The Race for Mr. Basketball

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are a month into the season and I think this could end up being the most wide open Mr. Basketball race of the last 20 seasons. Favorites? I have three of them, and we have a long way to go!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Favorites</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962212' first='Boden' last='Kapke'] of Holy Family. The Butler bound Fire senior opened the year with a 37 point performance in a blowout win over Chan and has since led his team to another pair of blowout wins as well as a close game victory over PEM. The Fire were getting their shot at Park Center tomorrow night but the game has been called off because of the weather. Kapke is averaging 22 and 13 at the moment.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] of Lakeville North. Winter had a very good showing against Park Center in the loss last weekend, had some finishing troubles against Farmington at times but still had 19 points and 17 boards, and he recently had 19 and 15 in the win over Wayzata. Nolan is averaging 21.4 points and 13.6 rebounds a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] of DeLaSalle. The Islander point guard has firmly put himself in a good spot even though last night against BSM was rough. Whitlock had 27 and led DeLaSalle to a blowout win over Stillwater in a head to head battle with fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id='962206' first='Max' last='Shikenjanski'], and that buzzer beater over Tonka was the only Mr. Basketball moment we can throw out there so far this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Five</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962199' first='CJ' last='O'Hara'] of Park Center. O'Hara was scoreless in half one against Lakeville North but came back and had 15 points in half two helping the Pirates get that win. CJ also had 27 points against Coon Rapids and he is averaging 19 points a contest. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962206' first='Max' last='Shikenjanski'] of Stillwater. The future Gopher quarterback is averaging 28.5 points a game this season and he's doing it attacking defenses relentlessly. Stillwater is 5-2 and the Ponies have won five of the six that Max has played in.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Others</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962246' first='Ben' last='Kopetzki'] of Andover. The metro's leading scorer is averaging 34.2 points per game this year and had 33 points with BSM guys hanging all over him defending Ben in numbers. He had 31 to beat Osseo, 46 to beat Lakeville South, and just continues to put up numbers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1220360' first='Chiddi' last='Obiazor'] of Eden Prairie. The Eagles leading man is scoring 21 points a game and his deep post game against Eastview was big. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] of Totino-Grace. Bath is averaging 20.3 points and ten plus rebounds a game leading the Eagles in their three games so far this year. Bath has been the top TG player very, very early in their season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] of Orono. Had 15 points in his team's win last night, is scoring 20 a game for Orono who is on pace to be the second ranked team in Class AAA and a top ten team overall in Minnesota basketball regardless of class. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braeden O'Neil of NYA. Who is Braeden? He's a senior that has put up 31.7 points per game at NYA though seven games. O'Neil had a SIXTY ONE point game against Monticello. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->