Day 2 Predictions

So I went 8 for 10 on day 1, missing Duluth East over Rocori, and Concordia Academy over Pierz. I hit on the other 8. Here is hoping for another 8 out of 10.


Foley Tournament

I was at Night game last night and saw Sebeka lose to Foley(Led most of the game however). Sebeka ran out of gas against Foley, this was the first game I have ever seen where the lengthening of the game meant a change in the winner of that game. Had we been playing a 32 minute game, Sebeka would have pulled the upset. Congrats to Matt Feuling 6'4 Sr F Foley, on his 30 point game last night, Matt had a great spring/summer with our Comets North team this past year.

Becker vs. Sebeka- I think this is a chance for Becker to get the win, and send Sebeka packing for home with two losses. I just don't think Sebeka will have much left in the tank after losing that game last night, I think Becker will handle Sebeka's pressure and win by 7. Becker 74 Sebeka 67.

Foley vs. Rockford- Falcons are at home, and didn't play well last night save for Feuling, and a couple of their bench kids, I think they respond. Foley teams have rarely gotten outworked the way they did last night, and I think they bring a workman like effort to what will be a great game. Rockford is well coached and has experience, I don't expect it to be enough. Foley 65 Rockford 61.


SCC tourney

Litchfield vs. Melrose- Litch should have an advantage in this one. Melrose is hurting more this year than I expected. Look for Litch to get out quick, and win by a dozen or so. Litch 58 Melrose 46.

Pierz vs. Milaca- Pierz will be smarting after their loss to CA yesterday, I expect coach Stumpf to have them ready to go, I am going out on a limb and say Pierz keeps Milaca winless. Pierz 68 Milaca 41.

Sauk Rapids vs. Braham- Could be the game of the night, as I don't expect the other semifinal to be close. Jordan Christensen had better go for 25 if Sauk has a chance, Braham has shooters everywhere and Jonah Dahlman is playing very well. Braham in a close one 72-68.

SCC vs. CA- I expect a 20 point CA win, I don't think Cathedral can run with them, and I don't think SCC is one of the best 6 teams in this tourney, they get run out tonight, Big win by CA 88-67.

Granite City Classic-

Rocori vs. Monticello- OLD CLC matchup, I am taking the Spartans but this matchup is always tough, two defensive minded clubs. Backes will be the difference Rocori 57 Monti 52. These teams played a week ago and Monti won on their home floor, Rocori turns the tide tonight.

FL vs. Sartell- FL has too much, and scores inside and out, I think the Rangers expected to give Osseo a better game yesterday and will come ready to play today. Sartell takes it on the chin, and has had an incredibly tough draw. FL 74 Sartell 63

Washburn vs. Osseo- Suprised these two teams weren't on opposite halves of the bracket. I think no Hageman means Dower runs wild. Look for Osseo to go inside early and often. I will take the Orioles by 8. I know all of these kids know eachother so it could be a fantastic game. Osseo 78 Washburn 70

Apollo vs. Duluth East- I am taking the Eagles to get to their second straight final of the GCC. I think Garth/Frericks/Akubar can rotate on Starks, and Bergstrasser will be too much inside for East. Take Apollo by 10 81 to 71.



There you have it, i will check back tomorrow.

Monticello vs.

Christmas Tournament 1st day predictions

I have been busy, and have spent the last month without a home PC, so my blogging has become erratic, after many trips to Best Buy, I think the new computer arrives on Wednesday. Anyways, a brief predicitons on the three local holiday tourneys for boys.

Foley Tournament

Rockford vs. Becker- not sure who to like here, as it should be a good matchup, Rockford has some nice size in Kyle Then and decent guard play. Becker has Andrew Nuemann, and a bunch of good juniors led by Mike Lindsey. I will take the Rockets in this one, but only by 4 67-63.

Foley vs. Sebeka- Foley is 4-0 and playing very good basketball, this is their chance to go to 6-0 as they draw two games versus teams they can and should beat. Sebeka is a year a way with both Harris(soph) and Cupherus(jr) coming back next year. I expect it to be very high scoring with the Falcons winning 82-66.

SCC Tourney

Litchfield vs. Braham- Two great programs, with some talent and fantastic coaching. This one could go either way, I am going to take Braham because in the matchup of the day, Jonah Dahlman takes care of Steve Hendrickson, Jonah just has a little more to his game. Braham 71 Litch 68.

