Borrowing From The Neighbors

The overall amount of major Division 1 talent in Wisconsin might not compare to Minnesota every year, but it's getting better. And while many highly skilled prospects have left the Badger State in recent years, very few of them wind up playing for our western neighbors. Unfortunately for Gopher fans, the fact that you cannot say the same for Minnesota is a topic that has been beaten into the ground.

In anticipation of tomorrow's border clash between Wisconsin and Minnesota, here's a look at the contributions of each team's respective "traitors" this season:

Allow me to remind you that Bostick missed the first six games of the season due to a suspension and Leuer has missed the last nine games due to injury. So the percentages in the table above are actually lower than they ought to be because they are based on total team minutes, not the net available minutes for each player.

Spicy Links:
- Some Minnesota bloggers are imploring the fan base to stay on the bandwagon and consider how poorly the team was doing before Tubby Smith arrived. I found one of the comments underneath the article the most interesting. Not having paid much attention to the Goofs this season, apparently they have had a lot of trouble closing out games. Sounds like Wisconsin last year. Even though Minnesota is headed for the NIT, I think this group could be a surprise team next year if they get tougher mentally and expectations are down to earth.
- UWBadgers.com did another quick review of former Badger ballers that are playing professionally.

Catching Up With Mike Bruesewitz

Life has changed a lot for Mike Bruesewitz since moving into his summer dorm room on the University of Wisconsin campus last Sunday.

"This week has been pretty crazy getting adjusted to college life," said the 6'7", 215-lb. member of Bo Ryan’s newest freshman class.

After completing the requisite paperwork and physical exams, Bruesewitz began working out with his new Badger teammates right away. Add summer classes into the mix and you can see he has a lot on his plate right now. Luckily the transition to his new surroundings will be easier because of the familiar faces around him.

"I knew Diamond (Taylor) pretty well before because we met on our official visit and then saw him a few times throughout the year," Bruesewitz said. "I also know the Minnesota guys really well, especially Jordan (Taylor) and Jon (Leuer), because I've played or worked out with both of them quite a bit."

Before arriving in Madison, Bruesewitz spent "almost every day" working with former NBA player Chris Carr. And you know, graduating from high school.

"I played one 19u tournament with some of my friends," Bruesewitz said. "My spring and extremely short summer at home consisted of playing open gym at my high school and at Chris Carr's 43 Hoops facility."

The workouts helped the young forward add a few pounds of muscle to his frame, a necessity when playing forward in the Big Ten. Bruesewitz says his best strengths are his rebounding and an ability to make others around him better. But he also knows exactly what areas he wants to become better in this summer.

“The biggest thing I think I need to work on is being a more consistent shooter,” Bruesewitz said, “as well as just becoming physically stronger and working on lowering my center of gravity both on offense and defense.”

Bruesewitz is probably as prepared as any freshman to transition to the scale of the college game. Hailing from the resurgent Henry Sibley basketball program in Mendota Heights, MN, he had the luxury of practicing against and playing alongside a 7-footer and two other 6’8” players on the Warriors’ frontline. Bruesewitz averaged 17.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals as a senior and was named Minnesota's AP Player of the Year. He credits coach Tom Dasovich and his teammates for allowing him to become well-rounded:

“Both my coach and team did a lot to prepare me for the college level. Because we had such a big team I was able to work on both my inside and outside game. My coach was great at realizing when I had a mismatch on the perimeter and also when I could just go down on the block and score over a smaller defender. Also we played a very good schedule, always playing very tough non-conference teams, which allowed me to play against the best players in the state.”

So the Wisconsin staff is getting a forward skilled enough to initiate the offense with his ball handling but whose favorite player is Shaquille O’Neal? That diversity is obviously one of the things that attracted the Badger coaching staff. Yet Bruesewitz is not content with the versatility he has already developed – he wants more.

“I will be playing the 3 and 4 mostly but hopefully (I will) become a good enough shooter and also quick enough to slide down to a 2,” Bruesewitz speculated.

Watching every step of the way will be his parents, who – if you were curious – do indeed have the Big Ten Network.

“My brother told me he was going to figure out how to get it on the east coast,” Bruesewitz added. “Since I'm the youngest in my family they won't have too much to do in the winter so I expect them to be at quite a few games."

