Minnesota Report

Angel Robinson helped St. Paul Central claim Minnesota's State AAAA championship at the Target Center. Central finished the season undefeated and is being hailed as one of the greatest teams in state history.

The Minnesota state tournament wrapped up this past weekend and here are some of the highlights.

There were more tight games across all tournaments with nine decided by five points or fewer. Last year there were five. This year's dramatics included two in the finals: Pipestone over Albany and Becker over DeLaSalle. Earlier in the tournament, Benilde edged New Prague in one that went down to the wire. Pipestone had nail biters in the quarters (two points over Caledonia) and semis (overtime with Jordan). And the South vs. Champlin Park semifinal was the most artistic game of the tournament.

As always there was great coaching jobs. A pair that stood out were Hancock with Jodi Holleman and Pipestone with Jay Johnson. Hancock took out No. 1 Ada-Borup with precise execution and taking away the transition game. The undersized Owls knew what they needed to do. They also were competitive against the much bigger defending champs from Fulda and led at halftime.

Pipestone had the comebacks from 16 down to Caledonia, 10 to Jordan and late game with Albany. Johnson lept his composure, which helped his squad weather the storms. Kids have a natural tendancy to panic when things are not going well. That was kept in check by Johnson's confidence. When Jordan pulled the ball out with Pipestone in its 2-3 zone Faith, Tinklenberg looked very concerned and turned to the bench looking for direction. It was given in a manner that kept Pipestone aggressive yet controlled.

GLAESER'S THEOREM

When did the top teams suffer their bad halves?
AAAA: St. Paul Central - vs. Roseville quarterfinals; Central only led by two at half.
AAA: Becker - vs. Benilde-St. Margaret's, trailed by three at half.
AA: Pipestone - vs. Caledonia quarters; trailed by 16-0 to start the game.
A: Fulda - vs. Hancock championship game; trailed by four.

Everyone has a bad half to win a tournament. You need to survive it.

SEEDING

The AAAA and AAA seeding system seemed to work out fine. It provided for two finals that had Nos. 1 vs 2. If AAA didn't have the seeding it would have had Becker vs. Detroit Lakes; New Prague vs. DeLaSalle in the top half of the bracket. Obviously that wouldn't be the way to have the tournament.

I hope the A and AA tournaments will be seeded.

At least the girls coaches had courage to seed. The boys sat on the sidelines seeing how the process worked out.

IMPROVEMENTS

Have the state tourament at one site. You can run it like this: AAAA quarters plus 2 AAA quarters on Tuesday. 2 AAA quarters plus all AA quarters on Wednesday. All A quarters plus the AAAA Semis on Thursday. A, AA, and AAA semis on Friday. The Finals on Saturday just as it is now.

Seed AAAA 1-64. But it would have to be done at the MSHSL office. Iowa does it this way for their tournament putting the top teams in different brackets.

Warm up time: Iowa has 15 minutes and that seems to work out fine. 25 minutes is way, way, way too long.

INTERESTING

The team that sat to the left of the official table and had the dark uniforms lost all championship games Saturday.

There almost was a collective heart attack at the Target Center on Wednesday. The MSHSL site had Roseville beating Central. The score was transposed.

Jim Gogolin was an official this week. He also coached Brainerd in the state tournament back in 1991 and 1992.

It seemed the A bands were the best of the bunch. Hancock, Ada-Borup, Fulda as a class were better than the other classes.

Cheers: There were a couple that got my attention. "You got crackers, we got cheese," from South; and "Give us a chance," more of a pleading, from Edina fans when up against St. Paul Central.

Champlin Park had the best student following with their section full of white tshirts, the uniform of the CP fans. They were constantly standing, swaying, and bouncing durning the night.

THINGS THAT ANNOY

1. Passing across the lane after getting the defensive rebound. All classes, including state champs would get a rebound on the right side and turn into the lane and pass across to the left side instead of turning to the right side in the proper outlet fashion. Of course if players would come to the ball and call for the ball it may be useful.

2. Many players are allergic to the backboard. and they don't have proper angle on drives either.

3. Parking ramps that can't open the gate despite a small crease in the card you slide to get out. It took 30 stinking minutes to escape that ramp on Saturday night.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

St. Paul Central etched its name in the history books with convincing fashion this week. Once they started rolling in the second half of the Roseville quarterfinal win, the Central Express ran over all. Edina and South were living in a Central world. It wasn't so much the offense, even though that was impressive enough, it was the defense that was the extreme difference maker. Defense wins championships and Central defense may be overlooked amid all the lightning and thunder, but it is critical part of their success.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Becker's Brianna Mastey had an outstanding tournament leading, pulling, and carrying her team to the top. She is a difference maker, has versatility on offense with decent ball handling skills, and plays with equal verve on the defensive end. This is her second player of the week honor this year and it came at the pinnacle of the season when all eyes were watching. She joins Kachine Alexander and Angel Robinson as two-time winners.

A word on how this team was selected this week. No. 1, you had to play at Target Center (which is where I was all week). That meant if a player racked it up at the Pavillion or Concordia St. Paul it is not going to influence the selection process. No. 2, with two games, a player has to be consistent. It also means one bad game takes a player out of the running. That is why Hancock, and Minneapolis South among others don't have players on this week's list even though they were in the finals. It also means if a player had a good game in their only Target Center experience they make the list (but third team).

FIRST TEAM
Georgie Jones, St. Paul Central
Laura Kramer, Fulda
Brianna Mastey, Becker
Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central
Faith Tinklenberg, Pipestone

SECOND TEAM
Aaryn Booker, DeLaSalle
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central
Steph Kocourek, Pipestone
Taylor Voss, Albany
LaToya Williams, Benilde-St. Margaret's

THIRD TEAM
Ebony Black, St. Paul Central
Ashlynn Fuller, Champlin Park
Rachel Pexa, Norwood-Young America
Jenny Theisen, Champlin Park
Whitney Trecker, New Prague

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Rachel Booth, DeLaSalle-captain
Georgie Jones, St. Paul Central
Laura Kramer, Fulda
Brianna Mastey, Becker
Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central

NEXT YEAR

Here are preliminary picks to win it all next year: It looks like a back 2 back for two squads.
AAAA: St. Paul Central
AAA: Becker
AA: Albany
A: New Life

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