Breakdown State Tournament: Class AA Takeaways

The Breakdown State Tournament took over Bloomington Sunday, with Henning, Caledonia, Mankato East and Park Center taking home championship honors. With most of the top teams from each respective class in attendance, there was no shortage of high-end talent on display all day long. I know, I know. It’s July. The basketball season isn’t for another five month and everything that happens in a tournament like this one should be taken with a grain of salt. Teams aren’t complete, so the results and anything we glean from what we see should be taken through an incomplete lense. That said, I’m taking stuff away from what I saw knowing full well everything is subject to change. By summer statement standards, Caledonia made a big one The Warriors have been one of the elite programs in Class AA for forever. They are always a threat to win 20-plus games, their league, their section and sometimes the whole thing. Last year was a bit of a reset season for them and they still won 25 games and got the section final. And while the team to beat in their section may still be Lake City, the Warriors should never be considered an underdog. Eli King gets better it seems like everytime he plays and he’s one of the best two-way players in the state. Noah King will finally be a senior, they’ve got a solid host of young guards ready to step into roles and based on Sunday’s performance, they may have a stud big man emerging in Sam Privet. Waseca will still be the favorite come winter The Bluejays were the second best in Class AAA last year and return three double figure scorers in Ryan Dufault, Andrew Morgan and Kyrese Willingham. They lost to Caledonia in the tournament championship, but they will still likely head into the year as the favorite to take home a state title. Dufault was banged up and Morgan was outplayed (a rarity) but those guys have been rockstars both this summer and throughout the last two years. The Waseca program has enough cred at this point where there will be guys ready to fill in around those three in complementary roles. They also play in what has been one of the weakest sections from top to bottom the last few years, which gives them an advantage when it comes to just getting to a position to compete for a title. There are some intriguing unbalanced teams It’s probably like this every year at every class level but I noticed it in full effect in particular last weekend that there are some teams with very clear strengths and weaknesses. Take a team like Rockford, who has 7-footer Calvin Sisk and another big man in Carter Kuvalik who could put up double-double type numbers next to him. Their guards are going to face one of two extremes against good teams all year; heavy pressure or five defenders inside the 3-point line. Cristo Rey Jesuit is on the other end of the spectrum. The Jaguars play five guys who are 6-foot-3 and under and play five-out offensively. They play an aggressive boom-or-bust style of defense and with the athletes they’ve got, it can work a lot. Esko’s got a really good forward in Trevor Spindler, but he’s like 6-foot-3 and more of a faceup forward. The rest of that group is in that 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-2 range. These teams aren’t unbalanced necessarily in that they rely on one or two guys (there are a lot of those teams out there too) but rather there are teams with clear positional group strengths which creates fun stylistic dichotomies. Section 1 is silly again Section 1 has been arguably the toughest region top to bottom in Class AA for a few years running now and it’ll be a gauntlet again next year. Caledonia is a top-five team in the state. Lake City wasn’t there but is a top-five team in the state. Stewartville, La Crescent, St. Charles and Dover-Eyota all have studs coming back and look like 20-win type clubs. That isn’t necessarily new information based on Sunday, but Caledonia’s performance was a reminder just how good basketball is in that corner of the state. It’s Business as Usual for Minneapolis North and Perham Minneapolis North and Perham are both ranked in top-five by some pundits heading into next season and after graduating what both those teams graduated after awesome seasons a year ago, that’s crazy impressive. Jenson Beachy is arguably the best player in Perham’s school history. Carter Cresap was a rock solid three-year starter. Josh Jeziorski grew into a Division II guy. Eli Campbell and Nasir El-Amin formed one of the best backcourts in Class AA last year and propelled that team to the state championship game. With all that gone, steps back would be expected. Both teams showed Sunday that there won’t be steps back. It’s program culture at this point as both programs have elite coaching staffs, established habits and guys who are always ready to ascend into new roles. Finn Diggins was a solid third or fourth guy for the Yellowjackets a year ago and he’ll step into something of the alpha role as a junior. He’s a combo forward who can score in the mid post, get to the paint, handle the ball and make plays. Elijiah Morris is a breakout candidate who is one of the best shooters in the state. Minneapolis North always plugs in hyper-athletic guards who grind on the defensive end, make the opposition uncomfortable (even the good teams) and wreak havoc on both ends. Davon Townley will have to be consistent but he’s a force on both ends and should be able to hang with just about anybody. Willie Wilson looked really good over the weekend too, and is a good bet to be the guy that takes the big step and leads the team in scoring next winter - especially if he continues to show improvement with his jumper.