MN Girls State BB Tourney Preview with StarTribune's Cassidy Hettesheimer

The madness has officially arrived in Minnesota. As the girls state basketball tournament tips off at Williams Arena and the Maturi Pavilion, we are joined by Star Tribune and Strib Varsity reporter Cassidy Hettesheimer to break down the brackets, the star power, and the stories defining this season.

In this episode, Cassidy shares her observations on the elite level of talent across the state—from the Metro powerhouses to the small-town programs making noise up north. We dive deep into the most anticipated matchups and players, including:

• The Class 2A Gauntlet: Why the first-round clash between New London-Spicer and Minnehaha Academy is a must-watch, and the potential "appointment television" championship matchup between sophomore sensation Chloe Johnson and Kentucky-bound senior Maddyn Greenway.
• Championship Predictions: Cassidy reveals her picks for every class, including why she’s leaning toward Northome/Kelliher in 1A and Marshall in 3A.
• The "State Trip" Experience: From the grind of a marathon winter season to the collaborative new era of high school sports coverage at Strib Varsity, we discuss what makes the Minnesota tournament atmosphere unique.

Whether you’re heading to Dinkytown to catch the games in person or following the action from home, this episode is your definitive scouting report for the week.

Follow Cassidy on Instagram @cassidyhsports and follow her writing at StarTribune and varsity.startribune.com. 

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. 

Follow Splash City Basketball Podcast on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Bag and then bag and then bag again. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Hey, what's up everyone? Welcome back to the Splash City basketball podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hartman. And today we're going to be talking about state tournaments in girls' basketball. It's state tournament week here. The focus of the girls' basketball tournament is on Dinky Town at the University of Minnesota. They'll be playing games at Williams Arena and Maturi Pavilion. And if you've been following the Star Tribunes coverage, either at StarTribune.com or uh Strip Varsity, you've likely seen the work of my guest today. It is Cassidy Hadesheimer. She's been writing a ton of articles and deep content, deep dives on girls' basketball throughout the season. She recently did an article on the 2026 All-Minnesota team, and she released a preview for all four classes as well. So we'll take a look at her predictions. We'll talk about any dark horses and some of the key players to keep an eye on this week starting today, March 11th, with games over at Ninky Town. Um, I also wanted to talk briefly about some of the things that I like to do. I go into a few gopher games. There's maybe some people from out of town listening, like places to go eat specifically, maybe uh enjoy a beverage or two if you're of age for that. Um, so I just wanted to kind of quickly go through that before we get into my conversation with Cassidy. Um, so first of all, Dinky Town, you got the Staples, right? You got Stubbin Herbs and Sally's and Blarney Pub and places like that. Um, there's Andrea Pizza, which is super good down there in Dinky Town as well. Um, a lot of times what I like to do when I'm going to a game is we'll swing over to Ray J's or Max in um on university over kind of closer to Northeast, but it's right up University, so it's a quick and easy drive down to the arenas. Um uh Max Industrial has awesome wings. Um, the other ones I like to do are Blue Door Pub up on Como Avenue. Again, about a five-minute drive to the parking ramps over there. Uh Blue Door Pub's burgers are elite. Wings are awesome, great beer list, too, if you're into that. Um, breakfast spots, I like Al's Breakfast if you can get a spot. Um just a classic dinky town location. The other one though, sneaky, the egg and eye off of University at 280. So just kind of to the east of campus down there. Um, great breakfast spot too, especially for like a greasy spoon type of thing. Um, the other thing to keep in mind, east of the of the bank, the the football stadium there, if you haven't checked it out, uh, Surly Brewing and O'Shaughnessy Distillery. Surly Brewing has great food as well. Um, just a fun kind of complex there. Again, short drive. So if you want to swing in there after uh your games, or if you're going uh to the evening games and want to go before, that's that's cool too. But those are a couple of my go-to spots in that area. Um, a lot of great options, of course. Um, feel free to hit me up in the comments if you got other ideas on where to go. But those are some of my go-to spots. Um, but with that, let's get to Cassidy. Let's talk about the tournament, the games themselves. Uh, there's a lot of exciting players, like tons of D1 talent, tons of like sister combinations that are really interesting as well. So we talk about all of it in the next segment. So with that, let's get into it. Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome back to the Splas City basketball podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hartman. And today we're going to be talking about state tournaments and girls' basketball. It's state tournament week here. The focus of the girls' basketball tournament is on Dinky Town at the University of Minnesota. They'll be playing games at Williams Arena and Maturi Pavilion. And if you've been following the Star Tribune's coverage, either at StarTribune.com or uh Strip Varsity, you've likely seen the work of my guest today, it is Cassidy Hadesheimer. She's been writing a ton of articles and deep content, deep dives on girls' basketball throughout the season. She recently did an article on the 2026 All-Minnesota team, and she released a preview for all four classes as well. So we'll take a look at her predictions. We'll talk about any dark horses and some of the key players to keep an eye on this week starting today, March 11th, with games over at Dinky Town. Um, I also wanted to talk briefly about some of the things that I like to do. I go into a few gopher games. There's maybe some people from out of town listening, like places to go eat specifically, maybe uh enjoy a beverage or two if you're of age for that. Um, so I just wanted to kind of quickly go through that before we get into my conversation with Cassidy. Um, so first of all, Dinky Town, you got the Staples, right? You got Stubbin Herbs and Sally's and Blarney Pub and places like that. Um, there's Andrea Pizza, which is super good down there in Dinky Town as well. Um, a lot of times what I like to do when I'm going to a game is we'll swing over to Ray J's or Max in um on university over kind of closer to Northeast, but it's right up University, so it's a quick and easy drive down to the arenas. Um uh Max Industrial has awesome wings. Um, the other ones I like to do are Blue Door Pub up on Como Avenue. Again, about a five-minute drive to the parking ramps over there. Uh Blue Door Pub's burgers are elite. Wings are awesome, great beer list, too, if you're into that. Um, breakfast spots, I like Al's Breakfast if you can get a spot. Um, just a classic dinky town location. The other one though, sneaky, the egg and eye off of university at 280. So just kind of to the east of campus down there. Um, great breakfast spot too, especially for like a greasy spoon type of thing. Um, the other thing to keep in mind east of the of the bank, the the football stadium there, if you haven't checked it out, uh, Surly Brewing and O'Shaughnessy Distillery. Surly Brewing has great food as well. Um, just a fun kind of complex there. Again, short drive. So if you want to swing in there after uh your game. All right, the girls' state basketball tournament kicks off today. It is a fun time of year. Last year I got a front row seat. My niece won the Class A state tournament with her team. Um, but this year I'm bringing on an expert to talk about all the games, the players to watch. Uh, is it gonna be chalk? Is it gonna be upsets? Uh, what can we expect? Cassidy, head of Simer from the Star Tribune and Strip Varsity is joining me. Cassidy, thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Thanks for having me on. Oh gosh, expert is uh a high bar to to live up to, but I'll I'll do my best.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

