Boys State Tournament Statistical Analysis

OK, one final commentary about the boys state tournament. Some of you may know that I've been tracking the scoring averages of the state tournament, well, since 1913. Scoring increased, well, not from the beginning. It actually started high (34-21 in 1913), then declined for a quarter-century with an all-time low of 32 points for both teams in 1920, 1925 and 1926. After that scoring increased pretty much steadily until it reached an all-time high of 79-58 (137 total points) in 1968. That remains the record to this day.

After that, state tournament scoring dropped precipitously to 52-43 in 1978, and it was under 100 again in 1983. Some of you may remember that the 3-point shot was adopted quite explicitly to increase the pace and action and scoring, that is, to make basketball more exciting for the fans. 

Well, state tournament scoring reached 120 points again in 1988, the first year of the 3-pointer in Minnesota high schools, and in 1997, the first year of 4 classes. But, it only reached 120 again in 2006. Since 2006, the average state tournament score exceeded 120 points 12 of 17 years. Thanks in part to the 3-pointer.

But the point was not just to increase scoring, it was to increase excitement. The fact is that if you pretend that there's no 3-pointer, if you give 2 points for every field goal, well, then, scoring is still below 120 points. Take 2023 for example.

4A winners made 22-of-38 2-pt FG (58%), 6.5-of-18 3-pt FG (36%) and 13-of-18 FT (72%)

4A losers     15-of-35 (43%)     7-of-21 (33%)     13-of-18 (72%)

3A winners     20-of-35 (57%)     6-of-15 (40%)     12-of-18 (67%)

3A losers     13-of-27 (45%)     6-of-20 (30%)     12-of-17 (71%)

2A winners     17-of-34 (50%)     8-of-20 (40%)     14-of-20 (70%)

2A losers     16-of-37 (43%)     6-of-22 (27%)     9-of-13 (69%)

1A winners     17-of-34 (50%)     5-of-15 (33%)     10-of-15 (67%)

All winners     19-of-35 (54%)     6-of-17 (35%)     12-of-18 (67%)     69 points (without the 3=63)

All losers     14-of-32 (44%)     6-of-21 (28.5%)     10-of-15 (67%)     58 points (without the 3= 52)

So what does all of this mean.

1) Winning basketball means making more 2 pointers than your opponents. Games are not won and lost on 3s and free throws.

2) If not for the 3-pointer (12 of them, worth 12 more points than a 2-pointer), if not for that, scoring would average 63-52. Well, when basketball scoring was on the rise in the 1940s and 1950s, well, scores of 63-52 were standard issue by the mid-1950s. When scoring dropped after about 1970, it was below 63-52 through most of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. So games today are a little high scoring than they were in the '70s, '80s and '90s, even if you normalize for the 3-pointer. But, just a little. In fact, the pace of the game today is closer to the '70s, '80s and '90s, when everybody said the game was boring, than to the '60s. 

3) My belief is that the higher scores today--again, after you normalize for the 3--are due to higher shooting percentages. The pace of the game, in other words, is not any faster than it was. The number of FG attempts has not increased, it has probably dropped a little bit.

4) Not only that but you've now got 33 FT attempts per game. For many many years, basketball fans and coaches and anybody who cared about the game chafed at the number of FT being shot. #1, free throws were not as good of a test of skill as FG. Games, people thought, should be decided by FG, not FT. Well, in this year's state tournament, that was the case. The average winner made 5 more FG than the average loser, while both made the same number of FT.

But in addition to that, in granddad's day, they thought that FT were boring. They slowed the game down, they interrupted the real action. Are 33 FT too many? Does it slow down the game too much? Eye of the beholder. But one thing I've seen at the high school level is kids playing the game like the pros and the colleges do. What that means is that they drive the ball into the paint and attack the rim, and throw up a shot that has zero chance of going into the basket. The only purpose of the shot is to try to draw the foul. My personal opinion is that too often the officials bailed out kids taking terrible shots that were never going to go in the basket. If a kid drives into the lane and is out of control and has no shot, that should be the offense's problem. Too often, the officials make it the defense's problem. I mean, the defense can't hardly get the hell out of the way fast enough. Oh, and they make it the fans' problem, too, because they interrupt the action so that that kid can shoot a couple of ill-deserved FT. And, at 67%, they're not making any more FT as a percentage than we made 50 years ago. What's with that?

Stop calling bail-out fouls and, guess what? Kids will quit taking these terrible, stupid shots and the action on the floor will continue and it will be much more exciting. 

5) But, anyway, my main point is that the 3-point shot has shifted the action from the half-court to the full-court. And that's a good thing. But it has not increased the pace of the game as measured by the number of possessions and FG attempts. Cutting down on bail-out calls strikes me as the quickest and easiest way to increased the pace and the excitement of the game.

Can somebody pass that on to the MSHSL because I can assure you they don't want to hear this from me.

Jackson Fowlkes Makes History and Other Footnotes to the Boys Tournament

 No, this is not going to be a rant about the all-tournament teams. Actually they did an unusually nice job this year. One, they bucked tradition in limiting AAAA champion Wayzata to just 2 picks, and rightfully so. I thought they missed on C.J. O'Hara but once the gave Wayzata 2 picks it might not have seemed right to give Park Center 3. 

In AAA they very rightfully dipped down to honor Matthew Bothun of St. Francis despite the fact that his team didn't win a game. Here I thought they missed on Abraham Soumis of Hermantown.

In AA I thought they missed on Aeron Stevens of PEM and Leonard Levy of Minnehaha, but who you gonna bump off? Kole Hanson also had to be in the conversation but you can't hardly pick 3 guys from the 3rd place team.

In Class A, I could make a case for Noah Sundquist, Carson Brown and Clint Determan but, again, who you gonna bump?

So any way, no, this is not my usual rant about the all-tournament teams.

Jackson Fowlkes Makes History

Jackson Fowlkes joined Casmir Chavis representing AAAA runner-up Park Center on the all-tournament team. This means that the 2 junior leap-frogged the Pirates seniors C.J. O'Hara and JJWare in this regard. And along wit Chiang Ring, they represent as good of a "big 3" as anybody is going to have going into next season. You can chalk Park Center in at the pre-season #1 right now.

But this is not what will make Jackson Fowlkes famous. No, he made history by being just the 3rd player in 110 years to make the all-tournament team coming off the bench. He did not start any of the 3 games, but finished as Park Center's #3 scorer with 37 points while adding 10 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.

The only players to achieve this rarity previously are Loren Stadum of Thief River Falls in 1938 and Mike Weah of St. Bernard's in 2009. (No, Dave Meisner did not accomplish this. He did not start Cloquet's 1st round game in 1962, but he did start the consolation semi and final.)

