Tonight I read an article in the Star Tribune about number 6th in the Nation, Hopkins, who is also ranked first in state, that played the number two team in state, Henry Sibley, last friday night at Henry Sibley High School. Henry Sibley is the 4th team in the region but didn't have enough to take down the ferocious Hopkins team. Hopkins has all 5 of their starters going to a top division one college next year, while Henry Sibley has 3 of their top 5 going D1. I had the chance to go to watch the Hopkins-Minnetonka game a day before I made my way out to Henry Sibley High School to watch the Hopkins-Sibley showdown. Minnetonka won the State Championship last year and knocked Hopkins out in the Section Finals. Hopkins came back for revenge this year, picking up a D1 caliber player, senior Royce White, who committed to The University of Minnesota. He, along with the other Hopkins players, went nuts during the Tonka game, in front of what seemed like 200 people at the Lindbergh Center at Hopkins High School. The crowd, band, and Student section was as crazy as a college game. Hopkins came out and scored 60 points in the first half, which is usually what teams have in a full game, and ended up winning easily 112-60. Watching this game made me realize just how AMAZING Hopkins really is. It's different when I hear people say how good they are when they haven't even seen them, and when people actually know basketball and have witnessed this 6th ranked team in all of America. The Henry Sibley-Hopkins game the FOLLOWING NIGHT was ridiculous. Hopkins pretty much had complete control of the game until Sibley cut it to 4 with five minutes left. The place was rocking. Hopkins ended up holding on to the game 77-66.
If I were Henry Sibley, I would have tried to slow the game down a little more just to make Hopkins have less possessions, even with a loss, they knew there's just that one extra step they can do to maybe turn that game around. Luckily they'll get to meet them sometime in the State Tournament held at the Target Center.
My Edina team lost our first game at Shakopee last night in a battle. We just didn't play hard enough and got out worked and out coached. It was a devastating loss. We are now ranked tenth in state, moving back because of a 10-1 record. It is still an amazing start to the season but with still over half the year to go, and at least two games against Nationally Ranked HOPKINS, we are not stopping and are continuing to work hard to reach our goal of a State Championship.
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