Zumbrota-Mazeppa Starts Big Stretch 2-0

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Zumbrota-Mazeppa is one of the biggest teams in Class AA basketball and this weekend they started a monster stretch of five games that could really swing their season. They are off to a good start and we break down the 8-1 Cougars today!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first five Cougars on the floor give ZM a 5'10-6'3-6'4-6'6-6'9 starting line-up with a 6'7 6th Man coming off the bench. It's the type of size that most teams really can't match but what makes things tougher is this big line-up is versatile! As we took in the ZM vs PEM game on Friday night, the size of the Cougars really jumped off the screen.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>A Linebacker of a Point Guard</strong>. In watching the Cougars beat PEM on Friday night my biggest takeaway was the passing ability and ball skill of Bakster Aredt, a 6'3 185 pound point guard. On Friday night Bakster had a game high nine assists plus he grabbed seven boards leading is team to a 72-53 win. This is an athlete that was an all league, all area linebacker who had 65 solo tackles this year. Then he moves to small school basketball and teams have to deal with a young Chad Greenway looking guy bringing the ball up the floor! After a strong Friday night, Arendt then scored a team high 14 points in a six point win over Jackson County Central. And Arendt spent some time helping defend Mr. Football [player_tooltip player_id='1601069' first='Roman' last='Voss'] (who had 16 points). Love the roles that Bakster plays for this team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Scholarship Talent</strong>. Teams that have a scholarship level basketball player at 6'8/6'9 they are at a serious advantage. The advantage of having a player like [player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller'] was really clear at the start of the PEM game as Ethan grabbed several boards, he had two early threes and a score in the paint for a quick 16-0 lead. Miller finished that game with 22 points and eight rebounds making 8 of 13 shots and half of those makes were at the arc. Miller was one of four players in double figures to beat JCC on Saturday and he is giving his team 20 points and nine boards a game </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>A 6'7 6th Man</strong>. ZM has the luxury of bringing 6'7 senior [player_tooltip player_id='2411079' first='Aaron' last='Miller'] off the bench and playing him with Ethan at 6'8/6'9 and 6'6 talented junior [player_tooltip player_id='2435185' first='Karsten' last='Miller'] (who had 14 points and six boards on Friday followed by 11 on Saturday) in a huge line-up that can be a big zone or Aaron can replace one of those players and ZM stays big. Aaron came off the bench yesterday to score four times as ZM consistently brings size at teams. When you add in Hudsom Ohm and Grady Streit the Cougars really have six starters. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8-1.</strong> Zumbrota-Mazeppa opened the year with a win over La Crescent which is traditionally a quality program and then they beat Pine Island who had upset Lake City. Wins over Lake City and Kasson-Mantorville (Cougars over the Comets by 31) brought them to 4-0 before Goodhue jumped on ZM quickly and never looked back. They then bounced back to beat Red Wing, Chatfield and PEM heading into the big stretch. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five Game Stretch</strong>. Is Zumbrota-Mazeppa a state title contender? a top ten team? a section title contender? a league title contender?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We will have a clearer answer to that on January 13th. The Cougars have a five game run that will test them big. They passed the first test yesterday defeated Jackson County Central by six points. Next up is Cannon Falls this Tuesday, another team pushing for the same goals that ZM is, and they are also 8-1. Regardless of the result there, the Cougars have to quickly bounce back 48 hours later to play Stewartville who isn't just a Class AAA team, but an AAA team that has been ranked in the top ten this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Next Saturday is a battle with top ten ranked Winona Cotter who is now 9-1 on the season and they jumped into the top ten with their ten point win over Goodhue. Remember, Goodhue was number one in the state with the help of their 20+ win over the Cougars, and Cotter beat Goodhue by ten. The final big test in this five game run is a road game at Byron. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If the Cougars can come out of this run at 10-3 they can feel all right, they can feel good. If they lose only once during this run they can feel great about their future. And Zumbrota-Mazeppa sweeps this five game run, we can talk about all of those trophies we discussed earlier. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Good luck Zumbrota-Mazeppa!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->