Class AAAA Basketball: Surprise of the Season

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What team has been a big surprise in each section of Class AAAA basketball? We give you the team and the players leading that team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rochester Mayo </strong>of 1AAAA. This is easily Rochester Mayo who has 18 wins. And do you know what's crazy about this group? It's junior dominated. Leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2417626' first='Will' last='Gyarmaty'] is a junior, returning all league player [player_tooltip player_id='2124278' first='Isaac' last='Peterson'] is a junior, twelve point per game scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2381759' first='Reggie' last='Parker'] is a junior, ten point per game scorer [player_tooltip player_id='1560815' first='Logan' last='Shimek'] is a junior and nine point per game scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2133222' first='Elliot' last='Myszkowski'] is a sophomore. Their section seed may be hurt by rough patches early but the second half of the season has been outstanding. Mayo gave East a run.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Prior Lake</strong> of 2AAAA. The Lakers have been much better than expected. We do need to keep this in context, we felt coming into the year they would be a top 25 area team in Class AAAA, just not top 10-15 area. They've had a couple tough ones lately but at 19-6 this year it's been impressive. [player_tooltip player_id='1434127' first='Norbu' last='Jenpa'], [player_tooltip player_id='2109916' first='Cade' last='Wozney'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2635710' first='Colten' last='Gunderson'] have all had far better seasons than many expected. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Hastings</strong> of 3AAAA. Rosemount has won more games than expected (10) but I would say the 19-6 record of Hastings is the biggest surprise. They have always been a team that runs good stuff but this year they have a deeper roster to go with that strong execution. The Raiders are also really balanced with six guys averaging between 7 and 15 a game. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1560773' first='Matthew' last='Foss'] leads with 16 points a game and 45 percent three point shooting, Marlowe Strain is grabbing 6.5 boards a contest while scoring 10.5 points a game, and [player_tooltip player_id='2422073' first='Weston' last='Schult']is averaging over five assists a contest while scoring 11-12 points a night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>White Bear Lake</strong> of 4AAAA. This section has tons of surprises for me. Never did I expect Tartan undefeated, I didn't expect East Ridge to lose a key player but still approach 20 regular season wins, CDH, Central and Stillwater are all about what was expected, and Woodbury at ten wins is likely more than I expected. But White Bear Lake at 13 wins? That's ten more than last year so far and about eight more than I expected. Junior big man [player_tooltip player_id='1560749' first='Colin' last='Piper'] is averaging 15 points, 11 rebounds and a couple blocks a game. And [player_tooltip player_id='2767452' first='John' last='Johnson'] has battled next to Piper for 11 points and seven boards a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Spring Lake Park</strong> of 5AAAA. SLP has slowed down from their hot start but I think it's still okay to say that they have won 11 games which is about five more than we expected. [player_tooltip player_id='1560865' first='Nolan' last='Myren'] has really surprised scoring 20 points a game this year and [player_tooltip player_id='1560768' first='Colin' last='Welch'] is giving his team a dozen points a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Minneapolis Southwest</strong> of 6AAAA. Keeping with the "way better than expected" theme we come to Southwest. The Lakers are 9-14 and I think we had them second or third to last coming into the season in Power Rankings. No real stars but guys that have played hard and helped them play better than expected. Guys like [player_tooltip player_id='1617715' first='Henry' last='Wolfe'] and Dashiell Erickson. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blaine</strong> of 7AAAA. We had Blaine dead last in AAAA and they have a winning record. [player_tooltip player_id='2767442' first='Nanno' last='Gemta'], [player_tooltip player_id='1874931' first='Shiloh' last='Ayitey'], Ty Buffo and [player_tooltip player_id='2109881' first='David' last='Diamond'] have been a strong core scoring in double digits and stretching defenses past their ability. Blaine should be the two seed in their section giving 7AAAA two teams with winning records which is about one more team than expected. Well done Bengals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Moorhead</strong> of 8AAAA. The Spuds are the easy choice. They will get win 20 likely in the playoffs and they are led by that trio of Brian Zarazua, [player_tooltip player_id='2423573' first='Reign' last='Battle'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2451500' first='David' last='Mack']. They are getting 54-55 points a game for their team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->