Minnesota kids you really enjoyed watching

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Loving the walk down Amnesia Lane! I feel like Kevin Lynch needs a mention. I remember being beyond excited to see him play at the Civic Center. Also Jeff Norgaard from Dawson-Boyd. I remember the guy from The Full Court Press trying trace his hand, but couldn't find a piece of paper big enough. Huge mitts!

(Side note, Mike Hanzel from Jordan was better than Nordgaard, but blew out his knee as a 6'7" punt returner his senior year. Gophers were on him for football and basketball. Great quickness, best hands I ever saw. I always wondered what might have been!)
 

manderson1984 said:
I believe it was against Princeton. The Grand Rapids vs Sauk Rapids (who had Jeff Hille) 2003 state quarterfinal at Brainerd was a crazy fun game with him too. Webb went nuts and the building was insane.
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Ohhh. I was at the game vs Sauk Rapids. I was off by a year.

Interesting note about Sauk Rapids: they took 2nd in state that year (2003). The next 10 years I believe they won a total of 30 games.
 


Darius Lane is one player I REALLY wish I had seen in high school. His exploits are legendary.

I did see a Przybilla vs ROCORI at Halenbeck in St. Cloud for probably the most electric atmosphere of a HS game ever.

Other great guys to watch were Gilbert, Pettis, McKenzie, Knight's Patrick Henry teams, three different North teams (The El-Amin, Washington, Lockhart era, the James Davis team with Kam Taylor, and then the recent one with Tyler, Tayler, and Issac Johnson), and the Hopkins teams. I really thought Vinnie Shahid was better in HS than Coffey was.

The Red Lake team with Gerald Kingbird was amazing for one miraculous night. I liked DeLaSalle with Ben Johnson, Dominique Sims, and big Antonio Ramos.

The CDH team with Oturu, Larson, and Battle was fun as well.
 

Going quite old school and into SE MN territory:
Dana Grimsrud
Aaron Middendorf
Chris Baker
Lester Mitchell

Not SE MN, but another outstater:
John Carlson

I recall seeing Todd Baumann dunk in a state tournament game and that was buzzed about for a long time.

I never saw him play (before my time), but Elgin's Joe Grobe was a legend around the Three Rivers Conference in the early '80s.
 


Dyami Starks sure could shoot the ball. If he were taller, there is no doubt in my mind he would have had some better offers.
 


Bob. Mc Donald and his brood for the Chisholm Bluestreaks.

My mom grew up in Hibbing, so we loved watching them play in the tourney.

Per the article posted below all SIX if his kids were all- state earned college scholarships and became bucket coaches.

The article isn't too long and a good read.

usatodayhss.com

Legendary Chisholm basketball coach only regret: 'I'm 80'

Bob McDonald, the winningest high school basketball coach in Minnesota history, stick to winning formula in final season
usatodayhss.com usatodayhss.com
 

One of the best games I can remember was the 2018 Section Final between Orono and DeLaSalle ... that was a crazy one
 



I'm sure Tyus has been mentioned earlier. Never seen a kid so smooth, calm/collected at that level from 8th grade on. I don't know if fun is the right word for him but it was nice.

I'm more on the east side and watched a few games with Kwadzo Ahelegbe, who went on to be part of that Northern Iowa team that beat KU in 2nd round with Farokhmanesh. Big time player at UNI.

Michael Floyd was a very good basketball player. Seantrel Henderson is the biggest guy on a basketball floor I've ever seen compared to other kids out there.

Travis Busch was a great high school basketball player for Mounds View as well. He was the offense and they were a tournament team.
 

LongLiveMilesTarver said:
unfortunately for you Matthew Lee shot free throws as if he was Shaq.
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One of the more vivid memories of my childhood. Dad pulled me out of class in 6th grade and took me down to the Civic Center. STA totally outplays North but is undone by the free throws that you mention. The rest is history (Khalid El-Amin's legendary shot :cry:)
 

Chico Gopher said:
I was gonna mention Glynn, since I never got to see any of the other big timers mentioned. Glynn used to own the other teams in our high school conference. The thing about him was he played so efficiently. Even his rare flashy moves didn't seem flashy, just necessary.
Didn't really think about it at the time, but I wonder if he had D-1 talent or size and could have played somewhere bigger than Mankato State. Could have been that he wanted to play both hoops and baseball and a D-2 school was the only place that was gonna happen.
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That Waseca team was pretty damn good. They had a couple other guys that were good, but can't remember their names
 

Not sure if I have ever seen a single player dominate a basketball court like Mark Olberding could. Off topic since it wasn't Minnesota, but anyone else remember the legend of Robert Eaglestaff at Fort Yates, ND?
 



coolhandgopher said:
Going quite old school and into SE MN territory:
Dana Grimsrud
Aaron Middendorf
Chris Baker
Lester Mitchell

Not SE MN, but another outstater:
John Carlson

I recall seeing Todd Baumann dunk in a state tournament game and that was buzzed about for a long time.

