The Race for Mr. Basketball
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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…
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Continue ReadingWe 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!
The Favorites
Boden Kapke Boden Kapke 6'11" | C Holy Family | 2023 State #153 Nation MN 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.
Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN 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.
Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN 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 Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN , and that buzzer beater over Tonka was the only Mr. Basketball moment we can throw out there so far this year.
Final Five
CJ O’Hara CJ O’Hara 6'4" | SF Park Center | 2023 State #285 Nation MN 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.
Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN 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.
Others
Ben Kopetzki Ben Kopetzki 6'0" | PG Andover | 2023 State MN 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.
Chiddi Obiazor Chiddi Obiazor 6'5" | PF Eden Prairie | 2023 MN of Eden Prairie. The Eagles leading man is scoring 21 points a game and his deep post game against Eastview was big.
Patrick Bath Patrick Bath 6'9" | C Totino Grace | 2023 State MN 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.
Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN 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.
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.