The Race for Mr. Basketball

<p>Only a handful of games have been played this shortened season but it’s time to check in on how the top Mr. Basketball candidates are playing, starting with massive favorite [player_tooltip player_id="532574" first="Chet" last="Holmgren"].</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Major Favorite – [player_tooltip player_id="532574" first="Chet" last="Holmgren"] of Minnehaha Academy</strong>.   The Redhawks have not faced any major metro opponents as of yet so it’s been four blowouts by an average of 44.5 points a game. In those games Chet has averaged 18.5 points a game with a high of 26 against St. Louis Park. Tonight the Redhawks face Wayzata which will be their toughest game of the year to date. The number one high school basketball player and prospect in the nation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Top Contender – [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] of Stewartville</strong>. The Tigers are ranked 3^rd in Class AA and have blown out five of their six opponents plus had a 15 point game with Goodhue. In the next couple weeks Stewartville plays Caledonia, Waseca, and Byron so things get tougher quickly.   Will is averaging 33.5 points and 10.2 rebounds a game thus far. Signed with Michigan.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Current “Final Five”</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="532574" first="Chet" last="Holmgren"] of Minnehaha Academy</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] of Stewartville</p> <p><strong>Davon Townley</strong> of Minneapolis North. The Penn State 4-star football commitment is averaging 15.7 points and nine boards a game. Townley completely dominated Minneapolis South in a 23 point win. The Polars have only played three games and the wins over Henry and Roosevelt were massive in margin. North only plays conference opponents until their February 22^nd date with Hopkins.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="532583" first="Trey" last="Longstreet"]</strong> of Delano. If you want to talk early season MVPs for the seniors right now, Trey is your guy. He’s led a full team of new players around him to a 5-2 record with 27 points a game while also leading the squad in assists and boards. He’s surpassed 1,000 points, had 36 in a big win over Princeton, scored 35 in a one score loss to Jordan, and had a big 31 including late scores to beat STA. Signed with Northern State.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="567044" first="Francis" last="Nwaokorie"]</strong> of Champlin Park. The Rebels are the current number one in Class AAAA (at this point should we just call all AAAA #1s temporary?) and they’ve been led by the 19 points and 11 rebounds a game from the UC-San Diego D1 signed Nwaokorie. Had double-doubles (19/11 and 22/14) in big wins over Armstrong and Maple Grove.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Mr Basketball Top Ten</strong></p> <p>Four more names that in the early season have shown they should be in the top ten and several of these guys may have a Final Five argument so far.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="567037" first="Joshua" last="Streit"]</strong> of Eden Valley-Watkins. Much like Longstreet, Streit has taken a completely new team around them and had success. They are 6-1 with Josh scoring 24 a game. Committed to NDSU.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="532587" first="Andrew" last="Morgan"]</strong> of Waseca. Morgan opened the season with 31 points bombarding New Prague around the basket with a massive double-double.   In one of the biggest games of the early season, Morgan had 20 points and eight rebounds beating Class AAA top ten ranked Marshall. Signed with NDSU.</p> <p><strong>Ryan Dufualt</strong> of Waseca. Dufualt has quarterbacked his squad to a 6-0 record maintain their number one spot in the Class AA rankings. Ryan scored 27 in the opener and hasn’t stopped rolling since. Ryan had 12 points and nine assists in the big win over Marshall. Committed to UST.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="680229" first="Hercy" last="Miller"]</strong> of Minnehaha Academy. The Redhawks lead guard is coming off of a team high 18 points in the Redhawks win over Duluth East. Miller is averaging 14.5 points a game and is one of the top unsigned players in the state.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Last Spot</strong></p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774734" first="Reid" last="Patterson"]</strong> is scoring 18 a game but this team has had some bad losses. Hopkins is a very balanced team but they are a top AAAA squad and I think <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774738" first="Jaelen" last="Treml"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957132" first="Xavier" last="White"]</strong> will be there to the end. Both have been very solid early in the year so one of them would be considered along with Patterson for that 10th spot.</p>