The Minnesota Hoops Weekend: Opening Tip!

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The opening weekend of the high school basketball in Minnesota is this weekend. Let's get you ready!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>First Tip</strong>. 6pm tonight at SESM. Murray County Central at Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's. Both teams are top 3-4 in their respective sections of Class A basketball. SESM is coming off back to back trips to the state tournament and return all league players [player_tooltip player_id='1341716' first='Kaleb' last='Wait'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284232' first='Will' last='Walter']. MCC has returning all league talents in 5'11 guard Tanner Graphenteen and 6'2 wing Christian Tentinger. Great opening night game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Weekend Events Part 1</strong>. Red Wing Tip Off Classic. Red Wing is hosting four teams this weekend starting with tonight's Hastings vs Big Lake followed by Red Wing against East Central. Big Lake is the most interesting team as they were .500 last year and return several good players including Mitch Hill, 6'4 senior [player_tooltip player_id='1223084' first='Carson' last='Kunz'] and guard [player_tooltip player_id='962312' first='Kade' last='Layton']. Hastings junior [player_tooltip player_id='1244764' first='Owen' last='Bernatz'] is likely the most talented player at this event. Red Wing is the host and they will have a very new team on the floor. The fourth is East Central, kind of an odd fourth as they are a Class A team playing big school teams. East Central has a 6'5 junior named Jacob Dixon who is interesting all league guard Nathan Zielinkski is back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Weekend Events Part 2.</strong> Hardwood Classic at Maple River. The other weekend event starts tonight with Glencoe-Silver Lake playing Maple River and Rochester Lourdes against Minnehaha Academy. That GSL vs host game is very interesting. GSL lost last night at Jordan and have to rebound quickly taking on the 7th ranked team in Class AA. [player_tooltip player_id='1284132' first='Eli' last='Ehrke'], [player_tooltip player_id='962268' first='Sawyer' last='Kaczmarek'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1547692' first='Josh' last='Fiecke'] are a heck of a scoring trio, but to beat Maple River the Panthers have to defend better. [player_tooltip player_id='962272' first='Mason' last='Schirmer'] is an all state guard leading big man [player_tooltip player_id='962308' first='Hayden' last='Niebuhr'] and [player_tooltip player_id='962242' first='Will' last='Sellers'] so it's a tough task.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3rd ranked Minnehaha Academy will have one of the best backcourts in small school basketball. [player_tooltip player_id='1345985' first='Leroy' last='Barnes'] has recently transferred to Robbinsdale Armstrong but the Hawks still have [player_tooltip player_id='1284157' first='Jerome' last='Williams Jr'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1499627' first='Lorenzo' last='Levy'] which is very tough to stop. I really like the [player_tooltip player_id='1226399' first='Parker' last='Dunham'] match-up going against [player_tooltip player_id='1221177' first='Rolyns' last='Aligbe']. Aidan Johns of Lourdes is one to watch as an ex-factor. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Game</strong>. This is easy, 2nd ranked PEM against 4th ranked Lake City. Just look at these match-ups for the best opening Friday night game I can remember in a long time! Can't wait for highlights and/or reports of this one. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>PG: [player_tooltip player_id='1284140' first='Hunter' last='Lorenson'] (5'11 PG) vs Nick Wozney (5'9 PG)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>SG: [player_tooltip player_id='1284149' first='Jaden' last='Shones'] (6'2 Wing) vs Brady Herber (5'11 Guard)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>SF: [player_tooltip player_id='1284166' first='Keegan' last='Ryan'] (6'4 Wing) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1492565' first='Kaiden' last='Peters'] (6'2 Guard)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>PF: [player_tooltip player_id='1225623' first='Ryan' last='Heise'] (6'8 Forward) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1339196' first='Aeron' last='Stevens'] (6'7 Forward)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>C: Lee Siewert (6'3 Big) vs Jameson Brinkman (6'3 Big)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Individual Match-Up</strong>. Easily [player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] when Benilde-St. Margaret's travels to Alexandria tonight. This is a top ten Class AAA match-up and it has the top ranked sophomore in Minnesota in Wilson as well as [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] who I would say is a top seven talent in a deep class of juniors. Both Wilson and Grove are 6'7/6'8, skilled away from the rim but very good near it as well. What makes this even more fun is that [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'] (a top 3 sophomore) and [player_tooltip player_id='1574215' first='Abu' last='Keita'] (top 10 level sophomore) are also in this game and will be on the wing. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->