State tournament

[hungan1]

Maybe Pratt will want to play with Scalia?

Hopefully, she doesn't get away. To think that she's only a Sophomore, she's going to put the Stillwater Ponies on the map nefore she is done with HS.

There are some serious basketball talent in MN. Whalen doesn't have to look far.

 

[Whytetale]

I suppose common sense would say that Pratt is too small to play D1. But wow, she’s such a spark plug, it would be fun to see her try.

Well, Hopkins just had too many scorers (something that the Gophers lacked this year). Plus Bueckers to distribute it to them. Shows how Bueckers can win games without even shooting that much. Plus Hopkins D was super intense in 2nd half, generating fast breaks off TOs and rebounds. So Hopkins rolled as expected. Stillwater couldn’t buy a vowel, let alone a bucket in 2nd half.

But Scalia and Stillwater were very impressive in first half.

I think it’s safe to say that Scalia will be able to contribute as a freshman.

There are small guards in the B1G.

 

[CutDownTheNet]

There are small guards in the B1G.

Pratt reminds me a bit of Tyra Buss (minus the flops). I just looked it up and Buss is 5’8”, taller than I thought she was. Pratt looks more like 5’3”. But man is she fast.

I loved the fact that her defense annoyed the Hopkins guards (except Paige, that is) that the felt the need to stiff arm her. And loved it that the refs made the right call of an offensive foul too.

 

[MennoSota]

Pratt reminds me a bit of Tyra Buss (minus the flops). I just looked it up and Buss is 5’8”, taller than I thought she was. Pratt looks more like 5’3”. But man is she fast.

I loved the fact that her defense annoyed the Hopkins guards (except Paige, that is) that the felt the need to stiff arm her. And loved it that the refs made the right call of an offensive foul too.

Pratt's tenacity was fun to watch. If she doesn't grow a few more inches she may not play in a P5 conference, but she's such a gnat that she has a place in a D1 program.

 

[tripledouble]

Yes, Pratt was really fun to watch. Wow, she has some jets. She still has some skills to work on, including shooting, but her speed is going to fit really well into an up-tempo offense. You can't teach speed. She reminds me a bit of Iowa's Tania Davis, who is also short, but very quick. She wouldn't be a prototypical P5 guard, but there are exceptions, even in the BIG, where Davis and McCutcheon have had successful careers.

Did anyone else see Albany's Page Meyer? She was another player I hadn't seen before who really impressed me. Not as fast as Pratt, but not far behind, and a better shooter at this point in their careers. She is a sophomore listed at 5'6" and that might be a legitimate 5'6" It will be interesting to see how her basketball career plays out. She looks like a DI player to me, but I'm not a scout (and not a relative).

I really like Nnaji's game (for Hopkins). And the 8th grader Woodson also looks like she'll be a top 100 player, if she can progress.

The future looks very bright for Minnesota girls basketball,starting with next year's senior class. Next year's junior class is absolutely loaded. Although I am hoping that Whalen & Co. continue to recruit nationally, they'll certainly need to pay attention to the ladies residing in their own backyard.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

There are small guards in the B1G.

One of the best was Northwestern's 5'4" (optimistic roster height) Ashley Deary who was twice B1G defensive player of the year. She could score, rebound, distribute and her constant motor was a genuine pain to opponents. Pratt seems to be developing along those lines.

 

[GringaGopher]

She's a track star playing basketball. I agree there is definitely a good group of talented athletes developing in MN.

 

[CutDownTheNet]

The key Stillwater players in the 4A game were:
S. Scalia Sr SG 5’10”
A. Pratt So PG 5’5”
L. Karlen Jr F 6’3”
D. Wagner Jr G 5’10”
A. Scalia Fr G 5’8”

Scalia was high-point scorer for the game. She looked very comfortable on the Barn court, and will be a welcome contributor for the Gophers. And we all agree that Pratt was a ton of fun to watch.

Some key players on the winning 4A state championship Hopkins team:
P. Bueckers (of course) Jr PG 6’ but listed 5’10” on roster
M. Nnaji Fr PF 6’3”
A. Battle Fr PG 5’11”
K. Adams Jr SG/PG 5’6”
T. Woodson 8th PF 5’11”
D. Chakolis Sr SG 5’7”

I’ve read that the Gophers are also interested in Nnaji, Battle and Woodson - but not sure which ones have been offered.

It’s kinda fun to watch Chakolis play since she’s actually somewhat fast in spite of her build. If she could drop 50 pounds she might do OK in college play.

A synopsis of Pioneer Press “State girls basketball: Hopkins stops Stillwater for 4A championship”
https://www.twincities.com/2019/03/...kins-stops-stillwater-for-4a-championship/amp

Paige was apparently sick Saturday morning and feeling nauseous after the game, but of course, wild horses couldn’t have dragged her away from that game. She only had 13 points - just a fraction of her usual scoring - but has such talented team-mates that she seemed content to feed them. She notched 7 assists and 5 steals and 5 rebounds. In spite of not playing her best game (according to her) I couldn’t help but notice a couple awe-inspiring plays. There was the two-on-one fast break where she hit a surging Nnaji with a perfect behind the back pass. Then there was the inbounds play where she slipped in from out of nowhere for an easy catch-in-the-air tip-in. Look at that tape, Gopher coaches - I see no reason why we couldn’t run that play with Taiye, or even any of our four Seniors during WNIT.

Maya Nnaji scored 18 points to get Player of the Game awards. Kayla Adams sunk 4 threes in the second half to ice the game.

This was the first time Hopkins trailed at half-time, and then Stillwater led 33-27 early in the second half. Then Hopkins kicked it into 5th gear, going on a 30-7 run. In fact they scored 44 of the games last 54 points. Stillwater, who seemingly rarely missed in the first half, seemed to have everything rattle out in the second half (not to mention turnovers).

In their losing Stillwater effort, Pratt scored 16 and Scalia scored 24. I note that if they had managed to win, Scalia would have been POG.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

I liked how the guard Pratt played dedense. However when Hopkins turned it on it was a whole another level of basketball that I'm not used to seeing for MN high School basketball. Hopkins just has so many great players, it's not just the Bueckers show. Chakolis, Adams, Woodson, Nnaji, Battle. Chakolis was only senior aged player. She is a really goid post player for her height, what a.macgine handling ball, she is a winner. Crazy how much young talent that Hopkins program has.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

 

[gopher7]

Amazing at all the good young players in this tourney. I don' t think there were any seniors starting the 3A Becker - DeLaSalle game, and maybe only 1 Junior. Hopkins was getting contributions from an 8th & 9th grader, Pratt for Stillwater still has two years left. Nnaji for Hopkins looks like she will be special.

 

[samloupete]

You’ve got to like Pratt and hopefully the U and Whalen do too!