State tournament seeds and schedules
The seedings are in. The schedule is out. The field is set for the 2022 Minnesota girls state high school basketball championship which begins Wednesday in Minneapolis. There were a few minor surprises with the seeds but nothing earth shattering. We compared them to the rankings put out by MN ScoreFeed, the free app which this winter has revolutionized how fans track their favorite teams’ scores, schedules and streams. It uses a simple formula based on strength of schedule and win percentage that is similar to how college team ratings are determined.
In class 4A Hopkins was a no-brainer at #1 and nobody at this point is likely to argue that Shakopee, which has won 21 games in a row while holding every opponent under 50 points during that stretch, deserves to be #2. The tournament committee awarded 19th-ranked White Bear Lake the #5 seed. According to MN ScoreFeed rankings, that should have gone to #13 Lakeville North, which is unseeded.
In 3A, the defending state champs from Becker got the nod for top seed over St. Paul Como Park. The MN ScoreFeed ratings would have had it the other way around. It would also have had Mankato East in the third spot but they were given #5. Unseeded Detroit Lakes is the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at #31. After another dominant performance Friday night, Providence Academy earned the top seed in Class 2A while Fergus Falls got the nod for 2nd over Minnehaha Academy, which is a bit of a surprise. Not surprisingly Mountain Iron-Buhl earned the top seed in Class A. The rankings would have put Cass Lake-Bena into the second spot, but the committee gave them 4th while awarding the #2 seed to Mayer Lutheran.
Here’s a run-down on all of the seeds by class along with opening-round schedules for Wednesday and Thursday. Teams are listed in order by seed with their record and state ranking shown in parentheses.
CLASS AAAA.
- Hopkins (23-1) (#1)
- Shakopee (26-3) (#4)
- St. Michael-Albertville (22-7) (#6)
- Rosemount (24-5) (#9)
- White Bear Lake (20-9) (#19)
Unseeded: Lakeville North (19-9) (#13), Roseville (21-8) (#15), Centennial (19-10) (#17)
Quarterfinals Wednesday at Williams Arena
- 10 a.m. – Hopkins vs Lakeville North
- 12 p.m. – Rosemount vs White Bear Lake
- 2 p.m. – Shakopee vs Roseville
- 4 p.m. – St. Michael-Albertville vs Centennial
CLASS AAA
- Becker (22-4) (#2)
- St. Paul Como Park (20-6) (#1)
- Totino-Grace (20-8) (#6)
- Benilde-St. Margaret’s (23-6) (#8)
- Mankato East (24-4) (#4)
Unseeded: Austin (24-5) (#7), Grand Rapids (25-4) (#10), Detroit Lakes (14-12) (#31)
Quarterfinals Wednesday at Maturi Pavilion
- 10 a.m. – Becker vs Austin
- 12 p.m. – Mankato East vs Benilde-St. Margaret’s
- 2 p.m. – Como Park vs Grand Rapids
- 4 p.m. – Totino-Grace vs Detroit Lakes
CLASS AA
- Providence Academy (26-4) (#1)
- Fergus Falls (22-5) (#3)
- Minnehaha Academy (24-5) (#2)
- Albany (23-5) (#8)
- Rochester Lourdes (21-7) (#11)
Unseeded: Montevideo (25-3) (#20), Pequot Lakes (29-1) (#6), Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (25-4) (#26)
Wednesday at Maturi Pavilion
- 6 p.m. – Fergus Falls vs Pequot Lakes
- 8 p.m. – Minnehaha Academy vs Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial
Wednesday at Williams Arena
- 6 p.m. – Providence Academy vs Montevideo
- 8 pm. – Rochester Lourdes vs Albany
CLASS A
- Mountain Iron-Buhl (27-3) (#1)
- Mayer Lutheran (26-4) (#4)
- Hancock (27-1) (#6)
- Cass Lake-Bena (28-2) (#2)
- Hayfield (31-0) (#5)
Unseeded: Minneota (26-4) (#8), United Christian (23-4) (#16), Nevis (18-7) (#27)
Thursday at Maturi Pavilion
- 11 a.m. – Mountain Iron-Buhl vs Minneota
- 1 p.m. – Cass Lake-Bena vs Hayfield
- 3 p.m. – Mayer Lutheran vs United Christian
- 5 p.m. – Hancock vs Nevis