The theme of the week was water—specifically Lakes. This should not come as a surprise to anyone from Minnesota land of 10,000 Lakes. Wisconsin also played a hand in the week. The week started off in Lake City (which I traveled through the west side of the Badger state in order to get to Red Wing and then on my way to LC. It ended in Superior, my first visit to that high school, to see the Lake Superior showcase on Saturday. In between there was Stillwater (also next to Wisconsin) on Tuesday; at Edina Thursday (with my completion of the Lake Conference) and Elk River at Blaine on Friday. At Superior I was in the crowd for point #1000 for Superior Spartan senior Savannah Leopold who reached the mark early in the second half.

LAKE

The Lake Conference in basketball is the marquis conference at any level and has been for several years. Last year the top two teams in AAAA faced off for the title. It could happen again with Hopkins and St. Michael-Albertville. Throw in the mix two powers (Minnetonka, Eden Prairie) in the roughest, toughest section in the state (2AAAA) and Wayzata, perennially the best team not to make the state due to the Hopkins strangle hold in 6AAAA, and you have the ingredients for a battle every night in that league. The average pp100 for the seven schools is 88.7 with three topping the century mark and two others just missing out at 98. Buffalo is the outlier in this league. Without the Bison the pp100 jumps to 94.87. Buffalo was forced into this conference along with STMA when they both bolted the Mississippi 8. Buffalo may want back in that shallower pool. The average 31 Club score is 39.83 for the six entrants with a pp100 of 117.93. Most, if not all, against high level competition. The top of this list is shared between Nunu Agara of Hopkins and Aaliyah Crump of Minnetonka with 48.

LAKE SUPERIOR

With the Lake Superior Conference event on Saturday at Superior High School, that conference is also now complete. Former Iron Range conference schools Grand Rapids and Hibbing have joined the party, as the AAA schools are like some of the schools in the Duluth/Superior metro area. I have a few more games outside the conference from the first two weeks to add to this mix. The LSC averaged 81.97 in their pp100. Four times teams have made it past the 100 mark with Duluth Marshall doing it twice. Grand Rapids, charted three times, has a window that goes from 103.3 to 60, a gap of 43.3. The LSC has nine entries in the 31 Club. Two players are responsible for five of those entries: Taryn Hamling of Grand Rapids with three; and Chloe Johnson of Duluth Marshall with two. Proctor has two entrants (see below). Regan Juenemann of DM may have joined twice but left the Saturday game with Hermantown with what I was told was an ankle sprain. Jueneman tops the list with a 60. Interestingly enough, the LSC 31 Clubbers are averaging 40.33 with a pp100 of 136.8. You might want to take this with a grain of salt. The pp100 drops to 115 factoring in quality opponents.

WEEK AHEAD

Week 4 will be relatively quiet with no mega event or no major travel requirements. Oddly enough Mahtomedi will not be playing again on a Friday. That is good news for my charting choices since the Friday real estate is prime time viewing. My Saturday is still up for debate. It will depend on match ups, my schedule and how far I want to bounce.

I can safely say my weeks of stalking Providence will not include week 4.

31 CLUB

With single digit contests this week—9 games—that means there will be fewer players joining the exclusive club. We cut the entrants in half to eleven with five joining on Saturday. Providence, by virtue of the schedule, was seen for the fourth time this season. The Lions Maddyn Greenway once again tops the charts with a 59 in the Wednesday win over Mahtomedi. The frosh phenom has made the 31 Club all four chartings and has made the harder to reach 51 Club three times. The rest of the state is chasing that consistency. Teammate Grace Counts has made the 31 Club three times as well. Greenway isn’t the only youngster to produce: 7^th grader Chloe Johnson of Duluth Marshall just missed out on the 51 Club reaching 50 in the Saturday win over Hermantown. This was her second straight entry. The Carlson sisters from Proctor Hope & Chloe made the 31 Club in 19 minutes worth of action against hapless Duluth Denfeld. Both outperformed the pp100 field with Chloe sizzling at 211.1 pp100 and Hope a highly respectable 176.5. In fact, the top four pp100s from the 31s came on Saturday in Superior.

UNBEATEN

After three weeks of play 60 teams remain unscathed. We could be under half that next Sunday. The smaller classes have more, but the distance required to face stiff competition is daunting.

AAAA 9
AAA 8
AA 16
A 27

SEARCH FOR 100

At this stage I have charted 30 of the 64 AAAA teams with 34 remaining. AAAA seems to be the sight of the best teams. That might be true at the top level, but when you start going to #64 there is not much difference from the lower numbers in any other class. This was not always the case. The dynamics of girls high school athletics is changing. When the QRF comes out—-probably at some point in the next two weeks—I expect to be close to 45% finished.

SEEDING THE STATE

A relatively quiet week at the top. There was some shifting and sorting in spots #3 and under. I have charted all eight AAAA. I have seen five of the AAA, two of the AA, two of the A.

AAAA

1. Hopkins (6)
2. Michael-Albertville (8)
3. Chaska (2)
4. East Ridge (4)
5. Rosemount (3)
6. Maple Grove (5)
7. Lakeville North (1)
8. Anoka (7)

AAA

1. Becker (5)
2. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
3. Jordan (2)
4. Byron (1)
5. Grand Rapids (7)
6. Alexandria (8)
7. Visitation (3)
8. Hill-Murray (4)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Minnehaha (4)
3. Albany (6)
4. Proctor (7)
5. Goodhue (1)
6. Perham (8)
7. Montevideo (3)
8. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (2)

A

1. Hancock (6)
2. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
3. Mayer Lutheran (2)
4. Hayfield (1)
5. Lac Qui Parle Valley (3)
6. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (5)
7. Fosston (8)
8. Legacy Christian (4)