapman and Riewer. But there's not much to pick for personnel. So I guess we'll close by just saying that both are early surprises who look like they can contend for NSIC honors.

Then there's Concordia (St. Paul) and Mankato State, 2 teams that were expected to contend but are looking pretty iffy in the early going. Like Moorhead and St. Cloud, you've got one (Mankato) with a tradition of success and another (Concordia) that is still trying to climb that ladder. Does that made Mankato the more likely of the 2 to turn things around yet this year?

Maybe not. But, in fairness, there is this. Mankato State plays a whole different schedule than the rest--just 1 game at home so far, 1-and-2 away and 0-and-2 on neutral courts. And, so, now the Mavericks have 4 straight home games coming up, including games that will help settle the pecking order among St. Cloud and Concordia.

Still, Mankato State so far is a tent-pole team. led by 6-7 sophomore forward Connor O'Brien (New Prague) who scores 11 points per game and adds 10 boards, a block and a steal, all team highs. He is 2nd in assists with 2.5--point guard Jimmy Whitehead leads with 3. This is an inexperienced group--the other "big" is 6-8 true freshman Zach Romashko (Blaine)--and its simply not yet clear what some of these fellows can do. They've been out-shot 44 percent to 37. All of this could just be an artifact of playing all those road games. That could come back as a big advantage later on, for that matter. But the burden of proof is on this young group to show that it is in fact better than what it's shown. In the meantime, its current 9th place would seem to be more predictive than its predicted 3rd place finish in the coaches pre-season poll.

Concordia (St. Paul), meanwhile, got off to a good start, winning 3 games, and looking every inch the contender, before suddenly losing 3 games, unexpectedly. And so their current 13th place (0-2, 3-3) is a fur piece from their predicted 4th place finish. Will the real Bears please stand up? What is most troubling is that, like Moorhead and St. Cloud, they've yet to venture forth from the home Gangelhoff Center court and still they've sustained those 3 losses, and to teams predicted to finish 10th (Northern) and 12th (Mary) in the conference.

The Bears are an experienced group, or maybe not. No, they're young, but with 3 seniors in the starting lineup. Who are they? The Olafeso brothers--Kenny and Peter--are the heart and soul of the team, but they're in their 2nd year of high level play. Previous experience at St. Paul Harding and MCTC does not quite equate to play in the NSIC. And 6-10 senior post Brett Barz is also a JC transfer. The rest of their contributors include a pair of true freshmen--Cole Olstad from Plainview-EM and Terez Van Pelt from Osseo--plus junior forward Isaiah Thomas (Fridley) who, like Barz, is in his 3rd year with the program.

The problems would appear to be on the defensive end, where all but 1 opponent has shot at least 45 percent and the Bears are giving up an average of 78 points. But its been different stuff. Northern dominated inside, but the Bears out-scored Mary in the paint. They out-scored both on the fast break and off of turnovers, but lost the half-court battle. They can score, but a few stops would be good.

And, Among the Women

The pleasant surprises are the Concordia (St. Paul) women, picked for 7th and currently 3rd (2-0, 5-3), and UM-Crookston, picked for 11th but currently 7th (1-1, 4-2). Moorhead is off to a disappointing start. Picked for 4th (higher by yours truly), they're 9th right now (1-1, 3-2).

Frankly, it was a mystery to me why Concordia was picked for 7th by the coaches. And like the Mankato men, at least their 5-3 record comes in part from venturing forth out into the world (where they're 0-and-2). And the only part of their record through 8 games that seems maybe unsustainable is Carissa Wolyniec's 49 percent shooting from beyond the arc. As a team, they're only shooting 43 percent and so it can get better. (Rachel Hansen is shooting 29 percent so far, and will do better. Jodi Batzel is shooting 55 percent but, hey, she shot 50 last year as a freshman.)

Meanwhile, they're holding opponents to 35 percent shooting, and they can keep doing that, I think.

Of course, their 2 conference wins so far came at home, and they're a very young team, having replaced the 3-headed monster--Mauricka Hickman, Jineen Williams and Zoraa Quoie--that was the heart of last year's team. And, so, next weekend they'll be more seriously tested at Mankato and Southwest State. Then come 3 more home games, so it's only in January that we'll really find out what coach Paul Fessler's team is made of. But from here it looks like that 2-0 record in the conference fairly represents what they can do. If Woyniec keeps hitting the 3, they'll be tough to beat.

