Breakdown State: Class A Notes
Photo Credit: Sun Patriot
With Minneapolis North moving up to Class AA, the Class A field suddenly feels open. A team that has as good a shot to win it as any is Cedar Mountain/Comfrey – which strung together three solid performances to win the Class A Breakdown State Tournament.
Here are some things that stood out from the day as a whole:
Section 2 is loaded
Three of the eight teams in the Breakdown State tournament field reside in Section 1. CM/C won the event. The team that finished third was Mayer Lutheran which was a buzzer-beater away from getting to the championship game. And Cleveland won a game playing without its two best players.
The best team in the section might not be any of those teams. Springfield, the team that won the section a year ago returns six of its top seven players and one of the top players in the entire state in 2019 wing Isaac Fink.
That said, all four schools have legitimate state tournament potential and are top-10 teams.
CM/C had its full complement of players and it’s clear that they play extremely well together. Dylan Hillesheim is their go-to scorer and he was terrific in the win over Mayer Lutheran. Eli Samuelson and Lewis Pendleton both scored in double figures a year ago and provide secondary offense and Wambde Diaz is something of a super glue guy as he does a little (a lot) of everything. The Cougars have all the component pieces necessary to win a state title.
Mayer Lutheran had CM/C on the ropes before a late surge cost them a chance to play for the championship. There’s no doubt the Crusaders have the talent to make huge noise this year though. 2019 forward Baden Noennig looked like the best player on the floor for a big chunk of the day at the Class A level. Kobey Woolhouse is a scoring machine at the point guard spot and proved all of last season that he can take over a game at any moment. Cole Hagen gives them an elite shooter on the wing and Garrett Tjernagel is a perfect big man to play off those three perimeter players because he does a lot of the dirty work inside and anchors things on the defensive end.
Cleveland was playing without not only Carter Kopet who is out with a knee injury but also Austin Plonsky who is one of the best shooters in southern Minnesota. That’s 40-plus points not in the lineup so take what the Clippers did with a big chunk of salt. The Clippers might not have a great deal of size up front but with Kopet, Plonsky and point guard Mitch McCabe, they’ll be in the mix.
Spring Grove isn’t going anywhere
When a school the size of Spring Grove graduates a player like Chase Grinde, it’s fair to expect something of a step back. The Lions don’t look poised for that downturn anytime soon. Yes, Grinde and Brock Schuttemeier are both gone. But 2019 Alex Folz is back in a lead guard spot and he’ll be one of the best floor generals in the Southeast Conference. Adin Solum looks ready to step into a much bigger role on the wing and Noah Elton provides another steady player on the perimeter.
The guy who is going to make it all go is 2019 big man Ethan Matzke. Matzke would’ve been the Lions’ second best player a year ago but suffered a knee injury before the season started and missed the season. He’s a double-double guy up front who can both manhandle the opposition on the way to the rim or knock down open jumpers.
The Lions didn’t go as far as some expected them to a year ago. But they won 24 games and were a late bucket away from playing in another section final. I don’t know if they’ll be a state tournament team because it’s silly to ever count out Goodhue and Rushford-Peterson, but they’ll win another 20-something games and have a great shot to get to state again – that I’m sure of.
The deep North is well-stocked with talent
North Woods returns plenty of firepower with Cade Goggleye, Tate Olson and Brendan Parson on the perimeter and the Grizzlies certainly looked like a team capable of making a deep run. A horrific stretch to close the first half allowed CM/C to run away with the game in the championship but North Woods looked dominant in the first two games.
If there’s a team that never seems to be short on firepower, it’s Cass Lake-Bena. It’ll more of the same this season as the Panthers return a number of talented players including Arnold Kingbird, Noah DeLapaz and Ethan Brown from a team that won 21 games last season and suffered four losses to Red Lake.
McGregor had a tough weekend, losing all three games including the final game to Lester Prairie and the Mercs will have some things to figure out as they lost a big part of their core from a season ago. A guy that should help speed up the healing process is Carson Passer who was outstanding over the weekend. He’s an absolute sniper if he gets some space and he’ll have to put up big scoring numbers this upcoming winter.