Ten Best: Minnetonka vs Buffalo
This past Saturday at the Super 60 Minnetonka defeated Buffalo 57-46 giving the Skippers their sixth win of the season. Side note for this game, my notebook was left in the gym and picked up by TC Hoops Czar so…
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Continue ReadingThis past Saturday at the Super 60 Minnetonka defeated Buffalo 57-46 giving the Skippers their sixth win of the season.
Side note for this game, my notebook was left in the gym and picked up by TC Hoops Czar so I’m writing this without my numbers which often lead to memories of the game. Add in that my phone died before this game so I don’t have twitter messages to go back on either (so I’m pretty much going into this blind in both eyes). Therefore, this is the very definition of winging it from memory but I will do my best.
MVP: Matt Haas. The rebounding effort for Matt Haas was once again the best thing to watch in this game. I recall recording Matt with 13 rebounds as his combination of effort, strength, and backside positioning puts him with one of the best rebounders I’ve seen when it comes to undersized power forwards. If you are a school looking for a hard working 6-foot-4 player I would suggest Matt, he’s one of the hardest guys to block out I’ve seen. Matt also had several putback scores to get him to double figures.
Best Offensive Performance: Isaiah Carver-Bagley. Tonka had four guys in double figures so it was an even performance but Isaiah’s And1 and three point sink early in the second half took a close game and gave the Skippers the edge. Isaiah is scoring 14 plus a game this year and he was able to get to space to produce the way his team needed him to in the second half.
Best Defensive Performance: Burt Hedstrom. The entire Skipper team shut Buffalo down in the second half. They allowed only 14 second half points and Hedstrom was the catalyst as he usually is. Hedstrom has grown every year as a player and I think I’m most impressed with how he has committed himself to being such an excellent defensive player and leader. Burt had a rough shooting start but he found his way to double figures with his high percentage touch. Burt is scoring nearly 18 a game this year.
Best Guy Off the Bench: Jackson Owens. The physically strong sophomore came off the bench and helped the offensive rebounding efforts in a big way. Buffalo wasn’t able to get a body on Jackson and the young player brought a toughness and energy that gave the Skippers a momentum boost.
Best Under the Radar Performance: Dylan Rohlin. Dylan is a much, much better player than I knew. Scoring 15 a game his year and doing some of everything. This is a guy that handled the ball, showed really good vision after an attacking dribble, played well on the wing, even did some things with his back to the basket. Buffalo ran some excellent stuff in the first half and Dylan was the leader. If I’m a MIAC school I go get a look at this guy despite the struggles of the team so far this year.
Best Underclassmen: Jalen Dearring. Jalen is starting to emerge as a player that people should start thinking about in terms of a future prospect. Definitely has grown some and plays quite a disciplined game for a player his age. I thought he did a really nice job picking his spots with his offense while doing a very good job in the second half of executing with patience.
Best Story to watch Moving Forward: What Can Tonka Be? When you are at Minnetonka you have a difficult schedule. There is of course seven Lake Conference games to play among the final 13 games plus Minnehaha Academy, one loss St. Cloud Tech, one loss New Prague, and a couple teams from Sioux Falls. I would think that this Skipper team can win about five games at least and maybe six or seven which will give them about an even record heading into section play. My guess is they will be battling in the 4-5 game again.
Best Aspect of the Environment: Super 60! Between the six Breakdown weekend events, a couple from Super 60, and maybe one or two others, we in Minnesota are getting close to having a day long of hoops somewhere every weekend (Northern Minnesota has some good day long events). Super 60 put together a nice day of games that included some teams I haven’t seen yet and it looked quite well ran. Well done.
Best Prospect: Not Sure. Hedstrom is the best senior prospect and the best all around player, which is why he will play for St. Thomas. Jalen Dearring looks like he will be one of the better kids in his class. Also, Cameron Steele came in the game at 6-foot-6 as a freshman and hit a three so watch out for him.
Other: Buffalo. This team executes some really good team basketball. When the talent in the program gets deeper they will be good again. They will also be dangerous late in the year because of the way they could potentially execute. Brandon Maatz is an freshman to watch while the rest of the top guys are seniors. Andrew Johnson, Noah Evans, Rohlin, these are solid guys, there just aren’t enough of them right now and this is not a big team height wise for Class AAAA. They top out at 6-foot-4 and there is only a couple of those.