Though Tubby Smith certainly created a buzz when he arrived in the Twin Cities, Bruesewitz never had second thoughts about playing for Bo Ryan. Bruesewitz echoed sentiments that many recruits have mentioned as Wisconsin has built a national roster.

“I never had any doubt about my choice. This is where I wanted to be,” Bruesewitz explained. “It was by far the campus and the people (that appealed to me). People in Wisconsin love their Badgers and really come out and support all the teams.”

Bruesewitz is the fourth Minnesota native to occupy a scholarship for Bo's current squad, which is actually more than the number of Wisconsin-born scholarship players. The team now boasts players from eight different states after Jeremy Glover joined the 2009 class as a walk-on.

As you might guess of someone who grew up in Minnesota, Bruesewitz is also a former hockey player. That experience no doubt attributed to the toughness he possesses on the basketball court. So who will Bruiser be rooting for when his hometown Gophers pay a visit to the Kohl Center ice later this year?

"I'll probably be rooting for the Badgers because I have class with quite a few of the freshman hockey players right now and I can't be cheering against my team."

Good answer Mike.

Recruit Review: Feb '09

Today is the last day of February, which means the high school basketball regular season is over in Wisconsin. State tournament seeding is set in Wisconsin and Illinois and soon to follow in Minnesota.

A lot has happened in the last six weeks, so catching up on the action for all the Badger recruits is a daunting task. I did a bit of research and humbly offer some quick recaps below.

2009

:: Though senior Diamond Taylor scored only eight points back on Jan. 17 when Bolingbrook (IL) lost to St. Ignatius and another potential Badger recruit Nnanna Egwu, 66-63, he bounced back with 19 points in an overtime loss to Homewood-Flossmoor. Since then, the Raiders have not lost, starting their streak by blowing out Andrew, 84-50. Yet Taylor has struggled somewhat in that time. After fighting off an illness earlier this month, Taylor's missed front end of a bonus free throw situation nearly cost his team a victory in one game.

More recently, the 6'3" guard scored a game-high 14 points and 11 points, respectively, as Bolingbrook clinched the SouthWest Suburban Blue Conference title last weekend. A #3 seed in the Oswego (East) Sectional was the team's reward. Bolingbrook (18-6, 7-1) beat Stagg by 24 on Saturday, when Taylor chipped in nine points.

:: Henry Sibley (MN) forward Mike Bruesewitz is chugging along since his team dropped two games to a pair of elite Midwestern squads (Hopkins and Memorial). Bruiser hit the game-winner for his mates versus Kaukauna in the 2009 Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Border Battle. He averaged over 18 ppg for the month of January. The Warriors have rarely been challenged at all in conference and they recently clinched their second-straight league crown. Behind Bruiser's 19 points, they destroyed Hill-Murray to start February and Bruesewitz was soon named to the final 15 for Minnesota's Mr. Basketball.

Opposing coaches appear to be throwing junk defenses at Sibley to prevent Bruiser and his front line teammates from getting revved up. This trend has limited Bruesewitz's scoring. He averaged nine ppg in a recent three-game stretch, but bounced back with 16 points in Sibley's win on Tuesday to end a nice stretch of home games (7 of 8). The Warriors (22-2, 14-0) dominated South St. Paul, 77-27, and have two remaining road games before tournament play begins in Minnesota, where Hopkins is the heavy favorite in Sibley's division.

2010

:: The sight of Vander Blue attending Marquette games and rumors of him wavering in his verbal commitment to the Badgers seem like distant memories now. Though Blue had a relatively quiet night, Madison Memorial (19-1, 17-1) wrapped up another Big Eight Conference title by beating Madison East, 56-45, Thursday night in the biggest city basketball game in years.



After slipping against East back in January, the Spartans reeled off nine straight wins -- only one of which was by less than 20 points. A month ago Blue exploded in the second half against Verona to lead the team with 22 points in 57-34 win. That has been the lucky number for Blue, as he scored 22 points against crosstown rival LaFollette and another 22 when Memorial pinned 98 points on Madison West. The Spartans then came from behind to beat Beloit, 66-58, with Blue scoring 13 points. He followed that up with another 21-point performance the next game out. Blue's season-long streak of double-digit scoring games came to an end last Tuesday when the bench was emptied early in a rout over Janesville Parker. Memorial is currently ranked #20 and #24 by a few national polls and earned the top seed in its sectional.

