AP All-State Boys Named

It's not the only all-state team, but it's sort of the official one, voted on by media throughout the state of Minnesota.

First Team--Joe Coleman (Player of the Year), Marvin Singleton, Jonah Travis, Seth Hinrichs, Shelby Moats

Second--Cole Olstad, Estan Tyler, Alex Richter, Jake White, Raijon Kelly

Comparing the AP team to the others (Pioneer Press, Mr. Basketball finalists, Strib all-metro) you could conclude that there's little agreement as to the top players in Minnesota this year, except for Coleman. Coleman is the only player to make the 1st all-state team in every case and, of course, he won Mr. Basketball.

• Singleton made 3 of 5 1st teams, but was only 3rd team all-metro

• Travis made 3 of 5, but was not a Mr. BB finalist

• Hinrichs made only the 1 1st team

• Shelby Moats made 3 out of 5, but missed on the Strib's all-metro team

• Estan Tyler made 3 of 5, but missed out on the AP and Mr. BB finalist

• Alex Richter made 2 1st teams

• Jake White made 3 of 5

• Cole Olstad made just 1 of 5

• Lucas Brown and Kyle Noreen were Mr. BB finalists but didn't make any other 1st teams

My personal all-state team is in my Boys Basketball Wrap. I only agree with the AP on Coleman and Singleton. Otherwise I had Olstad, Tyler, Richter and J. White ahead of Travis, Hinrichs and Moats. (I picked a top 6 with a 6th man on the 1st team.)

Some Questions

1. Hinrichs (1st team) and Olstad (2nd) represent a bias, that much I know. But is it an metro bias (only 2 greater MN players among the top 10, shouldn't there be more?)? Or is it a greater MN bias (2 greater MN players among the top 10, it's just because of a quota, it's not because they're deserving)?

I only saw any of them in the state tournament, which is sometimes a poor platform to really evaluate a players' overall contributions because, sometimes, you've got very very good defenses set up just to stop that player. But, hey, it's what everybody sets out to do in the fall, so I factor it in quite a bit. And Hinrichs, based on his play in the state tournament, made may 3rd team. Which is very good, by the way. But Kevin Kuefler made my 2nd team, and Michael Busack also made my 3rd. Cole Olstad, based on 2 previous tournaments, made my 1st team.

So overall I see bias toward the metro. There could/should/would be more players from outside the metro on the AP team. But, still, Hinrichs has the feel of a quota selection on the 1st team and Olstad on the 2nd.

2. On a consensus, Singleton, Travis, Moats, Tyler and White made 3 all-state "1st teams," 2nd best after Coleman's making all 5. I'm 100 percent behind Singleton and Tyler, and find White hard to argue against. But are Travis and Moats really better than, say, Alex Richter or Ross Travis? I dunno. Moats didn't show me that in the state tournament.

3. Raijon Kelly? Are you sure he's the best guard on his own team (as compared to junior Taylor Montero and Cortez Tillman)? Not in the state tournament, he wasn't.

4. Is the Pioneer Press biased in favor of St. Paul players? Well, yeah. Their choice of Maxie Rosembloom last year and Estan Tyler this year as player of the year says, yeah, along with their choice of Roosevelt Scott as 1st team all-state this year. Plus their choice of Raijon Kelly as 2nd team this year. Except, wait, the AP did the same thing. But they also picked exactly the same number of greater Minnesota players as 1st team all-state as the Strib did all-metro: Zero.

5. Overall, this has the feel of a pretty weak group. They're (the AP top 10) going to college at Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Lafayette, Harvard and Vanderbilt; plus Concordia (St. Paul), Missouri-Kansas City, dunno, Wichita State and dunno. (All the more reason to pick Ross Travis, who is going to Penn State; not to be confused with Jonah Travis, who is going to Harvard. And good for him, by the way, but Harvard isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Likewise Hinrichs going to Lafayette. Jake Kreuser went to Lafayette last year and nobody said he was an all-state player. Is Hinrichs gonna beat the 7-footer out for minutes at Lafayette?)

Seems like a down year. Maybe that's because everybody is at Hopkins.

6. Gimme the following 5 guys--Tom Schalk, Ross Travis, Dylan Stewart, Siyani Chambers and Jordan Smith--none of whom made the AP 1st or 2nd team--and make Joe Coleman sit out, and I'm not sure these 5 guys don't knock off the 1st team. Joe Coleman is the obvious difference-maker there.