Right. Well, uh, I mean, you've probably watched a fair amount of girls' basketball. It's it's really um I think just the last, I don't know, 10 years, the girls' basketball scene in Minnesota has has come a long way, and there are just outstanding players all over the state, too. And it's not just the metro. Um, you know, you're your uh transplant from Georgia. What is like high level? What what is your observations about the girls' basketball scene here in the state of Minnesota?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, I mean, it's super strong. Um, growing up in Georgia, uh, you know, there are poorer standout players that I knew in school that, you know, I knew around um my county. Uh my uh my high school has a McDonald's All-American this year. I go to Notre Dame for the first time uh in a while, I think. I don't know, Smith Smith might be Nay Smith Player of the Year watch list, but one of those high, uh, impressive accolades that we've seen some Minnesotan players uh get here in in recent years. Um, but no, I mean I've been so impressed by just the the variety of different um strong programs, whether it's, you know, Metro public schools or or smaller, you know, towns with some really great teams um in 1A and 2A, you know, up north, down south. It's just yeah, it's it's super impressive and such such a high level. Uh so many players have been really fun to watch. I started off the season um in November. I went to a breakdown tip off event at at Southwest Christian and just spent the whole day, sunrise to sunset, um, there and got to see so many great players. And I just I think that that was, you know, just kind of set the tone for the whole season. I was like, this is this is just a great appetizer for for an awesome season and so many great players.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

