Class AAAA Basketball: The Top 5 Biggest Surprises

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What five teams have surprised us the most this season based on preseason prognostications? We gives these players and coaches a huge amount of credit today!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Coon Rapids</strong>. We picked Coon Rapids as the 62nd team out of 62 teams in the last preseason power rankings. [player_tooltip player_id='3200333' first='Kieran' last='Wymore'] has had a great season scoring 22 points a game and helping his team win five of their last seven games. The Cards just beat Sartell who is the current favorite in 8AAA and last night they beat Park Center by a score led by 21 from Wymore plus senior [player_tooltip player_id='1874905' first='Konnor' last='Young'] scored 14 and senior [player_tooltip player_id='2759667' first='Imran' last='Mohammed'] had 13. Mohammed is scoring nearly 12 points a game. Coon Rapids has a chance to win double figure games and after losing so many players, many thought they would win about two or three. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Robbinsdale Armstrong</strong>. Before the season started we had them ranked sixth from the bottom, in other words, about a five or six win team. Instead Armstrong is one win from having a guaranteed winning season as they are 13-12 right now. They had won five of six before running into Andover (also on this list) and Tartan who is undefeated. Armstrong seniors Gabe Lundberg, Drew Mertens and [player_tooltip player_id='2417085' first='Javaun' last='Watson'] are currently averaging almost 44 points a game led by Watson's near 17 a night. Last year Lundberg was an Armstrong junior varsity player that didn't play varsity, Drew Mertens doesn't even look like he was on a basketball roster in 24-25, and Watson played on the Hopkins junior varsity. Now these threes are together leading Armstrong to a winning record! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blaine</strong>. The preseason rank for the Bengals was 43rd out of 62, so in other words, bottom 20, and they are a top 20 team. At one point Blaine was ranked in the top ten! They are currently 18-6 and they are currently in a battle with Andover in the best top of the section race in 7AAAA between good teams in years! Blaine beat Andover by 22 points early in the season. That said the season has hit a snag losing six of their last ten BUT nobody ever expected Blaine to have a chance to win 20 games. [player_tooltip player_id='1874931' first='Shiloh' last='Ayitey'] has been an all state player at over 20 a game, sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='2954043' first='Henry' last='Semans'] looks next up as he is scoring 15 a game, senior Tuula Gemta has been good and junior [player_tooltip player_id='2417551' first='Gavin' last='Olson'] has been good too. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Andover.</strong> We expected Andover to be middle of the road or in the second half of the full group, but they have a real chance at playing for state. Of course the Huskies and Blaine need to avoid pitfalls but if they both make it to the section final, that could be 20 game winners facing each other in the section final in 7AAAA which has not been a common thing. The top Andover scorers - Joe Mapson, [player_tooltip player_id='2382253' first='Colton' last='Miller'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1936143' first='Caden' last='Roessler'] - are all seniors and all of them are greatly improved players. They are averaging 18, 15 and 17 points a game respectively after averaging 10, 9.5, and 8 a game last season. And remember, [player_tooltip player_id='2381649' first='Eddie' last='Miles'] was the top returning scorer but he is injured. And they are still having a strong season! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Buffalo</strong>. We thought Buffalo was going to be good, but top 25 good, not top five good! Yes the Bison. The story of the year maybe? We have talked about them extensively so there is no need to redo it but they are basically a year ahead of schedule (the schedule others had for them). [player_tooltip player_id='2400077' first='Eli' last='Hegle'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2397563' first='Thomas' last='Jordan'] are All State stars, [player_tooltip player_id='2126866' first='Matthew' last='Jordan'] and Tony Jordan are future college basketball players, and [player_tooltip player_id='2620834' first='Henry' last='Bloomquist'] is a greatly improved senior. This team got better playing AAU teams all spring and summer and they could do the same thing the next two years without ever playing AAU, and they would be state contenders and their best players will get scholarships. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->