Wayzata vs Minnetonka: Friday Night Lights
Last Friday night I went to Minnetonka versus Wayzata and was reminded of what high school basketball is all about. Here are ten things I saw from a great night of high school basketball. One. The Crowd. Wayzata’s gym is…
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Continue ReadingLast Friday night I went to Minnetonka versus Wayzata and was reminded of what high school basketball is all about. Here are ten things I saw from a great night of high school basketball.
One. The Crowd. Wayzata’s gym is huge. I was at UST the next night and I am fairly certain Wayzata can put more people in their gym than UST can right now likely by 500 people. And the stands on the sidelines were mostly packed, the huge sets of bleachers on the baselines were packed, and there were another 300 kids who likely never sat down the entire night. It was packed and just about any other location the doors would have been shut as attendance would have been maxed out.
Two. The Lines. I got to Wayzata at 6:45 with my daughter after getting Clara from practice. Seemed like plenty of time, right? No. I was late getting into the gym by seven minutes meaning I was not able to take stats like I usually do (they must have tipped off a bit early or exactly at 7pm by the way, it was 7:07 when I sat down and there were under 14 minutes on the clock). And the concession stand lines! Five people in one little booth for that massive crowd? Wayzata needs to revisit that for games like this I would think. They could have had people walking the crowds and selling stuff! Regardless, the lines to get in were another example of how massive the crowd was.
Three. Youth Night. Want a crowd to bring in bodies vs a key rival? Schedule youth night against them! Between the mom and dads as coaches, moms and dads bringing the kids, and all the youth running around the building, the atmosphere was incredible partially because so many bodies were in the building.
Four. Postgame. After the game the youth flooded the floor high fiving the players and then signing autographs. Hayden Tibbits Hayden Tibbits 5'11" | PG Wayzata | 2023 State MN hopefully got some hand sanitizer after the game because he high-fived at least 100 kids in the short amount of time I was looking to get a head shot but felt the high five photos were even better. There were kids all over the place mobbing their favorite Trojans in what was a really cool community scene.
Five. Hayden Tibbits Hayden Tibbits 5'11" | PG Wayzata | 2023 State MN . I will get into this more tomorrow but Hayden Tibbits Hayden Tibbits 5'11" | PG Wayzata | 2023 State MN is right now in the mix for all of your Player of the Year, Mr. Basketball, etc etc conversations. He is doing everything at a high level right now and his team is consistently winning basketball games. Between Tibbits scoring the ball and more importantly his ability to run the team, big things are happening at Wayzata and Hayden is a huge part.
Six. Hayden the Prospect. I’ve seen a few PGs get some deserved recruiting attention lately and I thought “good for them” and then I thought, what about Hayden? There are signed PGs in this state and recently offered PGs in this state that Hayden is downright better than. Whenever I get some time the rankings will be updated and Hayden is shooting up. He is too good not to. Colleges would love him no matter what his physical measures are. We heard the same thing about Ryan Dufault in years past and he is out here playing good minutes for UST in the Summit in his second year!
Seven. Spencer Hall Spencer Hall 6'3" | SF Wayzata | 2023 State MN . Spencer Hall Spencer Hall 6'3" | SF Wayzata | 2023 State MN was outstanding against the Skippers. Sure he actively scored his 19 and that was big, but defensively Spencer is brilliant. His ability to get a step ahead of his man when he is defending the ball is elite, and retreat to get back on D, read the floor, direct the floor, and get to spots is elite. Hall moved between a few different guys and those guys each scored twice during the game.
Eight. Jackson McAndrews. This is on repeat but I will say it again in different words, when it comes to 2024s Jackson is the best long term prospect. That does not mean he is currently the best junior right now (although very good) and it does not mean he is the most productive junior (although quite productive), but at 6’11 with his range and the way the ball comes out of his hands, and his constant levels of improvements with so much room to grow physically, there is pro potential stuff right there that nobody else has. There were two ball reversals to Jackson that I looked at Matt Anderle and said “that’s in” because it was a rhythm catch and hit, and there is no way any Tonka player could get a good closeout on him. McAndrews was just offered by Xavier and has several other offers (Creighton visit is coming soon), but don’t be surprised if/when high level schools see him that Jackson gets a higher level offer than people have seen. I fully believe it’s coming, if that is what he is looking for.
Nine. Cheerleaders! The cheerleaders were in front of us and my favorite part of the game was eight year old Clara pausing our exit to go tell a cheerleader that the cheerleader did a great job. Very nice by Clara and it brought the cheerleader to tears because of how sweet and organic it was! Proud dad right here.
Ten. Minnetonka Rebounds. The Skippers lost this game but they rebounded to throttle a very good Moorhead team the next day winning 80-42! That is quite the response less than 24 hours later. This is a good Tonka team that will still be in the mix.