The One Month Review: Class AAA Basketball

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Who is playing at a higher level than expected? Who is on the way too early Class AAA All State Team? We jump in!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Above Expectations: The Teams and the Player Leading Them</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Big Lake (5-0) and [player_tooltip player_id='1288794' first='Mitchell' last='Hill']. We expected Big Lake to be good but they have been controlling teams in an eye opening way this year. [player_tooltip player_id='1288794' first='Mitchell' last='Hill'] is a tough point guard at 5'11 that will battle with anybody and he is a sharp shooter as well that you can not leave open. Hill is scoring 18 points per game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Duluth Denfeld (3-4) and Aidan Newton. Denfeld has three wins and they pushed league favorites Hermantown and Chisago Lakes more than expected. Newton is a 6'1 junior scoring 18 points a game with seven rebounds, he's an excellent shooter for the Hunters. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Little Falls (5-1) and [player_tooltip player_id='1225628' first='Beau' last='Thoma']. Beau stands 6'2 and is one of the toughest rebounding guards you will see this year, and he adept at attacking the basket and getting scoring results. Thoma is scoring 20 plus points a game for a Little Falls team that we thought would be one of the worst in Class AAA. We obviously overlooked the guard play of Thoma at point and [player_tooltip player_id='1617753' first='Jaxon' last='Janski'] at the two. Little Falls has won five in a row and all those wins were by seven points or less. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Anthony Village (4-1) and [player_tooltip player_id='962241' first='Nathan' last='Lucas']. Close wins over Delano and Columbia Heights. Blowout wins over St. Croix Lutheran and Brooklyn Center. Never expected the season to start like this for them. Lucas is a three year captain that shoots the ball very well and sets up those shots like an artist moving off the ball. He's scoring 17 points a night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Paul Harding (3-2) and Paul Walker. We pick Walker basically out of a hat (and because he is the leading scorer) because this has been a balanced effort in getting wins over Two Rivers, Hill-Murray, and CHOF, and pushing Simley to the buzzer. Good start for Harding, about two more wins than expected early. Walker was an all league player last year averaging 10 and 8 and he's off to a nice start scoring 14 a game so far this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Worthington (3-1) and [player_tooltip player_id='962270' first='Abagotte' last='Opiew']. The Trojan crushing victory over Marshall on the road after years of losing to Marshall really made people take notice as did the close loss to Southwest Minnesota Christian. Opiew is a 6'3 wing that plays all over and is a high level defender. He was averaging 12 and 7 last year before getting hurt for much of the year. He scored 26 at Marshall and is off to a great start. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Way Too Early All State Team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] of Totino-Grace</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] of Alexandria</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] of Orono</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] of DeLaSalle</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] of Benilde-St. Margaret's</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->