Boys Tip Off Classic

Champlin Park will be among Minnesota’s elite boys’ basketball teams next week when it competes in The BREAKDOWN’S Tip Off Classic at Minnetonka High School.

The event, being billed as “the most historic boys’ high school basketball event in the state,” will be held on Saturday, December 12th. A dozen games, which will feature a mix of big and small schools, will be played in two Minnetonka High School gyms.

Champlin Park, ranked 5th in the Class AAAA preseason poll, will face 4th ranked Cretin-DH in the tipoff classic. That game will be played in Minnetonka’s east gym as the night cap at 7:45pm.

Many of the top players and teams in Minnesota will play in the seventh annual BREAKDOWN Tip Off Classic. It will feature more than 110 college prospects, including 30 who are being looked at by Division I schools.

Among those top players are Rebels Jasper Duberry, Josh Pella and Kyle Zimmermann.

Twenty teams in the tipoff classic are among the top 15 in the state in respective classes and three (Hopkins, Benilde-St. Margaret’s and New London Spicer) are considered preseason number 1’s.

Other statistics for this season’s tipoff classic are:

• Thirty potential Division I players, including nine who have already signed or given verbal commitment;
• Nearly 70 players with college scholarship potential;
• At least 110 players with college basketball possibilities;
• Eleven players who have already scored 1,000 career points;
• Twenty of the Breakdown’s Fab 40 seniors;
• Nineteen of the Breakdown’s Fab 40 juniors;
• Twelve of the Breakdown’s Top 30 underclassmen;
• Two dozen coaches who have led a combined 63 teams to the state tournament;
• Twenty-five state championships in the past 15 years by participants;
• Team from 15 different sections and 17 different conferences;

The tipoff classic begin in 2004. Coordinators of the event say the goal is to showcase teams from across the state to provide unique, competitive match-ups that might not otherwise be seen.

The schedule for this year’s tipoff classic is as follows:

Minnetonka East Gym
11:00 a.m. - Sibley East (#5AA) vs. Waconia
12:45 p.m. - Columbia Hgts. (#7AAA) vs. Staples-Motley (#7AA)
2:30 p.m. - DeLaSalle (#3AAA) vs. Osseo (#4AAAA)
4:15 p.m. - Braham (#8AA) vs. Minnehaha Ac. (#3AA)
6:00 p.m. - Mpls. Patrick Henry (#6AAA) vs. Minn. Transitions (#3A)
7:45 p.m. - Champlin Park (#5AAAA) vs. Cretin-D.H. (#4AAAA)

Minnetonka West Gym
9:45 a.m. - Sebeka (#4A) vs. New London Spicer (#1AA)
11:30 a.m. - Mpls. North vs. Plainview-Elgin-Millville (#2AA)
1:15 p.m. - Minnetonka vs. Braham (girls)
3:00 p.m. -Lakeville South vs. Benilde St. Margaret’s (#1AAA)
4:45 p.m. - Henry Sibley (#3AAAA) vs. Cloquet
6:30 p.m. - Hopkins (#1AAAA) vs. Tartan (#6AAAA)
8:15 p.m. - Minnetonka (#2AAAA) vs. Chaska (#7AAAA)