The Minnesota Hoops Weekend
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Looking to ignore the snow and maximize your weekend when it comes to basketball games? Let us help you with a quick breakdown of the weekend. First Tip. At 5pm you can jump over to St. Paul Central to see…
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Continue ReadingLooking to ignore the snow and maximize your weekend when it comes to basketball games? Let us help you with a quick breakdown of the weekend.
First Tip. At 5pm you can jump over to St. Paul Central to see Central face Hiawatha Collegiate. Jessye Lewis Jr Jessye Lewis Jr 6'1" | PG Hiawatha Collegiate | 2023 State MN has been as good as expected but Romelle Bell Romelle Bell 6'3" | SF Hiawatha Collegiate | 2023 State MN has been excellent scoring 22 points a game. Senior PJ Blakey is off to a great start for Central.
Friday’s Best. I am really big on the St. Cloud Tech vs Alexandria rivalry right now and they play their first game tonight. In maybe the strangest three game set, Alex beat Tech by 27 early last year and then Tech turned around and beat Alex by 28 late in the regular season last year. Game three was for state and Tech took that by a basket. The new rivalry continues to night and has section, conference, and the not as important but often talked about Class AAA rankings implications involved. Tameron Ferguson Tameron Ferguson 6'2" | PG St. Cloud Tech | 2024 State MN and Grayon Grove are top juniors, Chase Thompson Chase Thompson 6'8" | PF Alexandria | 2025 State #216 Nation MN and Giordan Easley Giordan Easley 6'1" | PG Tech | 2025 FL are top sophs, should be a ton of fun. The game is 7:15 Tech.
Bang for the Buck. Minnehaha Academy hosts Rumble on the River which is two freshmen girls games, a JV girls games, and then two JV boys games to start. The varsity action actually starts at 4:30 with a girls game between Comp Park and St. Louis Park. At 6pm the giant front line of South Ridge – including Austin Josephson Austin Josephson 6'9" | C South Ridge | 2023 State MN – takes on that same Hiawatha team we talked about earlier. Big back to back set for Hiawatha. The main event is a 7:30 tip off between Minnehaha Academy and Cherry High School meaning we get some Isaac Asuma Isaac Asuma 6'3" | PG Cherry | 2024 State #102 Nation MN vs Jerome Williams Jr Jerome Williams Jr 6'0" | PG Rock Creek Christian Academy | 2024 MD action. These teams of course have more much talent including Noah Asuma Noah Asuma 6'1" | SG Cherry | 2026 State MN , Noah Sundquist Noah Sundquist 6'3" | SF Cherry | 2025 State MN and Carson Brown Carson Brown 6'0" | PG Cherry | 2025 State MN for Cherry while the Hawks also have Lorenzo Levy Lorenzo Levy 5'10" | PG Minnehaha Academy | 2024 State MN and Rolyns Aligbe Rolyns Aligbe 6'9" | C Minnehaha Academy | 2023 State MN who had 30+ plus last weekend at the Tip Off Classic.
The Big Event. The Breakdown is putting together another big event and this weekend that event is at Osseo High School. Here is the list:
Champlin Park vs Robbinsdale Cooper. Cooper is coming off a great win against Andover last Saturday.
Hopkins vs Maple Grove. The Royals and Crimson are both off to nice starts, Jayden Moore Jayden Moore 6'0" | PG Hopkins | 2026 State MN is the main draw.
St. Cloud Tech vs Minnetonka. Love the Andy Stefonowicz Andy Stefonowicz 6'2" | PG Minnetonka | 2024 State MN vs Tameron Ferguson Tameron Ferguson 6'2" | PG St. Cloud Tech | 2024 State MN guard match-up.
Stillwater vs DeLaSalle. Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN vs Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN , must see basketball right there.
Robbinsdale Armstrong vs Cretin-Derham Hall. Desmond Ware Desmond Ware 5'10" | PG Robbinsdale Armstrong | 2025 State MN and Jason Johnson Jason Johnson 6'0" | PG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2026 State MN , great young PG
Eastview vs Osseo. A top ten battle, Trey Smith Trey Smith 6'7" | SF Osseo | 2023 State MN and Chet Kloss Chet Kloss 6'6" | PF Eastview | 2023 State MN are D2 signed talents in this one.
Benilde-St. Margaret’s vs Andover. CSP bound Ben Kopetzki Ben Kopetzki 6'0" | PG Andover | 2023 State MN is scoring, BSM has the state’s best young talent.
Park Center vs Lakeville North. Read more on this below.
Final Tip. The last tip of the weekend is a part of The Big Stage put on by the Breakdown. It will be game 8 of 8 of the event and it has a chance to be the game of the year as the top spot in Class AAAA and all of Minnesota high school basketball is on the line when Park Center faces Lakeville North. Here are the match-ups for this titanic clash:
Casmir Chavis Casmir Chavis 6'2" | PG Park Center | 2024 State #170 Nation MN vs Matt Drake Matt Drake 5'11" | PG Lakeville North | 2024 State MN , CJ O’Hara CJ O’Hara 6'4" | SF Park Center | 2023 State #285 Nation MN vs Jack Robison Jack Robison 6'7" | SF Lakeville North | 2024 State #158 Nation MN , Joe Burgess Joe Burgess 6'5" | SF Park Center | 2023 State MN vs Hudson Vaith Hudson Vaith 6'4" | SG Lakeville North | 2023 State MN , JJ Ware JJ Ware 6'6" | SF Park Center | 2023 State MN vs Erik Ryan Erik Ryan 6'8" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State MN , and Chiang Ring Chiang Ring 6'8" | C Park Center | 2024 State #276 Nation MN vs Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN .
That list of five starters vs five starters really grabs your attention. I would say Ring vs Winter is the biggest as we get a chance to see if Winter can finish around the rim against the best shot blocker in Minnesota. Also, the O’Hara against Robison battle should be fun too. Can Robison handle the strength of O’Hara? Should be a ton of fun.