The Minnesota Lynx are keeping the 2024 basketball season alive, but it’s certainly not too soon to declare that the Lynx are one of our hot half dozen of finalists for Team of the Year honors. We’ve named Minnesota’s Team of the Year going back to 1895. In 2024 it will be one of these ten teams, presented here in alpha order.
Cherry boys 31-2. Cherry was perhaps the most fun to watch. They play the way basketball is meant to be played, at a very fast pace, moving the ball, moving without the ball. Despite being led by Minnesota Gopher recruit, 6-3 combo guard Isaac Asuma, they (and he) kept everybody involved, which made them pretty much impossible for most opponents to defend. Isaac’s line was 18 pppg-9 reb-7 ast. Noah “Sunny” Sundquist was 15.5-7-2, Noah Asuma was 13-6-2, Isaiah Asuma 12-4-4 and Carson Brown 12-5-4. They demolished Fertile Beltrami 78-40 for the Class A title.
Gustavus Adolphus women 25-3. Wreaked havoc and domination of the MIAC worthy of the old St. Thomas juggernaut. 19-1 im the conference and won 2 playoff games by an average of 67-41. Senior guard Emma Kniefel led a balanced scoring attack with 12 ppg, and she added 4 boards-3 ast-2 stls, and was the MIAC defensive player of the year. They went 6 deep and the other 5 all averaged right around 10 points, 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. They are Rachel Kawiecki (Holy Angels), Sid Hauger (Springfield), Kylie Baranick (Maple Grove), Izzy Quick (Champlin) and Morgan Kelly, coach Laurie Kelly’s daughter (St. Peter).
Minnesota Lynx 30-10. And as of Tuesday morning 6-3 in the playoffs. The WNBA finals are now tied 1-1, and the series with the New York Liberty is now best 2 out of 3 with the next 2 games at the Target Center. We’ve written pretty extensively about this team recently and so we’ll point to that article for more info. And, once the season is over, we’ll have more to say.
Minnesota State Mankato men 35-2.
Minnesota State Mankato women 32-5. As you should know, Mankato State (for short) did the almost impossible, winning both the D2 men’s and women’s national championship. OK, it has happened once before. It will never happen again. The men went 20-2 in the NSIC, 3-0 in the NSIC tournament, and 6-0 with an average margin of 75-66 in the NCAAs. They beat NW MissouriState 43-42 in the quarter-finals and Nova SE 88-85 in the final. They were led by brothers Malik and Kyreese Willingham from Waseca. Malik was the conference MVP with a line of 19-4-4-2. Kyreese was 14-5 and hit the game-winning 3 in the final. Elijah Hazekamp hit with winner in the quarters. Justin Eagins and Dylan Peeters are the other starters. Coach Matt Marganthaler struck gold in his 25th season.
For the women, coach Emilee Theisse won in her lucky 13th year. And she was just darn lucky to have conference MVP and 1st team all-American guard Joey Batt from New Ulm on her side. Batt started the season on the bench, injured, and Mankato started 2-4. With Batt back in the lineup, they went 30-1 the rest of the way. Her line was 16-3-3-4, while Natalie Bremer and Destinee Bursch had almost identical lines: Bremer 16-4-3 stl, and Bursch 15-3-3-2 stls. They were a so-so shooting team, but they forced turnovers by the bushet basket. They too went 6-0 in the NCAAs, of course, with an average margin of 81-67.
Minnesota Timberwolves. We’ve also already recapped the Wolves season at length in several posts. Look ’em up. But, suffice it to say that the Wolves won 56 games and 2 playoff series and were rated as the NBA’s best defensive team. Which of those was the most unlikely? I dunno. All of the above, probably. Most people chalk it up to Ant Edwards “coming of age.” I’m not sure Mike Conley wasn’t the MVP, and Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert both were also NBA all-defense.
Minnetonka high school boys 25-6.
Minnetonka high school girls 29-2. The Minnetonka boys lost to Wayzata twice but came up big in the state AAAA final 71-61 as Andy Stefonowicz and Kayden Wells scored 19 and Jordan Cain 17. For the regular season Greyson Uelman scored 20 ppg, Cain 19, Stefonowicz 17 and Wells 11. Mr. Basketball Jackson McAndrew scored 21 points for #1-ranked Wayzata (29-2) in the final.
The Minnetonka girls, on the other hand, were favored almost all the way and did not disappoint against perennial power Hopkins 64-56 as Aaliyah Crump scored 23 and Minnesota Gopher recruit Tori McKinney 18. Crump’s line for the season was 24-7-3-2. The final saw Tonka coach Brian Cosgriff win his 8th state title, the first 7 at Hopkins.
Totino Grace boys 27-5. Totino and coach Nick Carroll won their 3rd straight Class AAA title and are the other team (along with Tonka and Wayzata) that could make some kind of claim to being the state’s best team. They were 25-3 against Minnesota teams, losing only to Class AAAA Wayzata 83-81, Minnetonka 77-73 and East Ridge 74-72, but they beat AAAA Park Center (twice) and Hopkins.
Wayzata boys 29-2. Wayzata was rated #1 most of the year, and beat Minnetonka 2 out of 3, just not when it counted to most. They lost only at Hopkins during the regular season, but cancelled Hopkins by 29 in the sections. In total, they were 4-2 against Hopkins, Tonka and Totino, and they best East Ridge by 10. 6-9 power forward Jackson McAndrew was Mr. Basketball.
Now, honestly, you’d have to say that the Lynx, the Timberwolves and the 2 Minnesota State Mankato teams are the favorites. It’s probably not going to be a high school team this year. And you might note that neither of the Minnesota Gopher teams made the top 10. Ouch. Results coming next week after the WNBA playoffs conclude. There could be 2 more games or there could be three.