Next Year

One of the nice things about the state tournament, especially in this modern era of repeat success, is that it provides a preview of next year. We're going to limit our comments to AAAA. And as we've said, you can chalk Park Center in at pre-season #1. Here's the rest of the top...

1. Park Center--Casmir Chavis, Jackson Fowlkes and Chiang Ring return

2. Minnetonka--Andy Stefonowicz, Jordan Cain and Duke Richardson. By the way, the new section assignments come out next week, but it looks like Minntonka and Edina will return to Section 6 for reasons that are discussed below,

3. Shakopee.

4. East Ridge.

5. Hopkins

6. Edina

7. Lakeville North--Robison, Drake and Quam return.

8. Lakeville South

9. Bloomington Jefferson--Daniel Freitag

10. Tartan

Your state tournament semi-finals then are Park Center-East Ridge and Minnetonka-Shakopee, no longer in the same section.

Section Assignments

It looks like Cooper and Mpls. South (both section 6) and Northfield (section 1) will drop down to AAA while Kennedy, New Prague, Two Rivers (formerly Sibley) and Sauk Rapids move up. The following moves will keep everybody at 8 teams per section, except as noted.

1--drop Northfield, add New Prague. Wow, that's easy.

2--drop Edina and Tonka, add Jefferson and Kennedy.

3--drop Jefferson, add Sibley.

4--add Roseville, maybe drop North St. Paul.*

5--drop Roseville, add Centennial.

6--drop Cooper and South, add Edina and Tonka.

7--drop Centennial, add Rogers.

8--drop Rogers, add Sauk Rapids.

OK, I'm not sure how they handle this. Cretin is not among the top 64 in enrollment but will surely continue to play up in AAAA. North St. Paul (also section 4) is #64. Does North St. Paul drop down to AAA or are there 65 teams in AAAA? This also accounts for the fact that 3 teams appear poised to drop from AAAA to AAA but 4 appear ready to move up from AAA to AAAA. These 7 teams passed North St. Paul (#64 in enrollment) either going up or going down. Cretin is in fact the 4th team that is moving "into" AAAA but of course they were already there. 

Anyway, on April 6, all will be made clear by the MSHSL, along with changes to AAA, AA and A. I will add that at a glance, the following teams may be moving up or down in class. There are a variety of machinations and appeals and whatnot before the final assignments are made. But just based on enrollment, pure and simple, here are some potential changes.

Down from AAA to AA--Hibbing and Jordan

Up from AA to AAA--Rock Ridge, Fergus Falls, St. Paul Washington and Mpls. Edison

In other words, no bombshells.

The Best (Teams) of the Boys State Tournament

 Most years, it's pretty much automatic to say that the Class AAAA champion is the #1 team in the state. But not always. In the 21st century we've named the following teams #1 at the end of the year. All were the AAAA champion unless otherwise indicated.

2000--Mpls. Patrick Henry 28-1, AAA champion. Class AA champion Litchfield defeated Class AAAA champion Tartan 74-49 in a holiday tournament.

2001--Osseo 30-1

2002--Hopkins 28-2

2003--Litchfield 30-2, AA champion. Litch defeated AAA champion Henry 66-44 in the regular season, and Henry won the Minneapolis city title over Class AAAA champion Mpls. North.

2004--Chaska 30-2

2005 and 2006--Hopkins 31-1 and 30-2

2007--St. Thomas 30-2, AAA champion over Buffalo 28-3, AAAA champion

2008--Minnetonka 28-3

2009--Hopkins 31-0

2010--St. Paul Johnson 32-0, AAA champion, defeated AAAA champion Hopkins 86-78 in a holiday tournament.

2011--Hopkins 31-1

2012--Osseo 30-2

2013--DeLaSalle 30-1, AAA champion over Apple Valley 31-1. DeLaSalle beat Park Center while Apple Valley split with Park Center.

2014--#1-rated Apple Valley lost to Cretin in the section final. Lakeville North upset Hopkins in the state final to finish 26-5. We stuck with Apple Valley.

2015--Apple Valley 30-2

2016--Hopkins 31-1

2017--Apple Valley 30-2

2018--Cretin 30-2

2019--Hopkins 27-4 swept 2 games with Class AA champion Minnehaha 29-2.

2020--Eden Prairie 28-0--state tournament was cancelled.

2021--Minnehaha 20-1, AAA champion

2022--Park Center 31-1 split 2 games with AAA champion Totino-Grace so we at least had to think abuot it a little bit.

So you would think that the benefit of the doubt in 2023 would go to Wayzata. They're just 27-4. Only one #1 team this century had 4 losses. But Wayzata started 0-3, then went 24-1 the rest of the way. More to the point, if not Wayzata, who? Only Park Center in AAAA had a better record at 28-3 and Wayzata beat them in the state final. Lakeville North matched Wayzata's 4 losses and beat Wayzata in December (and lost to Park Center in December) and of course lost to Wayzata in the state semi-final.

For the record, there's AAA champion Totino-Grace. They lost 8 times, 5 times to Minnesota teams--3X to  Lakeville North and Park Center, but also to Osseo and Minnetonka. So, no.

Among the girls, we picked Hopkins at #1 despite their loss to St. Michael-Albertville in the state final. Hopkins beat St. Michael 2 out of 3, and rallied from a 17 point deficit in the 2nd half to get within one. So this is not quite analogous. Nobody beat Wayzata twice.

1. Wayzata 27-4

2. Park Center 28-3

3. Lakeville North 28-4

4. Totino Grace 24-8

5. DeLaSalle 26-6

6. Eastview 23-9

7. Albany 32-1

8. White Bear Lake 23-8

9. Andover 23-9

10. Minnetonka 23-8

The Best (Individuals) of the Boys State Tournament

What the hell, let's just start out with my opinions.

Then, down below, you'll see the objective reality, that is the statistical leaders, but with a caveat. The MSHSL does not publish box scores for consolation games. I found box scores for some of those games (on the Hub or in hometown media) but not for others, and even when I did they mostly did not include anything other than scoring. So some of these numbers and rankings are approximate. None of that would have affected the all-tournament teams, I don't think.

My All-Tournament Teams

C- Colin Mulholland, Holy Family, 6-11, Sr., 78 pts in 3 games; 26 reb., 5 asts., 6 stls , 15 blks in 2 games

PF- Jackson McAndrew, Wayzata, 6-9, Jr., 67 pts., 24 reb., 3 asts, 1 ast., 3 blks. Head to head McAndrew had 28 pts and 8 reb. vs. Lakeville North and Nolan Winter, who had 24 pts and 5 reb. as Wayzata won 79-77 en route to the state title. McAnderw had 25 pts and 9 boards in the final. The #1 breakout player of the tournament.

SF- Owen Leach, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, 6-6, Sr., 88 pts., 25 reb., 4 asts., 1 stl. Overall tournament scoring leader.

