For the week: seven games, 14 new teams (no duplicates), 160 players, 317.9 miles

For the season: 44 games, 84 teams (4 duplicates), 878 players, 1731.4 miles.

The Northwest Suburban conference led with three teams checked off: Coon Rapids, Blaine, and Osseo. There were city teams, privates, and even a couple of out state teams coming to the metro that got checked off. Top tens came under the watchful eye too this week with a pair of state AAAA entrants from 2023 Lakeville North and Eagan and Alexandria and Benilde-St. Margaret’s on Friday. I had two unbeaten teams on the radar, but one fell the night before I charted them (Rochester JM). Osseo waited until I was in the house before losing to Blaine.

REAR VIEW MIRROR

MONDAY: Coon Rapids 74, Legacy Christian 46

This was a neighborhood tussle. Two years ago CR was in the ranks of AAAA, Legacy in A. They both have made a move to each other with the Cards now in AAA, and the Lions up to AA. The Cardinals utilized their ¾ court pressure and took advantage of Legacy foul troubles to pull away in this contest. Early on, after nine minutes, before foul trouble put 6-3 senior post Anna Stromberg on the bench, the Lions led 13-9. Stromberg garnered eight points by that stage. One minute later she picked up her third foul with the score tied 15-15. By half CR led 31-22. She had to sit again with four fouls at the 13:30 mark of the second half with CR up 42-28. For the night the Cardinals racked up 32 steals on the 51 LC turnovers which they took advantage of with 10 scores in 13 transition attempts. CR only allowed one transition attempt which did not connect. Four Cardinals reached double digits.

TUESDAY: Lakeville North 88, Eagan 41

Host #3 Lakeville North left no doubt who was going to walk away with a victory in this game racing out to an 11-2 lead after three minutes. That mushroomed to a 26-2 with eleven minutes to go in the half; then ballooned to 43-6 with six minutes to go in the half. That was more than enough to win the game for LN and running time was already reached with the 35 point margin. At the break LN was up 60-22. The Panther press was effective, but it appeared that Eagan was not ready as they could not catch balls thrown right to them. The Wildcats coughed it up three out of their first four possessions and the tenor of the game was established. LN. The first half was almost flawless offensively for LN with a pp100 in the 167 range. That dropped in the second half as the Panthers tried to jam the ball inside on three of their first four possessions and their sharpness declined. Eagan scored the first ten points of the second half. Running time was in doubt with the score 60-32. LN snapped back but their collective pp100 for the game was 127. Four Panthers reached double digits, plus two more were knocking on the door with eight points. There are areas of improvement for LN. Besides the sluggish start to the second half, a concern would be the defensive rebounding situation. Eight times the Wildcats had multiple opportunities to score including one possession with five chances and another with four cracks at the basket. In a rather odd stat Eagan had more touches per turnover 21.53 than LN 15.9. This should not be interpreted as a wonderful defense by Eagan or lack of defense from LN, but perhaps a bit of recklessness on the part of the Panthers forcing things that are not there.

WEDNESDAY: Tartan 53, St. Paul Central 21

Former SPC Miss Basketball player Angel Robinson picked up her first win as the Titans head coach in a convincing win against her former high school team. Tartan, who is now playing in a new gym, scored the first ten points of the game all in less than three minutes of action. Diana Sandoval was busy with seven of those ten points including a pair of 3s.  With two minutes left in the half the Minutemen were still suffering mightly on offense with the score 24-3. Three straight 3s gave SPC some hope by half 24-12. Tartan no longer stayed in their zone in the second half and started off with a 22-4 start over the course of the first ten minutes. SPC for the day ended with a pp100 of 29.2, third lowest for the season. The fact that three varsity teams are below freezing is a concern and highlights the lack of competitive games. Do not believe that Tartan could hold teams to sub 30. My slogan has always been there is no such thing as good defense….only bad offense. (bad in this case meaning lack of skills—ball handling, decision making and of course shooting).

THURSDAY: Blaine 64, Osseo 37

Blaine knocked Osseo off the unbeaten perch in a Northwest Suburban contest Thursday. Prior to the game Osseo was #6 in the overall QRF ranking with Blaine at #19. The host Bengals used a 16-2 finish to the first half to create separation and leave no doubt as to the outcome. The Orioles had a tough time figuring out the Blaine press and Blaine feasted going 8/12 in transition. Plus, Osseo foul damage prevented any traction. For the night Blaine attempted 24 free throws to only ten for Osseo.

