Prospect Spotlight: Cade Goggleye (2019)
Clutch. That’s the one word that comes to mind when describing the 6’1” junior point guard for North Woods.
Cade Goggleye quickly become the talk of the Minnesota State High School Basketball Tournament last March when he sank a half-court shot as the buzzer sounded to lift North Woods to a 54-51 quarterfinal victory over Central MN Christian. In that contest, he also chipped in an overall solid stat line, with 12 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
The tournament heroics didn’t end there. In the semifinal contest against Goodhue, Goggleye calmly stepped to the line and hit two clutch free throws with 4.7 seconds left on the clock to propel North Woods to a 51-49 victory over Goodhue. In recognition of his performances in Minneapolis last March, Goggleye was named to the Class A All-Tournament Team.
As a sophomore last season, Goggleye had a strong year at point guard. He averaged 18.04 points/game and 6.15 assists/game. On the defensive end of the floor he displayed a penchant for making it tough on the opposing point guard by forcing 148 steals for the season.
Goggleye has his eyes set on playing somewhere in the NSIC, but he knows that there is a lot of work to do before then. Asked about what he needs to work on, both Goggleye and his coach, Will Kleppe, had similar answers. Kleppe says “Building his strength will be necessary to compete at the next level,” while Goggleye says the biggest areas for improvement are “my overall strength and my shooting.”
While Goggleye identified a need to improve his shooting, it was far from broken last year. For the season, Goggleye shot 57.4% from two, 34.5% from three, and 78.2% from the free throw line. He spent a lot of the summer in the gym honing his craft, playing for the MN Comets.
After a magical trip to the state title game last year, the bar is set very high for the upcoming season. Goggleye says “We want to make a return trip to the state tournament.”
Coach Kleppe believes that Goggleye will be a key piece to their success saying “He has tremendous floor vision and is very confident with the ball, good decision maker. I expect him to provide leadership on both sides of the ball.”
While team goal success is paramount for Goggleye, there is one achievement that he has his sights set on for family bragging rights. “I also want to top my brother’s school scoring records.”
On the heels of a trip to the state finals, and with the return of Goggleye and senior Tate Olson, look for North Woods to make some noise once again in Class A this season.
***Photo Credit: Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune***