Breakdown State Tournament Preview
The number one high school basketball event of the summer is this weekend at Hopkins High School. The Breakdown State Tournament is a three game event with 32 teams all competing within their respective classes for a summer championship. The eight top contenders in each class will be there.
Class AAAA
Teams: Hopkins vs Tartan, Lakeville North vs Rochester JM, Cretin-Derham Hall vs Maple Grove, Champlin Park vs Apple Valley
The Headliners: 5 star Tre Jones (AV), 4 star talents Nathan Reuvers (Lakeville North), Daniel Oturo (CDH), Brad Davison (MG), Theo John (CP), and McKinley Wright (CP), and D1 talents Jordan Horn (Tartan), Ishamel El-Amin (Hopkins), Simon Wright (Hopkins), Joseph Hedstrom (Hopkins), Anthony Davis (Hopkins), Jack Hutchison (Maple Grove), and Ryan Larson (CDH).
Top Match-Ups: Watching Ishmael El-Amin vs Jordan Horn will be excellent in the Tartan versus Hopkins game. Dedoch Chan has been playing well, he will see Wisconsin commit Nathan Reuvers up front with Matthew Hurt off at Adidas Nations. Ryan Larson gets a chance to go against Brad Davison as a Pg match-up and McKinley Wright against Tre Jones is worth the price of admission.
Would love to see a Simon Wright versus Nathan Reuvers rematch on either side of the bracket or a Theo John versus Daniel Oturo second game battle although Theo broke his nose this past weekend. Brad Davison will get McKinley Wright or Tre Jones in the second game on whichever side of the bracket.
The Final Thought: This year’s Class AAAA field has about 11 legit contenders so it’s wide open. This could be the motivation teams need to get their state hopes going or if they win it the summer state tournament could be the confidence push.
Class AAA
Teams: Marshall vs Waconia, Delano vs Mpls Patrick Henry, Austin vs Mahtomedi, Fergus Falls vs Orono.
The Headliners: Jarvis Thomas (Orono) has multiple high major offers, Parker Fox (Mahtomedi) has a few NAIA offers, Weston Baker Magarth and Mitchell Sueker (Marshall have several NSIC offers) and WBM is hearing from D1 schools plus Calvin Wishart (Delano), Lamar Wood, Savion Scott, and Jordan Lynn (Mpls Patrick Henry), the Gach Brothers Duoth and Both (Austin), and Nathan Rund (Fergus Falls) rank with the state’s best talents.
Top Match-Ups: Calvin Wishart against Jordan Lynn should be really fun in the first round as will athletic and long athletes Duoth Gach playing Parker Fox. A potential second game battle of bouncy Lamar Wood against Weston Baker Magrath would be really fun as would Jarvis Thomas meeting with Parker Fox in the air or Jarvis Thomas and Oman Oman facing off inside.
The Final Thought: Who is the number one contender for DeLaSalle next year? This is the tournament that can provide the most clear answer.
Class AA
Teams: Minnehaha Academy vs Esko, Jordan vs Maple River, Perham vs Watertown-Mayer, and Caledonia vs St. Charles.
The Headliners: Division one offered talent Jalen Suggs and JaVonni Bickham (Minnehaha Academy), Adam Trapp (Eskp), Trae Berhow (Watertown-Mayer), and Owen King (Caledonia) have everyone excited for this event. Suggs just added a Georgia Tech offer as a 2020 kid, Berhow has nearly 15 offers with Pepperdine and St. Josephs being the latest, King has SDSU, and Trapp has Purdue, Iowa, and DePaul.
Top Match-Ups: Bickham vs Trapp inside in game one is excellent while Jimmy Vollbrecht against Wyatt Johnson is also good on the block. Jenson Beachy, Reid Moser, and Aaron Solberg of Perham can all play so one of them will see Berhow. The match-up of Owen King against Justin Ruhberg was lost because the St. Charles guard tore an ACL.
Vollbrecht against Trapp or Bickham in game two will be excellent as will a potential Trae Berhow against Owen King. In game three seeing Jalen Suggs against Owen King would be an event highlight as would be Suggs agasint Berhow.
The Final Thought: Class AA is always the most open tournament and while Class AAAA has taken that title away this year, Class AA can still be won by anybody. The crazy thing is that Class AA has way more big name headliners than Class AAA this year and we aren’t just talking about in this event.
Class A
Teams: Minneapolis North vs Cleveland, Red Lake vs Goodhue, Springfield vs Heritage Christian, Spring Grove vs St. Clair.
The Headliners: Scholarship level talent includes Isaac Johnson (Mpls North), Rob McClain (Red Lake), Isaac Fink (Springfield), CJ Woda (Heritage Christian), Chase Grinde (Spring Grove), Mitchell Weber (St. Clair), Tayler Johnson (Mpls North), JaQuan Sanders-Smith (Mpls North), Odell Wilson (Mpls North).
Top Match-Ups: The Clippers of Cleveland were one of the last teams to lose last year and were looking for state wide respect. They get the defending champion Polars in game one. Red Lake and Goodhue were state final four teams a year ago, and if Goodhue were to play Mpls North that would be a state rematch and if Goodhue played Spring Grove that would be a section game rematch.
Cleveland junior Carter Kopet gets to see if his guard skills can work against Johnson, Sanders-Smith, and Johnson while Woda against Fink will be a lot of fun. And then you have Grinde who will likely have to wrestle with Weber on the inside. In the second round of games McClain against Isaac Johnson would be outstanding as would Woda against Grinde.
The Final Thought: North is a heavy favorite to win this and Class A next winter. As heavy as a favorite as last year? I would say no because Red Lake, Goodhue, Springfield, Heritage Christian, and Spring Grove bring so much back from last year’s team and North lost three senior starters to division one athletics. But North is still a big favorite.