The ABCs of the State Tournament
The ABCs of the State Tournament getting you ready for the best four days of Minnesota High School basketball.
A is for Annandale, as in the Annandale Cardinals who have been at state for the past five season. Coach Skip Dolan has his team rolling and they are doing it for Young Henry Dolan, the coach’s grandson who is fighting heart disease and the entire community has come to support him and his family.
A is also for Austin, as in the Austin Packers. Led by the combined 32-33 a night from twins Both and Duoth Gach the Packers have been putting on a dunk show all season long and the 27-2 Packers are back at state.
B is for Baumgartner, as in Gavin Baumgartner of Wayzata who is 16 points from a 1,000 for his career. Five Trojans shoot over 40 percent at the arc.
C is for Coach Thorson, as in David Thorson of DeLaSalle. His Islanders led by Mr. Basketball finalist Goanar Mar are going for their 6th straight state title and their ninth title under Coach Thorson.
D is for Davison, as in Brad Davison. Davison is the Mr. Basketball finalist from Maple Grove who is headed to Wisconsin with his 25 points, 7.6 boards, and 7.5 assists a game.
E is for Eight, as in the Eight Marshall Tigers who all scored over two baskets a game on average for a balanced team led in scoring by the 13.7 points a game from Zach Bloemker.
F is for First, as in First time at state in 58 years for the Wayzata Trojans. Congrats to Coach Schnettler and his team who broke the hold history had on them. First is also for Big Lake who is making their first appearance at state in school history.
G is for the Grizzlies, as in the North Woods Grizzlies. They went 29-1 led by Cade Goggleye and his 19 a game which set a single season scoring record.
H is for Huskies as in the JCC Huskies. This is a team of three sport athletes that went 26-4. The team has four future college basketball players, one future college football player, and Jacob Christopher who may play college hoops.
I is for Isaac, as in Isaac Fink of Springfield. The sophomore guard is the school’s all time leading scorer already at 1,579 points and yes, he will have two more years to play after this.
J is for Jones, as in Tre Jones, the Apple Valley junior guard who has the Eagles at 23.3 points per game. AV is 27-2 on the season and Jones is leading the way.
K is for Kallman, as in Dana and Andrew of the Chaska Hawks. The Hawks made state led by the father-son PG-Coach duo as well as Myles Hanson who has had a fantastic last two months of basketball.
L is for Lipp, as in Stevin Lipp of Breckenridge. Lipp led the Cowboys to a 26-2 record with his 16.5 points per game. Lipp had 41 points in a game which broke the single game record of his uncle.
M is for the Ms, as in the Ms of St. Cloud Cathedral. Coach Matt Meyer and junior forwards Mitch Plombon and Michael Schaefer.
N is for Nevis, as in the Nevis Tigers who are 29-1 on the season led by 2,000 point scorer Griffin Chase who scored over 21 a game this year.
O is for Oakley, as in Oakley Baker of NRHEG. Oakley is the leader of a team that gave up only 44 points per game. They won 28 gams and scored 1,925 points in his career.
P is for the Polars, the Polars of Minneapolis North. They won their section games by an average score of 115 to 50 and Isaac Johnson has an outstanding season for them. The Polars are 29-2 on the year and have won four straight Minneapolis City Conference championships.
Q is for Quentin, as in Quentin Hardict of Columbia Heights. Hardict is scoring 14 a game and has really stepped up for Coach Willie Braziel with Deunda Roberson recently hurt. Hardict, Roberson, and Wendell Matthews all score in double figures.
R is for Reuvers, as in Nathan Reuvers of Lakeville North. The Wisconsin signed big led the Panthers back to state for the fifth straight year. Nate averaged 25.6 points and 12.3 rebounds a game.
S is for Skelly, as in Jake Skelly. Who is Jake Skelly? Get to know him now. Jake is one of the best scorers in the state you don’t know with his 21.5 points per game shooting an amazing 60 percent from the field as a guard.
T is for Three, as in the Three-Pointers that Lake City hits year after year. The Tigers are at state for the first time in 27 years and they shot a ridiculous 43 percent at the arc led by the 15 points per game of Marc Kjos.
U is for the University, the University of Minnesota. Gopher fans have a fantastic committed junior to go watch at state in Daniel Oturu who averaged 19.6 points a game while leading the state in rebounding and blocked shots.
V is for Vascellaro as in Sam Vascellaro and of course his father Frank who you all know from TV. Sam is a hard working wing for the St. Thomas Cadets.
W is for Wright, as in McKinley Wright. McKinley recently earned metro player of the year and is the favorite to win Mr. Basketball with his 23 points, eight boards, and seven plus assists a game leading the best team in the state, Champlin Park.
X is for the Class AA X-Factor, Crosby-Ironton. The Raiders are getting 17.6/6.2 from Jack Silgren, 16.7/12.7 a game from Noah Gindorff, 15.7 a game from Trey Jacobs, and 11 a game from Evan Edmundson.
Y is for Youth, as in the Youth of Minnehaha and freshman Jalen Suggs. The freshman star from Minnehaha Academy considered one of the elite players in his grade nationwide. He went over 1,000 points for his career in early January and he starts with freshman Terry Lockett and Kaden Johnson.
Z is for ReZac as in Logan Rezac. The Andover senior is scoring his 23 points per game on an average of 19-20 shots a contest. He also leads the team in rebounding.