Reflections on a State Tournament with few surprises so far

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>March is all about the upsets, isn't it? David vs Goliath. #16 versus #1. Small-town heroes taking on the big city slickers for all the bragging rights. Those are the storylines everyone seems to be looking for in basketball at this time of year. At the 2023 version of the Minnesota girls high school State Tournament, however, you need to grasp at straws to come up with anything resembling a major upset this week. The one team missing from championship Saturday that was expected to be on the docket is Becker. Here are a few thoughts on that and other random musings following three days of action in Minneapolis.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>IT'S TIGER TIME</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class 3A Stewartville Tigers didn't play on Friday – the day was reserved for Class A and AA semifinals – but they were the team that kept coming up in conversation throughout the day. Coach Ryan Liffrig's crew earned some rest and recovery time following their dramatic 70-69 win over #1-seeded Becker the day before, a victory that is as close as this tournament has come to producing anything resembling a shocker. But was it really?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By definition an upset occurs when a lower seed beats a higher seed. And when Becker, the higher seed, has won a state championship and played in the finals one year ago, they're naturally going to be considered the favorite against a team that has never been in the tournament before. In reality, however, 4th-seeded Stewartville has played like a championship squad all year. They were good in the beginning of the season. They got better as things progressed. And judging by what we've seen this week they're playing their best basketball right now. When it came time to show their wares under the bright lights, veterans [player_tooltip player_id='148327' first='Haylie' last='Strum'], [player_tooltip player_id='186114' first='Keeley' last='Steele'] and [player_tooltip player_id='339217' first='Savannah' last='Hedin'] delivered and youngsters [player_tooltip player_id='589273' first='Ella' last='Theobald'], [player_tooltip player_id='339214' first='Jayci' last='Rath'] and [player_tooltip player_id='458305' first='Audrey' last='Shindelar'] did what they have been doing all season. They played great. Thursday's triumph was the Tigers 26th win in a row. We'll find out Saturday if they can win one more and capture a state championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SO WHAT'S THE STORY?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Much like the Olympics, the State Tournament always seems to be about the storylines. That makes sense for casual observers who only watch girls basketball a couple of times each year. It's all new. Ditto for the TV broadcasters who work hard to cram for the show and learn as much as they can about the teams and the players in a very tight timeframe. That's not easy. I've been a broadcaster and it takes a ton of work to prep for one game never mind four in a day. If you are a regular reader of Prep Girls Hoops, however, you know a lot about these teams already, even more about the key players, their assets and accomplishments because we write about them on a regular basis. In other words, none of what we've seen is a surprise.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='178277' first='Jordan' last='Zubich'] was in the spotlight the past two days and is playing for a Class A championship on Saturday. Our first stories about her appeared over four years ago when she was a scrawny middle schooler raising eyebrows up north. Friday night standout [player_tooltip player_id='594370' first='Tatum' last='Findley'] of Albany earned a little screen time on TV after playing hero in the Huskies' win over Goodhue. We wrote a fun story about her a month ago – <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2023/02/albanys-tatum-findley-was-top-dog-for-the-huskies/">Albany's Findley was top dog for the Huskies</a></strong> – in which her ability to make big threes was a central theme.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And then there's Friday's biggest storyline, the incredible encounter between [player_tooltip player_id='252381' first='Maddyn' last='Greenway'] of Providence Academy and [player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'] of Minnehaha Academy. For thousands of viewers it was probably the first time they had laid eyes on these precocious young talents. We've been anticipating such fireworks for a long time now as the <strong>photo above</strong> will attest. It was taken more than two years ago when they first faced each other in high school competition. They were 7th and 8th graders with a world of potential back then. But it was obvious that it wouldn't be long before we'd be watching what we watched on Friday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With just one exception, every player who made headlines in Friday's semifinal action is already included in the Prep Girls Hoops prospect rankings. They've been seen, evaluated, written about and celebrated multiple times. The three freshmen from Stewartville who folks are “discovering” for the first time this week? We put them at #7 (Shindelar), #12 (Rath) and #25 (Theobald) in the first Class of 2026 rankings way back in the fall. Of course you already knew that.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE DAY</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mackenzie Visser – 2024 forward, BOLD</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kenzie is the one Friday standout we haven't written about before. We were impressed by what we saw from Visser on opening day when she put up 12 points and 11 rebounds in the Warriors' one-sided win over United Christian Academy. What she did Friday afternoon in BOLD's 58-46 win over Hayfield was a whole different thing. The rest of us may have come to watch some basketball but Kenzie showed up and threw her own block party. The 5'11 forward not only shot lights out – she went 8-for-11 from the field for 18 points – but she dominated in the physicality department, hauling down 10 rebounds and blocking 8 shots. Yes 8. Most of those swats came early in the game when Visser was the one setting the tone with her relentless energy, aggressive approach, confident demeanor and ability to play with pace. BOLD did an outstanding job corralling Hayfield's main weapon [player_tooltip player_id='392476' first='Natalie' last='Beaver'] and Visser deserves a ton of credit for their success. It will be interesting to see how she does against the speed and physicality offered by Mountain Iron-Buhl in Saturday's finale. As always, we'll do our best to let you know how it goes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->