Who are the state tourney favorites? who is hot?

Neutral site games are not as fun for high school basketball.



One thing that happened as a consequence of non-section football in 6A there is a lot less energy and excitement for the “section final” round.
It used to be get out of your section and go to state was a huge accomplishment.
Now it isn’t really seen by casual people until final 4 at Us bank because there’s isn’t really a culminating event like a section final. In my opinion, the lack of sections in 6A football has hurt many programs and the sport generally. It has really helped a couple of teams though at the expense of the majority of the teams. That is obviously just my opinion. The team that is my team has been helped by it is the road to the state tourney has gotten easier as a result of no section play.

I hope they don’t do that to basketball.

I see your point and agree. Some sections in basketball have had the section semifinals and finals in neutral sites. Section 1 has all of the semifinals for all classes on a Saturday at the two venues in Rochester (the arena and auditorium). It makes for a fun day. But after watching the games last Tuesday and again last night at Prior Lake, there was a lot more energy in Prior Lake, even though there were probably more people in Rochester watching Austin/Northfield and JM/Lakeville North. Part of that is because the Arena in Rochester is such an awful place to watch a basketball game, even compared to the old auditorium. The interesting thing is that next season sections 1AAA and 1AAAA are having the high seed hosting in the first two rounds and then they will have the finals in the Civic Arena in Rochester.
 

I see your point and agree. Some sections in basketball have had the section semifinals and finals in neutral sites. Section 1 has all of the semifinals for all classes on a Saturday at the two venues in Rochester (the arena and auditorium). It makes for a fun day. But after watching the games last Tuesday and again last night at Prior Lake, there was a lot more energy in Prior Lake, even though there were probably more people in Rochester watching Austin/Northfield and JM/Lakeville North. Part of that is because the Arena in Rochester is such an awful place to watch a basketball game, even compared to the old auditorium. The interesting thing is that next season sections 1AAA and 1AAAA are having the high seed hosting in the first two rounds and then they will have the finals in the Civic Arena in Rochester.

I like that trend to move semifinals back to the high seed.
Sometimes neutral is cool at a cool venue.
Playing at some random other neutral high school is just dumb to me.
Why was the eastview Burnsville game played in Farmington?
Why was the Champlain game in Rogers?

I don’t get that
 

i like the idea of expanding the state tourney a little bit...maybe only having two divisions instead of 4...you have your 16 teams from each sections and another 16 per bracket....we can decide those teams by using net lol.....no seriously though id be alright with something like this....maybe just have the coaches from the schools that automatically qualified vote (integrity required) ...or press

Someone mentioned this a week or so ago. I think I should leave class A alone and have half of class AAA move up and the other half move down. That would leave three classes, with AAA being the largest and AA being the middle class. I'm really hoping to see a Waseca vs DeLaSalle final in AAA this year.
 

I like that trend to move semifinals back to the high seed.
Sometimes neutral is cool at a cool venue.
Playing at some random other neutral high school is just dumb to me.
Why was the eastview Burnsville game played in Farmington?
Why was the Champlain game in Rogers?

I don’t get that

Lakeville South vs North I think was played in Farmington also.

Last Tuesday they played the Prior Lake vs. Shakopee first, and then cleared the gym and had you reenter to watch the Edina vs. Eden Prairie game. The second game lost about half the fans. My son and I stayed for both games, but the second game wasn't nearly as exciting as when the host team played. Maybe they could have played the other game first and not clear the gym? Just a thought.
 

Looking to the AAAA tournament. I could conceivably see 6 of the teams making a run a team the title. Eastview and Cambridge being the exception.
 


Looking to the AAAA tournament. I could conceivably see 6 of the teams making a run a team the title. Eastview and Cambridge being the exception.

Those two probably can’t win the title.

But even they could win one game. East ridge only beat East view by 7 in regular season. Eden Priaire only beat Cambridge by 3.
 

I see your point and agree. Some sections in basketball have had the section semifinals and finals in neutral sites. Section 1 has all of the semifinals for all classes on a Saturday at the two venues in Rochester (the arena and auditorium). It makes for a fun day. But after watching the games last Tuesday and again last night at Prior Lake, there was a lot more energy in Prior Lake, even though there were probably more people in Rochester watching Austin/Northfield and JM/Lakeville North. Part of that is because the Arena in Rochester is such an awful place to watch a basketball game, even compared to the old auditorium. The interesting thing is that next season sections 1AAA and 1AAAA are having the high seed hosting in the first two rounds and then they will have the finals in the Civic Arena in Rochester.

