Tuesday Night Match-Up: #2 Lakeville North vs #5 East Ridge

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tonight we kick off a loaded week of high school basketball with the Panthers and Raptors clawing at each other in their opening games. Here are the match-ups for tonight's big contest!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Point Guard: </strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1269166' first='Matt' last='Drake'] (5'11 jr) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1560882' first='Cedric' last='Tomes'] (5'10 fr). Love this point guard match-up. Both played a bit last year but both players are coming off great off-seasons and looking ready for big impacts this year. Tomes and Drake are both skilled, tough, and very confident. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Wing 1</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='1139350' first='Hudson' last='Vaith'] (6'5 sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id='962211' first='Alex' last='Mattes'] (6'3 sr). I don't know what the Panthers will do with their line-up. It's very possible that [player_tooltip player_id='1492610' first='Sam' last='Nolan'] starts here. That said, the Raptors have started big so I think much of the game the Panthers will match. And in Vaith and Mattes we have two guys that will commonly score between 15 and 20 points a game as both are excellent shooters. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Wing 2</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='1284147' first='Jack' last='Robison'] (6'6 jr) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1284105' first='Charlie' last='Theis'] (6'5 jr). Love this match-up of agile, versatile juniors. Robison, the Wisconsin commit, will handle some, he will use that lefty touch, and he will use his size around the cup some. Theis is a great counter because he's also agile plus a very tough minded defender. Should be fun.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Forward</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='1214457' first='Will' last='Kutzler'] (6'7 sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1284104' first='Charlie' last='Bern'] (6'4 jr). I think LN will start smaller with Nolan or bigger with Kutzler. If the go big it will be Kutzler, a face-up skilled forward, vs Bern who is a varsity veteran. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Big:</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] (6'10 sr) vs Bradyen Carlson (6'9 jr). Not many teams will have a talented and skilled big to look eye to eye with [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'], but Carlson will be one of the few that can. I am assuming Winter is past his foot injury from this fall and hopefully he is so we can get these great match-ups this week. Winter is more agile than Carlson and more experienced, but Carlson has really worked hard to improve and those improvements have been clear. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Reserve Guard</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='1492610' first='Sam' last='Nolan'] (6'0 sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id='1288809' first='Peter' last='Koland'] (5'11 sr). Nolan scored six points a game last year, [player_tooltip player_id='1288809' first='Peter' last='Koland'] started some games at point last year. Both players have experience. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Reserve Frontcourt:</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='1288820' first='Ali' last='Axmed'] (6'2 sr) vs Dae'John Thomas (6'3 jr). Ali is coming off a great 17u season with Minnesota Select and a nice fall. He seems to have the ability to play a nice role. Thomas was the St. Paul Johnson leading scorer last year and at 6'3 he can play inside/out.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8th Man: </strong>[player_tooltip player_id='962208' first='Jace' last='Hernandez'] (6'8 sr) vs Parker Wellman (5'11 jr). This is the 8th spot and clearly shows you that the Panthers are the bigger team, the Raptors have more guards. Jace is a great luxury to have coming off the bench while Wellman is a shooter that played some last year. [player_tooltip player_id='1440313' first='Jackson' last='Simmons'] is another shooter that the Raptors have coming off the bench. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Prediction</strong>: I give the Panthers several small edges: they are at home, they have more experience at head coach, they have a bit more experience in the lead guard and post match-ups, and while they are bigger, most of that size is versatile. I say....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lakeville North 70 East Ridge 64</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->