Breakdown Tip Off Classic: Ranking The Games
There are 17 quality games of Minnesota’s best talent competing Saturday at the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic at Hopkins. Today we run through the best games for fans to see. Advice, get there early!
One. Orono vs CDH (7:30pm). If Daniel Oturu is healthy the future Gopher match-up of Daniel Oturu against Jarvis Omersa will bring Minnesota basketball fans out of the woodwork, both Gopher fans and local high school fans. Not to mention Colton Codute against Ryan Larson will be excellent and even if the Oturu ankle isn’t ready there is still Sy Chatman vs Jarvis Omersa which will be must see explosive TV. Max Bjorklund against Jaeden King should also be good as both are NSIC kids at Bemidji State and Augustana respectively.
Two. DeLaSalle vs Hopkins (6pm). This one is years in the making. So many times this match-up would of been great but then the game didn’t happen for seemingly a different reason all the time. Now it will be played and there are some excellent match-ups like Gabe Kalscheur vs Anthony Davis, Tyrell Terry vs Blaise Beauchamp, and Zeke Nnaji likely vs CJ Dickson or Jamison Battle. Joe Hedstrom vs Malik Lamin inside could also play a part.
Three. Minnehaha Acamdey vs Park Center (4:30pm). Jalen Suggs and the defending champs against high expectation Park Center led by NDSU bound Jarius Cook. Some of the better sophomores in the state will be in this game but JaVonni Bickham vs Dain Dainja inside could be the most fun. Cook working to defend Suggs would be a lot of fun and hopefully Khari Broadway against Kaden Johnson (or Kaden vs Cook) will do some battle. Terry Lockett will run put for Minnehaha Academy, it will be interesting to see who PC has running PG.
Four. Rochester JM vs Lakeville South (3pm). Five star Matthew Hurt will draw a crowd especially competing against longtime D1 Minnesota teammate Shae Mitchell. Mitchell has matured a lot as a player the past half year and this will be a great challenge for him. Couple things of note in this game, both teams have new coaches (Joe Janquart and Jim Daly) and JM has a huge game against Mayo the night before.
Five. Apple Valley vs Minneapolis North (9pm). State champ vs State champ. Good game with Tre Jones leading several returning Eagles against the senior group from North looking to win a third straight title. This game will be a lot of fun and match-ups are good. We slide it down a bit because it was also played last year and the match-ups are more fun in other places but this game could become one of the best.
Six. St. Cloud Tech vs Lakeville North (Noon). Tech is a senior dominated club with a lot of talent. There are several different pieces to their attack. Both are deep with Lakeville North being the more consistent program but Tech having more returning guys. Brevin Spann-Ford against Tyler Lewko and/or Tyler Wahl should be outstanding although Wahl could see a lot of Kail Lindgren. Camden Jackson will be a tough task for the Panther guards.
Seven. St. Cloud Cathedral vs Caledonia (3:45). The most underrated game of the event. Owen and Noah King in the backcourt bringing their toughness and skill and the Mitchel Plombon and Michael Schaefer frontcourt. Caledonia has a good post and Cathedral has some solid guards, so which will standout up in this game? Class AA Titanic heavyweight game.
Eight. Wayzata vs Woodbury (1:30). Wayzata plays some of the best defense in the state, so can they slow down Michael Jones and his big numbers? Drew Galinson will have his work cut out for him. You can say the same about DJ Fleming and his team trying to defend Jacob Beeninga. Both of these teams graduated a lot of seniors so this is a big game for a lot of guys in new roles.
Nine. Osseo vs St. Thomas Academy (9am). The Orioles are more talented, the Cadets have two of the best three players in the game in Jack Thompson and Sam Vascellaro. The Cadets have more spots to replace this year but Sam and Jack will take care of a lot of that. Zach Theisen is the game’s top threat but watch Maurice Nelson and Emmette Page as well.
Ten. Annandale vs Esko (5:30). A big time Class A game matching a team that has went to state the last five years against an Esko team that had gone four straight years until running into the machine that was CI a year ago. These teams played a couple years ago at state and the Cards gameplan took Adam Trapp out of the contest. Adam is two years older now though and a different player likely with revenge on his mind.
Others.
Perham/Breck: If David Roddy is playing this game will be fun.
Springfield/Spring Grove: The state’s number one against a SG team with something to prove.
Austin/Totino-Grace: Many unknowns right now: Austin playing without Both, Eagles playing with a new coach. Interesting game.
Fergus Falls/Delano: Calvin Wishart takes on Nathan Rund and Fergus who dropped a game to Breckenridge
EP/NSP: I like the Goodnews Kpegeol versus Conner Christensen potential. Bryce Phillips vs Kyler Kluge and Marcus Sims vs Austin Andrews is good too.
CP/Tonka: What is Champlin like now? Is Tonka as underrated as I think they are?
Armstrong/New Prague: Both have went through a ton of changes, New Prague has a bit more known names.