That that's funny you bring that up in November because I think uh I've talked to some coaches um and I coached my son's sixth grade team that just wrapped up, but it it's such a grind, right? Like basketball season, you go through and it's fall, and sometimes the weather's okay, and then it gets real rough, and now you're in spring and it's just like this renewed energy. What is it like covering that throughout the year? Do you do you feel that kind of same ebb and flow of the season?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Well, you know, we've got um as much as you know, I love covering basketball and and getting to tackle basketball stories, you know, part of the thing that makes I think what we're doing um over at the strip interesting is that a lot of us are, you know, dipping our hands in a lot of different things, writing about hockey, writing about uh basketball, in in the winter particularly, um, you know, skiing, uh, just a variety of things. And so um I've been kind of bouncing back and forth between girls' hockey and girls basketball, which, you know, talk about two sports with a really uh big footprint and and and really strong uh talent pool in Minnesota, those two are are you can't you can't not mention those two. Um and so the we we kind of joke that the winter sports, especially once you get to tournament season, are like a marathon, not a sprint. Um the the spring state tournament season is pretty condensed where it's a lot of state tournaments, but in just the span of like two or three weeks, um the fall state tournament season, uh there's a little bit of a break between like soccer and volleyball and football. Um, but once you get to basketball and wrestling and hockey, and it's just back to back to back to back, uh uh it can kind of feel like a grind. So, you know, we try to um, you know, keep that in mind going into the the season. And if we have some interesting sort of long-term stories we want to tackle, uh kind of trying to do those in December and January, and then things really start to heat up. And so, you know, we're watching, we're going out to games, we're we're watching players, we're talking to, you know, uh players on stories maybe about like uh a specific team, or or I got to do one this year, kind of looking into different um team and uh people's perspectives on ACL injuries. And so uh, you know, we kind of do those ahead of time, and then the state tournament crashes, and then you're you blink and it's uh April.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

Right. That was a great article, by the way. I read that, like the whole thing, because I honestly did not really realize that was a thing that was affecting girls more than boys in the high school um scene. And uh really interesting. If you haven't checked that out, highly recommend that article, especially if you have uh girls playing sports like soccer and basketball. Um really great job there.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah, I grew up playing soccer, so it's it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

So you you know about the ACL tears.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, pretty near and dear to me and my teammates and everything.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Yeah, yeah. That's I mean, that's such a bummer, right? Like you work all year and then you have things like that happen. Um, I know that that's kind of part of the part of the deal, but it it's uh if there's things that they can find out um to to help aid that, that would that would really help a lot of athletes, I'm sure. So um well, I'll I want you to plug a few of the things you're doing, uh articles, um, your partnerships with Strictly B-ball as well, uh, later, but let's get into kind of some of the games. So the girls' tournament starts Wednesday the 11th, runs through Saturday. Um, I know there's there's been you've written some things on prediction, so we'll we'll get into that. But uh one of the matchups I wanted to talk about first was um the in two-way. You talked about New London Spicer and Mini Haha Academy being like one of those one of the really fun matchups in the first round. What do you think makes that specific game so exciting and intriguing to you?

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Well, I've just been, you know, been really impressed. I've seen Mini Haha play maybe twice this year at these sort of day-long matchups. And um one of them was at the beginning of the season, and I know they've dealt with a lot of injuries um just kind of throughout the year, and they've got a lot of really young players, some really good defenders, and they just I don't know, it's some of these teams that that uh small class teams that play a lot of 3A and 4A schools throughout the season, you know, they can add up to 10, 11, 12 losses, but you know, they're playing these these really tough schools that that are much larger than them. And so um, you know, I just these are two teams that two programs that have a really strong state pedigree. Um uh New London Spicers, obviously, I think they're 29 and one. So they're gonna be a tough team to beat. And um, they've got a great coach, uh, the winningest coach in in in state girls or girls or boys basketball. Um and so yeah, I don't know. I just I'm excited that the sort of the the history and the um the fact that I don't know to me like Minihas kind of a uh like a dark horse, uh uh you know, they they've been tested, so you never know what's gonna happen when they put out there under the uh the bright lights.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, both teams, and then there's two other teams in two way Providence and Duluth Marshall, who is all who've also played a lot of bigger schools. Obviously, when you're good, you want to get tested before tournament play. Um that one I think is you know, if they could meet in the championship, I I was personally super bummed that Tory Orline and Crosby um got knocked out because I I did want to see that matchup again, but you know, Chloe Johnson kind of being the sophomore, Greenway being a senior um this year, that that could be a fun matchup. Um, what what have you seen? I mean, and I think a lot of us have watched Madden Greenway now for quite a few years, and she's plays at an extremely fast pace. Um, but what do you see for those who don't know who Chloe Johnson is? What what is it about her that makes her so intriguing and such a great prospect?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, I mean, um uh yeah, no, just that that's class to A section seven is so tough to get out of. I mean, Duluth Marshall, um, Proctor, like is a great two, uh, that that Duluth Marshall had to be um in order to make it to the finals. Um, obviously, uh, you know, people at Lakes that they ended up playing. Um yeah, so that's that's a tough one to that was always gonna be a grind to get out of. And um, yeah, wouldn't be uh would be remiss to not mention just, I mean, yeah, how impressive Tori's high school career is and how awesome it'll be that everyone in Minnesota can keep watching her uh Williams Arena as Gopher. Uh far from her last time um on the raise to courts there. But uh yeah, no, I mean Chloe uh I watched Duluth Marshall play a really good Orno team close early this year. Um obviously they're a little uh bit of a hike to get up to their home games, but we had uh strictly our sh uh b-ball folks go up there and and catch a game with them. They got stuck in a really bad snowstorm, but they hauled it up there. Um, they were so dedicated and got up there and caught a game. Um and no, I mean, she's just she's someone who impacts at every level. I mean, I think we see this in sort of these elite, um, small, you know, small school point guards, uh, Madden and and Tori, they both have hit the thousand, thousand, thousand mark and points, rebounds, and assists. They're the only players to do that. And I would put a lot of money on Chloe doing that at some point here. Not totally sure how close she is. I know she's at 3,000 points. Um, I think she hit that this year, yeah. And so she's just someone, I mean, you know, 30, 10, and 10 is like not an uncommon statine for her. Just smooth and um, you know, impacts the game at every level. Um, it'll be really fun to get to see her sort of make her Williams Arena um debut there. Um and she's got you know just such an awesome story. And and uh I know one of our columnists, Chip uh Scoggins, who, yeah, I mean, I he everything he writes is a is a must read, in my opinion. Yeah. Um but he's he's done a he did a really awesome job a couple years ago of going up there and and and uh profiling Chloe and her family. And um, so yeah, it'll be uh a well-deserved uh tournament for Duluth Marshall.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

