2020 Minnesota State Tournament (and Recruits)

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bball_craz_31

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This Wednesday is the start of the 2020 Minnesota State Girls Basketball Tournaments. I pulled the schedule from Star Tribune but figured can list what Gopher Recruits will be playing and when for people to watch. Will be nice to see some play on Williams Arena Floor early before becoming gophers like Scalia did last year!

AAAA-Starts Wednesday at Williams Arena

Cambridge-Isanti vs. Hopkins (1), 10 a.m.
-Hopkins Gopher offers:
-Maya Nnaji (2022)
-Amaya Battle (2022)
-Taylor Woodson (2023)
-Nunu Agara (2023)

Stillwater (5) vs. Park Center (4), noon
-Park Center Gopher offer:
-Adalia Mckenzie (2021) If you get a chance, you will not be disappointed when you see her play!

*Sara Scalia's little sister Amber plays for Stillwater

Eden Prairie vs. Farmington (2), 2 p.m.
-Farmington Gopher Offer:
-Sophie Hart (2021)

Eden Prairie Gopher Offer:
-Nia Holloway (2022)

Lakeville North vs. St. Michael-Albertville (3), 4 p.m.
-St. Michael-Albertville Gopher Offer:
-Tessa Johnson (2023)

AAA-Starts Wednesday at Maturi Pavilion

Hermantown vs. DeLaSalle (1), 10 a.m.
Holy Angels (5) vs. Simley (4), noon
Alexandria vs. Becker (2), 2 p.m.
Waconia vs. Red Wing (3), 4 p.m.

No known offers in these games but DeLaSalle assistant coach is former Gopher Ashley Ellis-Milan and they have high level guards in Kiana Lockett and Sydney Runsewe

AA

Wednesday-Williams Areana

Concordia Academy vs. Rochester Lourdes, 6 p.m.
Waseca vs. Pelican Rapids, 8 p.m.

Wednesday-Maturi Pavilion

Providence Academy vs. Sauk Centre, 6 p.m.
Duluth Marshall vs. New London-Spicer, 8 p.m.
-Duluth Marshall Gopher Offer:
-Giana Kneepkens (2021)

A-Thursday at Maturi Pavilion

Red Lake vs. Minneota (1), 11 a.m.
Heritage Christian (4) vs. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (4), 1 p.m.
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa vs. Cromwell-Wright (2), 3 p.m.
Fillmore Central vs. Henning (3), 5 p.m.
-Henning Gopher Offer:
-Ellie Dague

Games will be on KSTP Thursday and Friday for each class's semi-finals and then championship day is Saturday.
 

Quick shout-out to my high school (New London-Spicer) for making their 18th state championship! Mike Dreier is a beast.
 

http://prepspotlight.tv/MSHSL

Here is a link to watch the quarterfinal games today.

Maya Nnaji, Amaya Battle, Taylor Woodson, and Nunu Agara from Hopkins at 10
Adalia Mckenzie and Park Center at noon
Sophie Hart and Farmington at 2
Nia Holloway and Eden Prairie at 2
Tessa Johnson and St. Michael-Albertville at 4
Gianna Kneepkens and Duluth Marshall at 8
 
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Stillwater beats Park Center by 30 points. Adelia McKenzie good but not a factor against the Stillwater height and rebounding in this game. Park Center looked like Gophers against length.

More impressed by Stillwater players. Especially the rebounding of Scalia’s little sister who was (almost?) double digits on rebounds. Also liked Cody, Karlen and Pratt of Stillwater.
 


bball_craz_26 said:
Adalia Mckenzie and Park Center at noon
Click to expand...

In a surprising blowout, Park Center lost to Stillwater 82-52

Adalia McKenzie finished with 18 points, 8 steals and 6 rebounds. Was double-teamed almost the entire game anytime she touched the ball.
 

Farmington beats Eden Prairie 58-54. Or should I say the referees give Farmington the win (more on that in a moment).