PG- Casmir Chavis, Park Center, 6-3, Jr., 55 pts., 16 reb., 20 asts., 6 stls, 2 blks. Class AAAA MVP. Overall 2023 state tournament MVP.

SG- Nasir Whitlock, DeLaSalle, 6-1, Sr., 64 pts, 12 reb., 19 asts., 7 stls. Class AAA MVP.

6th- Isaiah Hagen, Orono, 6-4, Sr., SG, 80 pts, 17 reb., 7 asts., 7 stls.

2nd Team

C- Nolan Winter, Lakeville North, 6-11, Sr., 70 pts, 22 reb., 3 assts., 2 blks.

PF- Boden Kapke, Holy Family, 6-11, Sr., 68 pts, 29 reb., 8 asts., 5 blks.

SF- Scott Hondl, Albany, 6-6, Sp., 48 pts, 28 reb., 17 asts, 1 stl., 4 blk. Class AA Co-MVP.

PG- Taison Chatman, TG, 6-4, Sr., 48 pts, 18 reb., 18 asts., 5 stls.

SG- Tysen Gerads, Albany, 6-3, Sr., 69 pts., 12 reb., 14 asts., 2 stls, 1 blk. Class AA Co-MVP.

6th- Aidan Wichmann, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, 6-2, Sr., 65 pts, 20 reb., 20 asts, 7 stls. Class A MVP

3rd Team

C- Patrick Bath, TG, 6-9, Sr., 44 pts., 27 reb., 2 asts., 1 stl., 5 blks.

PF- Matthew Bothun, St. Francis, 6-9, Sr., 16 pts, 4 reb. in one game

SF- Grayson Grove, Alexandria, 6-9, Jr., 41 pts, 15 reb., 7 asts, 4 stls, 6 blks in 2 games

PG- Jerome Williams, Minnehaha, 5-10, Jr., 58 pts, 10 reb., 16 asts, 2 stls, 2 blks.

SG- Ben Kopetzki, Andover, 6-1, Sr., 78 pts.

6th- Henry Tibbitts, Wayzata, 6-1, Sr., 59 pts, 3 reb., 10 asts., 3 stls.

Honorable Mention--it was hard to leave Rolyns Aligbe, Drew Werkman, Erick Reader and Abraham Soumis off of these teams.

Statistical Leaders

Overall Scoring--Leach, DGF 88; Hagen, Orono 80; Kopetzki, Andover 78; Mulholland, Holy Family 78; Winter, Lakeville North 70

Overall Rebounding--Reader, New Life 40; Kapke, Holy Family 29; Bath, TG 27; Mulholland 26; Leach 25

Overall Assists--Chavis, Park Center; Gunderson, Orono; and A. Wichmann, RTR 20; Whitlock, DLS 19; Chatman, TG 18; Hagen 17

Overall Steals--Kole Hanson, Holy Family 9; R. Aligbe, Minnehaha 8; Briggs, New Life 8;  I. Johnson, TG 8; Hagen 7; Whitlock 7; Werkman and A. Wichmann, RTR 7

Overall Blocks--Mulholland 15; Kloss, Eastview 11; Ring, PC 9; R. Aligbe 6; Grove, Alex 6

The most amazing statistical accomplishment was Colin Mulholland's 13 blocks in the 1st round. I haven't been able to ascertain whether that might be an all-time tournament record, but until I can determine it one way or the other, I'll say that's it's about 50/50 that it is.

Class AAAA

Scoring--Kopetzki 78, Winter 70, McAndrew 67

Rebounds--McAndrew 24, Winter 22, Ring 21

Assists--Chavis 20, O'Hara 10, Tibbitts 10

Steals--Chavis 6, Omweno 4; Kloss, Mekonnen, Stefonowicz, Tibbitts 3

Blocks--Kloss 11, Ring 9; McAndrew, O'Hara 3

Class AAA

Scoring--Hagen 80, Whitlock 64, Chatman 48 (Tschetter 43 and Grove 41 with one box score missing)

Rebounds--Bath 27, Chatman 18, Hagen 17

Assists--Gunderson 20, Whitlock 19, Chatman 18

Steals--I. Johnson 8, Hagen 7, Whitlock 7

Blocks--Grove 6, Bath 5, Pounds 4

Class AA

Scoring--Leach 88, Mulholland 78, T. Gerads, Albany 69

Rebounds--Kapke 29, Mulholland 26, Leach 25

Assists--Hondl, Albany 17; J. Williams, Minnehaha 16; Gerads 14

Steals--Hanson 9, Aligbe 8, Mulholland 6

Blocks--Mulholland 15, Aligbe 6, Kapke 5

Class A

Scoring--A. Wichmann 65, Werkman 50, Isaac Asuma 46

Rebounds--Reader 40, Cole Hendrick and Isaac Asuma 18

Assists--A. Wichmann 20, Isaac Asuma and Max Briggs 10

Steals--Briggs 8, Wichmann and Werkman 7

Blocks--Strinmoen 5 (all in one game), Carson Brown and Gravely 3

Class AAAA Day 1

 I decided I would spend day 1 at Target Center. I didn't see Class AA, I saw Class AAAA which, most years, are the best teams in the state. Lately, you'd have to say that Totino-Grace and DeLaSalle are pretty close to the best AAAA teams but that's a question for another day. For now, again, it's Class AAAA.

Park Center 92 Andover 72

On paper, you'd have to say that Park Center justified its #1 seed with a convincing 20 point win over conference rival Andover. Park Center beat Andover by 20 points over their last 2 meetings. Well, now they won by 20 in this one game all by itself.

But if you haven't heard, it was obvious from the opening tip that Andover guard Sam Musungu was not himself. He was listless. He was almost always the 10th man to cross center-court. Park Center ran a lot of its 1st half offense 5-against-4. Musungu is an elite athlete and he was not gonna be mentally down. He was not out of shape. Ergo, he was sick. I texted Andover coach Jeremy Hable later and he replied that, yeah, Sam was "pretty sick" with "flu-ish" symptoms. It is unlikely you'll see him tomorrow in the consolation semi-finals. 

And, so, Park Center was able to run out to a 40-20 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the 1st half. It is very much to Andover's credit that they played even with the #1 seed the rest of the way. But after getting within 12 at 64-52 halfway through the 2nd half, Park Center outplayed them 28-20 the rest of the way. But, somehow, Musungu, after a truly dreadful and painful 1st half, bounced back and played with, well, let's say 50 percent more energy in the 2nd half, still only a third of his usual energy, still he finished up with 17 points, but just 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. The redoubtable Ben Kopetzki did what he could to fill the gap, as did the rest of the Andover rotation. Kopetzki finished with 22 points, 5 boards and 3 assists, but it was never going to be enough. To play and beat Park Center you're going to have to have all hands on deck and at maximum warp, and the Huskies just didn't have that today. 