For sure. Yeah. Another one of those small town kids, I think it's North Home Kelly, has a girl that's averaging like eight and a half steals per game, which is crazy, crazy numbers. Um, you mentioned the University of Minnesota. I think it's uh one of the Round Law girls from Rosemont is also committed there as a junior. Um what um when you look at that 4A tournament, I mean Hopkins favorite. I mean, they're always really, really good. Who else in that group do you kind of keep an eye on as like maybe their uh potential winners or at least upset picks against you know somebody like Hopkins?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, I'm really excited for this foray tournament. I do think um, even though I know uh I went out and was at the Hopkins Y Zection Six Final, and like, oh, I hated that like all the section finals are on that Thursday with a couple of them on Friday. But I was like, can I not be in like 10 places at once?

SPEAKER_04 17:59

Right, right. Thank gosh you could stream some of them now on the street.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

We were sitting up, we were we were streaming um that game, and we had I was up there and was sitting next to um the folks that were streaming it uh for us, and I had my computer, and I think I had like the I had the Duluth Marshall game pull up at one point. I had like Maple Grove Mounds View on my computer, and then I had my phone Rochester Mayo and had all these going on. Um we kept you know, I kept giving everybody updates during the during the game. Um, but no, I know like you know, Hopkins defending State Champs, but they've they're very grounded, right? And sort of that like just because they're the the favorites or they're the number one seed or whatever, like every time they put on that jersey, they have to prove themselves, um, which you know is a really healthy mentality to have to go in. They're the three seed last year. Um, and and you know, wrote that all the way to the title, kind of showing that, you know, it doesn't just a top seed doesn't guarantee anything, obviously. We see tournaments. Um, so but but I mean they just every time I've gotten to see them play some really good teams, YZA, Minatanka, like they've just they've looked really good, um, just really deep. Uh and so yeah, I'm I'm excited to get to see them play uh again. But this I'm this foray class is is uh I think got some some awesome stories, some first-time teams that'll be really hungry to to get on to state and make an impression. Eastridge, Chan Hassan both making it for the first time. Um Chan Hassan's got, I think, three players averaging 15 or more points. Kate Arnold's had a really great season for them among them. She she's an all-state junior guard going to South Dakota. Um, Monticello's a really cool story. You get moved up from 3A to 4A um in this year. And they're like, I think based on enrollment, tied for or the smallest school in 4A, and they're back out of section eight. Um, and who else we got? We got Rosemount, obviously, you mentioned them. Rochester Mayo, they're back um for the first time, I think 10 years, 2015. Um, the Maple Grove, they were the runners up to last year, graduated four starters, including Miss Basketball, Jordan Ody. Um, and now they're back, and they've they've had a really strong year as well. Um, I think that those top four seeds could have kind of maybe shifted, rotated in a lot of different ways. Um, but not not questioning how it shook out, but just that it just seems uh or no, I think Hopkins would be the was gonna be the one seed.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

