Northstar Hoops – Team of the Week
The first official week of boys basketball in Minnesota is officially in the books. A week that saw a number of juicy early-season matchups, excellent weekend showcase tournaments and the always exciting Breakdown Tip Off Classic. There was no shortage of good choices, but here are this week’s options for Northstar Hoops’ Team of the Week:
Maple Grove
Maple Grove has an elite team and it’s got elite talent all over the floor. The Crimson will win a lot of games this year. It’s tough to top a win over DeLaSalle in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic though. To do it in dramatic fashion makes it even better. Maple Grove also went to Rogers and beat a good Royals squad by 27 points the night before, so the Crimson are off to a terrific start.
St. Cloud Tech
St. Cloud Tech’s got high expectations this upcoming year and a fast start with two solid wins does nothing to provoke thoughts otherwise. The Tigers opened the year with two impressive road wins, beating Chisago Lakes 64-30 Thursday, then Rocori 62-32 Friday.
Bloomington Kennedy
Who doesn’t love a redemption story? The Bloomington Kennedy boys basketball team went 0-27 last season. A single win would’ve been good. The Eagles got three last week, improving to 3-1 to start the year. Kennedy beat St. Paul Harding Tuesday, Holy Angels Thursday and Breck Saturday.
Marshall
It’s not necessarily breaking news but wow Marshall is good. The Tigers validated that a little more in their first week of the season, picking up a 26-point win over Redwood Valley and a 21-point win over Worthington. Head coach Travis Carroll said there were stretches in both games where his team didn’t play all that well too. They put a full game of good basketball together Saturday in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic though, blowing out Minneapolis Patrick Henry by 32 points.
Minneapolis North
It’s hard to see a team other than the Polars winning the state title in Class A this year and they flexed their muscle in a big way this week. After a loss to Apple Valley the previous Saturday, Minneapolis North went out and beat Edina at Edina and Centennial. Then in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic, the Polars took down perhaps the best team in Class AA, Minnehaha Academy.
Northstar Hoops will put out a Team of the Week story every Monday with several teams people can vote for. People can also nominate teams for those polls by contacting me on twitter at M_Biggs_ or any of the other Northstar Hoops writers such as Ryan James, Jared Martinson or Alex Conover.