2024 MN High School Basketball State Tournaments

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Tonka played a whale of a game to beat the best team in the State and take home the 4A State Championship. Tonka 72 Zata 61. Wow.
 


FinnGopher said:
Tonka played a whale of a game to beat the best team in the State and take home the 4A State Championship. Tonka 72 Zata 61. Wow.
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Yep. Tonka played that game damn near perfect. Great defense and took away the 3 pointer, which is a huge part of Wayzata's game. We're disappointed here but props to Minnetonka for a perfectly done game plan.
 


State Boys BB Tourney - Saturday, March 23

Class A
Championship: Cherry 78, Fertile-Beltrami 40
3rd Place: Nevis 64,West Central Area 51

Class 2A
Championship: Breck 76, Lake City 72
3rd Place: Albany 70, Minnehaha Academy 53

Class 3A
Championship: Totino-Grace 73, Mankato East 64
3rd Place: DeLaSalle 58, Alexandria 53

Class 4A
Championship: Wayzata vs Minnetonka 72, Wayzata 61
3rd Place: Eagan 84, Cretin-Derham Hall 65
 
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Thoughts - well, I was wrong. the Class A Final was one-sided, but all of the other title games were close and interesting.

the 4A game got nuts. Minnetonka was clearly trying to be the more physical team, and I think they got Wayzata rattled. in the second half, Wayzata turned up the intensity. they got it down to a 4 or 5-point margin a couple of times, but Minnetonka (IMHO) just out-worked Wayzata. And Wayzata went cold from the outside - went 3 of 15 on 3-pt attempts in the 2nd half, 7 of 24 for the game. (Tonka also struggled from outside: 2 of 12 on 3's) Tonka out-rebounded Wayzata 45-32.

There was one sequence where McAndrew from Wayzata got all tangled up with a Tonka guard. They were wrestling with each other while the refs just watched, then McAndrew was called for a foul and the Wayzata coach got a "T" while arguing with the officials.

otherwise -
Class A - Cherry is just damn good.
Class 2A - Breck and Lake City was a good, back-and-forth game. Breck just made a couple more plays.
Class 3A - Totino had more talent. Isaiah Johnson was the best individual player in the tournament - at least the most crowd-pleasing with his dunks.

On the PG comparison, Freitag as noted looks to score a lot more, because his team needed him to score. Isaac Asuma didn't have a great shooting day, but had 8 reb, 8 assts, 5 blocks and 2 steals - played a better all-around game (IMHO).
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Thoughts - well, I was wrong. the Class A Final was one-sided, but all of the other title games were close and interesting.

the 4A game got nuts. Minnetonka was clearly trying to be the more physical team, and I think they got Wayzata rattled. in the second half, Wayzata turned up the intensity. they got it down to a 4 or 5-point margin a couple of times, but Minnetonka (IMHO) just out-worked Wayzata. And Wayzata went cold from the outside - went 3 of 15 on 3-pt attempts in the 2nd half, 7 of 24 for the game. (Tonka also struggled from outside: 2 of 12 on 3's) Tonka out-rebounded Wayzata 45-32.

There was one sequence where McAndrew from Wayzata got all tangled up with a Tonka guard. They were wrestling with each other while the refs just watched, then McAndrew was called for a foul and the Wayzata coach got a "T" while arguing with the officials.

otherwise -
Class A - Cherry is just damn good.
Class 2A - Breck and Lake City was a good, back-and-forth game. Breck just made a couple more plays.
Class 3A - Totino had more talent. Isaiah Johnson was the best individual player in the tournament - at least the most crowd-pleasing with his dunks.

On the PG comparison, Freitag as noted looks to score a lot more, because his team needed him to score. Isaac Asuma didn't have a great shooting day, but had 8 reb, 8 assts, 5 blocks and 2 steals - played a better all-around game (IMHO).
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Living up North and not familiar with the metro teams, how do you feel Cherry would fare against higher classes?
 

Interesting that both Wiggins from Wayzata and Wells from Minnetonka played for Benilde last year.
 




