Tip Off Classic: The Breakfast Session
The Breakdown Tip Off Classic is this Saturday at Hopkins and the event is loaded with the best talent in the state of Minnesota. We begin previewing the event today with the morning session, aka The Breakfast Portion. MAIN COURT…
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Continue ReadingThe Breakdown Tip Off Classic is this Saturday at Hopkins and the event is loaded with the best talent in the state of Minnesota. We begin previewing the event today with the morning session, aka The Breakfast Portion.
MAIN COURT
9:30am. Minnetonka vs North St. Paul
The Storyline: We have the former host of the event (the Skippers) against a fellow Class AAAA opponent in the Polars who are coming off a state tournament season.
Match-Up: Goodnews Kpegeol vs Burt Hedstrom. Goodnews is definitely one of the biggest up and comers in the 2018 class as his skill level combined with size and agility have led him to being recruited at a high level. Burt Hedstrom proved that he is one of the hardest working defenders in the senior class this summer with the Comets. Hedstrom and Hopkins transfer Jon Martens will be the sizeable guys going at Kpegeol.
Notes: The Skippers lost their first game of the season last night when Chaska knocked them off 61-50. The opener was good for coach Ryan Freeberg and company in the first half but the Hawks came back from down ten to win by double figures….The North Polars bring back Kpegeol, a top 50-60 2018 talent in Bryce Philips at lead guard, and Josh Steckler who is coming back from injury…The Polars beat Roseville by a dozen in their opener and will play Eagan on Thursday…Tonka has a nice group of wins in Hedstrom, Mertens, Zeke Carver-Bagely, and Matt Haas who are all seniors…
11:00am. Spring Grove vs Browerville
The Storyline: This is a Class A battle of two of the top four teams in Class A this season. There is a very real chance that this will be the best match-up of Class A teams before the state tournament.
Match-Up: Bryce Irsfeld vs Chase Grinde. Bryce will play lead guard and Grinde will compete inside and out so they won’t actually be going at each other but both will do a lot and whomever can get their team to play the best together will win.
Notes: Irsfeld has signed with Minnesota State-Moorhead, Grinde has signed with Spring Grove. They are both top 25, top 30 prospects in the state….Browerville beat Bertha-Hewitt in the opener and Bryce surpassed 2,000 points for his career…Springs Grove has already played three games and has another one Friday night against Glenville-Emmons before playing just over twelve hours later…Browerville also returns All Prairie League players Brendan Emery and Ryan Warwick…Ethan Matzke of Spring Grove is one of the more talented sophomores in the state…
EAST COURT
9:00am. Sauk Rapids-Rice vs Faribault
The Storyline: A couple of Class AAA teams that have some good players that hope to help the teams to improved years.
Match-Up: Kade Hart vs Tyler Kranz/Cody Landwehr. The Falcons have one of the state’s best shot blockers in Hart who stands 6-foot-8/6-foot-9 and will have the size edge on both of the Storm bigs although. The question will be, how does Faribault guard both of the opposing bigs?
Notes: Kade Hart has signed with Bemidji State…Faribault has been a struggling program but last year they improved to a 14-14 record and this year it’s about getting a winning record and maybe pushing for a section title…Kart has a talented teammate in TJ Hunt who is versatile…Kranz stands 6-foot-5 and Landwehr is 6-foot-6 with Kranz being a top 100 senior and Cody a top 40 level junior in the state….
10:30am. Watertown-Mayer vs St. Charles
The Storyline: A big Class AA match-up between #7 ranked Watertown-Mayer and #13 ranked St. Charles in the Breakdown’s initial Fab 15 rankings.
Match-Up: Trae Berhow vs Justin Ruhberg. Trae has led the Royals to a pair of victories already. Teams don’t have a match-up for him so they throw zones at home or box and one defenses. Ruhberg is a player that has totally changed St. Charles hoops but is coming off a knee injury. Ruhberg was not listed as playing in the first game of the season against Hayfield which isn’t a promising sign for this weekend.
Notes: Berhow has signed with Pepperdine and is a top ten player in this year’s senior class…Berhow had a monster dunk against Mayer Lutheran that had the entire extended west metro talking last night…The Royals got a big first game from Riley Alger who scored 20 and they have a solid big in McKinley “The Dancing Bear” Gehlhausen…If Ruhberg doesn’t play St. Charles will still be a challenge. Junior guard Keagan Maloney scored 19 in the first game and got a lot of help from fellow guards Kaden Vaughn and Drew Leistikow…