Taking nothing away from Park Center. Their opponent was weakened, but they attacked relentlessly, blocking shots and turning them into fast break baskets on the other end. I wouldn't say they shot the ball great. Rather, they moved the ball great and got easy shots of which they made 62 percent. Against an aggressive Park Center defense, Andover shot just 38 percent. Again, that just wasn't going to cut it. 

Park Center was led by junior point guard Casmir Chavis, who just keeps getting better and better, with 18 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and even 2 blocked shots. 6-8 Chiang Ring, also a junior, was the other standout wit 13 points, 9 boards and 5 demoralizing blocked shots. But it was at least a 6-man effort as Joe Burgess added 15 points, JJ Ware 14 and 10 rebounds, Jackson Fowlkes (also a junior) with 14 points, and CJ O'Hara 12 with 6 assists. Even considering Andover's obvious problems today, it was an impressive performance by the Pirates.

Eastview 72 Minnetonka 68

This is not to say that Park Center's victory over Eastview in the semis is a done deal. The Lightning were obviously bigger but also quicker than Tonka in this one. As a result they ran out to leads of 9-0 and 20-9. Then, after Tonka got within one on 3 occasions, Eastview moved back out to a 34-28 half-time lead. It was more of the same in the 2nd half. Tonka actually took the lead at 39-38 and then 41-38, but again Eastview put the pedal down to run back to a 56-45 lead. I have never seen so many blocked shots turn into fast-break baskets the other way. There had to be 8 or 9 of them in the 2nd half alone. With 4 or 5 minutes left, LiveStats showed Eastview with a 10-1 advantage in blocks. They got 3 or 4 more the rest of the way and yet LiveStats still showed them at 10-1 at the end. Sorry. It had to be 15-1. 

In any event, Tonka came back again to tie it up at 67 at 2:02, but again Eastview's flexibility told the tale. The ability to score inside and out and the ability to get huge stops meant a 5-1 scoring edge over those 2 minutes and a 72-68 win for the Lightning. Senior guard Dylan Onweno made 3-of-7 3s and 5-of-6 2s to thwart every Tonka rally. 6-6 senior post Chet Kloss blocked 8 shots. Tonka's 6-2 junior guard Andy Stefonowicz scored 22 points but it wasn't enough. Eastview shot 55 percent and Tonka 37. 'Nuf sed. 

Lakeville North 87 Buffalo 59

Wayzata 81 White Bear Lake 61

The lower bracket was obviously nowhere near as exciting as the upper bracket. Lakeville North's awesome size advantage was way to much for Buffalo to contend with. The blocked shots were just 2-to-1, but the intimidation factor in the lane was huge, and so Lakeville North shot 61 percent and Buffalo 34 (40 percent on 3s but only 30 percent on 2s).

6-11 Nolan Winter scored 25 points for LN with 17 rebounds and 2 blocks. He may be the best Dakota County big ever to stoop to becoming a Wisconsin Badger. Ugh. LN's other stars did what they do--Jack Robison scored 16, Hudson Vaith 15 and Matt Drake 14.

Wayzata's size advantage over White Bear was nowhere near so extreme but a slight size advantage and a bigger advantage in quickness added up to a 54 percent (Wayzata) to 35 percent (White Bear) shooting advantage. Wayzata held White Bear guard Jack Janicki to a 5-of-18 shooting night and that alone was enough of a difference. Wayzata won both halves 38-25 an 43-36. The paint points were 36-20 Wayzata and the bench points 31-5. 

What's Next?

#1 and #2 (Park Center and Lakeville North) didn't do anything to relinquish their status as favorites to reach the finals but Eastview and Wayzata both enhanced their status as teams capable of pulling an upset. Once upon a time I picked Park Center 65 Eastview 63 and Lakeville North 67 Wayzata 64. Today I'd probably lean toward Park Center by a slightly wider margin and Lakeville North by a margin that is slightly smaller. 

Best of the Best

C- Chet Kloss, Eastview, 6-6, sr., 6 pts, 11 reb., 3 stl., 8 blk.

PF- Nolan Winter, Lakeville North, 6-11, sr., 25 pts, 17 reb., 2 blk.

PG- Casmir Chavis, Park Center, 6-4., jr., 18 pts, 5 reb., 11 asts, 2 stls., 2 blk.

CG- Ben Kopetzki, Andover, 6-0, sr., 22 pts, 5 reb., 3 asts.

SG- Dylan Omweno, Eastview, 6-2, sr., 25 pts, 2 reb, 2 asts, 3 stls.

6th Player- Andy Stefonowicz, Minnetonka, 6-2, jr., 22 pts, 5 reb., 3 asts., 3 stls.

Boys State Tournament 2023--Deja Vu All Over Again

Couldn't help but notice....

Park Center

In Class AAAA, defending champion and #1 seed could end up playing all of the 3 same teams they played a year ago. In 2022, they beat Andover 74-60, Eastview 54-39 and Wayzata 58-53.

In 2023, they open with Andover. If Eastview and Park Center both win (or both lose), they'll play in the semi-finals again. It's just, which one. Championship semis or consolation semis. And, again, if Park Center and Wayzata both do the same things (both win-win, both win-lose, or both lose-win), then they'll play in one of the 3 finals--championship, 3rd place or 5th place. Has that ever happened, where a team plays the same 3 teams 2 straight years? I have no idea. Probably yes, but I don't have time to look it up right now.

Totino-Grace

Grace will not play 3 teams from last year as they open with St. Francis, who hasn't been in the tournament since 2015. But they could play Mankato East in the semis and DeLaSalle in the finals, both for the 2nd straight year. Last year they clobbered East 77-39, then eased by DeLaSalle 50-44. If that's how it works out, I expect both of those games to be closer this time around. 

In Class AA

Only Minnehaha and Pequot Lakes return from last year's field, but they did play each other for 5th place with Minnehaha winning 79-56. They're in opposite brackets again, so they would only play in one of the 3 finals.

But if it's real history you crave and not the ersatz kind that they call deju vu, there's this. Holy Family and Maple River could play in the semis if they both win-win or lose-lose. You may recall that they played in the 2007 AA final on one of the really great days of Minnesota boys basketball, when Ellsworth edges Cass Lake 74-73 on a last-second 3, then Holy Family surprised Maple River 60-57 in OT, and then St. Thomas and Buffalo followed with their titles.

The AA tournament was a thriller from day one, when Maple River shocked 3X defending champion Braham 68-59 in the 1st round. Meanwhile, Holy Family barely escaped Bagley 58-54. Both won easily in the semis. In the final, Trent Johnson and Mike Quammen went 2-against-5 and won as Johnson scored 16 points with 10 rebounds, 10 blocked shots, 6 assists and 5 steals. Incredible. 