Gopher Ally said:
Living up North and not familiar with the metro teams, how do you feel Cherry would fare against higher classes?
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I would have loved to see them play Breck. I think Cherry would win that game.
Cherry is not tall enough to deal with the banging and the bigs. They played Park Center in a Christmas tournament and lost by twenty. At a big school level you have tall kids who pound the boards. Cherry basically has 4 guards and a small forward. They just couldn't deal with teams that live above the rim.
That being said, the unity on this years Cherry team is something special. Congratulations to them on an outstanding year.
 

FinnGopher said:
I would have loved to see them play Breck. I think Cherry would win that game.
Cherry is not tall enough to deal with the banging and the bigs. They played Park Center in a Christmas tournament and lost by twenty. At a big school level you have tall kids who pound the boards. Cherry basically has 4 guards and a small forward. They just couldn't deal with teams that live above the rim.
That being said, the unity on this years Cherry team is something special. Congratulations to them on an outstanding year.
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Having seen them play our local school I figured. They don’t have a big guy to bang down low
 

for the season, Cherry only lost 2 games - to Class 4A schools. lost 69-65 to Forest Lake, and 92-73 to Park Center.

Cherry beat two Class 3A teams in Duluth Denfeld and Rock Ridge. and they beat six Class 2A teams. so they were 8-2 against higher classes and 23-0 against Class A teams.

I think they could play with a lot of Class 2A schools, but as others have said, a team with a lot of size would present more challenges.
 

Gopher Ally said:
Having seen them play our local school I figured. They don’t have a big guy to bang down low
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I agreee, but Cherry’s forward, #2, is like a junkyard dog! Tenacious. Also it will be interesting in the end how the Asuma boys stack up at the end? Noah is an excellent shooter, and Isaiah for a 9th grader is not only talented, but unflappable.

Lastly, while I know the tv commentators are prone to hyperbole, I agree with the comment that they made about Cherry’s passing. I too have never saw any team pass the ball that well and that consistently. Also, I might add the velocity of their passes was noticeable compared to other teams!
 





jovs said:
I'm guessing Wiggins goes somewhere else next year.
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I think you get one transfer once you start HS or 9th grade. Not sure, but it will be interesting to monitor.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think you get one transfer once you start HS or 9th grade. Not sure, but it will be interesting to monitor.
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unless they have changed the rules, as far as I know, once you hit 9th grade, the only way to transfer with immediate eligibility is for the family - or at least one parent - to have a formal change of residence.

So Joe Blow can transfer from School A to School B as an 8th grader without the family changing residence. But if Joe Blow is a 9th-grader or above, the family has to physically establish a new residence within the official School B district boundaries. In some cases, this could be that Dad rents an apartment inside the new district and the Kid moves in with him. I was told by a coach that this tactic has been used to facilitate transfers, often with the claim that Mom and Dad were separated. of course, once the kid used up his eligibility, Mom and Dad reconciled......
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think you get one transfer once you start HS or 9th grade. Not sure, but it will be interesting to monitor.
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Could be, 4 out of the 5 South kids transfered a couple of years ago. I Don't think any of them sat a year but I have no idea if they transfered again.
 

jovs said:
Could be, 4 out of the 5 South kids transfered a couple of years ago. I Don't think any of them sat a year but I have no idea if they transfered again.
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From the Tribune story on transfers over the weekend.

"The Minnesota State High School League has a policy that requires athletes to sit out a season when they change schools unless they fit within a batch of exceptions, the most common one being that they changed addresses and now live in the district where they are seeking eligibility for athletics. Dozens of athletes transfer every year and are granted immediate eligibility at their new schools."

I think people are fine with people following the rules. I think the issue is that the MSHSL doesn't do anything unless there is a report. They leave it to the schools to enforce.

I know of a situation at our school where a kid missed out on his senior year of football because they were open and honest about the situation. The kid was from a split family and one parent up and walked out on the kids, moving away. This kid moved in with relatives to keep him close to his siblings, but it was in the neighboring community. He had to play JV because he didn't live in our district anymore.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think you get one transfer once you start HS or 9th grade. Not sure, but it will be interesting to monitor.
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Just sue them!

He can claim that the MSHSL's rule is an antitrust violation for taking away the ability to sell his NIL for full value.
 

