The Race for Mr. Basketball: A Race to the End
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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! The Leaders: Boden Kapke…
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Continue ReadingThis 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!
The Leaders: Boden Kapke Boden Kapke 6'11" | C Holy Family | 2023 State #153 Nation MN of Holy Family, Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN of DeLaSalle, and Nolan Winter Nolan Winter 7'0" | PF Lakeville North | 2023 State #98 Nation MN of Lakeville North
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.
Kapke put everybody on notice with the 40 & 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.
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.
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.
Next Up: Hayden Tibbits Hayden Tibbits 5'11" | PG Wayzata | 2023 State MN of Wayzata.
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.
Final Spot: CJ O’Hara CJ O’Hara 6'4" | SF Park Center | 2023 State #285 Nation MN of Park Center and Max Shikenjanski Max Shikenjanski 6'2" | PG Stillwater | 2023 State #288 Nation MN of Stilltwater
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.
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
Others for the Top Ten
Ben Kopetzki Ben Kopetzki 6'0" | PG Andover | 2023 State MN 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.
JJ Ware JJ Ware 6'6" | SF Park Center | 2023 State MN 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.
Aeron Stevens Aeron Stevens 6'7" | PF Plainview-Eligin-Millville | 2023 State MN 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 &13 mark now on average while leading his team on a big winning streak.
Patrick Bath Patrick Bath 6'9" | C Totino Grace | 2023 State MN of Totino-Grace. Leading the Eagles in scoring and rebounding right now while always playing hard.
Taison Chatman Taison Chatman 6'4" | PG Totino Grace | 2023 State #35 Nation MN 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.
Isaac Matti Isaac Matti 6'1" | SG Hayfield | 2023 State MN 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.
Will Opsahl Will Opsahl 6'8" | SF Goodhue | 2023 State MN of Goodhue. Has Goodhue at 16-1 even though they’ve played a schedule full of quality opponents from bigger schools.
Trey Smith Trey Smith 6'7" | SF Osseo | 2023 State MN 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.