:: Big man Evan Anderson returned from injury to Eau Claire North's lineup with a bang against Rice Lake the last week of January. Anderson scored 14 points -- including two important free throws -- in nearly 30 minutes of the 55-48 win. The Huskies next blasted New Richmond, though Anderson made little more than a whimper (2 pts). Anderson was then limited to three field goal attempts as North was officially unseated as conference champs by Hudson. So it's no surprise that as a #5 seed, North's road to State would have to go through top-seeded Hudson squad in a regional final.

Opposing defenses tend to collapse on North's huge front line, which seems to have been effective. The best case scenario for Anderson in a Wisconsin uniform is looking more and more like a Stiemsma-like impact. Not bad in the end, but also a few years of not much as his college game develops. The Huskies (13-7, 9-4) have won three games in a row, starting with wins last Thursday and on Monday, to run their record to 5-2 since Anderson's return. Last night, North defeated River Falls as Anderson scored 11 in the second half.

2011

:: From the tone of the article, it sounds like Devon Hodges fouled out of a game earlier this year that featured a preposterous 87 free throw attempts. Romeoville made 22 of 37, while surrendering 37 points from the stripe to Plainfield North. Like Taylor, Hodges also missed a game recently when he sat out with the flu. However, the lanky sophomore was a terror on defense while leading the Spartans with 17 points in a 76-74 overtime loss to Plainfield South.

It's unclear whether Hodges was one of the Spartans who missed last Tuesday's game for missing a practice. More likely, Hodges just had an off night and was not mentioned in the article. Either way, Hodges was back in time to grab 12 rebounds in Romeoville's latest set back to Plainfield Central. Romeoville (11-14, 7-7) grabbed a #12 seed in the middle of the Frankfort (Lincoln-Way North) Sectional for the upcoming state tournament before its seniors carried the team to victory in the regular season finale versus Minooka.

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Links:
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel just did a nice story on the progress of Wisconsin's two 2009 recruits.
- For the second time ever, not a single McDonald's High School All-American is headed to a Big Ten school this fall. The last time the Big Ten got shut out was 2005.

Revenge Will Have To Wait

I was not feeling too good on Sunday afternoon and laying in bed watching the Badgers play poorly did nothing to raise my spirits.

Wisconsin had a great opportunity to put some useful distance between itself and the conference wannabes with a road win in West Lafayette, but the return of Robbie Hummel and Chris Kramer proved how much of a fluke an 0-2 conference start can be.

JaJuan Johnson had a double-double for the Boilermakers, but I think his great game was more of an effect, rather than the cause, of the 65-52 spanking delivered by Purdue. [box score]

Take Hummel for example. He played 28 minutes, scoring 16 points and grabbing five rebounds. No one on the Badger roster was able to stick with him on the court. Hummel shot 4-of-8 from behind the arc and I swear every outside shot he put up was uncontested. You could see it coming ahead of time: Landry, Leuer, Nankivil, Krabbenhoft, Jarmusz ... I cannot remember who all got a chance to guard him, but you saw the defender going under a pick repeatedly, giving Hummel just enough separation to hit a few daggers. And to their credit, the Boilers found their go-to guy in the right spots.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin's best offensive players did throwing up terrible shots and then missing tons of easy ones. I am looking at you Mr. Landry, Mr. Leuer and Mr. Hughes. Very simply, UW came out flat and nothing went it's way as a result. Once again, Wisconsin shrank and cowered in the face of pressure defense, rather than exploit it.

Make no mistake: Purdue's defense was outstanding. They consistently extended pressure on the ball all the way to half court and basically suffocated the Badgers, who settled for too many jumpers. Wisconsin hit 6-of-20 threes (30%), but I think any time UW hoists more than 15 or 16 from that range, you know that the offense is out of sync.

To be fair, neither backcourt was very impressive in this game. Wisconsin held Purdue's leading scorer, E'Twaun Moore, to four points on 1-of-12 shooting. I cannot recall who guarded Moore, but I know Jason Bohannon got blown by a few times, so maybe Moore just had a bad day finishing too. J-Bo did not make up for it on offense either.

