I started the day thinking I would do the Play by Play of this contest just as i have done for many games on this website, but then I was asked to do Video commentary for Keystone Productions (I will post a link the video production when it is ready - could be a week or so). To be honest, I did not realize I missed doing Video Production so much until this event. I will need to do more in this area.
That aside, I have the following thoughts about each of these teams.
Minneapolis South - I have seen them play 6 times now, 3 at the Hopkins tournament, Roosevelt, Kennedy, and now Central. It is clear to me that there are few teams in the state that can keep up with the Tigers. Once they stop relaxing their play during the games, this team is unstoppable. Their coach has kept the starters in at times past a point when a game was over for these 2 reasons. 1 - The opposing coach has kept her/his starters in, and 2 - to try to get his main players to understand how important it is to play 100% every minute you’re on the floor. I have yet to see South do this as a team. Some of the players understand but not all and this can hurt them in the long run. This is why they lost to Hopkins. Granted it was the 3rd game in 3 days but same for Hopkins. 100% effort 100% of the time!
Saint Paul Central - Although they do not have the power tools of a year ago, they do have the talent to win it all IF they take better care of the ball. I have seen them 2 times now (Long Beach Poly at the Target Center was the other time) and I could forgive some of the mistakes against Poly (Ranked #2 in the country at the time) but to still make the same mistakes now with little improvement seems to be an issue. Although Central had some success against the press they need to steady the nerves every time not just 2 or 3 times a game. Also, Central allowed South to establish defensive position when they wanted to shoot and this resulted in many of their shots looking like they were forced. Lots of leaning back or to the side shooting instead of going straight up or passing out of trouble. Having better results in both of these areas will make Central a serious contender and not simply just the best of the rest.
These are just a few my opinions.
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