Then there's UM-Crookston and all one can say is, wow. The Eagles were a total doormat when Mike Roysland took over as coach. Last year, he got UMC to 13-14, but then had to replace stalwarts Jamie Zelinsky and Bri Zabel. But it helps (a lot) that he's got one of the true superstars of the NSIC in score first-ask for forgiveness later-point guard Brittani Wiese (5-7 junior St. Michael-Albertville). Wiese is scoring 20 ppg so far, though it's true that she's only making 36 percent of her shots.

She's got help from a pretty fair pair of "bigs," both out of Rosemount, 6-1 junior Laurie Tyson (7 ppg, 65 percent shooting in 20 minutes) and 5-10 junior Megan Eul (13 ppg, 46 percent in 30 minutes). Meanwhile a pair of freshman guards have stepped into starting roles--5-8 Ashley Martell and 5-9 Ebony Livingston from Hopkins--and they're scoring 15 and 5 points on 47 and 25 percent shooting, respectively. And there are 3 more women scoring 5 to 6 points off the bench.

So, while it still seems almost unthinkable, based on history and tradition, it seems that Roysland has the Eagles almost to where they could contend for a top spot in the NSIC. Of course, they, too, have fashioned their 2-0 record on a pair of home wins, and the going will get a lot tougher with games at Moorhead, Augustana and Wayne in the next 2 weeks (Wayne hammered 'em 87-56 in the playoffs last year). But if they come home 2 weeks from now with a 2-3 record, they'll still be where they are now and where most NSIC teams (men or women) are, and that is--they can win at home. It won't take a whole lot of road wins to differentiate oneself. It's not impossible that this could be one of those teams and, if so, Roysland is coach of the decade.

On the flip side of the coin, then, you've got Moorhead State. Picked for 4th (and higher yet by me), they're off to a 1-1, 3-2 start, which isn't bad, but isn't good either. How you get on this list, by the way, is losing to Bemidji State at home, and Moorhead's already done that, 75-68. Fortunately, they turned things around enough to beat a superior Minnesota-Duluth team (superior to Bemidji) that following night, 63-61.

The other "problem" (for me more than for coach Karla Nelson) is that Angela Christianson was a big reason why I thought Moorhead could contend, and the sophomore transfer has been hurt thus far this year. I don't know if one should be encouraged or discouraged by her 2 point performance against a gassed bunch from Duluth. I mean, encouraged that she's back? Or discouraged that, if healthy, she hasn't shown that she'll be a dominant player in the NSIC, as I for one expect her to be.

The final problem (that I'll mention) is that Moorhead's inside players are not shooting the lights out like some of them that we've seen. Angie Jetvig, my pre-season pick for PoY in the NSIC, is shooting 44 percent, Megan Strese 45 and Morgan Zabel 44. Meaning, they can sustain that, so it's not a matter of any particular concern. The guard play is, so Christianson's return to full strength after her injuries (how quick? how fully?) will be a difference-maker in terms of whether this past season is a good one or not. And I have no clue as to the answers to those questions.

Summary: The Conventional Wisdom

Moorhead State men >>>>> (holding)

St. Cloud State men ^^^^^ (up)

Mankato State men VVVVV (down)

Concordia St. Paul men VVVVV (down)

Concordia St. Paul women ^^^^^ (up)

UM-Crookston women ^^^^^ (up)

Moorhead State women >>>>> (holding but time is running out)

And, Finally, Some Individual Breakouts

The top 5 women so far would seem to be Arlen, who leads the way with 20 ppg and adds 9.5 boards on 58 percent shooting; Jetvig, 17 points and 10 boards; Alex Feeney of Augustana; Wiese; and Katrina Newman, last year's freshman of the year. So now real surprises there, unless it's that Winona's dynamic duo of Michelle McDonald and Katie Wolff doesn't stand out statistically as of yet.

The bigger surprises are Ali Schwartzwald of Wayne, finally emerging as a senior (from St. Francis, MN), 2nd to Wiese with 4 assists; and Claire Duwelius of Winona with 13 ppg on 55 percent 3-point shooting. Also Bree Holleman, the coach's kid from Hancock, MN, at Southwest State, is breaking out with 13 ppg in her sophomore season.

Among the men, I'd call D.J. Hamilton a breakout story--also Connor (don't call me Conan) O'Brien, Tim Bergstrasser and Jake Lindfors. The big surprise is Cody Schilling, pretty much an also-ran in the scoring race at 17 ppg so far. Oh, yeah, I'm worried. Not.