While Bohannon was merely invisible for most of the game, Trevon Hughes was just bad. This came on the heels of the Capital Times giving Hughes props for developing into a top on-ball defender. Though it was not very evident from the box score, I thought pint-sized freshman Lewis Jackson schooled Hughes on a number of occassions, both offensively and defensively. Hughes finished with five turnovers, matching his season-high from the UConn game.

I was really disappointed (and surprised) that Rob Wilson did not get more playing time. The team needed his aggressiveness and I have to nitpick at Bo Ryan's rotation in this game. Yes, Wilson is a freshman and it was a tough road environment, but what did Bo have to lose?

I never thought I would say this, but Joe Krabbenhoft was clearly the best offensive option on the court for Wisconsin. With Wilson collecting dust on the pine, Krabby was the only one playing smart, aggressive basketball. He missed only one of his seven field goal attempts and was the onnly Badger in double figures.

On the bright side, I watched the Illini absolutely crush the Hoosiers on Saturday and thanked the Wisconsin Athletic Department out loud for splitting up the Northwestern and Indiana games on the half-season ticket packages.

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Links:
- Get the mainstream media and one blogger's perspectives on the recent #1 vs. #2 class in Minnesota prep hoops. Mike Bruesewitz and #2 Sibley fell, 77-66, to the high school all-star team known as Hopkins. Everybody is already anticipating a rematch for the state title in March.
- The Wages of Win Journal concludes that the more Devin Harris shoots, the better the New Jersey Nets play. Check out Table Two for a comparison between Harris and an average NBA point guard. The mythical "Wins Produced" projection tells you what Badger fans already know: Devin is the man.

Elite 8: The Storybook Closes

Davidson, 2008's Cinderella story, needed to hit one more shot to advance to the Final Four but could not get a clean look for Stephen Curry at the game's climax. Instead, four #1 seeds will battle in the Final Four for the first time.

But the Wildcats proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were one of the top ten teams in the country this season. Likewise, Kansas proved that it has the defensively capabilities to get an important stop in crunch time, which could be the difference in slowing down the Carolina machine.

What a phenomenal display of team defense by the Jayhawks on that final play. I think everyone was shocked that Curry didn't choose to just force the last shot up himself, as it took a lot to force the ball out of Curry's hands. Although Brandon Rush struggled offensively, he recovered nicely after stumbling to the ground and stuck with Curry. After he jumped in the air, anticipating a shot, it was Sherron Collins who slid in with an air raised high in Curry's face that ultimately forced the pass. Well done.

The UNC-Louisville game was the one I was most anticipating this weekend, though, and it nearly lived up to the hype. However, Louisville's carelessness with the ball denied them another win.

Wauwatosa native Jerry Smith provided the early spark for the Cards and finished with a team-high 17 points. His shot was looking very good from deep range, but he was held scoreless for the final 11 minutes of the contest. It's not worth comparing Smith to Hughes or J-Bo at this point, but I like Smith's energy in the Louisville's pressing scheme and his shooting has really improved. Obviously, he could have helped the Badgers much more than J.P. Gavinski has thus far.

Round 4 data
How the #3 seeds fared: 0-2 (10-4 overall)
(1)North Carolina 83, (3)Louisville 73 [box]
(1)UCLA 76, (3)Xavier 57 [box]

My picks: 37/60 (61.6%) overall | Round 4: 3/4 (75%)

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Washington State's Tony Bennett has turned down the offer to coach the Indiana Hoosiers. According to Hoosier Scoop, Indiana will spare no expense to get Xavier's Sean Miller to fill the vacancy. Former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery will also be a top candidate.

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The future Badgers from the Land of 10,000 Lakes went one for two in capturing state championships this weekend. Benilde-St. Margaret's won the Class 3A, 58-52, over last year's champs, Senior point guard Jordan Taylor made a strong case for Minnesota's Mr. Basketball all week long. Taylor capped off a great all-around tournament with 20 pts, 10 rebs & 6 assts on Saturday night. At State, he averaged 27 pts, 7 rebs, 5.6 assts, 2.6 stls, with over a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. I'd say Taylor's ready for college.

Mike Bruesewitz's Henry Sibley team ran out to a big lead on favored Minnetonka in the Class 4A final, but faltered under pressure, losing 68-59. The junior commit had another nice all-around game, but struggled from the free throw line in the second half. Bruesewitz finished with 39 rebounds in three games at the state tournament.

