Five Things to Know: Jefferson 58 Burnsville 53
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The Jags beat the Blaze in a back and forth game led by a double-double from Junior Star Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN ! Here are five things to know. One.…
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Continue ReadingThe Jags beat the Blaze in a back and forth game led by a double-double from Junior Star Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN ! Here are five things to know.
One. Freitag Everywhere. Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN scored 28 points on 10 of 22 shooting from the field and 8 of 13 foul shooting plus he grabbed 16 rebounds. Ten of those boards were offensive rebounds. In watching Daniel I could not help but think of three guys in watching Daniel play. The first was former Hopkins wing Joe Coleman. Like Joe, Daniel used his explosive athletic ability to consistently score around the rim in various ways. Between the attacks and the relentless offensive rebounding, it was just about all paint buckets for Daniel which is what Coleman often did. In addition, the incredible explosiveness also reminds me of former CDH Raider and NFL first round pick Michael Floyd. Daniel is in that realm of next level explosive but he is also that combo guard sized hooper with skill which made me think Tyler Johnson (the former Minneapolis North star). You take all of that wrap it into one, you have Daniel who was simply too much for the Blaze to stop.
Two. JT the Prospect. It was fun to watch Jt Thornton Jt Thornton 6'4" | SF Burnsville | 2023 State MN finish his season in so many exciting ways. Thornton hit three jumpers on Tuesday that really caught my eye as the form looks better and he looked so comfortable releasing the basketball. JT led Burnsville in scoring with 19 points on 9 of 14 shooting and that total included two explosive dunks. We’ve seen the agility and defensive potential from Thornton in the past and now we’ve seen some improved skill in terms of the handling and the touch. Thornton is a player we continue to believe has good potential at the college level.
Three. Sophomore Surprise. Jefferson sophomore Marcus Horton Marcus Horton 6'1" | SG Bloomington Jefferson | 2025 State MN was a key player to the Jefferson win as well. He had a highlight behind the back pass that was a big score in the Jefferson late game momentum followed by another assist to the same guy ( Anthony Thorman Anthony Thorman 6'7" | C Bloomington Jefferson | 2023 State MN ). In addition, Horton hit two corner threes that were also important to the win. Horton looks like a player that could have a really bright future for Jefferson.
Four. Blaze the Trail. Burnsville won nine games this year which was a nice improvement although not quite the improvement I thought we may see with Thornton joining the fray (the injury to PG Henry Saykeo Henry Saykeo 5'11" | PG Burnsville | 2023 State MN surely hurt their W-L record). In my opinion they would have won last night if they put forth even a below average defensive rebounding effort in the zone but Jefferson just had way way too many second and third chances. That said, the Blaze could take an even bigger step forward next year.
They have a couple nice juniors back in double figure scorer Jeremy Sherlock and seven footer Henry Buchanan Henry Buchanan 7'0" | C Burnsville | 2024 MN as well as a really good sophomore group in Collin Heckman Collin Heckman 6'2" | SG Burnsville | 2025 State MN , Charlie Pettis, and Soren Leafblad Soren Leafblad 5'9" | PG Burnsville | 2025 State MN . Heckman had a 13 point game last night and Pettis averaged double figures this year.
Five. Love Eagan vs Jefferson. I really like this second round game in the section coming up between Jefferson and Eagan. Both teams have a tad bit of size surrounded by a lot of good guards. Emmanuel Schmitter Emmanuel Schmitter 6'3" | SG Eagan | 2023 State MN and Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN lead the way but both teams have a few other guards that can produce for their teams as well. Should be fun.