The Final Five have been announced for the Mr. Basketball award and here are the five names, along with some of their recent results in March!
The Final Five
Boden Kapke
Boden
Kapke
6'11" | C
Holy Family | 2023
State
#153
Nation
MN
of Holy Family: Scored 22 points with 14 boards versus Edison and then led the Fire to state with 13 against Minneapolis North despite fouling out early.
Ben Kopetzki
Ben
Kopetzki
6'0" | PG
Andover | 2023
State
MN
of Andover: Scored 26 points with 6 assists leading his team to state against Cambridge-Istanti.
Hayden Tibbits
Hayden
Tibbits
5'11" | PG
Wayzata | 2023
State
MN
of Wayzata: Had 17 points (23 for the game) and led the Trojans to state with a win over Hopkins
Nasir Whitlock
Nasir
Whitlock
6'1" | PG
DeLaSalle | 2023
State
MN
of DeLaSalle: had 16 points leading the Islanders to state in a 65-46 win over St. Thomas
Nolan Winter
Nolan
Winter
6'10" | PF
Lakeville North | 2023
State
#98
Nation
MN
of Lakeville North: Scored 19 in helping the Panthers to state over Lakeville South 58-41.
The Next Up
I would say the four spots were quite clear (Winter, Whitlock, Tibbits, and Kapke). The fifth spot was earned by Kopetzki likely over
Nate Dahl
Nate
Dahl
6'0" | PG
Buffalo | 2023
State
MN
,
Max Shikenjanski
Max
Shikenjanski
6'2" | PG
Stillwater | 2023
State
#288
Nation
MN
and CJ O’Hara. All were very close.
Taison Chatman
Taison
Chatman
6'4" | PG
Totino-Grace | 2023
State
#35
Nation
MN
would likely be there too (and likely was) but his injury led to him missing another game recently (and ultimately led to Taison not likely having the season he had hoped for).
The Fifth Spot
I will continue to maintain that the fifth spot should have also included
Patrick Bath
Patrick
Bath
6'9" | C
Totino-Grace | 2023
State
MN
of Totino-Grace or
Isaiah Hagen
Isaiah
Hagen
6'3" | PG
Orono | 2023
State
MN
of Orono. In fact one of them would have been my fifth and I would have had a hard time picking between the two. Hagen just led Orono to state with 18 points and 9 rebounds versus BSM and Bath just had 15 points and 14 rebounds (both team highs) in helping TG beat Mahtomedi for state.
