We’ve entered the new year and we need to look at how all the candidates for the top award in Minnesota are doing! The Favorites Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN of…
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Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log inWe’ve entered the new year and we need to look at how all the candidates for the top award in Minnesota are doing!
The Favorites
Max Shikenjanski
Max
Shikenjanski
6'2" | PG
Stillwater | 2023
State
#288
Nation
MN
of Stillwater. Max has exploded lately and is putting his name back into contention. The Ponies are 6-3 on the season which means this long struggling program is in a better way (they were 13-14 last year and that was a good year). Max put up 47 points before Christmas getting a big win against Mahtomedi and he had 37 in the GCC leading his team to a four point win over Tech. That 47 points against a talented guard team, throw that in the Mr Basketball Moment bin!
Nasir Whitlock
Nasir
Whitlock
6'1" | PG
DeLaSalle | 2023
State
MN
of DeLaSalle. Nasir – who has the other Mr. Basketball moment this year (game winner vs Tonka) – scored 24 points in a win over Harrisburg. Scoring 24 points in the slower paced, shorter South Dakota timed game is like scoring 30 in Minnesota. Nasir also had 29 against a stacked Dream City Christian team in South Dakota and remember, in a head to head game Nasir got the better of Shikenjanski.
Nolan Winter
Nolan
Winter
6'10" | PF
Lakeville North | 2023
State
#98
Nation
MN
of Lakeville North. At 20 points and 12 rebounds a game for the second ranked team in the state Nolan is playing solid but that 3 of 9 shooting, seven point, five rebound game against New Prague was a dark spot. Nolan did rebound to shoot 10 of 16 against Chanhassen scoring 24 points with 13 boards.
Final Five
Boden Kapke
Boden
Kapke
6'11" | C
Holy Family | 2023
State
#153
Nation
MN
of Holy Family. Kapke led his Fire team over Albany in the first game of the GCC (no numbers reported anywhere) but
Grayson Grove
Grayson
Grove
6'9" | PF
Alexandria Area | 2024
State
#206
Nation
MN
led Alexandria over Holy Family in a big way, Kapke was held to four scores and 12 points in that game.
CJ O’Hara
CJ
O’Hara
6'4" | SF
Park Center | 2023
State
#285
Nation
MN
of Park Center. O’Hara and the Pirates have not played a game in nearly three weeks but they are scheduled against St. Louis Park tonight which I think is a make-up game which might need to be remade as well.
Others
Ben Kopetzki
Ben
Kopetzki
6'0" | PG
Andover | 2023
State
MN
of Andover. Has his team in the top ten and Ben continues to score a top metro total of 32 points a game. He had 24 in a blowout of Minneapolis Southwest, impressed many with his 37 in a loss to Hopkins (his team had 69), and then Ben had 19 in a blowout of Washburn.
Patrick Bath
Patrick
Bath
6'9" | C
Totino-Grace | 2023
State
MN
of Totino-Grace. Bath had a 12 point, 13 rebound double-double against Dream City Christian out of Arizona in South Dakota over the weekend and then a double figure game game against Houston out of Tennessee.
Tommy Humphries
Tommy
Humphries
6'5" | SF
Totino-Grace | 2023
State
#283
Nation
MN
of Totino-Grace. Looks like Humphries is back on the floor and playing healthy. He led his team in scoring both games in South Dakota.
Isaiah Hagen
Isaiah
Hagen
6'3" | PG
Orono | 2023
State
MN
of Orono. Hagen struggled against Sioux Falls Jefferson but bounced back to score 18 against Houston out of Tennessee in the shorter South Dakota game.
Jack Janicki
Jack
Janicki
6'4" | SG
White Bear Lake | 2023
State
#277
Nation
MN
of White Bear Lake. Nice to add Jack’s name to this list as he is finally healthy and playing again. Jack had 26 points in his first game back and he did that against Eastview.
