Three Up, Three Down

<p>Three Up, Three Down returns discussing the Class AAA level today.  Who is playing well?  Who is surprising?  And who is struggling?  We look at some of those teams now. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Three Up</strong></p> <p><strong>Becker</strong>. The Bulldogs are a strong 7-4 on the season and living up to expectations of being a top three team in the section.  Becker has had some tough years so even though a step forward was expected, it's another thing to see that success.  Becker is currently on a five game winning streak. Six-foot-1 combo guard Nick Mittelsteadt has had an excellent year scoring 18.3 points a contest and dishing out 5-6 assists a game.  Cade Callahan has been a really nice pick and pop four man scoring in double digits. </p> <p><strong>Minneapolis Henry</strong>. The Patriots have won five straight games building their first half of the year record to 9-3.  Wins over improved Kennedy and Washburn teams, a victory over a good Moorhead squad, and a bunch of victories over teams they should defeat, Henry has impressed.  The Patriots are a deep squad that is lead in scoring Glentrell Carter but it's a team with a lot of options that include Mark Campbell, Jamar Gardner, and a few others. </p> <p><strong>Princeton</strong>. The Tigers lost four players to college basketball and while nobody thought that a 5-loss year would become a 5-win season, few expected Princeton would be 10-3 at the mid-point of the year.  The Tigers are scoring over 80 points a game on average plus they have won 10 of their last 11 games. Leading the way is Tate Laabs who is averaging 11.8 points, 8.8 assists, and five boards a game.  Six-foot-4 sophomore Haydn Stay and 6-foot-7 senior big Cody Miller both lead the team in scoring at 15 points a contest. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Three Down</strong></p> <p><strong>Byron</strong>. A team we are really high on for the future is Byron.  We saw the Bears defeat a good St. Peter team and expected them to really take off with a 7-4 record, but the Bears dropped a close game to Caledonia and then some things have slipped.  Byron has recently lost one score games to Goodhue and Lourdes dropping them to 7-7.  Byron has the talent to turn this around quick with a winning streak shortly.  They have a very strong group of junior guards and young frontcourt talent. </p> <p><strong>Benilde-St. Margaret's</strong>. The Red Knights put together a very difficult schedule facing mostly teams that will contend for section titles and even the state title.  They've only won three of 15 games so far and there have been times were injuries have made things even tougher.  With Nick Peterson leading the way and Walker Johnson back healthy the Red Knights have a chance to pick up a number of wins in conference play.  </p> <p><strong>St. Cloud Tech</strong>. The Tigers were 7-20 a year ago and expectations were minimal for this season.  They were expected to be better than a few teams in their section and league but that was with the understanding that Odier Olange would be playing.  Olange hasn't played a year because he hasn't been eligible.  Without Olange the Tigers simply don't have the talent to be very good and a 1-12 record has been the result.  Tech has since let go of their coach and last year's coach Mike Trewick has taken over for Brent Petermeier for the rest of the year. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>