Pequot and Plainview-Elgin-Millville played that year, too, but not each other. It was Pequot whom Maple River defeated in the semis 61-44. They finished 3rd. PEM did not win a game and did not play either of the main protagonists. A Maple River-Pequot matchup this week would have to happen in one of the finals.

Minnehaha has been in several recent tournaments but they have only played Pequot among this year's AA field. On the other hand, they played both Alexandria and DeLaSalle in 2020, when they played up in AAA, but needless to say, they won't play either of those guys this year.

And In Class A

The very first game is a replay as is the 4th. RTR defeated Nevis last year 74-71 in a consolation semi. In fact, no less than 5 Class A entries are returning--RTR, Nevis, Cherry, Sacred Heart and New Life. New Life defeated Sacred Heart 64-58, also in the 1st round. So those repeats are sure things. 

Cherry beat Nevis 68-57 in the 1st round last year and they could play this year in the 2nd. New Life clobbered Cherry 75-50 for 3rd place. Lots of people think they'll play for all the marbles this time around.

So, overall, you've got a lot of deja vu going on but the renewals that might turn out to be truly historic are more likely to be Holy Family-Maple River, Park Center-Wayzata and Totino Grace-DeLaSalle. The latter 2 would be in Saturday's finals, the former in Thursday or Friday's AA semis.

Boys State Tournament Preview--The Little Dogs and More fo the Big Dogs (The Pre-Tournament All-Tournament Candidates)

 Ok, these guys are not the Mastiffs and the Saint Bernards but no, they're not exactly Jack Russells and Yorkies. More like Shepherds and Huskies and Labs. Not little dogs, i guess, but tough, mid-sized dogs. Class AA and A.

Class AA

Holy Family is a prohibitive favorite here with 6-11 post Baden Kapke (22 pts an 13 reb), 6-11 Collin Mulholland (15 ppg) and 6-2, junior guard Kole Hanson (22 ppg), the latter 2 being in-bound transfers for this year. Holy Family lost to AAAA #1 Park Center 100-80, not much different from what AAAA teams did against Park Center. It's not obvious that Holy Family wouldn't be a strong contender to win in AAA if not in AAAA. They also played and beat 2 AA tournament teams, Albany and Plainview-EW, though by an average of just 70-65. So maybe they're not as dominant as they appear. Still, with 2 transfers, they became better and more cohesive as the year progressed.

If anybody can beat Holy Family, it might have to be Maple River though first they've got to get past Minnehaha. But they beat the Redhawks 68-63 earlier this year, so they can have some confidence. Maple River is led by Mason Schirman and Hayden Niebuhr, who total 34 ppg together. If Holy Family and Maple River indeed meet in the semi-final, it will be a replay of the 2007 final won by the Fire 60-57 in OT. It was a big upset because Maple River had surprised Braham and denied them a 4th straight title 68-59 in the 1st round. 

Along with Maple River at 29-2, Albany at 29-1 also comes in with an impressive record including wins over Eden Valley and Pequot and a loss to Holy Family by just 8 points. 

Still, Holy Family hardly seems poised for defeat. They beat Minnehaha 101-56! If I'm Holy Family, I'd rather play 'Haha in the semis than Maple River. If the Fire win, Boden Kapke will be the MVP.

Class A

In Class A, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton got the #1 seed and, hey, they're 28-1, and RTR has had a lot of success with 5 championship game appearances resulting in state titles in 2004, 2005 and 2018 and runners-up in 1988 and 1989.  But, the 2004 and 2005 champions won't have much impact in 2023, specifically if RTR meets Cherry in the semi-finals as expected. The question there will be how RTR's Aiden Wichmann and Drew Werkman, with 35 ppg, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals can match up with Cherry's 6-some of star players.

Cherry finished at just 26-4 and the #4 seed but it's hard to see them as anything other than the favorite with brothers Isaac, Noah and Isaiah Asuma who scored 37 ppg among them, though the younger brothers are just in 8th and 9th grade. Isaac is a U of M recruit, a 6-3 junior who scores 24 ppg. Plus sophomores Noah Sundquist, Andrew Staples and Carson Brown who score another 39 ppg. How can they not be the favorite? Well, they lost 4 times including to Class AA Minnehaha and to Class A New Life. 

I like Cherry over RTR 69-63 in the semis. Meanwhile, New Life and Spring Grove would also be a great semi-final matchup. New Life goes 4 deep with double digit scorers and has great size for Class A at 6-8, 6-7 and 6-4. Still, I like Spring Grove 58-56. In the final, I like Cherry 63 Spring Grove 57. Class A MVP is Isaac Asuma.

In summary, the 4 champions are expected to be Park Center, Totino-Grace, Holy Family and Cherry, but there is nobody, not even Park Center that will not have to win a tight game to do so. Holy Family seems most likely to win a little bit more easily. The top players might be:

C- Baden Kapke, Holy Family 6-11, sr., 22 ppg, 13 reb

PF- Nolan Winter, Lakeville North 6-11, sr., 23 ppg-12 reb

SF- Matthew Bothun, St. Francis, 6-9, sr., 25 ppg

PG-Nasir Whitlock, DeLaSalle, sr., 27 ppg

SG- Isaac Asuma, Cherry, 6-3, sr., 24 ppg

Second Team

C- Patrick Bath, Totino-Grace, 6-9, sr., 17 ppg

PF- Aeron Stevens, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, 6-7, sr., 25 ppg

SF- C.J. O'Hara, Totino-Grace, 6-4, sr., 18 ppg

PG- Ben Kopetzki, Andover, 6-0, sr., 25 ppg, 6 reb. 7 asts, 3 stls

SG- Isaiah Hagen, Orono, 6-3, sr., 23 ppg, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

Third Team

F- J.J. Ware, Park Center, 6-6, jr., 18 ppg

F- Jack Robison, Lakeville North, 6-6, junior, 15 ppg, 5 reb, 3 asts

PG- Bralyn Steffensmaier, Alexandria , 5-11. jr., 22 ppg

CG- Kole Hanson, Holy Family, 6-2, jr. 22 ppg

SG- Hayden Tibbetts, Wayzata, 5-11, sr., 21 ppg

Boys State Tournament Preview --The Big Dogs

 That would be Class AAAA and Class AAA. And, hey, time is tight. As some of you know, I've just digested the girls tournament at all and now here come the boys on Tuesday no less.So my preview will be somewhat summary.

Class AAAA

The real question, maybe the only question, is will the real Park Center please stand up? I remember back in December, before I'd seen them myself, smart people saying Park Center was unbeatable. I mean, Park Center 102 DeLaSalle 71? Serious? They started out 7-0, scoring 97 points per game. On Feb. 21 they were 22-0. 

