The Race for Mr Basketball – Final Five Thoughts
The Final Five for Mr. Basketball was named on Monday and today we at Prep Hoops give you our thoughts on the recent decision.
The Leader – Jalen Suggs. Nothing has changed in this regard. Jalen’s Redhawks suffered a loss to EP that likely hurt the pride but at the same time the goal of a state title is still right in front of them. Suggs was recently named a top five finalist for the National High School Player of the Year. He recently had a dozen points against DeLaSalle recently, had 23 in a loss with EP, just missed a triple double of 23/12/8 against Hibbing nine days ago.
Top Contender – Dawson Garcia. The next guy in line is the other McDonald’s All American Dawson Garcia. Garcia has the Lakers back in the thick of things earning recent wins over Shakopee, Lakeville South, and Eastview. Winners of seven of their last eight the Lakers are now back in the top ten. Dawson helped get them there with 34 points against Eastview, 36 against Shakopee, 33 against South, and a couple 40 spots against Eagan and Farmington. There is no hotter player right now (in recent weeks) than Dawson Garcia (averaging 32 and 10).
Final Five – Ben Carlson, Nathan Heise, Drake Dobbs.
At this point you almost have to have an Eden Prairie guy on the final five despite the fact that they are such an incredible unit (it’s hard to pick one guy). For me that guy is Drake Dobbs, the decision making point guard and team leading scorer at 19 points a game.
Then you have Ben Carlson who at one point carried a young Raptors team and now with the squad finding cohesion they are flourishing.The Raptors have won 16 of 17 games with Carlson becoming the school’s all time leading scorer while also averaging 25 points and 11 rebounds. In addition, the 40 points and 9 boards Carlson had against Dain Dainja and the 24 points while holding Steven Crowl to 13 spoke in a big way.
Nathan Heise is averaging nearly 30 points, 8.5 rebounds, and three assists a game for a 23-3 Lake City team that is ranked 5th in Class AA. Heise has been fully healthy this year and now you can see why people thought he could of become a high major recruit, and why some are comparing him to what they saw from Nate Wolters in years past (easy St. Cloud people, we are not saying they are clones).
The Snub. Kerwin Walton. I am 100 percent amazed that Kerwin did not make the final five. He has the Hopkins Royals ranked 2nd in the state despite the fact that he gets all the defensive attention versus a difficult schedule (averaging 27 points a game, next closest Royal scores 4 baskets a game) and he plays a key defensive role! This is one of the best shooters in the nation who is nationally ranked in the top 50-60 area plus he has a state title to his name! This was likely the biggest surprise (to me) since Nate Wolters didn’t make the top five 11 years ago (which in some ways is a good thing meaning Mr Basketball has got a lot right).
He Can Make a Case. Noah King. I’m not saying I would have Noah on my final five BUT if you compare seasons right now, Noah King‘s Caledonia team is having the better year than Heise and Lake City (so far of course). And King and Caledonia did beat Lake City. It’s Caledonia that is number one in Class AA with Noah King scoring 25 points a night while dishing out 6-7 assists a game. If Caledonia gets to the section final, and if Lake City gets past Stewartville (who just beat them), the King vs Heise match-up will be even more fun than I thought. This is an individual award though and that also must be taken into account. In case you are curious in the head to head battle, King had 29 and Heise had 35.
The Top Ten. Dain Dainja of Park Center slipped out of the top group and that likely happened after the loss to Maple Grove, the four point game against Spring Lake Park, and then he left the gym and didn’t play in the Apollo game on Saturday. Dainja, a 4 star national level recruit with a load of talent, has missed six games this year for various reasons which also hurt his chances with this award. Averaging 21 a game.
Steven Crowl has Eastview at 22-3 on the year and a top five team in Class AAAA. Crowl is having an excellent season and his team is having an excellent year. Crowl is scoring 27 points a game but he likely missed out on the top ten as he had a couple rough outings when several committee members were watching in games against Eden Prairie, and against East Ridge (vs Carlson).
Then you have Gabe Madsen, the Rochester Mayo wing who is headed to Cincinnati. Gabe is also having an excellent year with 27.7 points and 10.7 rebounds a game as a wing. The Spartans are 19-6 and for him to make the final five it’s my guess that they needed to cut that loss total at least in half. Also, in the head to head game with Lake City, Heise had 34 in a win over the Tigers while Madsen had 21 in the loss, so that is likely how Heise was named ahead of Gabe.