The Race for Mr. Basketball: The Top Five Snubs
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Who are the snubs from this year’s list? We dive into that now and yeah there were a couple serious snubs. One. Patrick Bath Patrick Bath 6'9" | C Totino Grace | 2023 State MN of Totino-Grace. Bath has been…
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Continue ReadingWho are the snubs from this year’s list? We dive into that now and yeah there were a couple serious snubs.
One. Patrick Bath Patrick Bath 6'9" | C Totino Grace | 2023 State MN of Totino-Grace. Bath has been the most consistent player on the number one team in Class AAA leading his team in both scoring and rebounding at 19 points and 14 rebounds a game. I had Bath as an outside shot at the top five in my last article! He will be a first team Class AAA All State player and there are names in the Mr Basketball top ten that might not make first or second team. There is one guy on list the that might not make fourth team all state in his class and Bath is a first team all state player in Class AAA! Biggest snub I have seen for the top ten in some time. Very surprising.
Two. Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN of Orono. What’s a guy got to do? Lead his team into top 3-4 in state? Isaiah did it. Save his best for his top opponents? Had 30+ against Jayden Moore Jayden Moore 6'0" | PG Hopkins | 2026 State MN and Hopkins, had 30+ against Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN and Jefferson, had 30+ in a top five match-up with Alexandria (and had five or more assists in all those games and they won all those games!). Averaging 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists a game this season and can look right down the Mr. Basketball list and say “I have been better all season than three of these guards!” and he would be correct.
Three. Will Opsahl Will Opsahl 6'8" | SF Goodhue | 2023 State MN of Goodhue. I’m sure the outstate is likely mad about an all metro list but they really don’t have much merit to that outside of Will. Opsahl though has a legit case. This is a guy that has led his Class A team over top ten Stewartville TWICE and just led his team over Hayfield. They are ranked 4th in Class A with Will as the leading scorer, rebounder, assist guy, shot blocker, steals, and he often defends the top guy from the other team plus he plays point for his team AND he is their post threat. What more does a guy have to do? Class A Player of the Year so far.
Four. Jack Janicki Jack Janicki 6'4" | SG White Bear Lake | 2023 State #277 Nation MN of White Bear Lake. Jack was hurt by his injury missing December but keep an eye out for WBL as they are playing well. The Bears are close to being a top ten team in Class AAAA after beating Maple Grove, Stillwater, and Mounds View recently. Jack is scoring 20 a game and had a huge 33 point game against the Crimson.
Five. Aeron Stevens Aeron Stevens 6'7" | PF Plainview-Eligin-Millville | 2023 State MN of PEM. Stevens will likely be a Class AA first team all state player and he’s got PEM back in the top ten of Class AA this weekend. Stevens is an inside/out threat and an explosive player that keeps improving. A good player for this fifth spot on the snub list.