Not all that impressed by Hart so far. Of course, Eden Prairie double-teamed her, but she was held scoreless until the second half. She can’t shoot free throws (about 1 for 5, I think). Except for her two scores, which were solid, she looked a lot like Tomancova, missing tons of shots in the paint. She’s got a lot of work to put in to become a D1 player, and right now she looks more like D3.

At the game end, Hart gets a D rebound and is immediately tied up by 2-3 Eden Prairie players. Should have been a jump ball since they tied her up before she started swinging elbows trying to get out of the jump ball. Instead the refs call a foul on Eden Prairie. Because it’s final 60 seconds, she gets 2 shots. Hart finally makes her first free throw (on the second of two shots) and that play puts them up enough for Farmington to win the game. Humorously, Eden Prairie players didn’t know about the two-shot rule, got the first-shot rebound, and were off to the races before the refs asked for the ball back, please.

Anyway, Farmington moves on, and we’ll see if Hart plays better next game.
 
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CutDownTheNet said:
Farmington beats Edina 58-54. Or should I say the referees give Farmington the win (more on that in a moment).

Not all that impressed by Hart so far. Of course, Edina double-teamed her, but she was held scoreless until the second half. She can’t shoot free throws (about 1 for 5, I think). Except for her two scores, which were solid, she looked a lot like Tomancova, missing tons of shots in the paint. She’s got a lot of work to put in to become a D1 player, and right now she looks more like D3.

At the game end, Hart gets a D rebound and is immediately tied up by 2-3 Edina players. Should have been a jump ball since they tied her up before she started swinging elbows trying to get out of the jump ball. Instead the refs call a foul on Edina. Because it’s final 60 seconds, she gets 2 shots. Hart finally makes her first free throw (on the second of two shots) and that play puts them up enough for Farmington to win the game. Humorously, Edina players didn’t know about the two-shot rule, got the first-shot rebound, and were off to the races before the refs asked for the ball back, please.

Anyway, Farmington moves on, and we’ll see if Hart plays better next game.
Click to expand...

The bigs in Minnesota all start out looking the same, but then turn out to be very nice players in the big.
I do agree the free throw shooting form needs to improve dramatically.. the one thing that will limit your playing time at the next level is poor free throw shooting.
 




Gianna Kneepkens with 26 points and 15 rebounds as Duluth Marshall defeats New London-Spicer 60-56 in a comeback upset win in which Kneepkens figured prominently.

Not often you see a guard with 15 rebounds. When she starts outside the 3-point line, she says “OK, I’m a point guard.” When she finds herself in the paint, she says “OK, I’m a post.”
 
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Does anybody know if they’ll allow fans today? I was thinking of taking the kids, but since it’ll be broadcast on 45, I think the smart move is to sit this one out.
 

I went last night to the Pav with three granddaughters. You can sit away from everyone if you so choose which we did. All the games were great.
 



CutDownTheNet said:
Gianna Kneepkens with 26 points and 15 rebounds as Duluth Marshall defeats New London-Spicer 60-56 in a comeback upset win in which Kneepkens figured prominently.

Not often you see a guard with 15 rebounds. When she starts outside the 3-point line, she says “OK, I’m a point guard.” When she finds herself in the paint, she says “OK, I’m a post.”
Click to expand...
The reality is you have to evaluate these kids more during AAU if your a college coach, where as you go up in level, weaknesses will get exposed.
Some kids also benefit playing at a higher level where they flourish in less structured offenses.
This will be a big summer for Kneepkens to see if she is a power 5 kid or better suited for mid major.
 


MNGirlsHoops said:
The reality is you have to evaluate these kids more during AAU if your a college coach, where as you go up in level, weaknesses will get exposed.
Some kids also benefit playing at a higher level where they flourish in less structured offenses.
This will be a big summer for Kneepkens to see if she is a power 5 kid or better suited for mid major.
Click to expand...
You’re definitely right, that AAU is definitely the place to track basketball development and maturity and suitableness for a Power 5 program. And thus the place college coaches should focus. There you can see them working with/against their peers, skill-wise. Hopkins might be the only high-school team that’s like an AAU team in that respect.

