Who’s hot? These 8 squads are off to a fast start

It's early, but just two weeks into the Minnesota girls high school basketball season there are some programs that are already rolling. In fact there are eight undefeated squads that have reeled off at least four wins to begin the campaign. Some are not at all surprising – i.e., Hopkins and Minnetonka – with others raising an eyebrow or two. Here's a look what we've seen so far from the eight who've been great.

5-0 Hopkins Royals In the category of ‘Not Surprising' let's begin with the most obvious of the obvious: Hopkins is good. They certainly showed it over the weekend by crushing Wisconsin power Appleton East on Friday night and following that up with an impressive handling of the defending state champions from Chaska on Saturday at the Breakdown Tip Off on their home court. That's five straight wins with an average margin of victory of 36. On Friday, with her future college coach Adia Barnes of Arizona in the house, (15.6 points per game) turned in the best performance we have seen from her in a very long time. (16.8) (photo above), Minnesota Gophers commit (13.2), standout sophomore guard (12.4) and Stanford commit (12.2) have all been very, very good. Bench support from , and has been solid. This week the Royals have one game against Eastview.

5-0 Minnetonka Skippers Given the starting lineup Minnetonka brings to bear, the Skippers' record is not a surprise either. After knocking off White Bear Lake and St. Louis Park last week at the Hamline tournament, ‘Tonka scored a win at home over a strong East Ridge team and then defeated Rosemount and Maple Grove at the Tip Off. The Skippers are led by senior , one of the truly elite point guards in the state. The Creighton commit (photo above) is averaging 18.2 ppg. Alabama-Birmingham signee (12.8) had a strong weekend, earning Player of the Game honors on Friday. Sophomore power forward (9.2) and combo guard (3.2) are both off to excellent starts as is the #1 freshman in the state, (12.2). The bench support has been impressive, too, as 8th grader , sophomore and others have played a big role. The play of senior Nora Arndt in the post has been a pleasant surprise. This week the Skippers will face Hill-Murray on Friday.

4-0 Eden Prairie Eagles Talk about tough scheduling. I'm sure when the Eagles looked at their opening week and saw four games in five days on the docket there was some trepidation involved. I mean, that's a big ask for any team, any time. I guess EP need not have worried because the Eagles triumphed in all four, scoring wins over Park Center. Maple Grove. Eagan and Lakeville North. They did it in impressive fashion, too, with an average margin of victory of 29. Gopher commit has been off-the-charts great. Nia (photo above) is averaging 20 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.2 steals per game while shooting 65% from the field and 90% at the free throw line. Illinois state commit (12.2 ppg) is running the show at the point with the poise and precision you want form your floor general. Senior guard (10.8), a UM-Duluth basketball and soccer signee, has been her usual solid self along with freshman guard (6.5), junior guard (5.8) and junior forward (9.5). That's a really solid top six. EP will attempt to make it five in a row when they resume play Tuesday at Prior Lake.

4-0 Totino-Grace Eagles Perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises so far this season is the play of Totino-Grace. This appears to be one of the strongest TG teams we have seen in a while – they won a state championship in the late 2000s – and coach Mary Dengerud has them all going in the same direction at the same time. Last week the Eagles scored victories over both Benilde-St. Margaret's and DeLaSalle, which is a big deal in the world of parochial schools. Senior guards and have been exceptional. Leah is a Concordia-St. Paul commit averaging 15.5 points per game. Herzig, who has yet to make a college commitment, has nearly doubled her productivity from last winter and is among the state's leading scorers at 28 ppg. The play of juniors Abby Lord (7.8) and Caroline Schlaefer (7.8) has been very good when we have watched. They'll face Blaine and Centennial this week. Time will tell if TG can unseat the section 4AAA favorites from Hill-Murray.

4-0 Visitation Blazers Vis has been very good so far as veteran coach Faith Johnson-Patterson continues to build the program in her second season at the all-girls school in Mendota Heights. Much like Totino, Visitation is led by a dynamic duo that was featured in our recap of the Thanksgiving tournaments. Freshman standout (photo above) is averaging nearly 22 points per game. The 5'11 guard is a Top 10 prospect in the Class of 2025 and earned all-conference honors in the Tri-Metro last winter as an 8th grader. Senior forward Olivia Johanns, whose primary sport is swimming, isn't far behind at 18 ppg. These two have been exceptional together, leading the Blazers to wins last week over Southwest Christian and Minneapolis South. Senior (5.0), who is one of the more underappreciated point guards around, and junior forward Catherine Breyen (9.8) have been solid. Visitation has been largely ignored in any discussion of who might emerge from section 3AAA where both St. Paul Como Park and DeLaSalle hang their hats. The school has never been to a state tournament in basketball, but there's always a first time.

4-0 St. Croix Lutheran Crusaders The Crusaders have been very good for a long time. With the addition of University of St. Thomas commit (15.8 ppg) and promising 8th graders Amaya Penn and Callie Oakland they are even better. Point guard is a quality tactician. And then there's , who earned Player of the Game honors in their win at the Tip Off over Pine City. Laura (photo above) has been a major league varsity contributor since 7th grade. The Top 5 sophomore in the state is averaging 23 points per game, many of them coming from way downtown as she is one of the premier shooters from distance in the state. At the Thanksgiving Tip Off. SCL scored impressive wins over Mountain Iron-Buhl and Stewartville. This week they'll face DeLaSalle and Cambridge-Isanti. Their long-term prospects will be very interesting because SCL is located in section 4AA where everyone and their dog picked Minnehaha Academy as the pre-season favorite. Before it's all over with the Crusaders might have something big to say about that.

4-0 Minnehaha Academy Redhawks About those Redhawks... What an off-season coach Matt Pryor had. Much to the chagrin of many of Minnehaha's opponents, the Minneapolis-based private school was able to load up with fresh faces of the most impactful variety. Although it took some time to get them all to mesh well together – fall league was interesting for sure – the chemistry is working just fine now that the actual season has commenced. With four wins already in the books, MA is averaging 92 points per game with an average margin of victory of 58. The Redhawks completely dismantled the defending state champions from Albany at the Tip Off on Saturday, crushing the Huskies by 42. It's not at all a surprise that 9th grade point guard (photo above) is leading the way. Already a 1,000-point career scorer, Addi is averaging over 29 points per game. Newcomers (14 ppg), Aliyah Al-Hameed (13) and (5.8) have made a major impact, as has intriguing 7th grader Ava Cupito (6.2). Veterans and play big roles. It's an impressive lineup producing really good results. We plan to be on hand Friday when they face a strong Prior Lake squad.

4-0 Goodhue Wildcats Goodhue has been to state so often that the Wildcats probably have their own reserved parking space near Williams Arena. Thus it's not at all shocking to see Goodhue winning again. Coach Josh Wieme has created a juggernaut in southeastern Minnesota, racking up a winning percentage of .810 in his 13 seasons at the helm. On Saturday at the Breakdown, the Wildcats scored an impressive 51-38 victory over another perennial state tournament participant, the Mainstreeters of Sauk Centre, to go along with wins so far over Hastings, Red Wing and Dover-Eyota. Despite graduating four starters and 70% of their point production, the Wildcats haven't even sputtered. After a summer in which she was one of our breakout players of the campaign, junior forward has brought that same energy to the high school season. She leads the team at 15 points per game. Top 50 sophomore point guard (13.7) (photo above) earned Player of the Game honors against Sauk Centre and has raised her game, too. Senior forwards (10.7) and Anika Schaefer (8.0) give the team even more punch up front. Goodhue is once again battling Lake City for a trip to state out of section 1AA.