The couple after that. Sorry, let me correct myself. Um yeah, they full group twice and and and only had that one in-state loss to IZA. So uh they were probably gonna be the one seed. But then I think after that, you know, the those those next teams are pretty close, so it'll be exciting.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

For sure, yeah. Um, in 3A, a team I don't really, I'll be honest, don't I'm not familiar with as much. Um, Stuartville is the number one seed in in the 3A tournament. Um, Marshall, really good traditionally there. Um, and then you got you know Benilde, who knocked out Ornell in a very, very good section title game. Um, I think the the 3A tournament is is pretty interesting. So what tell me more about Stuartville? Uh what makes them go? Uh are they super balanced? What do they have one superstar? What what's this what's the deal with Stuartville?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, I mean, they uh actually funny funnily enough, I don't know if it'll go up today or um, you know, Tuesday or tomorrow, but at some point um our uh one of my coworkers, Mike Rand, is talking with um their coach uh and Audrey Schindelar, who's sort of their uh leading scorer, and she's our senior guard that's going to South Dakota State, who's been um just a rock for them these past couple years. And so uh Audrey and then her younger sister Danica, uh, I think are the first and third leading scorers on their team, and Danica's. A sophomore, and um they were saying how competitive they are. I heard I heard from Rand that um I think Danica put Audrey in a headlock during a practice or something. I don't know. You don't have to go on on stream versus and watch that whole thing. It sounds like a funny conversation. I haven't seen it yet. Um, but they're this is their fourth consecutive year at state. So this senior class, which is Audrey, and then um JC Rath, who's gonna be at St. Thomas, uh, who's a forward for them. I think she's putting up 14-ish points per game. Um, so they've just got they're really deep at a lot of different levels. Um, they've got that experience. Uh, this is the first time they're the one seed. I think they've been, I think they've they've come in, they've been the eight seed, or maybe that one of their first years was they were still doing those random draws, but I know they haven't been a one-seed before or two seed. Um, so this is their first time to kind of coming in as like favorites, the team to beat, um, which is you know a different experience. And so they've beat Vanil this year. Uh, they beat Marshall nine or 10 points for each of those. Um, so decent, but you know, not a blowout. So either of those teams will be hungry to get a rematch in, uh, certainly over this Stewart Bill team. But yeah, they've just been um they've looked good all year, they've got one loss um as well. It's funnily enough, if I'm not mistaken, no undefeated teams this year in any size classification, which I've only been here, you know, not too many years, but that was kind of surprising to me. I know last year there were at least a couple in the 2A, 1A um tournament. So interesting.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

Yeah, I think you know what we were saying earlier about these smaller schools playing up, I think that's part of it, right? Like used to be if you were a small school, you kind of just played teams in your area and you might run up an undefeated record. Um, some of it, of course, like Paige Beckers when she was at Hopkins, they were usually undefeated no matter what. Um, so but uh, you know, I think Mountain Iron Buell in Class A is one of those where it's like likely could have been undefeated, and but you know, challenge yourself, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

And um rock ride, I think going to state in three A is a good approach. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Yeah. Um so I I talking about my Mountain Iron Buell, I would say like again, one seeds are usually the favorites for a reason, but I feel like that 1A class is super balanced. I mean, uh Sleepy Eye St. Mary's only has one loss, Central Minnesota Christians have been tested all year. Um Hillcrest plays uh some bigger, some two A schools as well, and they have just two losses. So I mean, North Own Kelly are with the girl with all the steals. I mean, they're 29-1. Like this, this is a very to me the class A one is is as open as probably maybe any of them.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yeah, that's I'm excited. That one will be fun. I think last year we saw in 1A a 7 over 2 upset. I believe it was McRae and Mary.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

McCray, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Who's back? Mary Louis's back, so they're a seven seed this year, I think. So they'll, you know, be excited to maybe try to do the same thing. But anyway, uh no, I think that the that that that class should be really interesting. You know, it's like a lot of them. I feel like in 1A, like you do see a lot of these teams, these really good 1A schools, yeah, play two A schools, play three A schools. Um, and if they are sort of in the same neck of the woods, play each other, like uh North and Mount Iron Buell have played each other this year, and Mount Iron Buell won that one 101 to 90, I believe, which I swear.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

That's a ton of points.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

We can get some of those games uh at state, that'd be fun. Um, but uh same with like Sleepy Eye St. Mary's has played some of these teams in this tournament. Um I I'm pretty sure everybody in this in this one I feel has probably played at least one uh other team from this tournament. But sometimes just geographical distance means they can't match up with everybody. And so, you know, we don't see necessarily a Sleepy Eye St. Mary's versus Mountain Iron Buell regular season game. Um, you know, we get to see new teams kind of match up in different ways, which to me is is fun and can you know lead to some maybe unexpected results.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Yeah, for sure. Uh all right, so we've kind of talked about high-level all the brackets, and I don't want to hold you to this. This is more for fun. Nobody, nobody email Cassidy and be upset. But what give me a prediction for the winner and a dark horse for each class, and we'll start with class A since we were just there.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Class A. Okay. Oh, do I have to stick with my predictions that I wrote online?