But, it does seem that the NW Suburban was a little down this year, and then Andover gave them a scare before losing 97-91. Then they lost 2 out of 3 to Elk River 73-70 and Maple Grove 67-64. Chiang Ring didn't play in the Maple Grove game.

Then it seems that they've gotten it back together in the post-season, winning 3 games by an average of 72-51. They've played 2 AAAA tournament teams, beating Lakeville North early 78-71 and Andover late. Somehow they dropped to #4 in QRF but cooler heads prevailed and they got the #1 tournament seed.

I think that Park Center is not unbeatable, and it's going to be a tight tournament with lots of close games. I also think Park Center is OK and that they'll win 3 games and repeat as state champions, but its not impossible that all 3 games will be decided by single digits, say 89-81 over Andover, 75-68 over Eastview and 77-73 over Lakeville North. 

It is also not at all unlikely that Wayzata might knock off Lakeville North in the semis. Wayzata started 0-3 but they're 24-1 since. This could be the best game of the tournament, though if the final is indeed 77-73, that sounds like a pretty good game too. If there's a dark horse, it is indeed Andover, the first team to really show Park Center to be merely mortal. They like to run. But of course who doesn't, but Andover just does it really well. So does Park Center. Tournament MVP will be C.J. O'Hara of Park Center.

Class AAA

As in AAAA, the defending champion is the #1 seed, and that's a pretty good recipe for success. Their 21-8 record is a little misleading with 3 losses against Wisconsin teams and the other 5 against AAAA teams. At 16-3, they tied for 2nd in the NW Suburban with Andover just one game behind Park Center against mostly AAAA teams. Not too shabby. So they'll get by St. Francis and 6-9 stud Matthew Bothun in the 1st round and either Alex and Mankato East in the semis. 

Meanwhile DeLaSalle and the eminently deserving Metro Player of the Year Nasir Whitlock will get by Stewartville in the 1st round. Orono will be a tough semi-final opponent, but the Islanders will win that one too.

A Totino-DeLaSalle final will be a doozy. Totino is deeper with 5 players scoring in double figures--6-9 Patrick Bath 17, 6-7 Isaac johnson 13, 6-4 Tommy Humphries 12, point guard Taison Chatman 11 and sophomore Tommy Wagner 10, plus Chiang Ring averaging 7 points and 6 boards. But DeLaSalle has Whitlock and his 27 ppg and he could be a difference maker. But, in the end I'll have to take Totino 68 DeLaSalle 67. Still, Whitlock is the AAA MVP.

A Tribute to Bob McDonald

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob McDonald on the occasion of his final regular season game back in 2012. It was a loss to Ely, coached by his son Tom. Bob was remarkably cordial and a great interview, too, as I think you'll agree. I will never forget his comment summing up his 52 years as Chisholm coach. "Losing doesn't bother me.... What I rest on (is that) we were good people." He meant his players but that of course describes Bob and all of the McDonalds as well.  

The measure of a man or woman is the people around him. I met Bob 3 or 4 times and, as I said, he was as cordial as could be. I've had the pleasure to know his sons Joel and Mike and Paul and Tom, and the best tribute I can think of to Bob McDonald is just, yeah: Good people. A great coach and so much more.

Here's the interview.

Q: This is the first time I’ve seen your team (this year), so how well would you say they played tonight? 

 

We didn’t play fluidly, we didn’t play with one another. That’s been a big item this year, they don’t play well together. They’re dysfunctional that way. They have very little in common with one another, and that’s the mark of a good team. (One day) we were sitting there in the locker room and I asked, now, who’s your friend on the team? Not one kid could point at another kid on the team and say, he’s my friend.

 

So this was fairly representative of how they’ve played all year?

 

Yes, erratically.

 

They had some nice runs and then some that weren’t so nice.

 

That’s it. How in the world can these guys…. You can’t believe they play stinko, but they’ve done that regularly. It’s an up and down situation. So it’s not unexpected. But some way or other, and I don’t know if it can be done, it can’t be done by coaches, but they have to get a feeling for one another. All good teams that we’ve had in the past were tight. But this team is going to be very difficult to bring in to the conclusion that they have to have….

 

As an outsider I thought, well, maybe they’re a little out of sync because they knew this was your last night, it’s a special occasion. Were they at all upset by that?

 

No. I think they realize…I play to win. I don’t want anybody’s sympathy. And they’re good kids. They want to do something for me. But I’ll do something for me. They should do something for themselves. And they failed in that respect tonight to a great degree. But they’re fine kids. I don’t have a dummy in the bunch. Intellectually they’re sound, and they’re good to be around. But they haven’t been able to put it together on the court.

 

Now, they did play an awfully good opponent tonight.

 

Yes, they were, Ely is good. Tom has a disciplined team. One thing about Ely is they’re isolated. They’re within themselves. Everybody knows everybody. They’re like fingers in a glove. They live in Ely. It’s for Ely’s sake that they play. So they have a feeling for each other and a closeness that we don’t have. Tom does a nice job coaching them.

 

Sometimes they look like Chisholm, the fast break, they push the pace….

 

That’s right. (Tom) played that way, see. Paul played that way. Mike played that way. The whole bunch plays that way. So I’m getting stung by the skills that I would expect our kids to have. They all do a good job coaching. 

 

As you think beyond tonight to the whole 52 years, how do you summarize the experience?

 

It’s been wonderful. Losing doesn’t bother me, it’s the quality of the kids that keeps you going. I’ve had losing teams that were fine people. But I could go off the court knowing we were competitive. We were good people. Scholastically sound, no trouble makers throughout my career. That is what I rest on. 

 

How do you think the game of basketball—boys basketball in Minnesota—has changed in 52 years?

 

I think the jump shooting is the big change. That is it. All other things are basically the same. You’ve got your post play. You’ve got your kids shooting the set from the three-point line. But now we can’t stop that. I used to tell my kids to get up in their face because they’re shooting the set. But now they get up on the jump shot and shoot it over you, you can’t do a thing with that. The jump shot has made the big difference in high school basketball in Minnesota. Do with strategy what you will. But it’s that shot and your ability to put it up on the fly…. 

 

Who are the people you admire that you’ve interacted with in your career?

 

In high school ball, that would be O.J. Belluzzo, who was my father. And Harvey Roels. They were tough as nails, those guys were tough. They would look at you cross-eyed, but Harvey would paddle your hind end. He never did that to me. But they didn’t tolerate any insolence or going half speed. It was expected, not that kids wouldn’t screw up, but…. 

 

Times have changed. We have more people that try to react with finesse in the game of basketball as young people that they can’t quite attain. The jump shot is the big item, that is it. If you have a good jump shooter… and we’ve had some good ballplayers. 

