Section 7AAAA Preview: Roulette a la North
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Every year the most wide-open section in AAAA seems to be 7. There are plenty of teams capable and upsets are most often associated with this north/northeast group. Here’s the lineup:
1. Blaine (19-7)
2. Duluth East (17-8)
3. Cambridge-Isanti (14-12)
4. Anoka (12-13)
5. Coon Rapids (9-17)
6. Andover (5-20)
7. Forest Lake (7-19)
8. St. Francis (5-21)
Favorite: Blaine
A 19-win regular season is way more than I expected from this team going into the year. With do-everything forward Jason Kaul (16 ppg), playmaking guard Tony Strand (14.6 ppg) and wing Lucas Larson (11 ppg) spearheading the offensive attack, and a defense that allows just 55 points per game, the Bengals have fast-tracked their way into State berth contention once again. They grind out games slowly and look to Kaul to finish things in close contests with his size and touch around the rim. He’s a section MVP candidate. Blaine has scorers, gritty defenders and an experienced coach in Mark Arzdorf.
Contenders: Cambridge-Isanti, Duluth East
The Bluejackets have the best player in the section in flamethrowing guard Henry Abraham (23 ppg, 5 apg) and a couple supporting scorers like Luke Malamisuro and London Williams (16.7 and 11.1 ppg respectively). They upped their non-conference schedule with a few Lake teams to give them high-pressure tests (they almost took out Eden Prairie a couple of weeks ago) and are 14-12 entering the playoffs. Postseason comes down to shot-making and Abraham and company have as good an offensive attack as anybody in the bracket.
Duluth East went 3-2 against the rest of the section this year including a head-to-head win over Cambridge. They also have solid wins over Robbinsdale Cooper and Brainerd. Though an independent team, they emphasize metro games and have been down to the Cities for road trips before, and now they get a home game in round 1 against Forest Lake. They’ve been better than expected as well after graduating a couple high impact seniors last year.
Predictions
Round 1: Blaine over St. Francis, Duluth East over Forest Lake, Cambridge-Isanti over Andover, Anoka over Coon Rapids
Semifinals: Blaine over Anoka, Cambridge-Isanti over Duluth East
Finals: Cambridge-Isanti over Blaine