I do hope Kneepkens develops, as there is definitely potential there - she seems comfortable at any position on the court. And the Gophers are short-guard heavy, so taller guards that can play the 1-4 positions are at a premium.

Other things notable from the high school games ... There’s a lot of mismatches due to the bracketing. Some teams that should be there, aren’t, like Wayzata that is left behind due to being in same Sectional as Hopkins.

It seems to me that there might be quite a few late bloomers. And yet, to get the best, you have to start offering when they’re in 9th grade (heck, Bueckers probably deserved to be offered in 6th grade, quite honestly, and it’s only a gentlecoach’s agreement not to go that young that perhaps prevented something like that from happening). It seems like a dilemma for coaches - the late bloomers (to be) aren’t going to look that good in 9th grade. And you never know how many offers are going to accept. So do you save a slot on the roster to offer a potential late-blooming senior, or what? But if you wait too long to offer, other coaches may have the inside track by then since they’ve been relationship-building for longer. Recruiting looks like a tough job to me, but I think Whalen and her assistsnt coaches are good at it, so I’ll just trust them.
 
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In Class A, Ellie Dague’s Henning beat Fillmore by 13 points. Dague had 22 points, with help from team-mate guard Megan Weber who had 29 points.

This is Henning’s first trip to the state finals, and this article https://www.echopress.com/sports/ba...s-best-effort-to-win-first-ever-section-title talks about Dague’s 32-point contribution to their first-ever Sectional win. “Every time the Hornets needed a big play, they went to Dague. She features a combination of size, shooting and ball-handling ability that is not seen very often at the Guard position at the Class A level.”

Fillmore’s Cassidy Broadwater is a 5’6” dynamo of a PG who hits threes in droves, and is going to be a good get for some team (non-Power-5 or D2 or maybe even MIAC - since she’s so dainty that Powell actually looks big compared to her, and she doesn’t have Powell’s first step nor vertical). She scored 30 points, which was over half of Fillmore’s points, and was fun to watch. Without her, Filmore probably would be winless this year.

The quality of refereeing (quite naturally) follows this pecking order: WNBA > NCAA Div 1 > NCAA Div 2 > NCAA Div 3 > MN AAAA > MN AAA > MN AA > MN A > Junior High. Not sure if it’s just that the State Tourney refs at the 1A level are just the bottom of the barrel, or if they actually adopted a rule change for 1A, but apparently, defense of any kind during a shot attempt is illegal in 1A. That is, if the defender’s hand gets within 6 inches of the ball during a shot, that’s an automatic foul - regardless of whether the defender hit the shooter’s hand, or hit the ball only on a clean block, or missed the ball by 6 inches, or whether or not there was any body contact. Regardless, it was always a foul call on the defense.

I didn’t see any charges, so can’t say whether charging is considered OK in 1A. Needless to say, there were a lot of free throws in this game. Some players had most of their points in made free throws. And the free-throw shooting is quite good, for the guards anyway, in spite of these being the smallest high schools in Minnesota.
 
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Finally got a chance to watch today. No surprise Hopkins overwhelmed Stillwater. I know it's been said a ton but damn, Hopkins is loaded. Enjoyed watching Pratt from Stillwater again this year. What a fun player.

Entertaining game between STMA and Farmington. Farmington had great ball movement and really hit the offensive glass. STMA couldn't get enough three's to go down to stay in it at the end. It will be great to watch Tessa Johnson develop over then next few years. Very impressive. Love Hart's size and passing. Not hyper athletic but she does get to the ball and move on D. Does need work on finishing, though at least she doesn't bring the ball down low or take unnessesary dribbles.
 

CutDownTheNet said:
Other things notable from the high school games ... There’s a lot of mismatches due to the bracketing. Some teams that should be there, aren’t, like Minnetonka that is left behind due to being in same Sectional as Hopkins.
Click to expand...

I think you mean Wayzata. Minnetonka is not in the same section as Hopkins.
 




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