Three Up, Three Down: Class AAA

Ryan James December 21, 2023 @ 07:34 AM

We move to Class AAA for three up, three down locating teams that have surprised, and teams that are slow in rolling but have players doing good things.     Three Up   Hutchinson (6-0). The Tigers are 6-0 and ranked in the top ten. I doubt anybody outside of Hutch saw this coming. They have beaten teams they likely should beat but they also defeated Big Lake and Dassel-Cokato which has really opened eyes. And not only have they won their six games, four of those wins were blow victories. Hutch is winning games with balance as 6'4 junior [player_tooltip player_id='1436459' first='Nathan' last='Johnson'], 6'2 senior shooter [player_tooltip player_id='1617763' first='Kaden' last='Butler'], athletic 6'3 senior [player_tooltip player_id='2364171' first='Logan' last='Butler'], and 5'10 senior lead guard [player_tooltip player_id='1284096' first='Carter' last='Verhasselt'] are all scoring in double figures.   Minneapolis South (5-0). This is another group of Tigers that has not only surprised us, they are beating teams in near terrifying ways! The Tigers are winning by an average score of 91 to 54. That St. Louis Park team that just beat Tartan and Minnehaha Academy? South beat them by 35. That Anoka team that just beat Holy Family? South whooped them 89-61. [player_tooltip player_id='1434055' first='Poet' last='Davis'] has been the early season Section MVP like was mentioned this fall on twitter. [player_tooltip player_id='2364192' first='Romero' last='Walker'] has been as expected as well. The 20+ a game from [player_tooltip player_id='2248727' first='Jumarion' last='Weh'] and the play of James Underwood have really helped South have the year they have as well. Incredible start for South.   Hill-Murray (4-1). The Pioneers have doubled their win total from last year in five games. They have matched their win total of the last two years in five games this season. This is a program that has won two, two, two, six, three, three, five, and six games in the previous eight years! So forgive us for being excited for them. The wins are over St. Croix Prep (who has been good), Highland Park (who will contend in the St. Paul City), Hope Academy and Liberty Classical. They have a game against Red Win (who is 4-2) tonight and then they start conference play. There is a real chance they can win ten games. [player_tooltip player_id='1288719' first='Xavier' last='Daniels'] is scoring 15 a game while Ben and [player_tooltip player_id='2406764' first='Thomas' last='Myers'] are scoring in double figures as well.     Three Down   Hermantown (3-4). There was a time we were talking state title contending for Hermantown. That went away when a transfer didn't land at the school, and then they opened the season with close game losses to Big Lake, Kasson-Mantorville and Denfeld. Hermantown has bounced back to win three of four and Abe Soumis is scoring 29 points a game.   South St. Paul (2-3). The Packers were looking like a top ten team but then lost to Minneapolis North by 20, lost to a struggling Champlin Park team by 13, and then lost to St. Paul Central by two scores. [player_tooltip player_id='1990226' first='Elonzo' last='Simmons'] and Jordan Terhune are each listed as scoring 20 a game.   Princeton (0-6). The Tigers have had many years of good basketball but they do not have the talent they've had right now and it's been a tough start. The schedule has been tough early with Rocori, Big Lake, Hermantown, Cambridge, and [player_tooltip player_id='1574216' first='Azayah' last='Washington'] but senior Cash Pettit has been good for them scoring 24 a contest.

We move to Class AAA for three up, three down locating teams that have surprised, and teams that are slow in rolling but have players doing good things.