Albany 78 St. Cloud Cathedral 43: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top ranked Albany hit the running time number of a 35 point differential in a 78-43 win over Cathedral tonight dropping Cathedral to 8-4 while the Huskies remain undefeated. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Albany is my favorite (still)</strong>. Why do I still have Albany as my Class AA favorite? They have two high school basketball stars in [player_tooltip player_id='1575328' first='Ezekial' last='Austin'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1286547' first='Sam' last='Hondl'] who have both been starters on a state title team and a state final four team (twice), and they have the role playing depth to play the team basketball needed to win a title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hondl was out tonight and I thought maybe a 8-3 Cathedral team might be spry for the upset, and it wasn't even close. And the reason it wasn't close is that the Albany role players three through ten (tonight it was two through nine) all play hard, they all defend with discipline, they all move the basketball, they are all active, and they collectively are good decision makers on the basketball court. And they play tough. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is an Albany team that running timed an 8-3 team without their future division two star. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. [player_tooltip player_id='1579919' first='Elliott' last='Burnett'] is What You Want</strong>. If you were to point to a guy that is Albany's third best player the easy choice is [player_tooltip player_id='1579919' first='Elliott' last='Burnett']. I was really impressed with how well he got back on defense, how well he moved his feet, and how well he got his length to everything. He handled a decent amount of the time, is an excellent passer, and worked his way to nine rebounds, five assists, and two blocks. He scored three times too for eight points but Burnett looks to be one of these guys that scoring several times is a big bonus. At 6'3 I think he is an excellent all around player that I would look at for the D3 level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. The Unselfishness and Balance</strong>. Albany had 21 assists on 30 field goals by my count (I may have missed a field goal when the JV got in). They spread the basketball to the point that six guys had eight or more points for the game for the team shooting of 30 of 56 (again, I think I missed a bit from the JV at the end). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You had Burnett, Jacob Buttweiler, [player_tooltip player_id='1579920' first='Ethan' last='Meyer'] and Griffin Lange all scoring eight points, [player_tooltip player_id='1560779' first='Ashton' last='Olson'] hit three threes getting him to 11 points for the game, and Austin had 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting. Not the game Austin pry wanted, but more than enough for the team to win by 35. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. What About Cathedral</strong>? They are a nice squad that is much improved from last year's 11-17 season but not ready to challenge a team like Albany. The good thing about Cathedral is that the majority of the line-up is juniors and they will all keep improving to have a nice team in 2025-26. [player_tooltip player_id='1560852' first='Salifou' last='Camara'] was tough around the paint for his 12 points and six boards, [player_tooltip player_id='1874917' first='Micah' last='Nwachukwu'] was active getting 14 points and six boards mostly in the paint, and [player_tooltip player_id='1874853' first='Ikenna' last='Nwachukwu'] had nine points and six rebounds albeit a tough shooting day. All three of those players are juniors as are contributors Henry Schloe and [player_tooltip player_id='2447852' first='Hank' last='Sand']. Throw in sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='2126463' first='Owen' last='Grove'] and that is a nice core finishing out this year and then moving into next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Top Title Contenders with Albany</strong>. The first name out of the mouth has to be Caledonia who has the four seniors that have been starting/playing a lot for four years plus the next King coming up as a talented freshman. Breck has had a lot of losses already but those losses are coming to some of the best big school teams in the state. They will be in the mix. Waseca is undefeated with all of their key pieces back from last year's team. When [player_tooltip player_id='1601069' first='Roman' last='Voss'] is healthy JCC will be there and Lake City is growing quicker than expected so Caledonia has to get through them first. I would say that is my group of top contenders. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->