Tip Off Classic 5 Takeaways: Battle dominates as DeLaSalle stifles Wayzata
In one of the first prime big-school games on the main court Saturday at Hopkins, it was the top team in Class AAA, DeLaSalle, thoroughly dismantling Wayzata which came into the week at No. 3 in Class AAAA, getting 40…
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Continue ReadingIn one of the first prime big-school games on the main court Saturday at Hopkins, it was the top team in Class AAA, DeLaSalle, thoroughly dismantling Wayzata which came into the week at No. 3 in Class AAAA, getting 40 points from Jamison Battle en route to a 70-49 win.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
Jamison Battle should be a Mr. Basketball frontrunner
Going into this season, the thought was that the Islanders would be able to run out a lineu led by the best point guard in the state in Tyrell Terry and one of the best forwards in the state in Jamison Battle. Terry’s out until later in the year with a shoulder injury, thrusting Battle into the Batman role and he sure ran with it Saturday. The 6-foot-7 senior dropped 40 points and 11 rebounds, knocking dow 3-pointers, getting to the free throw line, scoring in the post, hitting mid-range jumpers and dominating on the offensive glass. He looks like a college junior with the way he’s built and he uses that strength to throw defenders around. His jumper looked very good Saturday but he didn’t settle from the outside – something a lot of good bigs did Saturday. DeLaSalle is the best team in Class AAA and probably a top five to ten team in the state overall. Battle is going to put up big numbers in a lot of winning efforts.
No Terry, no problem for the Islander guards
DeLaSalle is never going to lack talent but it would’ve been fair to think the Islanders might be in trouble without him facing a team loaded with talented guards. That wasn’t the case at all as DeLaSalle’s guards dominated Wayzata on both ends of the floor. They might need to score a little more on nights when Battle isn’t going nuts on the offensive end but with the way that group of guards defends, DeLaSalle won’t need to pile up tons of points to win a ton of games. Keijuan White scored 11 and was very good when he hit gaps and broke down the defense. Julian Wright is a bulldog of a defender and made life for Jacob Beeninga miserable. Amir Whitlock, Andrew Irvin and Semaj Hart all have the ability to score in complementary fashion and you don’t play for the Islanders unless you play defense.
Wayzata has a lot of exciting young talent
Wayzata picked up a terrific win in the first game of the year against Cretin-Derham Hall which propelled them to a top-three ranking in Class AAAA. The Trojans aren’t a top-three team in the state. But they are very good. A team capable of making a third-straight state tournament. A team that will win a bunch of games despite playing a gauntlet of a schedule. Beeninga and senior guard Luke Paulson are the main cogs in that effort but they’ve also got an incredible amount of extremely young talent worth getting excited about. Kody Williams and Camden Heide played last year as ninth and eighth graders. Both guys start now. Eddie Beeninga scored nine points and showed the shooting and passing ability to be an impact guy now and a stud in time. He’s a sophomore. The Trojans have a number of freshmen and sophomores on the roster that didn’t get into the game too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few more pop up over the course of the winter. The young talent in that program is baking. Wayzata will be good for a while.
DeLaSalle’s defense is a machine
This has been talked about many times and it’s well established but man it’s still amazing just how well-schooled DeLaSalle is defensively. The Islanders have super scrappy guards and it doesn’t matter who graduates, the guys waiting their turn to play just grind on the defensive end of the floor. They communicate as well as any team I saw Saturday, they help and recover extremely well. They don’t overdo it with switching but have guys that can guard multiple positions if necessary and they make life a pain in the butt for the opposition on that end the whole game. It’s relentless. Wayzata has a terrific offense and the Trojans looked overmatched for large portions of that game. They hit three 3-pointers. They’ll probably average double figures in triples made this year. DeLaSalle’s defense deserves the credit.
Both offenses are really fun to watch
Despite a poor performance from Wayzata on the offensive end, I’m all about the way the Trojans run offense. It’s ball and player movement, there’s some ball-screen action but when it is, it isn’t just two-man game to death with three guys standing around. There’s a structure to it and if it breaks down, the offense as a whole doesn’t break down because there’s continuity. DeLaSalle runs really good offense as well. There isn’t a lot of ball-screen action – at least when Terry wasn’t playing – but there’s a lot off-ball screening, a lot of cutting and very good sets designed to get their best players (Battle on multiple occasions) the ball in spots they can do damage.