Minnesota Playoff Central: Zero Upsets in Big School Ball

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When you look at the section finals in Class AAAA and Class AAA there is ONE team among the 32 that isn't a one seed or a two seed. The script has stuck, so far. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>. Every Class section final for this coming week is a one seed versus a two seed. There were zero upsets over the weekend meaning the section finals look as planned. Here they are....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Class AAA</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>1AAA: Stewartville (2) vs Byron (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>2AAA: Marshall (2) vs Mankato East (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>3AAA: St Paul Harding (2) vs St. Thomas (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>4AAA: St. Paul Johnson (2) vs DeLaSalle (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>5AAA: Monticello (2) vs Totino-Grace (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>6AAA: Orono (2) vs Benilde-St. Margaret's (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>7AAA: Hibbing (2) vs Duluth Denfeld (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>8AAA: Fergus Falls (2) vs Alexandria (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then you have Class AAAA and as you see, it is eight one seeds, and seven two seeds.&nbsp; And the one three seed, Centennial, beat Blaine for the second time this year so it's tough to call it much of an upset. Here are the Class AAAA games for this week:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Class AAAA</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>1AAA: Lakeville North (2) vs Rochester JM (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>2AAA: Prior Lake (2)  vs Shakopee (1) </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>3AAA: Eagan (2) vs Apple Valley (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>4AAA: Tartan (2) vs Cretin-Derham Hall (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>5AAA: Maple Grove (2) vs Champlin Park (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>6AAA: Wayzata (2) vs Hopkins (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>7AAA: Centennial (2) vs Anoka (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>8AAA: Moorhead (2) vs STMA (1)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>. I have to move to Hiawatha taking out Blake in a game I watched. Kam'Ron Solomon was incredible in long stretches. He scored 32 points and it didn't matter what the shot contesting was like, it didn't matter how far the attempt or how crazy the angle, there were stretches where four shots in a row went. Solomon scored 13 of 26 attempts from the field plus he made his foul shots. Solomon did the scoring, and his teammates did the defending simply surrounding the Blake bigs and contesting the Blake shooters all game. It was an impressive 67-58 win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performers</strong>.   In the games I saw yesterday.....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109916' first='Cade' last='Wozney'] of Prior Lake went at the Tonka guards all game for success. His left hand attack was unstoppable. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a losing effort, [player_tooltip player_id='1585946' first='Omar' last='Kaba'] flashed that potential again with 19 points on six of nine shooting and 15 rebounds. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'], incredible. INCREDIBLE. 45 points, six rebounds and eight assists on 14 of 24 shooting with 15 of 21 foul shooting, [player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'] had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and [player_tooltip player_id='1391203' first='Mitchell' last='Kauch'] had 18 points, five boards and seven assists. And they needed it all to counter the 34 points from [player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] and 33 points from [player_tooltip player_id='2140700' first='Tyrece' last='Hagler'] of Richfied. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I was really impressed with the scoring of [player_tooltip player_id='1575329' first='Reid' last='Klug'] yesterday. His attack and touch combo impressed. He had 20 and 14 in the Caledonia win over Zumbrota-Mazeppa countering the 15 and 17 from [player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tartan 6'4 freshman [player_tooltip player_id='2560458' first='Emmanuel' last='Oyesanmi'] got going early with a couple threes, a dunk, using that length to get a step and lift to finish. Agile, versatile and with skills that are growing, one of the state's top freshman. He had 24 points in the Tartan 84-61 win over East Ridge. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>.  This is a big list. A lot of great names saw their careers end yesterday. Let's to a quick roll call:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] of Richfield. One of the best scorers I have watched in my time covering this state. He is going to have a heck of a college career and he left a nice legacy on the Spartan program. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1567964' first='Isa' last='El-Amin'] of Minnetonka. Tough final game but one heck of a season, far better than many expected from him or his team. Minnetonka can hold their head high, Isa as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Goergen of Southland. All State player saw his team lost their first game of the season yesterday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] of Duluth Marshall. Sad to hear about all the injuries he endured this season, a great young man with a really bright future ahead of him at UMD.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874846' first='Gavin' last='Johnson'] of Cannon Falls. The Bombers were way, way better than anybody expected while Gavin was there. A heck of a career and a nice college future ahead. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1585944' first='Max' last='Kraay'] of Mound-Westonka. Won a lot of games with the White Hawks which was a program that had not won a ton of games before he was around. Has to have as many wins to his name as just about any White hawk ever.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->