Class AAAA Preview: Team Capsules
The big school tourney gets underway at the Target Center Wednesday morning. Catch up on the very deep eight-team field before heading downtown tomorrow!
#1 Champlin Park (29-0) – The Rebels have been number one and two steps above the rest all season. When discussing the top teams in AAAA, the conversation usually goes “Champlin Park and then everybody else”. Star Tribune‘s Metro Player Of The Year McKinley Wright leads the charge, with a mind-boggling statline of 22.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 7.8 apg. He has the best supporting cast possible in 6-9 two-way big man Theo John, slashing wings Marcus Hill and DJ Hunter, and dead-eye shooters Josiah Strong, Brian Smith, Bennett Otto and Sam DuBois. That depth alone makes them the outright favorite to win it all. Five players average at least 8.5 points per contest, so gameplanning to stop Wright doesn’t guarantee a chance to beat them. Top to bottom, this might be one of the best Minnesota high school teams ever assembled.
#2 Maple Grove (27-2) – The 1-2 combo of Brad Davison (24.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.9 apg, 4.6 spg) and Tywhon Pickford (21.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is deadly all by itself. But don’t forget the Crimson role players like glue guy Ryan Bredensteiner, sharpshooter Bubba Horton, high-riser Gare Ewefada and mainstay three-point dropper Jack Hutchison. Maple Grove completed a pretty crazy trifecta of wins this season in beating DeLaSalle, Apple Valley and Hopkins within a month of each other. Their two losses came to Park Center and Champlin Park. When Pickford shoots well, Davison gets to the rim and the free throw line, and the rest contribute 5-10 points apiece, the section 8AAAA winners are tough to keep up with.
#3 Apple Valley (27-2) – The only thing keeping Apple Valley from the 2 seed is the head-to-head loss against Maple Grove (a 103-87 barn-burner at the Granite City Classic). The Eagles only other defeat also came to Champlin Park. Tre Jones has channeled his inner triple-double prowess this season (23.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 7.5 apg) while getting good support from fellow guards Mohamed Kone, Luke Martens, Ely Hendrickson and Nathan Macho. Junior center Spencer Rolland consistently mans the middle at 6-foot-7. Jones propels this Eagles squad with his constant pace-pushing and surrounds himself with shooters and finishers; their first round game with Cretin-Derham Hall will be a DOOZY.
#4 Lakeville North (27-2) – The only thing keeping Lakeville North from the 2 seed is their lone pair of losses to the enemy Eagles of Apple Valley. The Panthers defeated Rochester John Marshall once again to capture their sixth straight State appearance under phenomenal head coach John Oxton. The program he has created is one of pure winners. 6-foot-10 forward Nathan Reuvers dominates inside and out, putting up 2014 Kevin Love-type numbers at 25.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Steady lead guard Ethan Igbanugo has proven to be an elite second option, while the wing trio of Trevor Schermann, Tyler Wahl and Tyler Lewko has stepped up in multiple ways on both ends as well. North always plays their best basketball in March (I experienced it firsthand not too long ago), and I fully expect their matchup with Wayzata to be the best of Wednesday.
#5 Wayzata (26-3) – The Trojans, champs of section 6AAAA, dive into Target Center with one of the most disciplined and efficient offenses in the state. Nobody expected to count the number of Wayzata losses on one hand. Leadership and versatility emerged from senior guard Gavin Baumgartner, who finds himself in every statistical category imaginable. Knockdown snipers Ryan Lindberg, Drew Galinson and Luke Paulson feed off open looks from 2019 floor general Jacob Beeninga. Coach Bryan Schnettler knows a thing or two about shooting the basketball, and his Trojans know each other better than they know themselves. This squad can pile up the points in a hurry or choose to take time and find the best shot possible. A very dangerous group, especially since jump shooting is one of the biggest differences in playoff games.
Cretin-Derham Hall (21-8) – Applaud the Raiders for surviving one of the two “Death Sections” in AAAA, section 4. CDH fended off pesky North St. Paul in the 4/5 game, fought through an overtime semifinal against 1 seed East Ridge and took out Tartan to seal a Target Center berth. Minnesota Gopher commit Daniel Oturu dominates anything inside the arc, putting up a ferocious 19.6 ppg/16.3 rpg/6.3 bpg statline. Point guard Ryan Larson will blow by you if you relax the slightest bit, orchestrating the offense by throwing lobs to Oturu and kickouts to Jaeden King, sophomore guard shooting 41 percent from deep. Possibly the X-factor for this Raider group is Jake Prince, 6-foot-4 junior forward who is the veteran in the rotation. He draws the task of guarding the opponent’s best player and has come up with big shots in clutch moments this season as the backup ballhandler. Add in 6-foot-7 four-man Sy Chatman and senior wing Michael Carter and that’s a random draw nobody would have asked for. Apple Valley will have their hands full.
Chaska (24-5) – Let’s start with the elephant in the room. That’s 6-5 guard Myles Hanson, the Columbia signee who is absolutely killing it over the past month. He dropped 46 on Edina in the section semifinal and hit the game-winning floater in a grinder against Eden Prairie for the 2AAAA title. Hanson is scoring 24.3 a game while supported by Andrew Kallman (12.9 ppg), sophomore low block hound Cole Nicholson (13.1 ppg) and veteran point guard Alex Strazzanti (8.1 ppg). The Hawks will score with the best of them, but stopping Champlin Park in the first round will be the ultimate test. If Hanson goes for 40+, who knows? These guys have all the confidence in the world, reaching the tourney for the first time since 2004 when Spencer Tollackson led the Hawks to a state championship.
Andover (11-18) – Section 7AAAA always goes the way you’d least expect it to, and this year was no different as Matt Aune’s seventh-seeded Huskies forced their way to State once again. Logan Rezac scores at a high rate (25.4 ppg) and he’s a high-end Division 3 prospect. Connor Knoepfle (9.4 ppg) and Jacob Paul (7.6 ppg) play big supporting roles. Andover did this exact same thing four years ago: losing record, not favored to win the section, somehow were the last ones standing. They face Maple Grove in the first round, who they played very competitively for a half just three weeks ago.
–Stay tuned for more State Tournament coverage from all of our writers here at NHR.–