The Race for Mr. Basketball
It’s late January and that means it’s time to really get serious about the Mr. Basketball award. Time to start thinking Final Five, and leader for the crown. The Favorites Brad Davison of Maple Grove. Brad had a second “Mr.…
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Continue ReadingIt’s late January and that means it’s time to really get serious about the Mr. Basketball award. Time to start thinking Final Five, and leader for the crown.
The Favorites
Brad Davison of Maple Grove. Brad had a second “Mr. Basketball Moment” recently when he brought his team back from behind against Maple Grove by hitting a regulation buzzer beater. They got that win, then beat Armstrong behind Brad’s 39 points (five treys sunk), 7 boards, 8 steals, and 4 assists, and let’s not forget the 41 points and 12 boards he had when the Crimson beat Hopkins. Maple Grove is 10-1 and Brad is averaging 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 4.7 steals a game.
McKinley Wright of Champlin Park. Why hasn’t McKinley had a big buzzer beater? You have to have close games to have a buzzer beater. The Rebels are trouncing everybody for their 11-0 record. Only Apple Valley came within single digits and that game was a Rebel double figure lead most of the time. Despite sitting much of the late parts of games the Dayton bound Wright is putting up 23.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 2.7 assists a contest. Outstanding all around numbers.
The best McKinley vs Brad comparison, until their game on Monday February 6th, is what they did against talented Tre Jones. McKinley had 27 points, 11 boards, and six assists. Brad had 31 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Both did very well.
Final Five for Sure
Nathan Reuvers of Lakeville North. The Panthers sit at 10-1 and I think are in prime position to gel like they always do under Coach Oxton and then make a playoff run. If they make that run you can Nathan to the group of guards above. That said the next big game is Apple Valley when it comes to the spotlight. Nathan has been outstanding as expected putting up 27.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks a game shooting 57 percent from the floor and 44 percent at the arc.
Goanar Mar of DeLaSalle. I’m not sure if a AAA guy can jump an AAAA guy this year but when you are going for your fourth state title and you are the likely Class AAA MVP for the second straight year, you would think the consideration is strong. Goanar has definitely stepped forward and made this his team averaging 22.4 a game and leading the Islanders to a 10-2 mark. In the past seven days Goanar went for 27 points and 20 boards against Columbia Heights and 21 points with 20 boards against St. Anthony.
The Fifth
Tywhon Pickford of Maple Grove. The hottest name in the senior class right now Tywhon Pickford is putting up 21.2 points and 9.3 rebounds a game giving the Crimson a second major weapon that teams have to gameplan for. Against Armstrong the Crimson needed Tywhon on the glass and what did he go do? Grab 16 boards plus score 19 points. He also had 22 and 7 in the very important Hopkins victory.
Trae Berhow of Watertown-Mayer. The Pepperdine commit is scoring 24 a game despite facing constant double teams for the 13-1 Royals. Berhow is coming off a 23 point, 14 rebound, 4 assist game against GSL where he became the all time leading scorer at Watertown-Mayer (that includes recent talents Matt Janning and Nate Kratch). He averaged nearly 27 and 15 points a game in three wins last week.
Top Contenders
Theo John of Champlin Park. Theo had a triple-double of 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against Coon Rapids in a blowout. John is giving the Rebels 13.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 4.6 blocks a game.
Jericho Sims of Cristo Rey. Putting up over 25 a game for a team that is 7-5. Cristo Rey has played a pretty tough schedule for a Class A team so the record has some Ls because of that.
Myles Hanson of Chaska. Had a tough game against New Prague but bounced back with 21 points, 19 rebounds, and three blocks against St. Louis Park. Hawks are 8-4.
Walt McGrory of Edina. The Hornets strong year continues. They are 9-2 and McGrory is putting up nearly 26 points a game (25.8). The string of 30+ point games slowed but the quality play and wins have not.
Jordan Horn of Tartan. Jordan has his team at 12-1 averaging over 17 a game. The Titans are blowing teams out so Jordan is not playing through the end to get huge numbers but the quality play is there.
Others
Ishmael El-Amin of Hopkins. Scoring 21.6 a game. Hopkins is struggling right now (by their standards) but they will likely bounce back.
Gavin Baumgartner of Wayzata. Putting up 15 a game for the second ranked team in the state. Doing a lot of big defensive work and is taking limited shots for a very balanced team.
Parker Fox of Mahtomedi. Fox is averaging 22.8 points and 8.5 boards a night for a 12-1 team.
Jesse Bergh of Lake Park-Audubon. Tough to look past 27.8 points, 15.6 rebounds, and 4.2 blocks a game for a top Class A team