Orono 107 Wayzata 103: Best Prospect Performances

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On a special opening night we had our first Mr. Basketball moment of the season when [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] scored 46 points leading the [program_tooltip program_id='2075852' first='Spartans' last=''] to the four points overtime win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> It was opening night for a lot of people and there is a lot to say here. The focus has to start with the kids though. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First off, what an outstanding tribute from the Orono community for their fallen friend [player_tooltip player_id='2408187' first='Lucas' last='Knudson']. They announced Lucas in the starting line-up along with Groves, [player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'], [player_tooltip player_id='1391203' first='Mitchell' last='Kauch'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2300011' first='Nate' last='Chavez']. The four of those players took the ball on the opening possession, left the ball at the foul line, and let the shot clock run out. At that point Orono subbed in two players with Chavez - who is injured - coming out. Special tribute. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was also a special night of basketball for [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves']. I have a ton of say about Nolan below, but the key point is that Groves led his team to a win over the Class AAAA number one with 46 points total including 16 points in the overtime period for the win. It was the first Mr. Basketball moment of the season and it belongs to Groves. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The broadcast. I LOVE that Kare11 is doing this: their play by play guy does an awesome job and I really like their efforts. That said...... lots of breaks in the action and what happened at the end? That [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] dunk was awesome but watching it nine times wasn't as cool as watching the actual end of the game. I'm sure they will crush it going forward as they did a pretty good job on Wednesday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now the ugly part. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eighty-seven foul shots taken. Sixty-seven fouls called in 45 minutes of action. Three Wayzata players fouling out before the four minute mark of the second half. Both teams being in the double bonus both halves way way faster than I have ever seen. Touch fouls that didn't even have a touch. A dueling banjo type performance of who gets to call the next one in a profession where there should be no performance. This was brutal. It was unfair to the kids, to the coaches, to the fans, and to the game of basketball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It really made me appreciate how well the officials did on Wednesday when Totino-Grace played Hopkins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Stock Up</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] of Orono (Guard, 2025). First of all, Nolan is 6'5 and 205 pounds. He just continues to grow in all ways. I firmly believe that two or three years from now people are going to watch Nolan have a tremendous start in the Ivy League and wonder why he is not playing high major basketball. And then people around here are going to be wondering 1) why he wasn't recruited by Minnesota, and 2) will he transfer home?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I think there is a lot of Nate Wolters to Nolan and I think that will include what happens going forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I had Nate at 15 of 22 shooting from the field with eight foul shots made before the feed went out. He got to his 46 points with some stretches that include a run of six makes in a row to start half two, and then a dunk in overtime that is the early season highlight of the year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560778' first='Nolen' last='Anderson'] of Wazyata (Forward, 2026). When the feed went out [player_tooltip player_id='1560778' first='Nolen' last='Anderson'] had seven threes on his way to a 34 point game. Anderson appears to be a shooter that falls into the special category. Today's world of division one basketball is not geared much towards the high school basketball player but colleges love shooters with size and Nolen is 6'7, and a shooter with size. I can see a lot of schools recruiting him going forward and most being in the mid and low major area. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performers</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'] of Orono (Big, 2025). Brady had 18 points and 15 rebounds at the point of the feed crashing. He was bringing the ball up the floor when Groves was out and he did a good job in that emergency situation. He also did a fantastic job on ball screens forcing Olmstead into several turnovers with that size. Good game for Brady outside of the perimeter shooting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1391203' first='Mitchell' last='Kauch'] of Orono (Guard, 2025). Kauch is a really good high school basketball player: he plays hard, he plays smart, he can shoot it, he does some of everything, and does not make many bad decisions. Kauch had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists when the feed crashed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1454976' first='Wyatt' last='McBeth'] of Wayzata (Forward, 2025). Until the officials took him out of the game, Wyatt had a solid 14 points combining what he did working in the paint with his skill work. It would have been fun to see Wooley and McBeth work back and forth in a different environment, not in this "you can't run into each other" situation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>New Names to Know</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424180' first='Grant' last='Hansen'] of Wayzata (6'0 2027). I thought Grant's energy was excellent. He had a couple big threes, scored in double digits as a sophomore in a huge game, and his defense on Olmstead at times really helped his team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gavin McGuirk of Wayzata (6'2, 2026). There were a load of guards for Orono that filled spots including Hansen and McGuirk and I was impressed with their efforts. McGuirk hit a couple threes and scored in double digits. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Not Their Best</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560807' first='Isaac' last='Olmstead'] of Wayzata (PG, 2026). Olmstead made a load of foul shots late to get to 21 points. It was a rough shooting day (4 of 13 when the feed fell off) and there were a lot of bad turnovers especially with the Orono ball screens led by Wooley's length. I also thought that Orono's six foot sized guards really did a good job on him.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560867' first='Christian' last='Wiggins'] of Wayzata (SG, 2026). Wiggins was solid offensively. Shot 5 of 12, made a ton of foul shots, and grabbed nine rebounds. Not a bad game, but he was on Groves and really had a ton of trouble with the physicality of Groves and he was beat off the bounce more than I expected. Wiggins is a top 100 player nationally and I expect him to bounce back strong this weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->