The Minnesota Elite

Ryan James February 12, 2020 @ 02:00 PM

The Minnesota Elite recognizes the top 25 in Minnesota regardless of class AND gets you ready for the regular season game of the year. Now! At this point in the season I would say it's pretty clear that the two best teams in Minnesota are Class AAAA #1 Eden Prairie and Class AAA #1 Minnehaha Academy. And the best part about that is they play at Minnehaha Academy next Tuesday! Before that EP has Buffalo this Friday and the Redhawks play St. Louis Park and Hibbing over the weekend. The #1s will be favorited in those games, but what about when they play each other? There are two different questions to ask coming into that game and they are... 1) Who deserves to be #1 right now? and 2) Who is the more talented team? I personally think these are two very different questions, but either he is the argument for each: Minnehaha Academy: No roster in the state of Minnesota has as much talent as the Redhawks and there is nobody that is going to dispute that. Did they have some Decembers slip-ups? They sure did losing to Cretin-Derham Hall and Hopkins (when Chet was injured). Since that point though the Redhawks have added guards <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/terry-lockett/">Terry Lockett</a> and Herci Miller to the line-up, knocked off nationally known and very talented Sierra Canyon 78-58 representing their home state in a big way, and have been beating some very good teams in eye opening ways (La Crosse Central 73-64, Caledonia 92-71, Waseca 81-46, Edina 85-57, Park Center 89-68). They are the most talented team and with a full roster they are hammering opponents. Eden Prairie: The Eagles are the only big school team in the state that is undefeated and they are also playing one of the toughest schedules. That schedule includes three wins over teams that beat Minnehaha Academy in December (Hopkins and CDH) plus victories over Prior Lake, East Ridge, Eastview, Shakopee, Chaska, DeLaSalle, and a host of others. The Eagles are 11-0 against Class AAAA teams that have been or are in the top ten plus they beat Park Center by a similar total (82-64) and it was a 30 point game at one point. EP doesn't have the size, athletic ability, or same depth as Minnehaha Academy but they are undefeated playing as good of team basketball on both ends as anybody anywhere. Final Comment: Likely the biggest reason these two teams are playing such good team basketball is that the core of the squads has been playing together for so many years that few can match their chemistry (many have played together on spring/summer teams together too). <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/connor-christensen/">Connor Christensen</a>, <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/drake-dobbs/">Drake Dobbs</a>, and <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/john-henry/">John Henry</a> have played together since grade school (along with some others) and the same can be said for <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/jalen-suggs/">Jalen Suggs</a>, <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/terry-lockett/">Terry Lockett</a>, <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/kaden-johnson/">Kaden Johnson</a>, and not too much long after came <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/chet-holmgren/">Chet Holmgren</a>. Here is the rest of the top 25 (number one will be decided next Tuesday) 3. Eastview (19-2) 4. Park Center (15-4) 5. Hopkins (16-4) 6. Chaska (18-3) 7. Shakopee (17-4) 8. Cretin-Derham Hall (17-3) 9. DeLaSalle (16-3) 10. Spring Lake Park (15-3) 11. Mankato East (19-1) 12. Caledonia (20-1) 13. Lakeville South (17-4) 14. East Ridge (16-5) 15. Marshall (22-1) 16. Totino-Grace (13-7) 17. Robbinsdale Armstrong (14-4) 18. Prior Lake (12-7) 19. Delano (17-2) 20. North St. Paul (14-7) 21. Maple Grove (17-3) 22. Champlin Park (13-7) 23. Lake City (19-2) 24. Perham (19-0) 25. St. Croix Prep (21-0) Next Up: 26. Waseca (18-5), 27. Minneapolis North (15-5), 28. Rochester Mayo (16-5), 29. Tartan (20-1), 30. Cambridge-Isanti (18-2), 31. Robbinsdale Cooper (13-5), 32. Waconia (15-4), 33. Austin (17-4), 34. Princeton (18-3)