SPEAKER_04 26:21

I mean, you don't have to, but that's kind of flip-floppy. You're not hedging your bets here. Come on now.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Oh, yeah. I'll pick three. I'll pick the dark horse and then this one online. No, I'll I'll pick, I'll I'll back up what I said on on Strivarsity, and then I'll do a dark horse, which was my other probably my other team I wanted to pick. Um I'm always like someone who I'm always like, I don't want to pick all one seeds uh down the whole ballot. Um, I was the same way with hockey. Uh and so um or did I end up picking it up?

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Sounds like you're going with Mountain Iron Beal.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

No, so I did I didn't necessarily pick Mountain Iron Beal for one eight, but again, that's not any sort of uh knock on them. Um, but no, I had I said North Home Kelleher. I think some of these, you know, I've covered, you know, some state tournaments here with with just across different sports. Um, and sometimes you see kind of a pattern of like teams that are at state for the first time. I know we talk a lot about experience and how that helps and it does, but sometimes if you got a team and they're led by some really talented seniors and it's like first and last trip to state, that's a pretty exciting thing. So sure. Um, you know, that that game against Mount Armbue, 190. I mean, um, I would think probably no other team has probably hung a hundred up on Northum Kelleher. I do think they played Duluth Marshall and beat them like 105 to 94, which again, another high scoring game. Um but uh yeah, I said I I I picked them, but again, said kind of a a wide open bracket in my opinion. Some of these really good teams, so I'll be interested. And then Dark Horse. Um I don't know. I think NHREG is is down from 2A into 1A this year. They um they're the five seed, I believe. And correct. Um they're you know, the size, you know, with enrollment teams bounce between. So I don't know. I'd be kind of interested again. They're a team that's got some um really strong seniors that can kind of light it up. So um I don't know. They may they may be my dark horse to to make a a push into the championship.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

I like it. I like it. I believe last year's class A winner, if I'm not mistaken, West Central, I think was the five seed. Four seed.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

They might have been the five.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

I know they were in that game, the four five game. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

I think you're right. I think they might have been the five because I remember I think sitting there looking up like when was the last time, you know, a five or four. But yes, you're right. So that was one A.

SPEAKER_04 28:53

Similar scenario where they played a lot of two A teams throughout the whole year, like Minawasca, New London Spicer, Sock Center, teams like that, and kind of prepared them. Um so let's jump to 2A. All right, so 2A, Providence, heavy favorite, I would think, uh, slowing down the Greenway sisters. But uh any other thoughts maybe on who might be who might who you should look out for in 2A?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yeah, I mean, it's it's pretty tough to pick against Providence. I mean, if someone somehow figures out how to slow down Madden, which we haven't really seen this year uh too much. Um, then they have to deal with Becca and Emma Millerburn, uh, to other all-state D1 caliber players. Um, so you know, a one, two, three sort of punch that that makes it pretty tough. Um, yeah, you know, Madden's not just the all-time scoring leader, but also the all-time assist leader for a reason. Uh and so yeah, I if if if someone is able to to figure that out, kudos, kudos to them. I will, you know, I will eat my words. Um, but no, in terms of who's playing against them, um I don't know. I think kind of uh, you know, we recurring theme here, but just teams that have played tough teams. I think I think Duluth Marshall, they've had some tough games against, you know, I think the Minnetoncas and the Maple Groves and and some teams like that this year. And um they've had a couple like you know, maybe that have been closer than than they would have liked, but um no, I think I think uh, you know, between Chloe and and some other um strong players that they've got uh with her, um I don't know, I think they make it to their first state title game.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

Nice. That would be fun. That'd be uh appointment television, I think, for most of us.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yes, that would be that that two day games was in prime time last year at 6 p.m. And you know, it could be again this year. And um, that would be be cool and would be um fitting sort of this Duluth Marshall um uh not Renaissance is the right word, but with uh John Epkins of uh UCLA having a great year. So yeah, kind of a a banner year for them in the program.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Yeah, nice. Uh how about 3A? Who do you who do you uh ex who do you think will win and who do who do you think would be a fun uh dark horse pick?