I never saw him play (before my time), but Elgin's Joe Grobe was a legend around the Three Rivers Conference in the early '80s.
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Dana Grimsrud is another good name from the time.

Bouman's dunk was against Staples-Motley in the semifinal game. Two steps from outside the three point line and threw down. It was unbelievable.
 

Khalid, Jones brothers, Dan Bannister, Hoffarber.Nordgaard was the first kid i scouted for UWGB. Everyone told me he was even better at football. He was a take all the way with how smart and competitive he was. They said great, we will redshirt him and make him a player. Played for money for a long time and was basketball player of the year in the whole state of Wisconsin for what he got done. Hoffarber was pure class, smart and could shoot it. Bannister was a man at 15. Khalid and the Jones brothers mature way beyond their years. They knew the court in a way coaches love.
 


leftyslefty said:
LeRoy Gardner, Jim Hill, Phil Rodgers, Joe Novotny, Dave Winfield, Mark Olberding, Mark Landsberger, Kevin McHale, Kevin Lynch, Randy Breuer, Jim Petersen, Rodney Hargest, Elmer Baily, Dave Meisner, Bruce Hoffarber, (Blake s dad) Terry Kunze, Jeff Nessler, Barry Wohler, Khalid, Sam, Mike Bauer, Jake, ....lately, Dawson Garcia and Jalen.
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Some great names from way back. I'm way old and don't watch much high school hoops anymore. One guy I would add is Ronnie Henderson, who played with Rodney Hargest and Ronnie Hadley for some great Marshall-University High teams coached by Ed Prohofsky. Minneapolis had a lot of great players. Emmanuel Rogers from Washburn and Kevin Smith from North were also awesome players.

I graduated in 1971 and there were some good teams in Southern Minnesota around that time. I played in the same conference (not much and not well) as Lake City and Randy Breuer was a few years behind me. I had a cousin who played against him who was about 6-2 and somehow had jumping ability in his Scandinavian legs and came out of nowhere to block one of Breuer's shots when Randy got lazy and tried to lollipop one from short range. One of those things you just had to see to believe.
 

Cool thread. Two really obvious ones to star off with, Jacobsen and El-Amin.

Going back to the 80's, Brett McNeal of North and Tom Copa from Coon Rapids. My dad worked at Coon Rapids so he took me to a lot of their games. Copa wasn't the usual thin big man of the era. He really overpowered players.
 

I wasn’t particularly fond of Humphries as a Gopher but Kris Humphries was an absolute monster in high school. He physically dominated the game. I remember watching him in the state final against MPLS North who had Kammron Taylor who went on to be a very solid Big Ten player at Wisconsin. They also had a 7 footer who Humphries dunked on like 8 times.

Kahlid El-Amin was a treat to watch as well.

Didn’t see these two mentioned yet. Apologies if they were already mentioned.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
Devon Gilchrist
Matthew Lee
Javier Collins

(If you recognize these names- try to guess where I went to high school :ROFLMAO:)
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I know these names. I think I'm a few years younger than you, but I knew a lot of STA people (I went to Cretin).

Saint Thomas had a team that won the state championship a few years later. I can't remember any of their names now, but they had a tall guy with floppy blonde hair who could really shoot.
 

Sam Jacobson might be my favorite Gopher of all time. Dusty Rychart was fun to root for as a lunch pail type of guy. Rodney Williams would do something once every few games that would absolutely take your breath away. John Thomas is the type of big man I badly miss and was the epitome of Clem style basketball...not many more physical or tougher than big John. Daniel Oturu was a great local kid who did all he could and said all the right things during what had to have been an incredibly frustrating season for him.

I don't really root for guys who had Gopher offers and go elsewhere (don't root against them, just don't care) but at least Tyus prevented a Badgers national championship. I root for guys like Devean George and Nate Wolters who made the NBA out of Minnesota without Gopher offers.
 

50PoundHead said:
Some great names from way back. I'm way old and don't watch much high school hoops anymore. One guy I would add is Ronnie Henderson, who played with Rodney Hargest and Ronnie Hadley for some great Marshall-University High teams coached by Ed Prohofsky. Minneapolis had a lot of great players. Emmanuel Rogers from Washburn and Kevin Smith from North were also awesome players.