FRIDAY: Alexandria 64, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 43

#3 Alexandria knocked off #1 ranked Benilde-St. Margaret’s on the road. The defending AAA champs Red Knights, who have lost Olivia Olson and Kendall McGee to injuries to start the season, further had issues in this contest with foul trouble. Zahara Bishop scored the first seven points for BSM as they led 7-6, when she picked up foul #3 with 12:39 remaining in the first half. With Bishop on the bench the Cards got aggressive going to the rim. They scored on four straight drives, one of which was an &1, taking a 15-13 game to 24-13. That seemed to be a theme of the day. Alex was able to get inside with crisp player and ball movement at will. In simple lay ups alone Alex attempted 30 to nine for BSM. The “red” zone or shots within six feet Alex shot 49 times to 26 for the hosts. This describes both offense and defensive mind sets. BSM was more willing to settle for pull up jumpers.

SATURDAY:

GAME 1: Holy Family 71, Minneapolis North 66

This was by far the most dramatic and interesting game of the week. Holy Family rallied from a first half deficit of twenty points (31-11) to grab the victory over the visiting Minneapolis North Polars. The drama came down to the last minute when North turned it over after a time out with 59.6 left in their front court on an errant pass trying to go inside. They led 66-65 at the time. Center Elin Miller scored her first basket of the game on the next HF possession giving the Fire the lead for good. A drive by Pettis missed the mark. Jocelyn Land added a pair of free throws with 14.1 seconds left for a three-point margin. She had a monster game of 36 points, 13 at the line. A missed 3 rebound was grabbed by Miller, and she converted two more insurance points with 0.3 ticks to go. There were 69 free throws in this contest with HF attempting 40. All those fouls kept the Polars on the bench. Part of the reason for the rally in the first half cutting a 20 point gap down to a more manageable five point gap (34-29). North pushed it back to ten and led 55-46 with nine minutes remaining. HF didn’t get their first lead in the second half until 62-60 after a drive by Berkley Neubauer. Pettis, who led North with 25, scored on a layup with about 1:40 left. That was the final scoring for North (66-63).

GAME 2: Rochester John Marshall 67, Hastings 57

Next up was a game on the southeast side of the metro. The visiting Rochester JM Rockets feature one of the biggest, if not the biggest, starting five in the state. They also were coming off their first loss of the season on Friday at the hands of Mankato East. Three Rocket starters are listed at 6-2. Their point guard is 6-0 freshman Jazmin Daing. The only sub-six footer starter is 5-9. This makes their average height 6-0.6. JM worked the high low game with multiple different combinations and Daing was effective with a smooth 3 stroke in their win over host Hastings. Daing was six for nine on 3s on her way to a game high 26 points. A three by Daing made it 7-4 and JM was launched. After building a 31-22 lead (with another Daing 3) Hastings came to life to cut the margin to 31-26. But JM crashed the boards on their last two possessions for put backs and led 35-26 at the break. The trajectory did not change much in the second half although Daing drew tighter coverage.

INSIDE

Looking at the teams that go inside the most (in the last week) we find that the amount of attempts is higher than the % of the attempts. In other words teams that attempted 36 shots on lay ups or inside action (blocks, posts ups, second chancers) were 5-2. Lay up attempts of 11 (either in transition or off the half court) were again 5-2. Strictly inside 21 attempts (no drives) was 5-2. As for 3s attempting 17 or more led to a 4-3 mark. Success is found closer to the rim. Alexandria led the way with lay ups, mostly off their half court offense with 30. That was also the highest inside percentage with both lay up and inside added together. Three teams had 27 strictly inside action. Two teams attempted 23 3s with a split. Rochester JM won, Eagan lost. Attempting 60% of your total shots inside yielding a 4-2 mark. Attempting over 30% of your total shots beyond the arc had a 1-4 mark on the week. The outlier was RJM who led all with 36.5 of their attempts.

At the most basic level this explains offensive philosophy. It also exposes porous defense as teams can get to the rim easily.

