The Race for Mr. Basketball: Leaders and Snubs

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Watch List is out. Complaints have been filed. We give you a few "snubs" but also look at the leaders for the various countdowns, and all the names are still there. Let's go!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Leader</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] of Lakeville North. Winter has missed the last two games with an ankle injury so the door is open for others!. <em>And yes Nolan made the watch list.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Five Favorites</strong>: Winter, [player_tooltip player_id='962212' first='Boden' last='Kapke'] of Holy Family, [player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] of DeLaSalle, [player_tooltip player_id='962206' first='Max' last='Shikenjanski'] of Stillwater, and [player_tooltip player_id='962199' first='CJ' last='O'Hara'] of Park Center. Kapke is coming off of a 35 point game against Minnehaha Academy that many are talking about. Whitlock is scoring 25 a game and just had 24 spots against Minneapolis North and Columbia Heights. O'Hara is averaging 17.4 a game for undefeated Park Center and Shikenjanski just had 32 against Park plus 24 to lead the Ponies to a close game win over Stillwater. <em>All of these players made the list.</em> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Favorites.</strong> Winter, Kapke, Whitlock, Shikenjanski, and O'Hara joined by [player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] of Totino-Grace, [player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] of Orono, [player_tooltip player_id='962246' first='Ben' last='Kopetzki'] of Andover, and at this point I would say the other two are so far up in the air I can't even offer two more names at this exact moment. <em>All eight of those players made the watch list</em>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 20.</strong> If I had to add a dozen names to the other eight I would say: injured and now playing [player_tooltip player_id='962198' first='Taison' last='Chatman'] of Totino-Grace and [player_tooltip player_id='962200' first='Jack' last='Janicki'] of White Bear Lake plus [player_tooltip player_id='962203' first='Tommy' last='Humphries'] of Totino-Grace, [player_tooltip player_id='1225623' first='Ryan' last='Heise'] of Lake City, [player_tooltip player_id='1139197' first='Adam' last='Jenkins'] of Moorhead, [player_tooltip player_id='962256' first='Buay' last='Koak'] of Lyle/Austin Pacelli, [player_tooltip player_id='962228' first='Owen' last='Leach'] of DGF (huge 30/15 game in a win over Perham last week), [player_tooltip player_id='962284' first='Isaac' last='Matti'] of Hayfield, [player_tooltip player_id='962224' first='Will' last='Opsahl'] of Goodhue, [player_tooltip player_id='1339196' first='Aeron' last='Stevens'] of PEM, [player_tooltip player_id='962216' first='Will' last='Underwood'] of Mahtomedi, and [player_tooltip player_id='1167554' first='Hayden' last='Tibbits'] of Wayzata. <em>All of those players made the watch list</em>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So as you can tell, I think the most deserving players that have earned a spot on the list are there and going forward they will all battle for spots on what is a wide open race. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That said, you can't have an all star game, or an all league team, or a race for a certain trophy without "snubs". So here are five that I think have a case for the watch list:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962223' first='Khalif' last='Bettis'] of Burnsville. At 23 points a game for an improved Burnsville team Bettis is maybe the most naturally talented player that was not on the watch list for Mr. Basketball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1491756' first='Nate' last='Dahl'] of Buffalo. Dahl might have the case for the biggest snub considering his team is 10-1 coming off of the win at Eden Prairie and he is scoring 23 points per game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'] of Albany. Albany is one of the best teams in Class AA basketball and leading the way has been Minnesota State Moorhead bound [player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1492565' first='Kaiden' last='Peters'] of PEM. Peterson is coming off of a 40 point game and when he has been in the line-up for PEM they have been exceptional (missed a game for football). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962272' first='Mason' last='Schirmer'] of Maple River. Schirmer has been a constant all league talent for a Maple River team that has been a constant top ten team and has beaten Minnehaha and many others. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->