Northstar Hoops — Team of the Week
The week before the Holidays is always an interesting one given it’s a time where a team’s focus can wane. There was no shortage of good games this week that included a pre-Christmas Tournament at Hamline and a full day of hoops in Rochester for the HVL/TRC Showdown.
Here are this week’s options for Team of the Week:
Zumbrota-Mazeppa
The Cougars won seven games all of last season. They are going to shatter that number this year if they have more weeks like this last one. Z-M won three games last week, improving to 6-1 on the year. The Cougars beat Kenyon-Wanamingo by 30 before finishing the week with a pair of impressive wins. Z-M beat a solid Litchfield team in Litchfield Thursday before beating Plainview-Elgin-Millville in the HVL/TRC Showdown in Rochester.
Waseca
The Bluejays went to state last year thanks in large part to superstar guard Nick Dufault. Dufault is gone, but Waseca might be even better this year than last. The Bluejays improved to 8-0 on the season with a pair of wins last week over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and St. James. WEM is one of the top teams in Class AA and St. James looks much improved this season. Neither one could handle the Bluejays combination of length, pressure defense and firepower.
Wayzata
The Trojans picked up a pair of 20-point wins last week in the Hamline Invitational. Their first win — a 77-55 win over North St. Paul — was particularly impressive. The three-headed monster of Gavin Baumgartner, Ryan Lindberg and Drew Galinson has been terrific and Wayzata is looking like the top competition for Hopkins in Section 6AAAA.
Jordan
Jordan is 6-0 on the season and quietly one of the elite teams in Class AA. Before last week, the Hubmen hadn’t really beaten anybody of note yet. That changed last week as they took out two of the teams that figure to contend with them for the Section 2AA-North title. Jordan opened the week with a 68-49 win on the road over St. Peter and finished with an 83-58 beat down of Belle Plaine.
Virginia
Virginia might be a tad out of mind for a lot of folks but the Blue Devils have put together a strong start to the 2016-17 season. They picked up two good wins last week, going on the road and beating Mountain Iron-Buhl before ending the week with an 11-point win over Procter.
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.