Bold are winning teams this week.

Team	FGA	LU	In	(lu+p)	3	In%	0.030
Coon Rapids	86	28	27	55	16	0.640	0.186
Legacy	42	7	19	26	8	0.619	0.190
Lakeville North	61	15	22	37	17	0.607	0.279
Eagan	64	10	17	27	23	0.422	0.359
Tartan	64	7	12	19	18	0.297	0.281
St. Paul Central	53	10	19	29	13	0.547	0.245
Blaine	67	15	21	36	10	0.537	0.149
Osseo	64	12	24	36	18	0.563	0.281
Alexandria	70	30	19	49	16	0.700	0.229
Benilde-SM	51	9	17	26	16	0.510	0.314
Holy Family	61	11	27	38	17	0.623	0.279
Mpls North	71	22	27	49	11	0.690	0.155
Roch JM	63	6	24	30	23	0.476	0.365
Hastings	67	8	18	26	22	0.388	0.328

PP100S

This was the lowest pp100 so far this year at 75.65. Week 4 was 1.13 lower than the previous low in week 2. So far only week 1 has been above 80. Winners were not the issue. They had 91.84, but that was down four from last week. The losing end still fails to hold up their bargin falling below 60 at 59.46. The gap was somewhat better this week but still a chasm at 32.38, better by about 1.5. This still needs to be addressed.

The top of the classes belonged to AAAA with 76.95, which is down from the 81.5 they had in week 3. AA really fell with three teams going to 74.13 from 103.8. AAA trails them all with 73.7.

There were two centurions with Lakeville North leading the pack with 127.5. RJM was the other, both LN and JM live in section 1AAAA.

The “best” game with losing team pp100 was Hastings with 89.1 in loss to Roch JM in the final game I charted on Saturday. The “Best” game with the smallest margin was HF over Mpls North 7.5 in the first game I charted Saturday. Apparently, we saved the best for last. Four games had spreads of 30 or more. Right behind was a 27.4.

THE BEST THIS SEASON

Week	Leader	Pp100	All pp100
1	Minnetonka	122.2	80.18
2	Rosemount	138.1	76.78
3	Duluth Marshall	115.7	78.23
4	Lakeville North	127.5	75.65

The top two pp100s this year belong to the South Suburban.

31 CLUB

We were in danger of a shutout early this week. There were no new additional members the first three days. The last three days saved the day with six total. Of those six only one stretched into the next level 41 Club. Jocelyn Land of Holy Family is the first senior to lead the week this year. She ended up with 49, which is also the lowest total for a weekly leader. The Fire needed all of her scoring as they rallied to beat Minneapolis North.

Juniors had the most members this week with four. Land was the only senior. There was one freshman cracking club—6-0 guard Jazmin Daing of Rochester JM. AA led with three members (two from Minneapolis North); AAAA had two with AAA bringing up the rear with one.

THE BEST THIS SEASON

Week	Player	School	Grad	Score
1	Maddyn Greenway	Providence	2026	56
2	Tori Oehrlein	Crosby-Ironton	2026	68
3	Chloe Johnson	Duluth Marshall	2028	63
4	Jocelyn Land	Holy Family	2024	49

For the fourth straight week the AA leads the way. That streak will end next week with no scheduled AA teams (at least right now) for me. Land was the first senior to break the undergrad stranglehold.

MILESTONES

Tuesday was busy with three players cracking the 1000 milestone. Senior Makadyn Gust of St. Charles, who was injured in soccer, was able to get her 1000 against Dover-Eyota. Juniors Jordan Ode of Maple Grove and Rylie Cother of Jackson County Central also made it Tuesday. Friday Macy Birkholz of Mankato East joined the club.

On the horizon…..there is a 3000 date (perhaps). Both Maddyn Greenway of Providence and Tori Oehrlein of Crosby-Ironton could, I said could, reach the coveted milestone the same date….in the same game. Circle Tuesday, January 30 at Providence if you want to see history. Supposing good health and good weather:

If Greenway averages 35 points over the next 12 games she would score her 3,000^th point against Crosby-Ironton.  Greenway is averaging 34.5 ppg.