Thats how it was when I graduated. It was always a big accomplishment to get to Rochester and play for a section championship. Now, you just win one game and then you're playing the semi's in Roch. It made the semi game this year feel kind of blah.
 

The JM/New Prague AAAA semifinal was a very good game. North and South played up in Farmington. It was supposed to be played on that Saturday, but it was snowed out that day. Next year it will be at the high seed until the section finals.
 

Waseca is white hot. Really throw up the points.
 



Thats how it was when I graduated. It was always a big accomplishment to get to Rochester and play for a section championship. Now, you just win one game and then you're playing the semi's in Roch. It made the semi game this year feel kind of blah.

My understanding is sections like to host multiple games at sites and that is why you getnuetral site games in the semis. Kids (at least ones I coached) like the games at colleges, but I do agree that high seeds should get two home games. Make a 2 seed matter more too.

Besides DE and maybe Waseca this year, none of the other AAA schools could compete with top AAAA schools. In AA only Minnehaha would compete. I like consolidating classes, but if we keep 4 I'd like to see the top class be 48 teams. Then next 96 in AAA, then 96 again and then rest can play A. If we consolidated to 3 classes, I still keep the 48 and 96 numbers.
 

Captain hindsight here but Prior Lake should have built a bigger gym.

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P
Captain hindsight here but Prior Lake should have built a bigger gym.

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Do you really spend money on a bigger gym if it is filled for one game every 2-4 years?

The trend in suburban high schools is to build gyms with fewer seats because they almost never fill anyways and its cheaper.
The worst gyms to play in are the huge gyms that are empty like Eagan, burnsville.
I am more familiar with the south metro gyms than other areas so I don’t have examples from other areas.
 

Do you really spend money on a bigger gym if it is filled for one game every 2-4 years?

The trend in suburban high schools is to build gyms with fewer seats because they almost never fill anyways and its cheaper.
The worst gyms to play in are the huge gyms that are empty like Eagan, burnsville.
I am more familiar with the south metro gyms than other areas so I don’t have examples from other areas.

My nephew played in the South Suburban back when the new high school in Prior Lake first opened and it was pretty empty when they played there. I remember thinking going from gym to gym those years how often times the crowd wasn't very big. Apple Valley always had a great crowds, but most nights the crowds weren't very big through the conference. I even remember going to a Bloomington Jefferson/Lakeville South game a few years earlier where hardly anyone was there. This is one of the first Lakeville South teams that was very good and Jefferson had Cole Aldrich. I guess I was used to smaller towns where everyone in the town would want to go watch the games.

Last week at PL it was pretty special. I heard that the Lakeville North game at PL was pretty packed earlier this year too, and I think PL supports their sports programs pretty well now. Prior Lake does have a pretty rich history of good basketball teams with good players. Back in the 70's and 80's PL had teams with The Pederson's (76-77), Doug Jones(78-80?), Holmgren (83) and Tim Hanson (84) that were all very good. The high school has changed so much since then though. It used to be a small town, and now it is a huge suburb.
 



Do you really spend money on a bigger gym if it is filled for one game every 2-4 years?

The trend in suburban high schools is to build gyms with fewer seats because they almost never fill anyways and its cheaper.
The worst gyms to play in are the huge gyms that are empty like Eagan, burnsville.
I am more familiar with the south metro gyms than other areas so I don’t have examples from other areas.
It doesn't necessarily cost much more to put more seats in the gym. Many schools like Prior Lake just chose to configure their gym with seating on just two sides.

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It doesn't necessarily cost much more to put more seats in the gym. Many schools like Prior Lake just chose to configure their gym with seating on just two sides.

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So which schools in the metro area have seating on all 4 sides of the floor? I don't think EP does. Edina's new gym does. Im not sure if any of the South Suburban schools have seats on all four sides of the gym. I'm not disagreeing with you, I just was wondering. There were a lot of fans watching from the walking track that goes around PL's gym last Friday night. There were also many EP students sitting just past the baseline by the doors. It looked crazy down there. There were just a lot of fans who wanted to see the game. I think most any high school in the state would have been packed.
 

It doesn't necessarily cost much more to put more seats in the gym. Many schools like Prior Lake just chose to configure their gym with seating on just two sides.

