The Race for Mr. Basketball
In this article:
We have another wide open race for the Mr. Basketball trophy in the state of Minnesota. We run through the first two weeks of the season from the top trophy point of view! The Leader. Boden Kapke Boden Kapke 6'11"…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWe have another wide open race for the Mr. Basketball trophy in the state of Minnesota. We run through the first two weeks of the season from the top trophy point of view!
The Leader. Boden Kapke Boden Kapke 6'11" | C Holy Family | 2023 State #153 Nation MN of Holy Family. Kapke opened the season with 37 and 15 against Chanhassen, had another 37 last night against GSL with another double-double, and scored 15 in a low scoring game against PEM. The Butler commit leads the number one team in Class AA basketball and has moved into the top spot.
Top Contender. Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN of Lakeville North. On the heels of Kapke is Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN , the Lakeville North leader who has led his team to three wins. Winter opened the season with 24 & 13 against East Ridge (two misses), he had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Totino-Grace playing a really good first half, and then scored 19 against Wayzata last night with a good second half.
Top Contender 2. Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN of DeLaSalle. The first Mr. Basketball Moment of the season came off the hand of Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN . Nasir’s junior year final two month run, his quality 17u season, and now this outstanding start to his senior year has me thinking Lehigh got a steal. This weekend Whitlock beat Minnetonka with a buzzer beater that came after he scored 11 other big points down the stretch.
Final Five. CJ O’Hara CJ O’Hara 6'4" | SF Park Center | 2023 State #285 Nation MN of Park Center and Chiddi Obiazor Chiddi Obiazor 6'5" | PF Eden Prairie | 2023 MN of Eden Prairie. O’Hara plays on the top team ranked in the state right now and he is the leading scorer of that team. Every game PC has played has been a major blowout so he’s only had so many chances to put up numbers but O’Hara has had 20 point games in his last two games. Obizaor, until somebody tells me officially when or if he is leaving for KSU, he is staying here. Scored 29 against St. Cloud Tech and had 18 and 11 in a slugfest win over Eastview.
Others
Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN of Stillwater. Max did not play against Blaine because of the football all star game but he was back last night and scored 28 points in a win over Woodbury despite foul trouble. Averaging 26 a game.
Patrick Bath Patrick Bath 6'9" | C Totino Grace | 2023 State MN of Totino-Grace. Went toe to toe with Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN quite well last Saturday and then led the Eagles in scoring last night.
Ben Kopetzki Ben Kopetzki 6'0" | PG Andover | 2023 State MN of Andover. We might need to start talking about the future CSP guard in this space as he has two 40+ point games and he’s led his team to wins over Osseo and Lakeville South already. Ben leads the state in scoring right now.
Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN of Orono. Hagen has Orono third in state with wins over Minnehaha Academy, both games were in big game situations, and Hagen had 31 at Hopkins and then 29 against Minnehaha Academy two days later on the same floor.
Taison Chatman Taison Chatman 6'4" | PG Totino Grace | 2023 State #35 Nation MN and Tommy Humprhies. Tommy continues to deal with leg issues that we could clearly see Saturday, Taison has not played much at all this season although he did look to be moving fine Saturday when he did play.