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It's almost always folly to pretend from a distance you know a team's mindset . . . But this game may be an exception. There is nothing about the body language, approach, etc of anyone involved with the Gophers to make you think they truly believe they can beat Iowa and are willing to try to...

In 5A, Section 3, QRF actually has Two Rivers first (which is a sign it's flawed; even though they are 7-1, given the weakness of their schedule they have no business being ahead of 7-1 Jefferson or 6-2 St Thomas). But Two Rivers was actually seeded fourth behind a 3-5 Apple Valley, which I'm...

There remains a perception about hockey from folks outside the hockey community that I don't think is entirely fair, based on the fact that hockey was an early adopter in having traveling teams, year-round play, etc. Nowadays I really don't think hockey is a lot different than sports like...

The also receiving votes teams in 5A include 6-1 Two Rivers (former Henry Sibley), which is a bit hard to grasp if you saw them win 5 games in 5 years between 2018 and 2022. The record is a bit illusory, as they were put into a district with three St. Paul and two Minneapolis schools and the...

Even if you realize as I do that polls like this are really just for fun and meaningless . . . Andover being ranked behind St Thomas, a team they led 52-15 four minutes into the second half, does leave one a bit puzzled.

It's at least plausible that (a) Fleck knew this might be coming, (b) NIL is part of it, and (c) this explains in part the comments last week.

If only he was as good a coach as he was a person. Teams were overmatched athletically on defense and couldn't stop anyone. The passing offense gave some teams fits as the college game was still more of a running game then. Crazy thing is, after the Wisconsin upset in 93, they'd won 3...

As the south end of Lakeville continues to fill in things will likely change, but right now North and South generally are at around 450 kids in a graduating class and 1800 total - they're not really an outlier in terms of size. I've come to the view that the 6A scheme, while well-intentioned...

Absolutely right - setting up a workable scheme is pretty complicated so I don't envy those who have the job, but there has to be a better way. It's hard to watch what Hopkins is going through, which isn't good for anyone on any side of the equation.

I would easily believe St Thomas Academy has never in school history given up 45 points in the first half, as they did tonight against Andover.

Irondale happened to be one of the schools in my local team's four-way scrimmage Saturday, and I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like Emerson Mandell. I know he projects as an OL but I found him more impressive on defense right now. It's simply unfair for most high school OL to face...

I believe they now draw a distinction between retired "numbers" and retired "jerseys". Because rosters are so big they don't want to take any more numbers out of circulation, which they did for 10, 54, and 72. Bell and Stevens were honored later, after they had begun to worry more about the...

Lots of reasons, but most prominently (a) many of the better athletes from Mendota Heights/WSP end up at Cretin or STA (starting MLB and QB at STA last year attended ISD197 schools through 8th grade), and (b) lack of community support for/interest in football. MH has youth football at grades...

With Hopkins, I don't think you can overstate the demographic/economic challenges they face. For a variety of reasons, a lot of the kids from more affluent families in the district attend school elsewhere, many of the students they do have don't live within district boundaries, and a lot of...

That is a very appealing approach, but for it to really work you would need to base tiers on competitiveness rather than just by size, and it's hard to envision that realistically happening. Simply putting the 48 biggest schools in the top tier would push up some schools that would be extremely...

St. Thomas also adds Armstrong and Chaska, and will continue to play Cretin and Mahtomedi. Glad to see that the right thing was done here. Blowouts aren't good for anybody involved.

Andover's schedule is up and has them opening with St. Thomas Academy. So much of what the MSHSL does gets criticized (and rightly so in so many cases . . . ) that fairness compels me to note that some people are doing something right with scheduling. It seems they found a way to get St...

What really makes the 2000 Ohio U/OSU combo impressive is that the Ohio U loss was at home and the OSU win was in Columbus.

Not holding my breath but it would really be nice to see them find a way to make scheduling less rigid at 6A. Keeping the teams at the lower end of 6A exclusively within that level dooms them to getting pounded nonstop. If there was a way Hopkins and Burnsville could play teams like St. Louis...

The seeding thing is a perfect example of what drives people so crazy about the MSHSL (my view is that a fair amount of the criticism is justified but that they also have a difficult job and in some cases have to answer to many constituencies with conflicting desires). Is it really that bad to...