Now that Royce White has transferred to Hopkins, both the champs and Sibley will be chasing Minnetonka's rival next year.

Beat Those Wildcats ... Again

Davidson College famously offered free transportation for the 648-mile trip to tonight's game in Detroit, along with paid tickets and lodging, but only about 350 students will be making the bus trip due to the short-term logistics. Conversely, the Kohl Center is 406 miles from Ford Field, so you've got to hope for a large UW contingent to make up for all the Kansas, Villanova and Davidson fans cheering for the Wildcats in what could be one of the largest crowds ever to see an NCAA Regional game. Diverted traffic will be wreaking havoc on Motown's motorists this weekend, but the thick, unwelcome snow that fell last night hopefully has not kept the Badger faithful from arriving safely in town.

Much has been made of the cavernous atmosphere of Ford Field. Incidentally some have speculated whether something similar is a factor behind Wisconsin's success within the Kohl Center. Much ado about nothing I say. There will be a few constants in this Badger game: Flowers will D up and Curry will still get his shots off (although, didn't you notice, he is on a downward scoring trend? 40, then 30, now ... 20?!)

When it comes down to the strategy, you know Bo is sticking to his plan. Touch the post. It should be Brian Butch's world tonight, with everyone else just a guest. The truly remarkable story will be if Wisconsin can win the game and Butch doesn't have his national coming out party tonight. In that case, one of the other Badgers will have stepped up at the game's tipping point, because without Butch blowing up, this one is going down to the wire. But my money is on Butch; I just feel it. The state will be giddy to advance one its favorite native sons to the Elite 8 in his final trip around the block.

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After reviewing the highlights of Benilde-St. Margaret's quarterfinal victory, I can see why Jordan Taylor nailed so many treys: no perimeter defense. Without seeing the whole game, maybe his attacks to the hoop were so devastating that the other team laid off, I dunno. Taylor did shoot 16-of-18 from the charity stripe and fouled out his defender after all. It was more of the same Thursday night as BSM advanced to the Class 3A championship game with a 100-70 waxing of Minneapolis Patrick Henry.

"We wanted to put our foot on their throat and not let up," Taylor said.

With the win, the Red Knights earned a Saturday rematch with St. Thomas Academy in a repeat of last year's final game.

Mike Bruesewitz notched an impressive 18/16 double-double to lead Henry Sibley into the Class 4A title game on Saturday. He also won the match of wits with uber-talented Rodney Williams. I don't think the Warriors will be intimidated at all by Minnetonka in the championship. This should be a nice comparison of prep hoops between Wisconsin and Minnesota since Madison Memorial spanked Minnetonka earlier this year. Needless to say, I was not that impressed with the Skippers at the time.

Land Of A Thousand Hoops

Once again I got caught up in the March Madness of the WIAA boys state tournament even though there were no surefire Badgers competing this year. Therefore, it's safe to say I am interested in the results from the Minnesota (MSHSL) boys state tournament, which kicks into high gear over the next two weeks.

As you know, three prep standouts from our neighboring state have already committed to play their college hoops in Madison: Jordan Taylor, Jared Berggren and Mike Bruesewitz. The two seniors, Taylor and Berggren, are both leading teams playing at the 3A level. Bruiser and Co. play in the largest school division, Class 4A. Two lower classes began preliminary rounds last week, but the big boys started Tuesday.

Benilde-St. Margaret's (BSM) is the top seed in their Section and hosted a first-round game against Mound-Westonka last night. With 63 first-half points, the Red Knights (24-3) cruised to a 90-42 win. Taylor scored 16 points and Tulsa-bound Armond Battle added a game-high 25. BSM, which lost in the Class 3A championship game last season, plays Minneapolis Washburn on Thursday.

The Warriors of Henry Sibley HS feature Bruesewitz and several other key players in their lineup. The firepower will be needed as the team was awarded a 2-seed in probably the second-toughest 4A Section, next to the Section 6, featuring metro-area #1 Hopkins, #2 Minnetonka and #4 Wayzata. Bruesewitz, a junior forward, was held to five points in a 69-42 victory over White Bear Lake last night. Sibley (22-5) plays again Friday versus Woodbury, who pulled out a first-round upset.

On Thursday, Berggren's second-seeded Princeton Tigers (17-9) host their opener, versus Annandale (5-20).