 

As I look at the kids who played for me, I revel in the fact that they’re fine citizens, tough basketball players, athletically inclined, and we got another set of kids coming along, the little kids, to take their place. And that’s the way life is, too. Somebody will come along to take my place. 

 

And, now, do we know who that is?

 

No, but I would presume that it would be Larry Pervananze, who’s been around. The only thing that might hang him up is he’s not a school (teacher). A lot of people want a school man, someone who’ll be around the kids all the time. He’s a good man. But how much time you can spend with young kids….

 

Who was the best player you ever coached?

 

(Laughs) I’m not going to say. I’ve had lots of them. I look to see what they do with the ability they had. We’ve had some tremendous ballplayers.

Ely coach Tom McDonald

I also had the pleasure of interviewing Tom that night. Here is some of what he had to say.

 

This is the first time I’ve seen your team, so how well would you say they played tonight? Was this a great effort, an average effort…?

 

I thought we played pretty well under the circumstances, all the emotion of my dad’s last game. We kept our discipline on defense pretty well. And, we like to run and gun and those minute possessions that they had kind of tested us a little bit, but I thought they played well. 

 

You said your kids were aware of the significance of tonight’s game. Did they feel any extra pressure with that? And I’m sure you did.

 

Yeah, I did, too. It’s sad to see him go after so many years. I was a part of this program for so many years, and now watching it from the outside, it’s a sad day to see dad go. Even thought I think it’s time. But he’s put so much into the program here and the culture of basketball here. 

 

A lot of times our guys are a little afraid of Chisholm because of the mystique. In 24 years of coaching at Ely, this is only the second time I’ve won here. So the wins are few and far between here, so somehow we got over that (tonight).

 

 

Minneapolis Roosevelt 1956-1957 Revisited

Minneapolis Roosevelt 1956-1957 Revisited

Thanks to Tom Nordland, star of Minneapolis Roosevelt’s 1956 and 1957 state championship teams, for a recent conversation and for some other information that sheds light on the Roosevelt dynasty. Minneapolis Roosevelt has always been regarded as one of the great teams of the single class era. They were the fifth of six repeat winners after Moorhead (1928-1929), Buhl (1941-1942), Minneapolis Patrick Henry (1944-1945) and Hopkins (1952-1953) and before Edina’s three-peat in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Minneapolis Edison’s 1937 state champions had been regarded as the greatest Minnesota team until that time. Some news reports suggested that maybe Buhl was better. It wasn’t until Hopkins in 1952 and 1953 that this suggestion—“best ever”—was made again. Then, it was raised in quick succession in reference to Minneapolis Washburn in 1955, Roosevelt in 1956 and 1957, and then Duluth Central in 1961. Among the repeaters:

• Moorhead (1928-1929) was 19-3 and 24-3, and won 2 championship games by an average score of 24-16. Coach was Glen Hanna and Earl Moran and Shorty Malvey made all-tournament 3 times.

• Buhl (1941-1942) was 26-3 and 28-0 and won 2 finals by an average of 30-29. Buhl was led by Ed Nylund and John Klarich.

• Henry (1944-1945) was 24-1 each year and won 2 finals 58-38. Henry was led by Jim McIntyre who was the first boy ever to lead the tournament in scoring twice with 86 and then 100 points.

• Hopkins (1952-1953) was 25-1 and 23-0 and 50-38. Hopkins was led by coach Butsie Maetzold and forward Dave Tschimperle. Tschimperle was the third player ever to make all-tournament 3 times. (Nobody else did it again until Khalid El-Amin and Jabbar Washington.)

• Roosevelt (1956-1957) was 20-3 and 27-0 and 80-52. Roosevelt was led by Tom Nordland and coach Wayne Courtney.

• Edina (1966-1968) was 26-0, 27-0 and 27-1 and won 3 finals by an average of 75-58. Edina was led by Bob Zender and coach Duane Baglien. With its 3-peat and its 2 unbeatens, Edina is obviously the great dynasty of the single class era.

But, who was the best of the rest?

The Undefeated

First, you might assume it would be one of the unbeatens—Buhl 1942 (28-0), Hopkins 1953 (23-0) or Roosevelt 1957 (27-0). 

• But, Buhl’s unbeaten team only won the final 30-29 over Marshall. On the other hand, it’s true that they hammered Moorhead 53-29 in a semi-final. 

• Hopkins, on the other hand, was in the midst of a winning streak that reached a then record 65 games, a record that Edina would break in 1968 with 69. And, Hopkins losses at the beginning and end of the streak were both overtime games—one, I think it was to Eau Claire Regis, was in a Gopher prelim game, and so the 2^nd OT was sudden death. The game had to end because the Gopher game needed to get started.  And, in 1954, Hopkins lost to Minneapolis Patrick Henry in Region Five play, also in OT.

That leaves Roosevelt, and the difficulty with Roosevelt was always—which was better? The 1957 team was unbeaten, sure. But, the 1956 team famously clobbered Blue Earth 101-54 in the final while the 1957 team needed OT to beat Bemidji in the state tournament 73-70. 

So, I asked Nordland, which team was better, 1956 or 1957? His answer was, “Oh, 1957. We beat DeLaSalle.”

Roosevelt 1956

Minneapolis Washburn won the state title in 1955. Some thought them the best ever. But, many others thought they had cheated. Their team had played together over the previous summer, though coach Ray Ross was not involved. In those days, it wasn’t illegal for a team to play together in the summer but there was kind of a gentleman’s agreement not to do it. After Washburn won the title, in 1955, the MSHSL officially adopted a rule that said high school teams could not play together over the summer.

So, in 1955-1956, Washburn beat Roosevelt 63-62 in their only regular season meeting. Meanwhile Roosevelt also lost a couple of games to DeLaSalle, 64-54 and 81-63. The Islanders were in the middle of a four-peat, winning the state Catholic tournament in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. The 1955 team defeated Duluth Cathedral 57-33 in the final, finished unbeaten, and was named the mythical national Catholic champion by the Chicago Tribune. In 1956, DeLaSalle beat St. Thomas in the final 67-48, and also beat the St. Paul city champions, St. Paul Wilson, 63-42 and 57-47. Roosevelt beat Wilson in the Twin City game 74-54. So the wins over Roosevelt were no fluke, though it is also true that Roosevelt was a much better team in March than in December. Remember, they lost to Washburn. Well, in March, in the district tournament, they beat Washburn 91-50.

Amazingly, Roosevelt also played Blue Earth in the regular season, winning 60-58. They had improved by 42 points against Washburn. Against Blue Earth, they had improved by 49 by the time of their 101-54 win in the state final. Roosevelt also beat New Prague and Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer at the time, Ron Johnson, 70-53 in the semis.

So, by March of 1956, this Roosevelt team was clearly one of the best ever. They avenged one of their losses, big time, though whether they could have avenged the others will never be known.

