Breakdown State: Class AA Notes
Minneapolis North made the jump to Class AA look simple, winning three games over top teams on the way to the Breakdown State championship.
Here were some takeaways:
Minneapolis North looks plenty ready for the step up
The Polars may not be quite as loaded as they were a year ago, but they certainly had talent to spare. And with Tayler Johnson, Odell Wilson and Nasir El-Amin, Minneapolis North will head into the season no worse than the No. 2 team in Class AA.
I’m not convinced the Polars will be a great offensive team but if there’s a better defensive team in the state, I haven’t seen it.
They got an up close look at the team they’ll likely have to beat to go to state, beating Brooklyn Center in the championship game. Johnson and Wilson carried the load in that game, combining for 43 points. Both were complementary players a year ago and look more than ready to step into starring roles next winter. Johnson is a superior athlete and not only looks capable of scoring 15-20 a night but he also defends the opposing team’s best wing player. Wilson averaged 17-10 a year ago and is a load inside. When he plays with energy, there aren’t many bigs that can neutralize him.
Outstate Minnesota is outstanding
Esko, Caledonia, Perham, Lake City and Jordan all showed they’ve got the talent to get to the state tournament next season.
Esko might’ve gotten to the championship game had Adam Trapp not gone down with an injury in the loss to Brooklyn Center. He was a force against Caledonia in a tournament-opening win but missed the next two games. If he’s there, the Eskomos have a shot to not only get to state, but do well there. They’ll need to continue getting good play from Quinn Fischer, Ryan Pantsar and Camden Berger. Peyton Wefel looks like a breakout candidate on the perimeter.
Caledonia lost to Esko in a close game but won the next two over Perham and St. Cloud Cathedral. The Warriors are still the third or fourth best team in the state by my estimation though you could certainly put Esko ahead of them based on the head-to-head result. Owen King is one of my favorite players in the state and with brother Noah, Marten Morem and Sam Barthel, the Warriors have enough firepower to beat anybody. They don’t have a great deal of size, so teams like Minnehaha, Minneapolis North and Esko can hurt them inside. That might be the only three teams better than them though.
Jordan won two games over the weekend, getting awesome play from Eric Tiedman in particular. Tiedman was the Robin to Jimmy Vollbrecht a year ago but looks poised to take over this season. He very well could average 22-28 points a night while also providing strong defense and rebounding.
Perham was one of the top teams in Class AA a year ago and should be just as good this upcoming season. Jenson Beachy is one of the top guards in the 2019 class and Minnesota football commit Logan Richter is a force inside.
Lake City went 0-3 yet gave Minneapolis North the best run of any team in the tournament. The Tigers weren’t expected to be great last season and they were. They are expected to be awfully good this year and a rough weekend against the top teams in the state does nothing to change that. Someone had to lose all three games and the Tigers happened to be that team. But with Marc Kjos and Nate Heise in the backcourt, they’ll be just fine.
If we are lumping St. Cloud Cathedral into the ‘outstate’ category, this group gets even better. The Crusaders went 1-2 over the weekend, losing to Brooklyn Center and Caledonia before beating Lake City. They’ll miss Keaton LeClaire on the perimeter but Mitchell Plombon and Michael Schaefer form as good a 1-2 punch as it gets in the state.
Brooklyn Center is a state contender
The Centaurs were a nice team a year ago. They won 19 games and while they bowed out of their section tournament earlier than expected, things went well. Expectations will get cranked up heading into this winter as they return seven of their top nine players including 2020 point guard Lu’Cye Patterson. Patterson was solid over the weekend as a scorer and facilitator and he’s got plenty of help as guys like 2019 forward Adreone Sprinkles is an athletic forward and 2019 wing Qentrel Douglas provides solid defense and secondary scoring. BC doesn’t have a lot of size, so that will be something to watch going forward but they look like a top-five team in the state and good enough to push into the top-three.