SPEAKER_01 31:24

I'm like honestly so bummed that all the three A quarterfinals are the same time as the four A. Again, I wish I could beat two places at once. I was like, um, you know, we were making our coverage plan for the the state tournament and figuring out who would be at what, and I'm like, oh, I want to be there, I want to be there. Um personally, I think if I had to vote on like just I think tournament that might have the most exciting games and and matchups and you know, kind of, you know, four, four or five really, you know, really strong contenders, just a really deep field in general went through um, you know, all the way down. Uh, I think it'd be 3A. I mean, we've seen uh, you know, uh Stuartville again, like we had talked about, they've beaten Marshall, they've beaten Benil and St. Margaret's, they have the experience. There's no reason that that they shouldn't be able to make a push to the uh final. Um Benil St. Margaret's hard to count out the three-time defending state champions.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Marshall and then Hill Murray. I don't know if we've uh, but I mean like uh five seed with uh you know Maya Wilson and Ashley Wilson and Sarah Popart, they you know, lighting it up from deep from them, Green Durham Hall. Yeah, they beat Hill Murray, uh, I'm sure in a game that feels like forever ago now at the beginning of the season.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Um and they had a, I think they were another seven seed that pulled off an upset last year in 3A. Um, so and then not to mention, I think we're out and out at Rockridge, um, Wilmar, and then oh, we got the six is Tatino Grace. Right, yes. We were just talking about this. And then they, you know, like you said, overcame some injuries and sort of battled through um that this season and and have played some some tough squads. Um, so I yeah, I'm really excited for this one. This will be really great. I think in my predictions, I had said Marshall. Um, again, they've got some some great seniors, uh, Reese Drake, uh, Talia Bigler. They're both going to Southwest Minnesota State, Reese for volleyball, and uh Talia for um or am I I don't know if I'm I might be butchering that pronunciation. See, we're as a writer sometimes you're right. You know how to spell it.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

You know how to spell it.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Um but uh you know, two two really strong seniors. Um they've got a volleyball state championship with with a couple of of those players this past fall, actually beating Bill and St. Margaret's funnyly enough, um, over on stripbarcy.com. My uh colleague Marcus Fuller, who's been doing some girls' basketball for us this year, in addition to boys' basketball, does basketball across Minnesota weekly. Um really interesting call and always find some interesting nuggets across the state. Um, he wrote us just had a little preview about that. So there's more information there. So I had Marshall um avenging last year's state championship loss to Benil St. Margaret's in the semifinals, um then going on to win state. But I don't know, I think I mean it's not a dark horse to pick the number one seed.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Um in Stuartville. But, you know, if if if my my pick is gonna go to the three seed, I think if I had to pick another team, um, yeah, I think I think Stuartville winning a first title this year is is a possibility. It would be nice, pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Yeah, for sure. Um, friend of the pod, Travis Bennett, head coach at Totino Grace. So I'll be I'll be pulling for for the Eagles there. Um and then 4A. Um Hopkins, again, the one seed. Uh, but who do you like? Who's your uh who's a tr who's an upset pick if you had to pick one?

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I think yeah, I mean, again, I feel similarly that to Hopkins and Providence were sort of like I'll pick them till I have to pick against them.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Until I'm, you know, until someone proves me wrong. Uh yeah, no, sort of a a dark horse. Um man, this this four-eyed fields is really fun. Rosemal's fun to watch. Gotta see them play a couple times. Um, and like Rochester Mayo, they're so deep too. They've got just great players at so many positions. Um, so that I'm almost like the the field's so good I don't want to pick chalk all the way through. Like I want to be like Monticello or oh Chainass gonna pull off an upset or you know, Eastridge, or you know, every playing keeping it close. But I don't know, it's it's it's tough to go against these teams. Um in my predictions, I I did end up picking chalk and and having a Rosemount Hopkins uh final, which I think would be pretty fun. Rosemount's got a really deep team. Um, they you know, they've got a ton of players that can just, you know, put up five or six points on a any given night and it kind of just adds up. They got you know good solid D, uh strong shooters from deep. Um, so I think it would make a really fun final um with Hopkins. I mean, I've been really impressed by Hopkins' defensive play when I've seen him. Um, and so just getting to see him uh try to. I mean, when I watched, I think when I watched him play YZ, I mean Trojans may only made one uh one three-pointer. And so like if they can pull that off against uh Rosemal, that would be that would be a feat. So um that would be a fun final, but I wouldn't be disappointed with anyway that that foray shakes out should be a good time.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

