The Race for Mr. Basketball: A Race to the End

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This might become the most fun Mr. Basketball race we have seen in a long time. We have three leaders and a newcomer ready to join the mix. We detail all of that four you now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Leaders</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='962212' first='Boden' last='Kapke'] of Holy Family, [player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] of DeLaSalle, and [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] of Lakeville North</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>My favorite part of this race is that Kapke has Holy Family number one in Class AA. Whitlock has the Islanders at 3rd in Class AAA, and Winter has the Panthers at 2nd in Class AAAA. This should be a race to the end of March and might it depend on how deep in the season these players lead their teams? It could. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kapke put everybody on notice with the 40 &amp; 13 he had against Park Center keeping his team in the game a lot longer than anybody expected. Boden has since led his team to dominate wins over Jordan, White Bear Lake, and Mound-Westonka with big numbers and an early seat.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Whitlock is the first player in the state to have a second Mr. Basketball moment already. He put up 52 points in a win against Hopkins over the weekend. Nasir followed that with 29 points and six assists last night against Cooper. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nolan is back from injury after missing four games. He had 30 against Shakopee making 10 of 12 shots and then had 19 versus Rosemount last night. Winter has more teammates to help his team win which may or may not hurt his case. It may hurt the flashy numbers but it helps his team win, a lot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Next Up</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='1167554' first='Hayden' last='Tibbits'] of Wayzata. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holy Hayden has Hayden been a basketball hell raiser. The Trojans have won ten in a row beating a great list of teams and Tibbits has been out in front leading the way. The point guard had 31 against East Ridge last night, 26 in the Tonka win, 33 in the EP win, and 28 win the BSM win. He has had his biggest performances in his team's biggest games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Spot</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='962199' first='CJ' last='O'Hara'] of Park Center and [player_tooltip player_id='962206' first='Max' last='Shikenjanski'] of Stilltwater</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>O'Hara recently had 20+ against Elk River and then exploded for 39 against Blaine to keep the Pirates undefeated. He's the leading Park Center scorer and has had some huge second halves in the biggest Park Center games. He would pry earn spot five. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Max is scoring 28 points a game and continually scoring a strong level. He scored 30 in a win over Woodbury and then had 21 of his team's 47 against CDH breaking a 12 game losing streak to the school which is huge. Stillwater has lost recent games to Forest Lake and Irondale though</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Others for the Top Ten</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962246' first='Ben' last='Kopetzki'] of Andover. Had a 29 point game against Blaine after having four shooting games in the four previous contests that weren't quite to the level of some of the December games, but he is still scoring 26 a contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962202' first='JJ' last='Ware'] of Park Center. Is scoring 18 points a game and had some big late game jumpers made this month that has jumped his name into contention. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1339196' first='Aeron' last='Stevens'] of PEM. Aeron is starting to really pop. Just hit the 1,000 point mark, has made the highlight reels for his throw downs, and most important, he is at that 23 &amp;13 mark now on average while leading his team on a big winning streak.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] of Totino-Grace. Leading the Eagles in scoring and rebounding right now while always playing hard. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962198' first='Taison' last='Chatman'] of Totino-Grace. The state has been waiting for Taison to explode and maybe this past weekend in Waukee he did with his five fourth quarter threes. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962284' first='Isaac' last='Matti'] of Hayfield. The two time state title winner and 2022 Class A Player of the Year is about 2-3 games away from hitting 2K points for his career. Recently had that 50 point game too. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962224' first='Will' last='Opsahl'] of Goodhue. Has Goodhue at 16-1 even though they've played a schedule full of quality opponents from bigger schools. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1220406' first='Trey' last='Smith'] of Osseo. The Orioles are closing back in on .500 with Smith scoring 19 points a game. A budding talent that I think has a huge future. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->