The Race for Mr. Basketball: We pick an early favorite

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>How did the top candidates play heading into holiday week and where will they be playing holiday tournament basketball? We break it down now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Favorite.</strong> I am challenging myself to pick one favorite right now and while I think is is wide open and I could see five different guys with a chance to win it based on their current trajectory I will say my slight current favorite is.....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] of Orono</strong>. Nolan is averaging an incredible 36 points a game as he's having to do more than expected this year because of the line-up missing a couple seniors unfortunately. Last week Nolan had 26 before taking an early seat against Delano in a massive blowout, and then he went head to head with [player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] and got the better of Armstrong with the 14 point win for his team, and the wild 48 point explosive performance! His team takes their 4-1 record to South Dakota to play a couple games this week. Nolan's incredible overtime versus Wayzata was the first Mr. Basketball moment of the year and his head to head with Armstrong is also noteworthy in a big way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Five</strong>. I would say the next four would be surely [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman'] followed by [player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] and then either [player_tooltip player_id='1288748' first='Tyler' last='Wagner'] or [player_tooltip player_id='1574227' first='Chace' last='Watley']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman'] of Cretin-Derham Hall. I think Tommy is the most impossible to stop player in the state right now. Sure there are others that can point to the help he may have that others don't and you can make an argument for that, but when Tommy touches the basketball at eight feet and in, he just seems nearly impossible to stop. He's so big, strong, agile, and quick off his feet. His team is undefeated and I don't see much for losses on his schedule coming soon, and Tommy is averaging 17.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.5 blocks a game shooting nearly 78 percent from the field! The concern here actually might be all the blowouts coming (Tommy had nine points making 4 of 6 shots versus Burnsville, and six points on 3 of 3 shooting vs Irondale) and it's a balanced CDH team that will get up huge on many opponents. CDH faces STA and Waconia the next two days. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'] of Alexandria. Thompson went against Apollo meaning [player_tooltip player_id='1574216' first='Azayah' last='Washington'] was on the other team, and Alex beat them by 47 points and Chase had 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in that game. Their game with Brainerd wasn't played because of weather so his next game will be at CSP this Friday and Saturday against Maple Grove and Mankato East. That's a huge chance for Chase to make a statement after an injury took him out of the game with CDH which was an outstanding battle between Chase and Tommy before he had to sit. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] of BSM. Jalen had 17 points in a big top five win over rival DeLaSalle just before the holiday. And you could see that win meant a lot to him, and his team. They remain number one in Class AAA undefeated, and Jalen is averaging a strong 24 plus points per game. It looks like BSM will be off the next two weeks and get back playing in early January. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288748' first='Tyler' last='Wagner'] of Champlin Park. Tyler has CP ranked in the top five, they are undefeated, and he is scoring 32 points a game through five games. CP has the toughest weekend ahead of any top team in Class AAAA as they have a top five battle with Sauk Rapids-Rice and a top ten game with STMA (both in St Cloud). Nobody else in the top five is even close to that this week. Wagner is coming off of back to back 34 point games against Chaska and Blaine.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574227' first='Chace' last='Watley'] of Totino-Grace. When you look at the names above, they all have the responsibility of scoring whenever they touch the ball, but Watley has to balance scoring with playmaking for others and he's faced a monster schedule so far. Watley is scoring 24 points a game while also leading his team in assists. He had 26 points in a win over EP, and 20 points in a loss to East Ridge. The Eagles, like Orono, will be in South Dakota for their holiday event. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Next Up</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] of Richfield. Armstrong is scoring 34 points a game for the [program_tooltip program_id='2075852' first='Spartans' last='']. Last week he had 32 in a blowout win over Fridley, and then scored 38 points in the 92-78 loss to Orono. Thirty-eight is surely impressive, but ten less than Groves had head to head in that game. Armstrong is in the St Cloud area this week and has a head to head with Washington. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874916' first='Micah' last='Curtis'] of St. Louis Park. Micah is averaging 26 points and nine rebounds a game for a top ten teams. After a rough ten point game against Wayzata, he bounced back for 27 in the loss to Hopkins. Curtis and his team are in the Capitol City Classic at Hamline/Northwestern (MN) this weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] of Mankato East. With a game against [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'] and Alex, and a game against Park Center, it's a big holiday weekend for East at CSP. Brogan had 20 right away on his way to 29 to beat Northfield last week and he led his team to a 40 point win over Century. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574212' first='Anthony' last='Smith'] of Hopkins. Smith is scoring 26 points a game for Hopkins and if you have paid attention to Hopkins over the years, rarely do they have a guy score that much on their deep and balanced roster (which they are again). Smith had 21 in the Park Center win, and 29 in the St. Louis Park win. Royals are in the Augsburg event Friday, Saturday and Monday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574216' first='Azayah' last='Washington'] of Apollo. Washington had 26 when his team was throttled by Thompson and Alexandria but then went off for 48 points in a big win against crosstown Cathedral just before the holiday break. Apollo is at home in the Granite City Classic this week and he gets a head to head with [player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->