Yeah. I mean Hopkins could potentially meet late conference full maple grove in the second round and that in the semis, and that could be you know, that's always tricky when you have to play the same team uh three times in a season.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

So yeah, if you go there uh they played them twice, and one was I think like a third 12 or 13 point loss, maybe 15. Um, and the other one was a lot more lopsided, but that game, Maplegrove was missing um All-State Guard, Montana bound, um Kate Holmquist. She's a great defender uh on our all-Minnesota team, just super solid for them. Uh played in their state championship run last year a lot, or state championship game run last year, I should say. Um, and so yeah, I expect the, you know, and would would want uh, you know, a closer game of a semifinal, I think, if if everybody's back and they're firing all cylinders. So um, yeah, that would be a fun one if they get a state championship rematch in the semis, which we could get in 4A and 3A.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

Yeah. Awesome. Well, it's gonna be a great week. Um, Cassidy, thanks for joining. I'm gonna let you plug. Uh, I know you did some great work this week on articles on your top 25 list, but anything you want to plug here?

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah, um, I mean, I'll just plug sort of just everything that our team is doing. I mean, um, we've, you know, the Star Tribune's really been investing a lot in our high school sports coverage. We're wrapping up. This will be like uh we started under the new Strat Varsity name brand and everything in August. Um, and just the amount of um different hands and brains that are sort of contributing to this team has been really awesome to see. I mean, I've haven't worked in such a sort of collaborative and um team-oriented space uh like this, I don't know, ever or in a long time. Um, and so yeah, I just whether whatever, I mean, whoever's listening to this probably likes basketball, I would assume. But if you like if you like hockey or football or um soccer, you know, anything um, you know, got kids in in swimming or uh tennis, you know, we we try to get out to you know every state championship that we can. Um find interesting stories. Um so uh if you know check it out, uh reach out to us. We're all kind of you know our our emails, our work emails exist in the internet, and um, we love to hear from people. And and if you have story ideas, athletes, student athletes that you think um deserve some some spotlight, let one of us know.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah, it's fantastic. I've been uh following it all, you know, ever since it launched. Um, I think adding the live stream is super cool. You guys are doing cool stuff there, and then the the partnership with Strictly B-Ball is awesome. Um, so there's more social content around stories like the you know, the trip to to Duluth for those guys. I that was uh that was fun to follow. So uh I appreciate all the work you guys are doing to cover these tournaments. Um and to your point, yes, we're basketball fans, but we also watch a lot of other stuff. Uh that hockey final on Saturday between Moorhead and Minataka was epic. And the class A game, War Ode and Hibbing Chisholm, was awesome. So uh we can appreciate uh the beauty of all these prep sports. So thank you for all your work. Thank you for joining me today. Uh I appreciate and have a great week. I'm sure it'll be busy and uh don't eat too many pretzels over there.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Oh my gosh, I'll do my best. I'll have to keep mixed up with all the different Williams Arena uh food. So we'll end up what my uh my menu ends up being.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

All right. Well, take care. Thanks again, Cassidy.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

All right, again, I want to thank Cassidy Hedezymer for joining the pod today. Uh, she can be found on Instagram at Cassidy H Sports, uh, as well as covering anything and everything for Star Tribune and Strip Varsity's high school sports coverage. Um, she'll be, I'm sure, doing articles on spring sports as well. And uh we'll hit her up again next year uh as a girls' basketball preview, perhaps. So appreciate her coming on and sharing her thoughts and insights on the girls' basketball state tournament happening this weekend. So again, thank you to everyone. Uh, more to come. We'll have uh more guests this week and a big big time pods coming on Sunday for the bracket uh reveal Sunday night. Uh go for women, seeing if they're gonna be hosting any tournament games. And then, of course, uh the men's tournament bracket reveal too. Uh, we'll be breaking all that down this weekend. So lots more to come this week, but thanks for listening. Make sure you follow, subscribe, Instagram, Blue Sky, YouTube. Uh, make sure you follow on YouTube specifically because uh we'll be doing a live show here in uh I think it's gonna be the Friday of March Madness. And you'll want to be able to, if you want to join that, you can't make it out in person. Um, that would be a great place to do that. So subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow me on Facebook as well, Splash City Fasketball Podcast, and uh we'll have more notices and events and things to do coming up. So appreciate you being here. This has been the Splas City Basketball Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

Bagging in, begging in, bag again.

unknown 42:07

Whoa, whoa.