How does it work if you switch from your local public to a private school halfway across the metro?

There is no district to move into
 

MaxyJR1 said:
From the Tribune story on transfers over the weekend.

"The Minnesota State High School League has a policy that requires athletes to sit out a season when they change schools unless they fit within a batch of exceptions, the most common one being that they changed addresses and now live in the district where they are seeking eligibility for athletics. Dozens of athletes transfer every year and are granted immediate eligibility at their new schools."

I think people are fine with people following the rules. I think the issue is that the MSHSL doesn't do anything unless there is a report. They leave it to the schools to enforce.

I know of a situation at our school where a kid missed out on his senior year of football because they were open and honest about the situation. The kid was from a split family and one parent up and walked out on the kids, moving away. This kid moved in with relatives to keep him close to his siblings, but it was in the neighboring community. He had to play JV because he didn't live in our district anymore.
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I have a similar but not so painful situation with a niece, who made a college prep decision to change schools after her junior year and was forbidden to play varsity as a senior. It was not at a sports factory school, and she is good but was not going to move the needle for the team. It just seemed so rigidly bureaucratic to me. It may hurt her ability to play small college ball, but she is part of an elite club program that might help her get noticed.
 

There are a ton of transfers every year. Some schools enforce the rules, most don't. I know Lakeville South and Prior Lake have recently played by the rules and had kids sit out. I've heard Lakeville North is very stringent, amongst many requests to transfer there. Private schools there is zero chance of having to sit out. With the vast amount of transfers within public schools, there is no way that all of these families are meeting the "requirements" for immediate eligibility.

I know of a kid who has payed for 4 different programs in 4 years, and his brother is at another school.
 

MplsGopher said:
How does it work if you switch from your local public to a private school halfway across the metro?

There is no district to move into
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Almost assuredly no mercy for anyone shifting from public to private. If those decisions are not made by freshman year, they can't be made. Much more likely to have the norm waived the other way around.
 

Holy Man said:
Almost assuredly no mercy for anyone shifting from public to private. If those decisions are not made by freshman year, they can't be made. Much more likely to have the norm waived the other way around.
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Didn’t Totino have some stars that were transfers in who came with the AAU coach they hired?
 

Holy Man said:
I have a similar but not so painful situation with a niece, who made a college prep decision to change schools after her junior year and was forbidden to play varsity as a senior. It was not at a sports factory school, and she is good but was not going to move the needle for the team. It just seemed so rigidly bureaucratic to me. It may hurt her ability to play small college ball, but she is part of an elite club program that might help her get noticed.
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You mean she made a college prep decision.. in term of academics?
 

balds said:
There are a ton of transfers every year. Some schools enforce the rules, most don't. I know Lakeville South and Prior Lake have recently played by the rules and had kids sit out. I've heard Lakeville North is very stringent, amongst many requests to transfer there. Private schools there is zero chance of having to sit out. With the vast amount of transfers within public schools, there is no way that all of these families are meeting the "requirements" for immediate eligibility.

I know of a kid who has payed for 4 different programs in 4 years, and his brother is at another school.
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The ironic thing is that with what so many kids and families go through emotionally and psychologically these days, there are likely to be a lot of real (not made up) reasons for shifting schools with sports not being the primary motive.

It is not an automatic that every school is going to welcome with open arms a superstar transfer with all that they are likely to encounter with the locals.
 

MplsGopher said:
Didn’t Totino have some stars that were transfers in who came with the AAU coach they hired?
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Not sure of the timing but I think they were pretty young. Not well received by the Totino community already there.
 

007gopherfan said:
Agreed but think it would help if we could find another Junior PG to backup Hawkins this yearh in the portal, so Asuma can start with 5-15 min/game developing. Then the PG would be a Senior for Asuma's Sophomore year and then Asuma can take full reigns Junior and Senior years. Be a great setup for CBJ to establish a development of PG to help recruiting/transfers etc.
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Not sure how'd you find 5-15 minutes for him in that situation. He's probably going to be a 5-15 minutes guy as it is without another backup.
 

Those catholic high schools kids aren’t all Murphy’s and O’brien’s
 

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