Don't ask me why, but I ended up at Hopkins last night to watch parts of the Mtka-North and the Hopkins-St.L.PK games.
It's unfair to make an assessment of Hopkins because I've seen so little high school ball in the last few years and St. Louis Park looked like a 9th grade team in comparison. But that never stopped me before!
I don't know how Hopkins would fare against top level national high school competition but I think they would come within 10-12 points of the gophers. They are the biggest, fastest and strongest HS team I've ever seen, by far. All five of their starters could play for the gophers. I would guess (and it's only a guess) that Broghammer is farther along than Sampson III or Iverson last year. Royce, when he's not bored--and he was really bored last night, shows flashes of real talent. Tubby is going to have to work very hard with him because he has picked up a lot of bad habits because he is so much bigger and faster than his opponents. As one of many examples, he reaches around on defense to poke the ball away instead of getting into position and the college refs will call it every time. He's a talent, for sure, and it will be interesting to see how he responds when he's not the best player on the floor or his coach demands a lot of effort.
All in all, I can see why the other coaches are so envious. Even the Hopkins second and third stringers were impressive. They have a ninth grade guard, Chambers, who will be an elite player in a year or two. An interesting evening.
It's unfair to make an assessment of Hopkins because I've seen so little high school ball in the last few years and St. Louis Park looked like a 9th grade team in comparison. But that never stopped me before!
I don't know how Hopkins would fare against top level national high school competition but I think they would come within 10-12 points of the gophers. They are the biggest, fastest and strongest HS team I've ever seen, by far. All five of their starters could play for the gophers. I would guess (and it's only a guess) that Broghammer is farther along than Sampson III or Iverson last year. Royce, when he's not bored--and he was really bored last night, shows flashes of real talent. Tubby is going to have to work very hard with him because he has picked up a lot of bad habits because he is so much bigger and faster than his opponents. As one of many examples, he reaches around on defense to poke the ball away instead of getting into position and the college refs will call it every time. He's a talent, for sure, and it will be interesting to see how he responds when he's not the best player on the floor or his coach demands a lot of effort.
All in all, I can see why the other coaches are so envious. Even the Hopkins second and third stringers were impressive. They have a ninth grade guard, Chambers, who will be an elite player in a year or two. An interesting evening.