NHR Playoff Central: Class AAA section seeding thoughts
Section play will be underway in all classes starting this week and NHR will have a daily “Playoff Central” article to bring you top performers, top upcoming games, the biggest upsets, and everything else in the season’s final three weeks.…
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Continue ReadingSection play will be underway in all classes starting this week and NHR will have a daily “Playoff Central” article to bring you top performers, top upcoming games, the biggest upsets, and everything else in the season’s final three weeks. That starts tomorrow. Today we talk about some of the things that caught our eye as we look through each section.
AAA
1AAA. Seeds went as expected. Kasson-Mantorville beat Byron twice so they earned the 5 while Byron got the 6 despite the Bears having the better record. Red Wing gets 1-win Albert Lea first, the Tigers did improve from zero wins a year ago.
2AAA. Very interesting Faribault vs Mankato West game with Jake Dale and Kade Hart dueling around the basket. I found it quite odd that Waseca beat Mankato East, had the better record by a game, and still was seeded behind the Cougars. Really don’t matter though as both get homes games they should win without much issue and then will play one another at Gustavus.
3AAA. Just happy that Highland Park pushed about .500 so somebody from this section would have a winning record. A lot of teams could win this section because nobody is very good. You can’t even count out Kennedy getting their first win of the year in section play.
4AAA. Totino-Grace lost 13 of their last 16 games and finished four games under .500 but will host 19-7 St. Anthony in the 4/5 game because of a much, much tougher schedule. Fridley/Columbia Heights is an interesting 3/6 game.
5AAA. If you are 13-13 Becker and you have to travel to 10-15 Big Lake who you beat in your only battle of the year you have a right to wonder why. Becker is the better team but because the section went with the QRF they have to go on the road because Big Lake’s schedule was somewhat stronger. Don’t be mad at the QRF though, be mad that the coaches go to it because they can’t handle it on their own in an honest way.
6AAA. In opening round section games there are top ten teams playing when Waconia plays Orono and Benilde-St. Margaret’s hosts Minneapolis Henry. DeLaSalle and Delano earned the games with Mound-Westonka and Blake while the others have to play state tournament first round caliber games in the first round of section play.
7AAA. Chisago Lakes is 19-6 winning games by 11 points a night on average and have the 4th best QRF in Class AAA. Nice year by them and they play North Branch in the opener and then get Denfeld or Hibbing in round two so they have earned a nic pot for themselves. Grand Rapids was 19-7 this year and is hoping to get back to state like they had for so many years.
8AAA. Not many times does a 5 win team (Sartell) get a better spot than an 11 win team (Little Falls) but since Sartell beat Little Falls by 14 and had the tougher schedule they play Alexandria while Little Falls faces heavy favorite Fergus Falls. Detroit Lakes was four games better than Sauk Rapids-Rice, Detroit Lakes beat Sauk Rapids-Rice, but because the Storm QRF was 16 and Detroit Lakes was 20, Detroit Lakes gets the 4 seed and has the tougher road.