2018 State Tournament: The First Look
It’s State Tournament Week! NHR will have you covered with every piece of information you will need before, during, and after this year’s State Tournament. We start today running through the veterans, the newcomers, and everything in between. And how did our preseason predictions go?
The Schedule. Before we get rolling, here is the schedule for Wednesday and Thursday.
Class AAAA Wednesday (Target Center)
10 am: Wayzata vs. #1 Cretin-Derham Hall
12pm #5 Osseo vs. #4 Eden Prairie
2 pm: Forest Lake vs. #2 Apple Valley
4 pm: Maple Grove vs. #3 Lakeville North
Class AAA Wednesday (Williams Arena)
10 am: #1 DeLaSalle vs Hermantown
12pm: #4 Columbia Heights vs #5 St. Thomas Academy
2 pm: #2 Austin vs Sauk Rapids-Rice
4 pm: #3 Mankato East vs Delano
Class AA Wednesday (Target Center)
6 pm: #1 Minnehaha Academy vs Jordan
8 pm: #4 Esko vs #5 St. Cloud Cathedral
Class AA Wednesday (Williams Arena)
6 pm: #2 Brooklyn Center vs Breckenridge
8 pm: #3 Caledonia vs Minnewaska Area
Class A Thursday (Williams Arena)
11 am: Mahnomen/Waubun vs. #1 Mayer Lutheran
1 pm: #5 Hinckley-Finlayson vs. #4 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
3 pm: Heritage Christian vs. #2 North Woods
5 pm: Rushford-Peterson vs. #3 Cass Lake-Bena
The Veterans, The Rookies & Everything In Between.
Championship Streaks: Apple Valley is going for a third state title in four years and a fourth state title in six years. Eagles are at state for the 4th straight year…. DeLaSalle is going for their 7th straight state title now at their 7th straight state trip in a row… Minnehaha Academy is going for their second straight state title and their third in six seasons….
Streaks: Lakeville North is at state for the 7th straight year…. Odd years have been good for Tim Theisen and Osseo. Trips to state in 2012, 2014, 2016, and now 2018… Maple Grove is at state for the third straight season…
Making this a Habit: The CDH Raiders had one trip to state in 13 years before going three of the last five years… After 58 years with no trips, the Wayzata Trojans have been to state in back to back years… St. Thomas is back for the second straight year after nine years away… Columbia Heights had two trips to state in their entire history and now they have back to back trips to state… St. Cloud Cathedral is also a back to back state participant.. Breckenridge is a back to back team and they are making their third state trip in four years… North Woods is at state for the second straight year…
Welcome Back: Eden Prairie is at state for the 6th time in nine years… Austin is back for the second straight season and for the 5th time in seven years…Mankato East is headed back to state. They were last there in 2015… Delano is making their third trip to state and their first in five years… Second trip in four years and second trip even for Hermantown… Caledonia missed state last year, but this is still their fourth trip to state in five years. Esko missed state last year, but they are returning to state for the 5th time in six years… After being a constant state team, Rushford-Peterson missed state for three years but they are back this season…
It’s Been a Long Time: Forest Lake is a proud program that does it the right way. They are back at state for the first time in eight season… Jordan is making their second trip to state ever, the previous trip was in 2010… Also making their first trip to state in eight years is Cass Lake-Bena… RTR is at state for the first time in 13 seasons… Sauk Rapids-Rice is at state for the first time in 15 years and the second time ever… Minnewaska Area is back at state for the first time in 17 seasons… Mayer Lutheran is at state for the first time in 18 years and the second time ever… Brooklyn Center has the longest gap, this is their first trip in 35 seasons (1983)!…
Rookies: Heritage Christian is at state for the first time in the school’s career. Congrats to Heritage Christian! Also at state for the first time in the history of their school is Hinckley-Finlayson…Mahnomen/Waubun are playing their first year together as a team and in that first year they made state. Waubun had never been to state as a school, Mahnomen hadn’t been to state in 28 years…
Initial Predictions
AAAA. The initial predictions from the Breakdown book that are then represented in our rankings here, I got 5 of the 8 right. I predicted Park Center (Osseo), Hopkins (Wayzata), and St. Cloud Tech (Maple Grove). 5 of 8.
AAA. The two predictions that didn’t work out in this class were Grand Rapids (Hermantown) and Fergus Falls (Sauk Rapids-Rice). 6 of 8.
AA. The predictions in this class were pretty solid and this was a wild class of solid teams around the state. Brooklyn Center – a top 6 team in Class AA to start the year – made it (Minneapolis North was our pick) and Minnewaska Area made it to state as well (Fairmont was the pick). 6 of 8
A. Our worst predictions came from this group, the biggest group of teams. We had Spring Grove, they lost to Rushford-Peterson in the section final. Mayer Lutheran – our preseason #3 and our current #2 – knocked off our pick (Springfield) and Heritage Christian is the Cinderella coming to state with a losing record instead of our pick (Prairie Seeds). Waubun High was our 5th ranked team in section 6A. Since the ranking was made they added the talent from Mahnomen and made it to state instead of our pick (NCE/U-H). 4 of 8.
Final Total. 21 of 32. Not bad. Or, it’s been worse. Our predicted title game of Apple Valley vs Cretin-Derham Hall is still possible but our DeLaSalle vs Columbia Heights title game prediction can’t happen as De is the one seed and CH is the four so they would play in the semi-finals if they win. Minnehaha Academy vs Minneapolis North can’t happen in Class AA nor can our predicted title game of Springfield vs North Woods.