Friday Night Preview & Predictions

The snow days are gone and the make-up games are out of the way (mostly). Tonight we get back to Friday night basketball when the lights are bright and all wins impact March Madness. New London-Spicer at Litchfield The Skinny: NSL and Litchfield are NOT ranked but they are CLOSE to being among the Class AA top ten. NSL and Litchfield are NOT in the same section but they ARE in the same Wright County Conference WEST league where the Dragons have a half game lead on three teams including NLS. Top Match-Up: Owen Boerema vs Brandon Adelman. Love this match-up of big and skilled wings who are both excellent athletes leading their teams to strong seasons. Top Prospect to See: Brandon Adelman. Brandon is scoring about 22 a game, made the Mr. Basketball watch list, and is headed to St. Cloud State. Prediction: The Wildcats won the last game by two in overtime at home, now they are on the road. We stay with the hometeam theme, Litchfield by one.   #1 Park Center at Spring Lake Park The Skinny: Spring Lake Park at one point this year was ranked with some strong wings. They have a quality junior class that is looking to make their mark in section play. A win over PC tonight would give the Panthers a chance to get that three seed in 5AAAA. Park Center is the rightful number one team in Class AAAA with only one loss. Top Match-Up: DT Frierson vs Blake Remme. Blake and DT have played spring/summer basketball together in the past with Blake hitting jumpers and Frierson finishing in explosive ways. Tonight they will go head to head often. Top Prospect to See: Dain Dainja. On any night you could see a high major program in the crowd watching Dainja who is about a top 50 level player in the junior class nationally. Prediction: Pirates are rolling, and keep rolling by 14.   #5 Maranatha Christian at Edina The Skinny: A quality non-conference game between MCA - top squad in Class AA basketball - and Edina who faces all comers not matter what the record is. Coach Burger and Coach Ware used to work at Minnetonka together when John Hedstrom was the head coach. Top Match-Up: Jack Middleton vs Hakim Daniels. A pair of 6-foot-3ish wings that love to defend and both lead their teams in scoring. Middleton is headed to UMD, Daniels has an offer from Montana Billings. Top Prospect to See: Jacob Hutson. Hutson is scoring 20 a game in the post as a junior. Hutson is going to have a nice list of D1 programs to pick from. Prediction: Hornets have the frontcourt edge, we go Hornets by 8   #7 Mahtomedi at North St. Paul The Skinny: Mahtomedi is a half game behind Tartan in the Metro East race and to stay even they have to beat the third place Polars this evening. J'Vonne Hadley is a big numbers guy pairing with the ever improving Zac Centers. NSP has defenders all over and Dajuan Carter as a 30 point game always waiting to happen. Top Match-Up: J'Vonne Hadley vs Brendan Lankford-Johnson. Two strong and athletic juniors that are likely to lock horns and battle all game long. Hadley is a 30 point per game guy, Lankford-Johnson just loves to shut opponents down. Top Prospect to See: Hadley. I don't know when the offers will come, but they will. Hadley at 6-foot-6 is explosive and has a really nice touch now that his hand is heeled and he can show off that touch. Prediction: NSP couldn't top the Zephyrs giving up 90 last time. That may not happen again but Zephyrs still win.   #3 Prior Lake at #5 Lakeville North The Skinny: The match-up of the night is the Lakers and Panthers. The Dawson Garcia vs Tyler Wahl match-up is on the shelf because of Dawson's injury but these Prior Lake seniors haven't lost a game since Garcia's injury. Can they take out the senior dominated Lakers? Top Match-Up: Sam Nissen vs Tommy Jensen/Tyler Wahl. Sam has had a wonderful senior season and has stepped up even more with Garcia out. His job tonight could range between slowing the Jensen jumper and defending Tyler Wahl at times. Wahl seems the likely guy to be on Nissen. Top Prospect to See: Tyler Wahl and Robert Jones. Wahl is headed to Wisconsin, Jones headed to Denver. Jones has been outstanding since Garcia was hurt. Prediction: Panthers by six. That's the way I see it.   #4 Springfield at St. Peter The Skinny: St. Peter is one of the surprise teams in the state with a 18-5 record and a near certainty to play for the 2AA crowd because they are good and their section is poor. Meanwhile, Springfield is in one of the deepest sections known to man - Section 2A which is about in the same area. Weird how the Class A schools have been so good and the Class AA programs not so much. Top Match-Up: Wyatt Olson vs Mitchell Buerkle. Olson will be a bit strong, a bit bigger (which could mean Fink on him) where as Buerkle will likely have a bit better game from 14 feet and out. Both are juniors. Top Prospect to See: Isaac Fink. Fink is a top ten scorer all time in Minnesota and is headed to Augustana. Prediction: Fink goes crazy, Tigers by nine. #7 Tartan at Hermantown The Skinny: At 16-7 Hermantown welcomes a top ten Class AAAA team in Tartan. Different sections, different leagues, different style teams from different areas. Now this is what makes high school basketball so fun. Many good players in this game. Top Match-Up: Peter Soumis vs Antwan Kimmons. Kimmons is a Mr. Basketball finalist and a top defender while Soumis is one of the quickest guards in the junior class. Both are 21 point per game guys. Top Prospect to See: Kimmons is going to Idaho State and is a Mr. Basketball finalists. Connor Bich is a 6-foot-7 forward from Hermantown going to DWU. Prediction: Hermantown is good but are they read for this? We think so, but Tartan by seven.   #4 Hopkins at Wayzata The Skinny: Zeke Nnaji scored 41 and totally dominated the last game. Hopkins was able to get a bit of revenge for the previous two section games. A win here would clinch the Lake Conference for the Royals. A Wayzata win means they would be 6-2 and earn a share of the Lake title. So in other words the Lake title is on the line. Top Match-Up: Camden Heide vs Dane Zimmer. There are so many match-ups to pick from but this one grabs me because Heide will need to score up front and he will need to limit Zimmer and help on Zeke Nnaji too. Top Prospect to See: Nnaji is going to Arizona. Jacob Beeninga and Dane Zimmer to Minnesota State-Moorhead, Andy Stafford to Southwest Minnesota State, Camden Heide is one of the state's best frosh, and Kerwin Walton has five high major offers. Prediction: Like the Royals here because of the frontcourt edge. Royals by three scores.