Thoughts From Day One of the Breakdown Tip Off Classic

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I had plenty of fun experiencing the Breakdown Tip-Off classic for the first time last night. In my opinion, basketball in the Twin Cities is different than almost anywhere else in the midwest, and last night didn't disappoint. Today, I'd like to highlight a few players who stood out in the first round of games I saw at Hopkins High School.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='212489' first='Sophie' last='Hawkinson']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Wayzata wing has an explosion when she gets the ball that few others I've seen have. When Hawkinson decides to attack the basket, few kids have the athleticism and the basketball IQ to even have a chance of keeping the sophomore wing in front of them. The scary part is that I wasn't even seeing her at her best last night. Her athleticism is next level, and there is a real shot that her making athletic plays wins Wayzata a few games they otherwise wouldn't.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='337626' first='Jessica' last='Oberlander']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior forward still has room to grow but did plenty of good things last night. She caught the ball well in traffic and made a few good finishes through contact. The other thing that stood out about Oberlander was how well she ran the floor. Usually, when you see kids her size, they lumber from one side of the court to the other, not Oberlander. She sprinted up and down the floor, and she made plays because of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='377584' first='Ava' last='Cupito']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Whenever someone watches Minnehaha for the first time, [player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'] will draw people's attention, and with good reason. However, I thought Cupito made a good account for herself against an athletic and talented Minnetonka team. Only an eighth grader, Cupito did some nice things with the ball to create opportunities for herself and her teammates, even though they were playing short-handed. Once she gets up to speed with some of the top players in the state, she can make a good duo with Mack in the Redhawk backcourt.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='108320' first='Kelly' last='Boyle']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I've been a big fan of Boyle's game since I first saw her last April. She could get by as a floor spacer and stand on the perimeter and wait for a kick-out pass from any of her uber-talented teammates, but she is more than a floor spacer. Boyle has some juice off the dribble and can create space with a single dribble. If teams aren't careful and close out too recklessly, Boyle has a solid floater game she's comfortable with and will deploy whenever she sees fit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->