Big 12 Classic: Eastview vs Champlin Park
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A pair of top ten teams with state title hopes finish off the Breakdown Big 12 Classic Saturday night when Eastview faces the host team Champlin Park. PG: Jaylen James (Eastview) vs Joshua Strong (Champlin Park). James is a steady lead guard…
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Continue ReadingA pair of top ten teams with state title hopes finish off the Breakdown Big 12 Classic Saturday night when Eastview faces the host team Champlin Park.
PG: Jaylen James (Eastview) vs Joshua Strong (Champlin Park). James is a steady lead guard moving into the starting role while Strong has little varsity experience but is considered one of the top three lead guards in Minnesota’s junior class. Strong may need to score more, Eastview likely needs James to just get the ball to the needed spots and score when open.
SG: Caden Scales (Eastview) vs ? (Champlin Park). Caden is the ex-factor here. He’s a 6-foot-1 guard that scores four times a contest and is a player his team counts on for strong defense and the right offensive play. Don’t forget about Scales because he can make a Walter impact. Who starts for CP? Total mystery. They could go young with potential in Dylan Gichaba, put a second ball handler on the floor in TJ Moberg allowing Strong off ball, use Jaice Miller, or maybe go really big with Ethan Rens.
SF: Ryan Thissen (Eastview) vs Jared Walter (Champlin Park). Walter impact? Jared Walter is one of the best players that doesn’t need shot attempts that you will ever seen. An impact player without the ball, Jared shuts down the opposition and leads his team with actions and communication. His assignment is a really good Ryan Thissen who has grown to 6-foot-6 allowing him to play both forward spots. Thissen is agile, can shoot, and can handle to attack.
PF: Tate Machacek (Eastview) vs Cooper Olson (Champlin Park). Because Cooper is a PF I put him here but I think I like Cooper’s agility on Crowl more than I do Francis moving around with Steven. If Crowl is constantly in the low post then I could change my mind but Crowl is active and moves around a lot. Either way, Tate and Olson are double-double guys that have really improved. Tate’s face up game is much better while Olson has improved in the low post in addition to his agile plays plays running the floor and moving off ball .
C: Steven Crowl (Eastview) vs Francis Nwaokorie (Champlin Park). Like I said, it’s possible that Francis is smashing with Machacek at times. Francis is a beautiful throwback in the post with great hands, great feet, and good low post positioning fight. Crowl’s length on Francis will be a serious problem. Francis will give up three inches to Crowl and Steven is more explosive.
Bench: Both teams have deep benches but Eastview has more talent on the bench. Jackson Purcell is good enough to push for a starting spot while Henry Shannon is a player coming off of a great summer. Nick Vermulen is a great shooter and Grayson Stalboerger is an excellent junior guard. Add in the explosion of Zach Spann and you have a second five that many schools would like as their starters. Eastview is one of the three deepest teams in Class AAAA with EP and Park Center. The Rebels can not match that level of depth but they also are deep. We mentioned Rens who is 6-foot-6 plus whomever does’t start with Strong will support from the second group.
The Pick. As talented as Champlin Park is, the vast majority of their players are moving from reserve roles into big roles, or simply moving from the JV to varsity. Eastview on the other hand has several guys who are starting for their third or fourth years of varsity basketball. Eastview is deeper, more experienced, and I think better. The score won’t reflect that quite as much as it’s at CP where nobody wants to play as the place sucks life from the opponents. Lightning by five