The Minnesota Hoops Weekend

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We have a monster Friday night of basketball and a big event in the Rochester area with another round of strong contests to take in. The Minnesota Hoops Weekend!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Friday Metro Combo</strong>. For the first time in a long time I don't really have a combo for you here. The earliest starts are Hastings against Hill-Murray, and Tartan vs Mahtomedi, both at 6:30. Right now it's looking like Tartan will be the Metro East favorite so the .500 Zephyrs will be motivated for that one, and Hastings is a contender with the second best overall record in the league, they and Hill-Murray need a win to kick off league play. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The latest metro town is Lakeville South vs Farmington, a game both of these teams really need for their resume as both teams enter the New Year with three losses. Farmington just lost to Rochester John Marshall, while South is 6-3 with three losses that were lost by a combined four baskets to Edina, Eagan, and Chaska. You can argue maybe South should have won or two of those BUT unlike some of the other teams in our Power 25, South has not had what you will call a bad game yet, so keep an eye on them. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Weekend's Best</strong>. 4AAA Totino-Grace at 1AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126117' first='Malachi' last='Hill'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith']. The best sophomore lead guard in the state against another very good point guard that some on twitter keep telling should also be in the best point guard in the state chatter. The tale of the tape is Hill and his 13 points, five assists and a couple steals a game shooting in the 43rd percentile versus Smith and his six points, three assists and a steal a game shooting in the 37th percentile. But throw the numbers out the window and let them go head to head! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574227' first='Chace' last='Watley'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1560868' first='Joseph' last='Mitchell III']. Watley is a top five Mr. Basketball candidate scoring 24 points a game as one of the state's toughest covers. Mitchell is the CDH third leading scorer at 13 points a game. A pair of division one talents in a new era where only a small handful of high school kids in each class can say that these days. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560835' first='Tian' last='Chatman'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2126094' first='Ty' last='Schlagel']. Ty is 6'7 and scoring 17 points a game shooting 59 percent from the field and 41 percent at the arc. Chatman is about a 6'4 guard/wing that has shown to be an excellent defender and this is a game he will be motivated to do that at his best. Tian is scoring ten points a game this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560740' first='Dothan' last='Ijadimbola'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1574220' first='Monteff' last='Dixon Jr']. About the only eye to eye frontcourt forward/big match-up where TG will look eye to eye with CDH is Dothan against Dixon. Dothan is scoring 11 points with seven/eight boards a game while Dixon is scoring nine points a contest with six boards a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617806' first='Will' last='Fariss']/[player_tooltip player_id='1895712' first='Daniel' last='Zoa']/TG vs [player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman']. Tommy is making 75 percent of his attempts for his 18 points a game (with 11 rebounds on average). At 6'11, strong, agile, great hands and excellent footwork, how is a smaller TG team going to defend him? I am sure there will be multiple defenders at times, or often, and I am guessing Fariss starts on Tommy, Zoa at 6'5/6'6 comes off the bench to work against Zoa, Dothan will pry get some work here, and often I am sure there will be multiple bodies trying to stop Tommy. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bang for the Buck</strong>. With 15 different games on the boys side (and you can watch several girls basketball teams too) the place to be to get Bang for you Buck is the Southern Minnesota Hoop Fest. The High schools of Byron, Rochester JM, Kasson-Mantorville, and Goodhue are all hosting games so pick out some games and get to a couple gyms and watch talent. There are a pair of HUGE Class AAA games at this event as top ten battles will take place between BSM vs Byron, and Mound-Westonka vs Stewartville. Who is a contender and who is a pretender? We find out in Rochester tomorrow. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Weekend Games</strong>!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>4AAA Totino-Grace at 1AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>2AAAA Hopkins at 3AAA Orono (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>1A Cherry vs 5A Nevis at Duluth East (Saturday) in the <strong>Breakdown Lake Superior Classic</strong></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>10AAAA Eagan at Apple Valley (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>1AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's at 8AAA Byron (Saturday) at the <strong>Breakdown Southern Minnesota Hoopfest</strong></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>7AAA Mound-Westonka vs 10AAA Stewartville (Saturday) at Kasson-Mantorville at the <strong>Breakdown Southern Minnesota Hoopfest</strong></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Richfield at 2AAA DeLaSalle (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>5AA Blake at Esko (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>4AA Waseca at Marshall (Saturday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>3AA Breck vs La Crosse Central (Saturday) at Byron at the <strong>Breakdown Southern Minnesota Hoopfest</strong></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Extra Points</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That Cherry vs Nevis game is a top five Class A match-up that we have seen at state in March a few times</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Orono vs Hopkins is two of the top five teams in state overall!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eagan vs Apple Valley is huge in seeding for Section 3AAAA. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Can De stop CJ Armstrong? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->