I graduated in 1971 and there were some good teams in Southern Minnesota around that time. I played in the same conference (not much and not well) as Lake City and Randy Breuer was a few years behind me. I had a cousin who played against him who was about 6-2 and somehow had jumping ability in his Scandinavian legs and came out of nowhere to block one of Breuer's shots when Randy got lazy and tried to lollipop one from short range. One of those things you just had to see to believe.
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You are old. Kevin and I go way back.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
That Waseca team was pretty damn good. They had a couple other guys that were good, but can't remember their names
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I think Steve Cunningham was the post player on that team. 6-5, went on to play football for the Gophers. Still (I think) the only Blue Jay to play football at MN.
 

Gophs24 said:
man I was on that Melrose team and unfortunetly was the guy guarding him for most of the game! I hope you don't remember that game closely! :p I mean they were WAY better then us but man we had them rattled for that first quarter. we started to really believe. Things went south in a hurry for us but it was a fun game and atmosphere to be apart of. Our fans chanting to Dahlman during free throws...."duke don't want you....duke don't want you..... and then their fans chanting to our best player "nobody wants you.....nobody wants you..... it was a lot of fun to be a part of. But to have Isiah Dahlman, Josh Vaughn, and a young Noah Dahlman on the same team in Class AA in 2005 was about as unfair as it got lol. We were a very good AA team that year and were as good as any other AA that year other the Braham. Isiah was just so dang good. I was surprised he didn't find himself a bigger role at Michigan State
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I went to a high school that was a conference foe of Braham's and graduated years before the Dahlmans played there. I was at an open gym playing pickup basketball there in 04 or 05 when my old coach, who had then risen to AD, scooped me up and showed me around the new school building. In chatting, he said they had a dang good team that year and I should come see them play Braham in a couple of days. He gave me a free ticket, so I attended. I'd heard a great deal about Isaiah Dahlman so I was looking forward to what the hype was all about. He certainly impressed, but it was his brother, Noah, that had me stunned. He was just dominant. Things that don't really show up in the stats either. His intensity was unbelievable. Real passion to win. Isaiah had a carefree grin most of the game, raining down 3's over defenders 5" shorter than him. But Noah was in the lane, muscling guys, pounding away, slowly beating my Alma Mater to death. I was actually very happy to see him having a notably solid career at Wofford.
 

One of my favorites growing up as a kid was Greg Downing from Duluth Central. I think he ended up at Nebraska once he graduated. Those years had several good players come out of Duluth and the Central / East games were epic tilts.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
I know these names. I think I'm a few years younger than you, but I knew a lot of STA people (I went to Cretin).

Saint Thomas had a team that won the state championship a few years later. I can't remember any of their names now, but they had a tall guy with floppy blonde hair who could really shoot.
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Oh damn I'm guessing we know a bunch of people in common, what year did you graduate from Cretin?

My STA teams lost in the title game to Henry in 2000 and 2001, and the section finals to Henry in 2002 (after the MSHSL screwed us by moving us into their section). We also went 0-5 against Cretin, but I'm not here to talk about the past:confused:
 

leftyslefty said:
I think Steve Cunningham was the post player on that team. 6-5, went on to play football for the Gophers. Still (I think) the only Blue Jay to play football at MN.
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Waseca's teams in 1970 and 1971 a few years before the Glynns were also pretty good, but couldn't make it through the region (or even old Region 1, District 4 because of some awesome Kenyon teams). Jack Gray was a really good post player.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
They don't have to be Gophers but guys you enjoyed watching in high school/college that are from here.

I'll list a few and explanations.

Joel Przybilla-Monticello would always play their section games at SCSU, where I would go and watch. Super fun as a kid to see such a behemoth of a man

Rick Rickert-One of the finest high school players I've seen. Could do it all. Handle the ball, shoot 3's, dunk...whatever you wanted, he did it.

Isiah Dahlman-He was a year younger than me and we played against each other growing up. I watched Braham get down like 12 to a solid Melrose team in a section final. Their coach called a timeout, went to a full court press. This Dahlman on the ball and they destroyed them. Like a 58-12 run in the final 3 quarters.

Tyus Jones-My favorite guard, edging out El-Amin. Jones was just impressive. Only guy I've ever seen have a quiet 40 in a high school game
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Sam Jacobson
Khalid El-Amin
Troy Bell
Jibrahn Ike
Darius Lane
Joel Przybilla
Shane Schilling
Paul Martin (i know i know - but was really special as a youth player)
Jake Sullivan
Tony Travis
Johnny Gilbert
Lawrence McKenzie
Rick Rickert
Rodney Williams III
Jordair Jett
Royce White
Trent Lockett
Jordan Taylor
Shaun Jensen
Quinton Hooker
Tyus Jones
Jalen Suggs
 

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