Section One Minnesota Girls Basketball Gets No Respect

Three of the four Section One representatives in the MSHSL State Girls High School Basketball Tournament received the bottom seed in the south in the Quarterfinals which begin Tuesday across the state.

Section 1A Houston (18-0)  will travel to Mankato East High School to play #1 South and #1 rated Minneota (22-0).  The game starts at 5:00 p.m.  The winner will play either #2 North Mountain Iron-Buhl (18-4) or #3 Cass Lake-Bena (17-5) on April 6, 2021 at Noon at Target Center.  Those two teams play in Pequot Lakes at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The other side of the MSHSL Bracket has #1 North Belgrade Brooten-Elrosa (21-1) tangling with West Central Area (17-5) in Perham at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.  The winner faces either #2 South Mayer Lutheran (19-2) or #3 Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's (22-0) in the Semifinals April 6, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at the Target Center.

I'm scratching my bald head at this one.  Sleepy Eye St. Mary's is undefeated and knocked off Waterville-Elysian-Morristown to get to the State Tournament.  Mayer Lutheran is 19-2 with one of their losses against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

In this COVID-19 year teams generally stayed in their conference to play games so competing agaisnt bigger schools during the season for some teams was not an option.

In Class 2A Section One representative Lake CIty is the #4 South seed with a 19-3 record.  They captured the Section title by defeating previously unbeaten Stewartville.  A team they lost to earlier in the season.  Other losses were to Class 3A state ranked Kasson-Mantorville and Class 2A state rated Cotter.  They defeated the Ramblers in their playoff run also.

The Tigers travel to Chanhassen to play Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against #1 South New London-Spicer (21-0).  The winner will play either #2 North Providence Academy of Plymouth (20-1) or Duluth Marshall (18-2) at 5:00 p.m. on April 6, 2021 at Target Center.

The other side of the MSHSL Bracket has #1 North Albany (21-1) playing Pelican Rapids (20-1) in Pequot Lakes at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.  The winner will compete against either #2 South Minnehaha Academy (17-3) or Glencoe-Silver Lake (18-4) at 2:00 p.m. April 6, 2021 in Minneapolis.

Section 1 Class 3A Champion Austin #4 South seed with a 11-4 record goes up against #1 South Hill-Murray (19-1) at Rochester Mayo High School Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.  The Pioneers are on a 19 game winning streak after losing their season opener to Minnetonka.

On the same side of the MSHSL Bracket #2 North Becker (16-3) faces Alexandria Area (17-4) at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday in Perham.  The winners advance to Semifinals action April 6, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. in Minneapolis.

On the other side of the bracket #1 North Academy of Holy Angels (19-2) plays Grand Rapids (18-3) at St. Cloud Tech 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.  #2 South Marshall (20-0) tangles with St. Croix Lutheran (14-5) at Mankato East High School 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The winners play 7:00 p.m. April 6, 2021 at Target Center in Minneapolis.

The Section 1 4A Champion Farmington is the #1 South seed with an unblemished 21-0 record but there are no less than four undefeated teams in the biggest schools tournament.  The Tigers will play South Suburban foe Rosemount (18-3) at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday at East Ridge High School in Woodbury.

The winner will play the victor of the #2 North Elk River (19-1) and Centennial (20-1) matchup which is 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at Osseo High School.  Semifinals are 9:00 p.m. April 7, 2021 at Target Center according to the MSHSL Bracket.

Three of the four teams in the upper bracket are undefeated in this COVID season.  #1 North Hopkins (15-0) plays Forest Lake (17-3) at 7:30 p.m. at East Ridge.  The winner will tangle with either Stillwater Area (21-0) or Chaska (15-0).  They play 4:00 p.m. Tuesday in Osseo.  The Semifinals are April 7, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. at Target Center.

Unfortunately for me I am not on this list.