Granite City Classic: St. John’s Takeaways

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Granite City Classic took over the St. Cloud area last weekend. Always one of the best holiday tournament/showcases in the state, this year was no different as ranked teams from all classes were out in force for a weekend full of excellent matchups. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here were some of my takeaways from the Friday games at St. John’s University</span></p> <p><strong>Delano can be elite defensively</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There’s a lot more to defense than being long and athletic, but make no mistake, size matters. Delano has an incredible amount of it, with all five starters standing at least 6-foot-5. The Tigers are off to a terrific start and defense has been the calling card. I’m not usually a big fan of the defensive philosophy built on switching abundantly but the Tigers have the personnel to make it work because four of their guys are essentially interchangeable. Trey Longstreet and Max Otto set the tone and can guard just about any position and if guys extend their arms, their length is incredibly disruptive. This team might go through some bouts where the offense sputters a bit, but their defense will keep them in games no matter what. </span></p> <p><strong>If BOLD can dictate tempo, it’s the best team in Class A</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the most athletic teams in Class A, BOLD is pretty much unstoppable if it can dictate the tempo of a game. The Warriors want to play fast and they are relentless in their effort to do so. They trap various players all over the floor, force turnovers and are always looking for transition opportunities. Those who clamor for a shot clock don’t when watching the Warriors because they get shots up quickly with Gavin Vosika, Drew Sagedahl and Jordan Sagedahl doing a lot of the heavy lifting offensively. Sometimes their shot selection is questionable, but the short-term loss of a possession is earned back by way of volume over the long haul of a game. The path to beating them is simple but hard to execute for 95 percent of teams at the Class A level. The plan will always be to slow the game down, pound the paint and take away their layups in transition, but you can probably count on your hand the number of teams that can do that plus challenge them over the course of 36 minutes. </span></p> <p><strong>Minnetonka and Cass Lake-Bena both have awesome young talent</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s hard to win with underclassmen and generally when teams are relying on 14-16-year-olds, things aren’t going all that well. There are exceptions of course. Minnetonka and Cass Lake-Bena both are driven by star seniors in Cam Steele and Jarell Jacobs, which puts both teams in situations where they can win a lot now, but both programs have a lot to be excited about beyond this year because of an excellent cache of underclassmen. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For the Skippers, freshman guard Jalen Cain looks like the real deal. He’s big, strong and smooth at the point guard spot, with a solid jumpshot, sound decision-making and defensive intensity. He’s getting coached by the right guy if the goal is unlocking or harnessing elite point guard play, but he also looks like he’s got the physical and mental tools to be a stud for a long time. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He’s not the only youngster doing good things for Minnetonka. The Skippers have a pair of sophomore guards in Cohen Kellog and Vlad Ciubotaru who look like foundational pieces for the next few years. Kellog does a good job running the offense and controlling the tempo along with Cain, while supplying solid on-ball defense and Ciubotaru is a terrific perimeter shooter and showed feisty defense on and off the ball. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cass Lake-Bena has a number good seniors but also starts a sophomore and an eighth-grader, plus has an eighth-grader and a freshman coming off the bench. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dominic Fairbanks and Kaydin Lee are eighth-graders who play heavy minutes in the rotation and while both are going to endure their ups and downs this winter, both looked the part in the team’s loss to BOLD. Both guys have great range as shooters and the aggressiveness to make plays when they need to. As they get bigger and stronger, watch out. And Leroy Fairbanks is a sophomore starter who looks like the next star for the Panthers. He does a lot of things well from shooting to playmaking to rebounding. He’s got good size for a wing and has the skills to really break out when he takes on a bigger role. </span></p>