Roosevelt 1957

Roosevelt played DeLaSalle just once in 1957, and that game came at DeLaSalle on December 22. DeLaSalle led 27-20 and 44-37 after the first 2 periods, but scored just 7 in the 3^rd as Roosevelt tied it up at 51. Roosevelt pulled ahead in the 4^th period to win 70-68. Nordland scored 34 points on 14 FG and 6-of-7 FT and Jerry Butler added 23 on 8 FG and 7-of-8 FT for Roosevelt. Paul Lehman scored 22 and Gleason 21 for DeLaSalle. Roosevelt made 14-of-19 FT, DeLaSalle just 12-of-24 on its home court. Roosevelt appears to have made 28-of-69 FG (40 percent) and DeLaSalle 28-of-52 (54 percent).

These details come from coach Wayne Courtney’s scorebook—not in his hand, certainly, but his own personal scorebook that he gave to Nordland before his death and which Nordland loaned to me.

Roosevelt also played Blue Earth (at Blue Earth) again, winning 74-31 on December 15. Blue Earth star George Dean started but was apparently injured. He did not play after the 1^st quarter, and did not record a single point or foul. Nordland scored 17, Peterson 16 and Butler 14 for Roosevelt. Blue Earth made 8-of-59 FG. Roosevelt also took a road trip to Spencer, IA, and Austin, where they won 60-55 and 78-58. Nordland outscored Jones of Spencer 38-25 and Carothers of Austin 27-23. Butler did not play against Austin, yet Austin center Roger Voss, who went on to make all-conference at Colorado, scored just 4 points.

There is one other game that needs to be mentioned. Unfortunately, the game is neither dated nor is the location indicated in Courtney’s book. It was after February 9, when Roosevelt beat St. Paul Central 79-48, and it was before February 27, when they beat St. Paul Murray 55-32 at Williams Arena in the Twin City Game. My understanding, however, is that this game, too, was at Williams Arena, and it was another Gopher prelim game. For about 25 years, as you old-timers may recall, Gopher games were preceded by a high school game. This one in 1957 resulted in a tie, 46-46, between Roosevelt and Duluth East. East had opened as a junior high in 1927, and it became a senior high in 1950. Athletically, it was always the little brother or the poor cousin to Duluth Central. 1957 was no exception. Central won District 26, then lost to Tower-Soudan in Region 7 49-46, and then Tower-Soudan lost to Hibbing 65-53. In the state tournament Hibbing lost to Fergus Falls 57-55 and then Fergus lost to Roosevelt 83-59. How could Roosevelt tie Duluth East? Was Duluth East any good? I don’t know.

But, for one night, East was as good as Roosevelt. It was 22-22 and 32-32 after the first 2 periods. In the 3^rd East pulled ahead 41-38. The 4^th went to Roosevelt 8-5 for a 46-46 tie. This time (unlike Hopkins and Regis in 1952) there was no OT at all. Nordland scored 17 and Peterson 14, while Bert Sibley scored 17 for East and Jim Mitchell 10. East made 6-of-18 FT (33 percent), 2-of-10 in the 2^nd half! But, Roosevelt made just 15-of-73 FG (20 percent). The first period was 22-22, after that it was 24-24 for 3 periods. The shooting over the final 3 periods must have been horrendous. Nordland had 11 points at the half. He made one FG and 4-of-4 FT in the second half and 11-of-12 for the game. Roosevelt made 5 FG in the 2^nd half. 

In 1925, St. Thomas and St. Paul Mechanic Arts played to a 21-21 regular season tie. Mechanic Arts went on to win the MSHSL title, and its won-lost record is listed as 17-1-1. (St. Thomas won the state Catholic title.) In 1957, Roosevelt tied Duluth East, won the state title, and it’s won-lost record is listed as 27-0. Go figure.

We noted that Roosevelt beat St. Paul Murray 55-32 in the TC Game. Willmar beat Murray in the regular season 85-59, and Red Wing beat Murray 57-39 in the Region 4 final. Roosevelt beat Willmar for the 2^nd straight year in region play. In 1956 it was Roosevelt 63 Willmar 60. In 1957 it was 63-59. And, Roosevelt beat Red Wing 59-51 in the state final. DeLaSalle beat Winona Cotter 67-41 in the Catholic final to complete its 4-peat. 

In that famous Bemidji game, by the way, the one that Roosevelt won 73-70 in OT, Roosevelt shot 13-of-33 FT (39 percent). Nordland was 2-for-2 and scored 22 points before fouling out. The great Ray Cronk scored 34 for Bemidji including 10-of-16 FT. So, other than Nordland and Cronk, the FT shooters made 1-of-15! Ouch! In their 2^nd and 3^rd games combined Roosevelt shot 58-of-80 FT and just 42-of-128 FG. Nordland scored 31 and 31 and made 11-of-12 and then 19-of-20 FT. For the tournament he was 32-of-34. 

What Does It All Mean?

Well, it means that, yes, Roosevelt was better in 1957 than in 1956. Tommy Nordland says so, and he would know. But Roosevelt’s 1957 state champions, who finished 27-0-1, have to be rated behind Hopkins 1953 among the high school teams between Edison in 1937 and Edina in 1967. “We beat DeLaSalle,” as Nordland said, but we also tied Duluth East. 

Tommy Nordland

At the time, Nordland was regarded as the best jump shooter ever to come out of Minnesota. Certainly he was one of the best FT shooters. Nordland has since spent his entire life teaching people how to shoot a basketball. His “Swish” videos have been distributed all over the world. So it’s worth noting that Nordland shot the ball on the way up. Back in the day, people shot a set shot. The ball was released with the feet on the floor, though there might be a little jump because of the upward momentum. The innovation of the “jump shot” at the time was that you generated a little more upward momentum and you actually shot the ball with your feet off the floor. But, Nordland described his shot as a semi-set shot because he shot it on the way up, and not at the top of his jump. 

Wayne Courtney

Jim Robinson, who surely refereed thousands of high school games in Minnesota, once said that he thought Wayne Courtney was the best coach he ever saw. I asked Nordland about this. He hesitated and with furrowed brow said, “No.” He went on, “None of us ever did anything in college.” Courtney didn’t prepare his kids for the next level. He didn’t teach fundamentals, Nordland said. “We played a zone defense. I never knew how to play a man defense.” Nordland was a catch-and-shoot shooter and, yet, he said, “I never knew anything about coming off a screen. We never set a screen.”

Nordland, for the record, went to Stanford on a basketball scholarship but never played.  

Once again, I think you would have to agree that Tom Nordland would know about these things. Thanks very much to Tom, who now lives in Eagan, for a candid conversation (and a scorebook) that helps shed a lot of light on what many regard as the Golden Age of Minnesota high school ball.