Sauk Rapids vs. Melrose- I think Melrose is struggling a little bit, and Sauk smells blood in the water, they want to win today as neither game tomorrow will be easy. Look for Jordan Christensen to score inside/Out and Cody Meyer to be the difference with his ball pressure. SR 65 Melrose 52

Concordia Academy vs. Pierz- Maybe the best two teams in the tourney, and certainly two of the top 4. CA has Towle who Pierz will have to stop, and Pierz already has a win against DLS this year. I think Pierz wins by 10, with their defense being too much. Pierz 77 CA 67.

SCC vs. Milaca- Cathedral set themselves up nicely here, and I expect a big win for the host school. I think SCC has too many good athletes for Milaca, although I like Chaz Crotzer for the Wolves. SCC 78 Milaca 61

GCC

Forest Lake vs. Osseo- I think the Orioles with Kyle Mason, and Sam Dower win a slug fest, FL will try to play this game in the 50's Osseo in the 80's. Dower will be the difference, as he is the best big man to play on that court since John Williams. Osseo 75 FL68.

Apollo vs. Monticello- Consider me one guy who doesn't think Monti is as good as advertised, I think depth is an issue and Apollo will bring it at them in waves. Garth is an awful matchup for Monti. If Bigelow can get Bergstrasser in foul trouble, then it may tighten a bit. Apollo 81 Monticello 71.

Duluth East vs. Rocori- 2-3 and the flex works for Rocori, to slow down the game. I think Starks get's a few open jumpers, but no way DE hits enough other shots to keep Rocori from winning. Spartans 61 greyhounds 53

Washburn vs. Sartell- I think Washburn big, I expect the mercy rule to come into play. Get there early as there will be a ton of dunks. I love Dylan Hale's game. Washburn 91 Sartell 59

Weekend thoughts

Some teams that are off to good starts...


Apollo 4-0 first two games without Andre Garth, blew FF out last night.
Foley 3-0 I think their last two wins weren't nearly as impressive as going to Mora and winning, look for them to start 6-0 at least.

NL-S girls 5-1 great start for the wildcats
Sauk Centre5-0 the new girls powerhouse in central MN.

Teams I have a little concern about...

Tech- 4-0 but I see them getting knicked by Apollo/Willmar
Albany girls- 1-3 with no Noreen girl to rescue them.

Lastly,
If SJU is going to run a HS tournament maybe somewhere(Minnesota scores, preps, sctimes, mshsl) the brackets and game times should be posted, wanted to head out there last night, but couldn't find any game times. Awful publicity, I was disapointed.

Quick thoughts

Three games I wanted to talk about really quickly, although I wasn't at any of them.

Foley going to Mora and winning by 3. Down 9 at the half, in a tough environment, the Falcons just buckled down and guarded I am told. Congrats to the new coach on his first win, and to get it in such a tough environment, and with at Zimmerman and 4 straight home games, Foley looks like 5-1 at worst going into 2009. I know some people scoffed at how high I put the Falcons, but I knew how good their seniors were, and I knew the kind of player Nick Jansen is as well.

Congrats to Nate Miller also getting his first win last night as SCC defeated Melrose. Melrose has taken a couple on the chin early this year, but they will be back, too well coached not to. Also, Luke Januschka had 20 last night, I think it had something to do with working 16 hours this weekend running clocks for me. HA HA HA.

Lastly, Albany loses to Sauk Centre, on paper this shouldn't happen, but Sauk battles hard, and won on a buzzer beater by Berling. Nice win for the Streeters. In the other conference action LPGE beat Milaca by 18. Could be a rough season for the Wolves. Nathan Korfe had 35 for LPGE.

Pierz vs. Little Falls

I attended my first guys game of the year Tuesday night, traveling to Little Falls to watch LF/Pierz. I brought along my dad and we made the 30 mile trek to the north.

Great atmosphere, I love the LF gym, even though in my three years playing there, I never had more than 12 points in a game against them, they had a packed house, good sound system, and they have a solid concession stand. LF girls were just getting done defeating the Pierz girls in what must have been a boys/girls doubleheader.

It turned out to be a fantastic game, Pierz led for much of the 1st half, with 3 LF kids and 2 Pierz kids spending most of the 1st half on the bench with fouls. I really am against how close they call things, especially in outstate, and in small towns like LF. Unfortunatly this game was decided in the end by a game of attrition, and both teams had multiple guys foul out. Anyways, off my soap box, Pierz is up 9 at the break as seniors Breck Weber and Tyler Monson are having big games. Neither of their games are real pretty, but Weber's jumper is, and Monson plays as hard as anyone in the state. Great spark off the bench by Mark Eno for Pierz, he is clearly their best guard, and played a big role for the Pioneers.

