The Minnesota Hoops Weekend: Opening Tip!
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The opening weekend of the high school basketball in Minnesota is this weekend. Let’s get you ready! First Tip. 6pm tonight at SESM. Murray County Central at Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s. Both teams are top 3-4 in their respective sections of…
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Continue ReadingThe opening weekend of the high school basketball in Minnesota is this weekend. Let’s get you ready!
First Tip. 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 Kaleb Wait Kaleb Wait 6'0" | PG Sleepy Eye St. Mary's | 2023 State MN and Will Walter Will Walter 6'5" | SG Sleepy Eye St. Mary's | 2024 State MN . MCC has returning all league talents in 5’11 guard Tanner Graphenteen and 6’2 wing Christian Tentinger. Great opening night game.
Weekend Events Part 1. 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 Carson Kunz Carson Kunz 6'5" | SF Big Lake | 2023 State MN and guard Kade Layton Kade Layton 6'0" | PG Big Lake | 2023 State MN . Hastings junior Owen Bernatz Owen Bernatz 6'1" | SG Hastings | 2024 State MN 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.
Weekend Events Part 2. 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. Eli Ehrke Eli Ehrke 6'3" | SG Glencoe-Silver Lake | 2024 State MN , Sawyer Kaczmarek Sawyer Kaczmarek 6'0" | PG Glencoe-Silver Lake | 2023 State MN and Josh Fiecke are a heck of a scoring trio, but to beat Maple River the Panthers have to defend better. Mason Schirmer Mason Schirmer 5'9" | PG Maple River | 2023 State MN is an all state guard leading big man Hayden Niebuhr Hayden Niebuhr 6'7" | C Maple River | 2023 State MN and Will Sellers Will Sellers 6'1" | SG Maple River | 2023 State MN so it’s a tough task.
3rd ranked Minnehaha Academy will have one of the best backcourts in small school basketball. Leroy Barnes Leroy Barnes 6'1" | PG Minnehaha | 2023 State MN has recently transferred to Robbinsdale Armstrong but the Hawks still have Jerome Williams Jr Jerome Williams Jr 6'0" | PG Rock Creek Christian Academy | 2024 MD and Lorenzo Levy Lorenzo Levy 5'10" | PG Minnehaha Academy | 2024 State MN which is very tough to stop. I really like the Parker Dunham Parker Dunham 6'2" | SF Rochester Lourdes | 2023 State MN match-up going against Rolyns Aligbe Rolyns Aligbe 6'9" | C Minnehaha Academy | 2023 State MN . Aidan Johns of Lourdes is one to watch as an ex-factor.
Top Game. 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.
PG: Hunter Lorenson Hunter Lorenson 6'0" | PG Lake City | 2024 State MN (5’11 PG) vs Nick Wozney (5’9 PG)
SG: Jaden Shones Jaden Shones 6'1" | SG Lake City | 2024 State MN (6’2 Wing) vs Brady Herber (5’11 Guard)
SF: Keegan Ryan Keegan Ryan 6'2" | SF Lake City | 2024 State MN (6’4 Wing) vs Kaiden Peters Kaiden Peters 6'2" | CG Plainview/Elgin-Millville | 2023 State MN (6’2 Guard)
PF: Ryan Heise Ryan Heise 6'8" | SF Lake City | 2023 State MN (6’8 Forward) vs Aeron Stevens Aeron Stevens 6'7" | PF Plainview-Eligin-Millville | 2023 State MN (6’7 Forward)
C: Lee Siewert (6’3 Big) vs Jameson Brinkman (6’3 Big)
Top Individual Match-Up. Easily Jalen Wilson Jalen Wilson 6'8" | PF Benilde-St. Margaret's | 2025 State #230 Nation MN vs Grayson Grove Grayson Grove 6'9" | PF Alexandria Area | 2024 State #171 Nation MN 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 Grayson Grove Grayson Grove 6'9" | PF Alexandria Area | 2024 State #171 Nation MN 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 Chase Thompson Chase Thompson 6'8" | PF Alexandria | 2025 State #216 Nation MN (a top 3 sophomore) and Abu Keita Abu Keita 6'5" | SF Benilde-St.Margaret's | 2025 State MN (top 10 level sophomore) are also in this game and will be on the wing.