IT NEVER ENDS

It seems like we are under a storm advisory/storm warning every other day. The schedule was impacted again with Tuesday and Wednesday contested impacted the most. I was able to attend a Tuesday game but the whole slate on Wednesday was mothballed. Monday was a thin day of games with most of them two hours or more to the north. I bypassed that action. Luckily the skies cleared for Saturday’s Breakdown extravaganza in the Rochester orbit. For the week I was able to squeeze in seven games with eleven new team chartings.

With all the postponements there are bound to be some games that will never be played. I know Mahtomedi lost one game. The calendar needs to align with both teams, and with official availability. That is sometimes a hard needle to thread. Not many schools like back to back contests. Something has to bend. Non-con games are the first to fall. There just are not that many dates left to wiggle. And that is said with expectations that there will be a few more winter events to mess up the best laid plans of coaches and administrators.

I am now up to 46 of the 64 AAAA teams—or 72%. That leaves 18 teams left, most in the southern sections. I am down to one team left in sections 5, 6 & 7. I also am down to one school left in a handful of conferences.

TEAM REVIEW

The average pp100 for the first calendar week of 2023 was a healthy 83.51. Winners checked in with a 92.3, losers at 74.7, a gap of 18 roughly. You may be surprised to know that Class A had the best average at 87.8 pp100 for the week outpacing AAA by 0.5. AA was not far behind at 86.9. AAAA lagged behind with a 73.95. To be honest, only AAAA and AAA had a decent sample. The AA and A games had two representatives. Still the AAAA did not showcase crisp execution with two 60s in the mix. The “best” game of the week clearly was the Jordan v Mahtomedi opener Saturday at Byron with the Zephyrs having the highest pp100 of any losing team at 112.1. That mark is also the highest for the entire season. So was it lack of defense? Or great offense? Jordan topped out at 115.4. Mahtomedi was helped by a perfect 12/12 at the line and 47.8% from the floor. Four of their starters in that game were centurions. Jordan’s starters also had four centurions, make that 120-turnions. The one not in the club was at 90. They too shot 47% from 2s, but took advantage of of 23/29 at the line, 11 more made than Mahtomedi attempted. Both teams made six 3s. The most 3s made for the week came with Woodbury’s ten in the loss at Cretin-Derham Hall on snowy Tuesday. The Royals were buried, trailing the hosts 38-14 at the break. Woodbury fought back to close the gap to 55-52 with 1:42 left to go. Fouls & CDH free throws put the margin back to ten.

WEEK AHEAD

Barring any disastrous weather events, I expect to be out the five weekdays plus another weekend extravaganza, back at Kasson, one of the three venues I charted last Saturday’s games. A potential whopping 16 new teams are due to come off the list. Fingers crossed.

31 CLUB

There were a sweet 16 31 Clubbers this week with three bumping up a level to the 41 Club. The junior Kottke twins from Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart had the two highest scores with Rachel outdoing sister Kristi 47-44. BLHS, Goodhue, Jordan, and Stewartville each had two entries. Mahtomedi, because I chart them all the time, had three, two involved in the Jordan game. There were 13 centurions in that mix. Again the list was topped by a Kottke—Rachel in this case—with a 138.5. She shared top pp100 honors with Jordan’s Morgan Staloch. Rachel’s twin Kristi was not far behind at 126.7.

UNBEATEN

For those of you with a Spinal Tap bent we have “an eleven.” The biggest fallout came at AA where four teams were sliced off the list leaving only New London-Spicer standing. Rosemount did not survive a tight one point loss with Shakopee in AAAA. Jordan did survive their one point white knuckle battle with Mahtomedi Saturday. The seven remaining teams in Class A all passed their challenges for the week. The chances of the “lucky” seven remaining unblemished is thin. We could be down to two by next Sunday, but probably more like four.

Which team is the next to fall? Breckenridge has a double dose of dangerous Ps this week: Perham on Tuesday, Pelican Rapids on Friday. BLHS travels to Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Tuesday. Goodridge-Grygla faces ranked BGMR on Thursday. Kellher-Northome is at Nevis, a state tournament team last year, on Thursday. Saturday Mayer Lutheran faces Southwest Christian at home.

In other classes: AAAA action features two top 10 match ups on Lake Conference showdowns Friday. Hopkins takes on Eden Prairie at home. STMA travels to Wayzata. In AAA Jordan sees St. Peter at home on Thursday.

AAAA 2: Hopkins, St. Michael-Albertville
AAA 1: Jordan
AA 1: New London-Spicer
A 7: Braham, Breckenridge, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, Fosston, Goodridge-Grygla, Kellher-Northome, Mayer Lutheran

STREAKING

We have two (or three) new leaders: in AA New London-Spicer replaces Southwest Christian with the same total of eight straight wins. In A Breckenridge and Henning, both who live in section 6A North, have nine straight wins. They replace Mayer Lutheran, not because the Crusaders stumbled, but they remained at eight wins.

AAAA: 26 Hopkins (14 ’22 + 12 ’23)
AAA: 10 Grand Rapids
AA: 8 New London-Spicer
A: 9 Breckenridge, Henning

SEARCH FOR 100

Seven games with 11 new teams cut the numbers. With 17 games charted in four days involving 23 new teams (22 from MN) the numbers got a boost. We won’t see that many teams crossed off in the coming weeks. There are 41 teams left on the 100 list. With eight regular season weeks left, with a potential six games a week, that puts us at about 48 windows available. Doable, but the churn at the bottom is real. Just when you think you are in striking distance the goalposts move. The biggest fish left to fry in the QRF? #8 Lakeville South

The 175 marker now added.

Measure/In/%/Improvement
1-10/9/90%/+0
1-25/22/88%/+0
1-50/40/80%/+8
1-75/56/74.7%/+8
1-100/65/65%/+6
1-125/72/57.6/+7.2
1-150/78/52/+7.3
1-175/86/49.1/first

SEEDING THE STATE

A change at the top of AAA, some adjustments in all classes.

AAAA

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

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
2. Becker (5)
3. Jordan (2)
4. Grand Rapids (7)
5. Detroit Lakes (8)
6. Austin (1)
7. Mahtomedi (4)
8. Visitation (3)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Albany (6)
3. New London-Spicer (3)
4. Goodhue (1)
5. Minnehaha (4)
6. Pequot Lakes (7)
7. Perham (8)
8. Southwest Christian (2)

A

1. Mayer Lutheran (2)
2. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
3. Hancock (6)
4. Fosston (8)
5. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (5)
6. Hayfield (1)
7. Minneota (3)
8. New Life (4)