The Race for Mr. Basketball
The Mr. Basketball Watch List was released this past Monday and today we break it down to where we think each guys lands in terms of which tier.
Leader. Apple Valley fell out of the top ten for the first time in I don’t know how long and had a rough half with struggling Rosemount so at the moment I think we have a two horse race between Daniel Oturu and Tre Jones. I still believe that if the season ended today McDonald’s All American and two time state champion Tre Jones would win this award. That said, CDH is number one in state and if they remained that way Oturu has a shot at this thing as well. Jones though is my leader with his 25 points, ten boards, six assists, and four steals a game.
Final Five. Picking a final five right now. That is a tough call. I would have to see Tre, Oturu, and Gabe Kalscheur as the for sure three followed by the double doubles of Jarvis Omersa and likely Calvin Wishart with his massive numbers. Gabe is coming off a big game this week against Brooklyn Center, Jarvis just had 32 in a win over Chaska in double overtime, and Calvin is your state’s best bet for a triple double.
Top Ten. The Mr. Basketball committee is going to release a top ten in February so the next attempt is to try and pick five more guys with the ten listed above. The first name I would go with is Michael Jones and his 28 a game at Woodbury. Jones is a catch and shoot guy that does more than that with teams gameplanning against him to try and stop him from ever catching. Next? Sy Chatman is leading CDH in scoring and has put his name firmly at the top of the list of “top unsigned seniors” in Minnesota. Owen King at Caledonia likely makes it too although they had a tough loss recently. I would say the guy that recently has pushed his way into contention is Matt Todd with his 30 points, seven assists, six boards, and 5.5 steals a game not to mention that his team has won ten straight and is 12-2. The final name? There are many contenders but the 25-26 points and 13 rebounds a game from state contending Michael Schaefer is tough to ignore.
Next Ten. Who else is has a chance at that top ten? Jarius Cook of Park Center and Anthony Davis of Hopkins were 17u teammates and it’s fitting to add them here as both are playing well on top ten teams. Davis has been fantastic both ways. Big Nine pair Damani Hayes and Duoth Gach are also having excellent seasons leading teams from Mankato East and Austin and both are doing many things for their teams. Minneapolis North pair Tayler Johnson and Odell Wilson have won a pair of state titles and are each having excellent years. Anders Nelson of Edina has had some huge games in huge wins, Eric Tiedman might be the state’s best defender plus he scores, Brevin Spann-Ford is one of the state’s most versatile, and if I had to pick number 20 I would go with Noah Slagter or Noah Kannegieser who both just became all time leading scorers for their programs and their teams are doing great.
Let’s also not forget the other guys honored to be on the list including Hopkins post Joe Hedstrom, CDH PG Ryan Larson and his load of assists, Shae Mitchell with his shooting and explosive finishes, Nathan Rund is handling, shooting, and defending his team to wins hoping to get to state for third straight year, and Ethan Youso has his team at only one loss.
The All Star Snub. When it comes to the all star game each year there the snubbed discussion. Who should be in that conversation in this state? I would say Deundra Robertson from undefeated Columbia Heights who took his team to state last year and is scoring 22+ this year. And of course JaVonni Bickham who is only a few buckets from being the leading Minnehaha Academy scorer as they’ve went 12-2 against the toughest schedule around.