The Race for Mr. Basketball
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Today we begin the season long series of Race for Mr. Basketball articles with our early season preview. Who are the top candidates? The Favorite. Tre Holloman Tre Holloman 6'2" | PG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2022 State #57 Nation MN…
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Continue ReadingToday we begin the season long series of Race for Mr. Basketball articles with our early season preview. Who are the top candidates?
The Favorite. Tre Holloman Tre Holloman 6'2" | PG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2022 State #57 Nation MN of Cretin-Derham Hall
Tre enters the season as the Mr. Basketball favorite. He has been apart of three section title teams in his life: played in the rotation for the Minneapolis North title team in 2017 as a 7th grader, led the Raiders to the section title in 2020, and then took CDH – with nearly a brand new roster around him – to the state final last year. Holloman is a top 60 level talent in the senior class nationally and is a Michigan State committed guard.
How big of a favorite? I would say strong favorite. This year isn’t as open as say the 2015, 2016, and 2017 races but maybe not to the same level favorite wise as last year when Chet won it, but close. Strong favorite entering the season is where I would put it for Tre.
Top Contenders (Final Five).
Pharrel Payne Pharrel Payne 6'9" | C Park Of Cottage Grove | 2022 State #84 Nation MN of Park of Cottage Grove. Pharrel is a top 100 player in the nation and coming off a summer with Minnesota Select that was likely MVP worthy state wide. Payne put up massive numbers for Select following a strong junior year where he lead Park of Eastview pushing the Wolfpack to the section final. Now he hopes to get Park to state. Payne is a Minnesota Gopher commit.
Braeden Carrington Braeden Carrington 6'4" | SG Park Center | 2022 State #141 Nation MN of Park Center. Carrington is the best player on a Pirates team that will be the preseason number one in Class AAAA. Carrington, a Gopher commit, is a top 150 level talent and he surprised all of us with his junior year. It wasn’t Carrington playing well or leading the team in scoring that caught us off guard, it was how well he handled playing BOTH point guard and a major scoring role that really impressed.
Prince Aligbe Prince Aligbe 6'6" | SF Minnehaha Academy | 2022 State #167 Nation MN of Minnehaha Academy. The Boston College commit is an obvious top contender considering that he has been apart of four Redhawks state title teams playing a solid and/or big role on all four. When you add in the 2020 section title team that’s five straight section title squads with Prince being a key figure. Aligbe played on those teams with Chet and Jalen, this is Prince’s team now.
Eli King Eli King 6'2" | PG Caledonia | 2022 State #151 Nation MN of Caledonia. Eli’s injury obviously set him back when it comes to an award like this but the Iowa State commit has been a top player on two Warrior section title teams and he was on the bench supporting the squad last year when they finished as the state runner-up. King is a nationally ranked player that will make Caledonia a top candidate for the Class AA title.
Next Up (Top 10)
Demarion Watson Demarion Watson 6'8" | SF Totino-Grace | 2022 State #150 Nation MN and Ahjany Lee Ahjany Lee 6'9" | C Byron | 2022 State #145 Nation MN of Totino-Grace. Watson and Lee surely have the talent to be a Mr. Basketball contender as a Final Five talent. The one thing the pair of top 150 national level prospects have going against them is the balance on the state’s most talented team may not give them the numbers that some others may have, but these guys will certainly be candidates. These are Final Five level players.
Ayden McDonald Ayden McDonald 6'4" | PG Omaha Central | 2022 State MN of Hibbing. Ayden led his team to state last year averaging an outstanding 18.4 points, 11.5 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.6 steals a game. McDonald, who is committed to Augustana, is one of the elite passers we’ve seen in recent years and an excellent shooter.
BJ Omot BJ Omot 6'8" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State #231 Nation MN of Mankato East. Omot is a top 250 level player in the country and a talent coming off a 21 point, 8.3 rebound, two assists per game season for the Cougars. Omot is skilled enough to play every spot on the floor for East if needed and he has the team a top five Class AAA squad entering the year.
Jackson Loge Jackson Loge 6'7" | C Morris Area | 2022 State MN of Morris Area. Loge put together a double-double average season last year as a Class AA first team player. Loge gave the regular 20/10 hitting over 40 percent of his threes while leading Morris Area to the state tournament. Jackson is an Augustana commit and a division one level talent.
Alonzo Dodd Alonzo Dodd 6'2" | CG South St Paul | 2022 State MN of South St. Paul. Dodd may have his jersey retired and a statue made at his school quicker than any other player on this list. What Dodd has done for SSP basketball has been incredible and he has one more goal left in front of him, the state tournament.
Kendall Blue Kendall Blue 6'6" | SG East Ridge | 2022 State #242 Nation MN of East Ridge. Blue, a UST commit along with Ahjany Lee Ahjany Lee 6'9" | C Byron | 2022 State #145 Nation MN , is the top player at East Ridge. Blue has played defensive stopper, ball handler, and top scorer for his team. Blue is coming off of a really good summer and we think he could have an excellent senior year.