All this out-of-state info and I haven't even mentioned a pair of junior forwards that were offered scholarships from Bo Ryan's staff. Royce White's former school, DeLaSalle in Minneapolis, opened with an upset win over Jon Leuer's old high school (Orono). It is tough for a young man to see his dreams start to circle the drain, but hopefully White can learn from the past few weeks and land on his feet somewhere after his dismissal. Unfortunately it will not be at Wisconsin. Likewise, Robbinsdale Cooper's Rodney Williams reportedly is in an academic quandry similar to Jeronne Maymon. If the Badgers are still going after Williams, it will not be for much longer. Cooper, a 3-seed, also advanced to the section semifinals last night behind Williams' 21 points.

Breaking The Seal On '09: Mike Bruesewitz

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin secured a verbal committment from Minnesota's Mike Bruesewitz late last night. Bruesewitz is a 6'7" junior at Henry Sibley High School in the Minneapolis area whose coach compares him to Joe Krabbenhoft. His school's official fight song? On Wisconsin.

The commitment from Bruesewitz could be viewed as good or bad, depending on your tastes. While I've never seen him play, Bruiser fits the bill physically and even has the ready-made nickname straight out of high school like Krabbenhoft did. If Bo Ryan indeed has found Krabby 2.0, it's unfortunate that the kid will have to learn from scratch, since Joe will graduate next season before his red-headed replacement arrives. Despite his shortcomings scoring-wise, no one would be opposed to getting another four years of Krabbenhoft-like effort and production.

As I've said before, though, there is a fundamental stubbornness to Bo Ryan that infiltrates his style, whether it be managing his rotation, his defensive philosophies or in this case, recruiting. Unlike Krabbenhoft, Bruesewitz is not regarded as a four or five-star player. He had offers from a couple of high-majors and a mid-major. By suddenly making Bruesewitz a priority, the Badgers are basically saying they are giving up on at least one of the following players: Jamil Wilson, Royce White, Rodney Williams, and Jordan Prosser.

Recent reports have Wisconsin in good standing with Illinois guard Diamond Taylor. If Taylor were to verbal next, you'd have one spot left for 4-5 really good prospects. What if Wisconsin also offers SG Jacob Jenkins from Kentucky? Bo then risks being officially out of the running for any of the more sought-after forwards before the jockeying even heats up. What is worse is that Wisconsin was hot on the trail of those aforementioned blue-chippers as early as anyone in the country.

More importantly, UW is sending a message to its Midwestern competitors that the program takes what it can get and does not need to be reckoned with when it comes to top regional recruits. But on the flip side, Wisconsin doesn't seem to mind getting out-muscled for big-time athletes. That is where the stubbornness seeps in. It seems even a little arrogant that the current staff will not wait around for a top recruit to take his time with quite an important decision. As if not jumping at the chance to commit to Wisconsin suddenly makes that player "a bad fit for Bo's system," as some would have you believe. It's a fine line between due diligence and failing to covering your own caboose.

For what it's worth, getting Bruiser as the first 2009 commit probably means the end of Isiah Nunn's chances of landing in Madison in 2008. Downsizing to one more available scholarship in '09 at this juncture would be ridiculous.

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Speaking of recruits, the incoming 2008 Badgers are beginning the journey to possible high school championships in their respective states. I whould be able to keep pace with the updates for all four players, so stay tuned, as things are just getting rolling.

- Ian Markolf had 13 points to help his San Antonio Churchill team defeat Austin High to open Class 5A Bidistrict play on Tuesday night. Churchill will play San Antonio Taft this weekend. Taft beat Churchill by two points in the first game of the year. The winner will probably play highly-ranked San Antonio Madison, which also beat Churchill earlier this season.

- Garfield Heights, led by Rob Wilson, recently clinched on a conference title as a first-year member. Wilson teams with Carl "Tay" Jones to lead the Bulldogs into action on Friday, Feb. 22 in the Division 1 Warrensville Heights District bracket.

- Minnesota does not start their playoffs until March. Jordan Taylor's Benilde St. Margaret's squad is in Class AAA, as are Jared Berggren's Princeton Tigers. Bruesewitz and the Sibley Warriors will compete among the largest schools in Minnesota in the Class AAAA tournament.