Minnesota Playoff Central: A Massive Night Ahead
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Tonight the Minnesota high school playoffs continue with some Titanic match-ups highlighted by Columbia Heights versus Totino-Grace and the 5AAAA semi-finals. Playoff Central. Michigan signed Will Tschetter Will Tschetter 6'8" | PF Stewartville | 2021 State #96 Nation MN…
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Continue ReadingTonight the Minnesota high school playoffs continue with some Titanic match-ups highlighted by Columbia Heights versus Totino-Grace and the 5AAAA semi-finals.
Playoff Central. Michigan signed Will Tschetter Will Tschetter 6'8" | PF Stewartville | 2021 State #96 Nation MN scored 34 points and grabbed 12 boards to lead 7th ranked Stewartville over Lake City. The Tigers take on 3rd ranked Caledonia Wednesday. Justin Wohlers Justin Wohlers 6'6" | PF Lake City | 2022 State MN led Lake City with 22 points.
Upset City. Hayfield was the three seed, Lyle-Austin Pacelli was the two seed. The Vikings actually won the regular season match-up between the teams so it wasn’t a surprise and actually, if Lyle Pacelli had won the game I would of said they actually pulled off the upset. So this was going to be the game either way.
Hayfield is a team with an outstanding senior ( Ethan Slaathaug Ethan Slaathaug 6'3" | SG Hayfield | 2021 State MN ) and a lot of good young players around him. Ethan carried a lot of weight last night scoring 28 points but the juniors and sophomores around him played their role perfectly. Sophomore Isaac Matti Isaac Matti 6'1" | SG Hayfield | 2023 State MN scored a dozen and junior Kobe Foster played his role as a defender perfectly.
The Big Stage. You may not be aware of this but three of the top four ranked teams in Class AAAA – and some will argue the best three teams in Class AAA – are in the same section. That leads to tonight’s Totino-Grace vs Columbia Heights clash. Match-ups? I thought you’d never ask!?!!?
PG – Taison Chatman Taison Chatman 6'4" | PG Totino Grace | 2023 State #35 Nation MN (TG) vs Terrence Brown Terrence Brown 6'0" | PG Columbia Heights | 2022 State MN (CH)
SG – CJ O’Hara CJ O’Hara 6'4" | SF Park Center | 2023 State #285 Nation MN (TG) vs Elijah Williams Elijah Williams 6'1" | PG Columbia Heights | 2021 State MN (CH)
SF – Tommy Humphries Tommy Humphries 6'5" | SF Totino-Grace | 2023 State #283 Nation MN (TG) vs Hassan Kamara Hassan Kamara 6'4" | SG Columbia Heights | 2022 MN (CH)
Big Wing – Demario Watson (TG) vs Muja Burton Muja Burton 6'4" | SF Columbia Heights | 2022 State MN (CH)
Post – Devin Burger Devin Burger 6'6" | SF Totino Grace | 2021 State MN (TG) vs Donnavin Hinsz Donnavin Hinsz 6'6" | PF Columbia Heights | 2022 State MN (CH)
6th Man – DJ Akpati DJ Akpati 6'0" | PG Totino-Grace | 2021 State MN (TG) vs Tula Tula (CH)
Thoughts – The Hylanders are the more experienced team. Tula and Williams are seniors and the rest of the CH starting line-up is juniors. TG will be bigger/longer at many spots and Burger/Akpati are seniors. There is a large group of sophomores there that rank with the elite players in their class statewide. Then you have the CH juniors that rank with the best individual class of players for the 2022 group. Should be an excellent game.
Players To Watch. Loving the 5AAAA games tonight top ranked and undefeated Champlin Park against Osseo, and then top ten teams Park Center (ranked 4th) and Mounds View (7th in state). The talent in those four games is excellent. Here are some individual match-ups to watch for:
Joshua Strong Joshua Strong 6'0" | PG Champlin Park | 2021 State MN (Champlin Park) vs Tyirece Waits (Osseo)
Francis Nwaokorie Francis Nwaokorie 6'7" | C Champlin Park | 2021 State MN (Champlin Park) vs Blessed Barhayiga Blessed Barhayiga 6'9" | C Osseo | 2022 State MN (Osseo)
Dylan Gichaba Dylan Gichaba 6'5" | SF Champlin Park | 2021 State MN (Champlin Park) vs Joshua Ola-Joseph Joshua Ola-Joseph 6'6" | SF Osseo | 2022 State #166 Nation MN (Osseo)
Braeden Carrington Braeden Carrington 6'4" | SG Park Center | 2022 State #141 Nation MN (Park Center) vs Evan Kim Evan Kim 6'4" | SG Mounds View | 2021 State MN (Mounds View)
Jalen Cook Jalen Cook 6'4" | SG Park Center | 2021 State MN (Park Center) vs Dylan Wheeler Dylan Wheeler 6'3" | SG Mounds View | 2022 State MN (Mounds View)
Dawson Rudolph Dawson Rudolph 6'2" | SG Park Center | 2021 State MN (Park Center) vs Kobe Kirk Kobe Kirk 6'2" | SG Mounds View | 2022 State MN (Mounds View)
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Caledonia knocked out PEM 59-55 last night with Sam Privet Sam Privet 6'9" | PF Caledonia | 2021 State MN scoring 18 inside taking advantage of his size to score inside. With that comes the final game for point guard Blake Herber Blake Herber 5'11" | PG Plainview/Elgin-Millville | 2021 State MN . Herber will play at Lakeland U next year after scoring 21 points a game this year shooting 46-47 percent.