The Minnesota Hoops Weekend: Catch Games Friday!

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With a winter storm warming coming tonight, Saturday seems up in the air so make sure to catch games tonight!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Friday Metro Combo</strong>. There really isn't much for early starts or late starts so the best combo we can offer is something close to something else. Like Waconia at Chanhassen and New Prague at Chaska. I short drive up the road from one another. I could see Nickle Dickle Days twitter guy running back and forth (although most of the time watching Wac vs Chan of course). Lots of talent in those games with [player_tooltip player_id='1560741' first='Will' last='Kirsch'] (23.6ppg), [player_tooltip player_id='1760312' first='Riley' last='Johnson'] (23.3ppg), [player_tooltip player_id='1617724' first='John' last='Schmidt'] (17.5pgg), [player_tooltip player_id='1437495' first='Evan' last='Weichert'] (21ppg), [player_tooltip player_id='1575345' first='Tray' last='Lenzen'] (19ppg) and [player_tooltip player_id='2126118' first='Tyler' last='Forrest'] (10ppg). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Weekend's Best</strong>. I am sticking with Friday games here just to be safe. So I am going with East Ridge at 1AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall. Let's go match-ups!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560868' first='Joseph' last='Mitchell III'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1560882' first='Cedric' last='Tomes']. The two really good juniors: Mitchell is scoring 18 a game for the top team in state, Tomes is making a monster case to be Junior of the Year at 28 a game on a team with limited depth that is 13-5 on the year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James Johnson/[player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1428992' first='James' last='Martin']. James is averaging 14.6 a game really stepping up this season for the Raptors. Johnson is the lead guard/ball pressure guy, Smith the shooter/scorer/playmaker off the bench. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574220' first='Monteff' last='Dixon Jr'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2104513' first='Kyle' last='Frendt']. The rebounding, defending workers. Kyle is scoring 13 a contest with about eight rebounds a night a while Dixon is giving CDH 11 and six rebounds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2175451' first='Graham' last='Sanneh']. If Ahneman is back tonight, and I would assume the only people that know that are wearing purple and gold to the game, he steps right in as in instant threat that East Ridge needs length on. Sanneh is that agile length. Frendt is the strength. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126094' first='Ty' last='Schlagel'] vs ?. If Tommy doesn't play, its Schlagel for Sanneh most likely. If Tommy does, and considering [player_tooltip player_id='1950404' first='Bennett' last='Skinner'] is hurt, the difference in depth with these teams is so big. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bang for the Buck</strong>.  Sticking with Friday, we talk one game and go 7AAA Byron at 8AAA Stewartville.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last game I had Byron for 19 assists on 24 field goal makes. [player_tooltip player_id='1575327' first='Max' last='Dearborn'] [player_tooltip player_id='2104485' first='Will' last='Brian'], and Fischer Kruckeberg EACH hit four three-pointers in the previous game and they often took those shots in space because of really good transition offense or because of really good passing in their halfcourt offense. Nine guys played in the rotation when the game was still competitive and three of them had more assists than shot taken! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That is what led to a 73-56 game the last time, I would guess it will be closer this time. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Weekend Games</strong>!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>POSTPONED</strong>. The following are postponed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>6AAA Orono at 2AAA Alexandria (Saturday) at the Breakdown Winter Lakes Classic</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li> 4AAA DeLaSalle vs 1-Div3 Milwaukee Academy of Science (Saturday) at the Breakdown Border Battle in River Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>1AA Albany vs Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (Saturday) at the Breakdown Winter Lakes Classic.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>5AAA Totino-Grace vs West Allis Central (Saturday) at the Breakdown Border Battle in River Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>8AA Breck vs 5- Div1 Eau Claire Memorial (Saturday) at the Breakdown Border Battle in River Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 10</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>2AA Waseca at 6AA Jackson County Central (Saturday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>East Ridge at 1AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>7AAA Byron at 8AAA Stewartville (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rushford-Peterson at 3AA Caledonia (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>3AAA Benilde-St.Margaret's at St. Louis Park</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>8A Springfield at Central Minnesota Christian</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Redwood Valley at 6AA Jackson County Central </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>7A Mora vs St. Cloud Cathedral (Saturday) at St. John's University</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Duluth Marshall at 4AA Blake (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Park Chrisitan at West Central Area (Friday)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->