Postseason Preview: Section 2AAA
Section basketball is just around the corner and as the season comes to a close, it’s time to start looking at individual sections.
Here’s the lowdown on Section 2AAA:
Favorite: Marshall
The shine on the Tigers wore off a little bit in a 54-50 loss to Waseca in the Big South Conference championship game but Marshall should still be considered the favorite in the section and a top-five team in Class AAA.
The Tigers have all the pieces. They’ve got size with Weston Baker Magrath and Mitchell Sueker — plus Blaise Andries off the bench. They’ve got shooting with Zach Bloemker, Sueker and Trey Lance. And they’ve got a great defense with Magrath, Lance and Reece Winkelmann, plus Nikki Echtanitphong and Ryan VanMoer off the bench.
If there’s one nitpick against the Tigers — and it’s quite the nitpick — it’s that they are 1-2 in games decided by less than 10 points. They’ve essentially played five (and a half if the first game with Waseca is included) competitive games all year. Part of that is the Tigers’ dominance, which makes it a nitpick. But they haven’t played in a lot of hotly contested games. If they do, how do they handle it?
Top Contender: Waseca
The Bluejays got beat pretty good when the Tigers visited them in January, but they returned the favor with a 54-50 win in the regular season finale.
The Bluejays have a terrific big three with Kaleb Nelson, Jake Guse and Malik Willingham (a 2019 prospect who should draw a lot of interest in the next two years) plus some excellent role players like Cole Streich and Adam Schumaker.
Waseca’s combination of incredible pace and gritty defense makes it unique in that the Bluejays can get out and run and put points up in bunches without sacrificing a ton on the defensive end. Part of that is Guse’s ability to control the paint and contest shots inside but they’ve also got a great deal of athleticism and overall speed.
Nelson and Willingham are shot-makers from the perimeter and both guys are capable of either shooting a team into or out of any particular game. More often than not, they are on. And when they are on, they are really hard to slow down.
Best First-Round Bout: Faribault vs. Mankato West
For a long time it looked like Faribault and Mankato West would fight over the No. 3 seed in the section. That fight seemed over when the Falcons beat the Scarlets in the final week of the regular season but both teams ended the year with losses while Mankato East finished up on a four-game winning streak to pass both them both, thus creating the 4/5 matchup for the second-straight year.
Faribault beat West in regular season matchups though both games were competitive. The Falcons have a huge advantage inside where Kade Hart and Chase Ernste should have their way in the paint.
Mankato West has a little more scoring juice on the perimeter though with Jake Makela (a soccer star for the Scarlets) and junior Dawson Frericks. The Scarlets also want to push the pace while the Falcons want to play a grind-it-out, methodical game.
Section Outlook
It appears as though things are headed towards a Marshall vs. Waseca section final again and while last year’s four-overtime classic will create a whole lot of compelling fodder for preview stories, I have a feeling Marshall would win that third game handily. Yes, Waseca just beat the Tigers in the final week of the regular season. They clearly match up with each other well. I think Marshall’s got a little more juice though.
Mankato East is an interesting team in this section because the Cougars have more talent than a typical 13-13 team, but they also didn’t play like a typical No. 3 seed throughout the year. They’ve got a few excellent high-end guys including Damani Hayes (a 2018 player to watch for DII and DIII teams).
Faribault probably would’ve won 17-20 games during the year had the Falcons stayed healthy. Kade Hart has battled illness/mono throughout the year and Joe Jackson and TJ Hunt (the team’s two primary ball handlers) have both missed extended time. If the Falcons have their full complement of players (which they do, though they aren’t all at full strength), and if they can keep the game played at a slow pace, they could give Marshall a competitive second round game.
Ultimately, this section looks like Marshall’s to lose. A third Marshall-Waseca game could be awfully fun though. I think that’s what people will get.