With 9 minutes to go in the second half LF is in major foul trouble as both Kornbaum's, and Erdich have 3 or 4 fouls. LF coach starts subbing O for D and putting on heavy man pressure. It doesn't get many steals, but takes Pierz out of what they want to do. Before you know it we go to OT. Now to be honest I left before it was done, I had a long drive home and I had to work in the morning early, but Pierz dominates OT and wins by 9.

I thought Danny K and Ronnie K were very good and only foul trouble stopped them from even better things, Erdich struggled with fouls, and Scott was a big reason LF even got to OT. For Pierz, they just play so hard, and even though for the second time in three years their best player blew out his knee, they respond and play hard for coach Stumpf. Fun rivalry game, and good for Pierz to pull the minor upset.

Some Comet Kids have had some nice starts

Here are a few notables, realizing that many boys teams haven't played yet.

Brianna Herbst of Foley is averaging 19 rebounds per game
Gabby Boser of Pierz is averaging 17 points per game
Same goes for Jessi Althoff of Becker.

On the boys side Scott Nystrom had 22 points last night, but against Echo Charter. Echo Charter? How do you get better playing Echo Charter. Nystrom is a stud, but he is all Kimball has.
Taylor Freelty and KMS fresh off a football state Championship have already played 2 HS games this year.

1st game of the year

I went to my first HS basketball game of the year last night. Foley vs. Zimmerman girls @ Foley. I hadn't been in the Foley gym in awhile and it was good to be back. There was a good but not great crowd, a lot of the boys team was there, and most of the junior high girls stayed throughout too. I was excited to watch the Falcon girls, because although I don't know any of them all that well, they all seem like nice girls who could have a big season.

It's back and forth through the first ten minutes, Foley is killing them on the glass, getting 3-4 shots per possesion on almost every possesion, and either converting or drawing fouls. I remember thinking that Zimmerman wasn't very deep and foul trouble could hurt and it eventually did. Zimmerman makes a little run, sophomore guard Brook Inman is a really nice player, and she hits a couple of shots, and drops off a pass or two for layups. With 5 minutes to go in the half, Foley is down 3. From here on out a lot of bad things happen to Zimmerman, Inman and starting center Atkinson pick up their 3rd and 4th fouls respectively(How a girl stays in the game in the 1st half with 3, I will never know, games aren't won or lost in the 1st half generally)and Foley turns up the heat, getting solid bench play from their own sophomore Kelsey Katke who has a few steals, and big rebounds. Foley ends the half on a 10-3 run and turns a 3 point defecit to a 7 point lead. The back breaker is a steal and layup by senior Bethany Gapinski as the 1st half buzzer sounds.

I thought Foley was sitting pretty, and their pressure continued to wear Zimmerman down. With Inham on the bench for a lot of the second half Foley built a 15 point lead, but some over aggressive fouling leave Brianna Herbst and Beth Gapinski on the bench with 8 minutes to play with 4 fouls a piece. If Zimmerman had a chance it was now with the Falcons two best players on the bench, and the Zimmerman coach knew it, pleading with his girls to keep after the falcons. They cut it to 8, before Herbst and Gapinski re enter. Once they re enter, you could see the confidence grow on the floor, as senior guard Bry Schyma hits a back breaking 3 within 15 seconds. Foley takes a few ill advised shots as their coach begs them to settle down and run the offense. Defensivly Foley get's to the point where their four most important players all have 4 fouls, and so collectively defensively they become a little passive, and allow Zimmerman some cheap stuff late. Foley never really get's into any danger and pulls off the 58-51 victory.

My observations were these. Brianna Herbst might only be 5'8 but she rebounds as though she were 6'2. She does a great job rebounding in traffic, and kept probably 15 possesions alive last night alone, paper says 18 rebounds and I had her for 21. The return of Bethany Gapinski after being hurt the back half of last season has really made a difference, she is a total playmaker, and solid decision maker, she might be the best lead guard in the WCN this year, I think she will make even more improvements as her the season continues. Katie Kotsmith had a chance to have 30 points last night, but missed several easy shots, that she is too good of a player to miss, she plays nicely off of Brianna and Bethany who spoon fed her a lot of easy ones. She should lead them in scoring because she will get the better post matchup, and Herbst and Gapinski give her a lot of easy ones. Underated, but extremely valuable was the floor game Bry Schyma played last night, she did all the little things, and hit essentially the game ending shot. I was impressed with Brooke Kjaers, and Kelsey Katke, and you can see the athletic ability Bethany Halvorsen possesses. Maybe a game where some of the younger posts could have been sprinkled in, I though both Kotsmith and Herbst got tired and then commited dumb fouls, would of loved to have seen the bench posts a little to help their development, especially with a 15 point lead for most of the second half.

I really liked Imhan for Zimmerman.