If Oehrlein averages 37 points over their next 14 games she would also score her 3,000^th in the Providence game.  Oehrlein is averaging 34.8 ppg so she has a few points to make up. Matt Pederson is all over this.

TOP OF THE LIST

Already there was a split with a section—6A is now divided into north and south.

AAAA: .750 6/8
AAA: .625 5/8
AA: .250 2/8
A: .111 1/9

Looking at the top 10s:

AAAA 7/10 70%
AAA 5/10 50%
AA 7/10 70%
A 4/10 40%

QRF

The QRF finally released their list this week. I usually build off that list as an easy way to checklist and plan for what games I need to see. Using the Friday posting (so no results from Friday or Saturday) here is where I am at. A year ago after week 4 I was at 43% for 100. Slightly better now.

Rank	Seen	%
1-10	7	70
1-25	17	68
1-50	28	56
1-75	38	50.7
1-100	45	45
1-125	53	42.4
1-150	61	40.7
1-175	64	36.7
1-200	67	33.5

 

Furthermore, looking at the entirety of each class I am already over 60% of teams charted in AAAA. I could be down to a dozen by Saturday.
AAAA: 66.1%—20 to go
AAA: 31.3%—44 to go
AA: 11.8%—112 to go
A: 2.7%—143 to go

UNBEATEN

The days are growing short for unbeatens in the larger classes. The pretenders, posers and those defying gravity are now off the list. We have moved from 58 teams to 34. All remaining AAAA teams are in the top 10. AAA is almost there with all in the top 20 at least. The same cannot be said for the smaller divisions.

In the battle of AAAA unbeatens Tuesday Maple Grove took down Eden Prairie. The following day Spring Lake Park lost to Totino-Grace in another unbeaten battle. Also falling was Mounds View on Tuesday to host Stillwater. I saw Osseo drop a game against Blaine on Thursday. Rochester JM lost to Mankato East on Friday. In AAA the first team last week to fall was Richfield to DeLaSalle on Tuesday 61-27. Harding lost to Tartan on Thursday, the day after I charted the Titans. Two Rivers lost at Minneapolis Southwest on Friday. Minneapolis South traveled to Long Prairie for an event there and were ambushed by the Bertha-Hewitt Bears. That now leaves six for AAA unblemished. The smaller classes are still not ready for their final ten with AA still with 13, and A with a dozen. We know one team will fall on Monday when Byron and Dover-Eyota get together.

AAAA: 3 Minnetonka, Maple Grove, St. Michael-Albertville
AAA: 6 Byron, St. Peter, Totino-Grace, Delano, Cloquet, Rock Ridge,
AA: 13
A: 12

STREAKING

Back to a log jam in AAA with Delano & Totino-Grace joining St. Peter with 7 wins.

AAAA: 15 St. Michael-Albertville (7+)
AAA: 7 Delano, St. Peter, Totino-Grace
AA: 37 Providence (29+)
A: 8 Sleepy Eye

ROAD AHEAD

With no Saturday events this will be a relatively short week—a minimum of five games. With the clear sailing on the roads thanks to the mild winter I am focusing on getting the longer distance teams as they approach the metro. There are a few tournaments this week. Eden Valley-Watkins hosts a four-team tournament starting Monday; while Pillager’s four-team event begins Thursday.

SEEDING THE STATE

DeLaSalle moves to the top of the list in AAA. A few tweaks in each class.

AAAA

1. Minnetonka (2)
2. Michael-Albertville (8)
3. Hopkins (6)
4. Maple Grove (5)
5. Lakeville North (1)
6. Rosemount (3)
7. Stillwater (4)
8. Andover (7)

AAA

1. DeLaSalle (4)
2. Alexandria (8)
3. Peter (2)
4. Totino-Grace (5)
5. Delano (6)
6. Byron (1)
7. Cloquet (7)
8. Minneapolis Roosevelt (3)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Albany (6)
3. Minnehaha (4)
4. Pequot Lakes (7)
5. Dover-Eyota (1)
6. New London-Spicer (3)
7. Pelican Rapids (8)
8. NRHEG (2)

A

1. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
2. Hancock (6)
3. Hayfield (1)
4. Sleepy Eye (2)
5. Fosston (8)
6. Braham (5)
7. Mayer Lutheran (4)
8. Southwest MN Christian (3)