Minnesota Playoff Central – Championship Week

Ryan James March 9, 2020 @ 04:00 PM

We will soon be reaching section final games with berths to state on the line. It’s Championship Week!

The Big Stage. Gustavus. BOLD faces New Ulm Cathedral in one section championship match-up while Waterville-Elysian-Morristown takes on Springfield in the other. Isn’t that four of the best teams in Class A? Why yes it is! Four of the top seven teams in Class A actually. BOLD is number one and New Ulm Cathedral is ranked sixth. WEM is 3rd in the state and Springfield is 7th. Jon Zinniel Jon Zinniel 6'6" | SG New Ulm Cathedral | 2020 State MN , Gavin Vosika Gavin Vosika 6'0" | PG BOLD | 2020 State MN , Decker Scheffler Decker Scheffler 6'3" | SG Springfield | 2020 State MN , Drew Sagedahl Drew Sagedahl 6'0" | SG Bold | 2021 State MN , and Grant McBroom are all playing in the same location this evening.

Upset City! Even though Pine City is 26-2 on the season their win over Osakis was considered an upset. Why? Osakis was ranked and Pine City wasn’t as their two losses on the season were in games they likely should of won. The upset part is because at 24-2 they were given a seed a of seven based on their schedule (that’s the reasoning given). Five-foot-10 senior guard Koleman Lind scored 30 points in the win for Pine City once again showing off that defensive ball pressure ability.

Right on Schedule. Do not forget about the DeLaSalle Islanders. Yes Minnehaha Academy is in Class AAA so they are the favorite but the Islanders will play Waconia for state (a team the Islanders can’t sleep on themselves). In a 67-44 win over Minneapolis Henry this past weekend the difference in the game was the man in the middle Jalen Travis Jalen Travis 6'8" | C DeLaSalle | 2020 State MN . Henry didn’t have a player to slow Jalen as he scored a monster double-double of 20 points and 15 boards.

Tip of the Hat to the Career. I’m putting together a Tip Of the Hat to the Career Team from Saturday:

Tait Nelson Tait Nelson 5'10" | PG St. Anthony | 2020 State MN of St. Anthony
Daniel Savageau Daniel Savageau 6'1" | PG Osakis | 2020 State MN of Osakis
Brady Williams Brady Williams 6'6" | SF Dover-Eyota | 2020 State MN of Dover-Eyota
Wyatt Olson Wyatt Olson 5'11" | PG Jones County | 2021 State SD of St. Peter
Jack Fisher Jack Fisher 6'2" | SG Rochester Century | 2020 State MN of Century
Drew Hagen Drew Hagen 6'6" | SF Moorhead | 2020 State MN of Moorhead
Zach Lea Zach Lea 6'4" | SG Chaska | 2020 State MN of Chaska

There is then of course the big name Dawson Garcia Dawson Garcia 6'11" | PF Prior Lake | 2020 State #26 Nation MN . A perfect example of why this state should have a field of 64. I’m not saying that Prior Lake would surely make it but much like Matthew Hurt last year, and because of unbalanced and stacked sections, the state will not see not only a top player at state who played on a top ten team.

Dawson Garcia Dawson Garcia 6'11" | PF Prior Lake | 2020 State #26 Nation MN is a marvelous talent at 6-foot-11 with skill and agility. Watching his game grow from the 7 point per game freshman I saw lose at Edina in the playoffs as a frosh (first game I saw him) to a player putting up 30 and 10 as a senior was really fun. A deserving McDonald’s All American and 5-star player.