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When you are using taxpayer money an extra 4 feet in your gym is scrutinized
 

Do you really spend money on a bigger gym if it is filled for one game every 2-4 years?

The trend in suburban high schools is to build gyms with fewer seats because they almost never fill anyways and its cheaper.
The worst gyms to play in are the huge gyms that are empty like Eagan, burnsville.
I am more familiar with the south metro gyms than other areas so I don’t have examples from other areas.

Spot on, schools are building field houses for extra gym space and keeping the competition gyms more intimate and small. It's a tough process to justify a big gym to tax payers. Fieldhouses can be more diverse and are easier sells to communities.
 

PL's gym is a little on the small side, but a regular south suburban conference game is half full, with the game against Lakeville North being the exception. The girls games usually has a few hundred people.

I tried to get tickets for Friday nights game against EP. The line at 4:30 was 800 deep probably. I just left and streamed it online. PL should have been up 12 at half but didn't capitalize on the cold EP shooting. Second half EP came out on-fire and opened a big lead. The EP vs North game should be a slug fest more like a D-2 game with some elite athletes.
 

Do we pencil in DeLaSalle in 3A? Minnehaha in 2A?

If so, who do you have in 4A and 1A?
 

Do we pencil in DeLaSalle in 3A? Minnehaha in 2A?

If so, who do you have in 4A and 1A?

Minnehaha will probably roll, DeLaSalle should get a few tests at least but I'd pick them to win.

I'll take whoever wins the East Ridge/Hopkins semi in 4A and Springfield in 1A.
 

Minnehaha will probably roll, DeLaSalle should get a few tests at least but I'd pick them to win.

I'll take whoever wins the East Ridge/Hopkins semi in 4A and Springfield in 1A.

As mentioned earlier, DeLasalle/Waseca as 3A championship match up would be nice. Couple of high power offenses.
 


AAAA quarterfinals were all blowouts. Tomorrow it is Park Center vs Lakeville North and Hopkins vs East Ridge. I also like the ER/Hopkins winner to take it all. Should be some great semis after what we saw today.
 

AAAA quarterfinals were all blowouts. Tomorrow it is Park Center vs Lakeville North and Hopkins vs East Ridge. I also like the ER/Hopkins winner to take it all. Should be some great semis after what we saw today.

Games should be great tomorrow night, I'll definitely be there.
 

AAAA quarterfinals were all blowouts. Tomorrow it is Park Center vs Lakeville North and Hopkins vs East Ridge. I also like the ER/Hopkins winner to take it all. Should be some great semis after what we saw today.

Turns out the eden prairie team that won the section with the allegedly 4 of the top 8 teams wasn’t even in the top 4 themselves.
 

Turns out the eden prairie team that won the section with the allegedly 4 of the top 8 teams wasn’t even in the top 4 themselves.

I saw Lakeville North and Eden Prairie play last Thursday and Friday nights and the outcome surprised me a little bit. Not that Lakeville North won, but that they won by such a large margin. Lakeville North is so deep and physical, and EP wasn't very deep or that big. If they played 10 times, I'm sure EP would win 4, 5 or 6 of those meetings. Yesterday LN was the better team though. I wouldn't be surprised if they won it all.
 

I saw Lakeville North and Eden Prairie play last Thursday and Friday nights and the outcome surprised me a little bit. Not that Lakeville North won, but that they won by such a large margin. Lakeville North is so deep and physical, and EP wasn't very deep or that big. If they played 10 times, I'm sure EP would win 4, 5 or 6 of those meetings. Yesterday LN was the better team though. I wouldn't be surprised if they won it all.

I'd be surprised if LN beat East Ridge or Hopkins. Hopkins is just way more talented, which is why they beat LN earlier in the year ( I was at that game ). Hopkins is so deep and they have size. East Ridge also has a good supporting cast to the Brown bros and Carlson. Going to the game tonight; can't wait.
 

North is just so big and physical, that guard number 22 I think is built like a full back, can hit from 3. Wahl is underwhelming for the most part but he is just a piece to a complete team.
 

North is just so big and physical, that guard number 22 I think is built like a full back, can hit from 3. Wahl is underwhelming for the most part but he is just a piece to a complete team.

Wahl doesn't do anything really well, but does everything pretty well. Very versatile player but I'm not sure how it will translate to college.
 

Let's go Mpls North! Not sure who they would play should they beat Perham?
 




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