Stopping Minnetonka's Tucker just became a lot tougher
Minnetonka guard Anthony Tucker has added penetrating drives to his game, making himself and the Skippers more dangerous.
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Share on DiggGreat basketball players know how to score and they know how to win.
For Minnetonka senior guard Anthony Tucker, who is being honored today as the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, scoring has never been a problem. And this past week, Tucker helped the Skippers achieve a new level of winning.
Minnetonka, returning to state for the first time since 1999, will meet Bloomington Kennedy in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A tournament Wednesday at Target Center. Last season the Skippers upset Hopkins in the section semifinals before losing to Bloomington Jefferson -- and 2007 Metro Player of the Year Cole Aldrich -- in overtime.
Last week, Minnetonka cleared that final hurdle with an overtime victory against Hopkins. It was the Skippers' second victory over the Royals in three games this season. Minnetonka is the No. 1 seed in the state tournament, but taking home the championship might not be as big as beating Hopkins, Tucker said.
"Winning the state championship would be great, but this is unbelievable," he said after the Skippers' 74-71 victory last week.
The 6-5 Tucker, who has signed with Iowa, averaged 21 points this season, including a season-high 35 in a 93-79 victory over Hopkins late in the regular season. He had only two points in the first half of the Section 6 semifinals against Wayzata, and again scored two in the opening 18 minutes against Hopkins in the section title game. But he finished with 21 and 18, respectively.
Hopkins junior Raymond Cowels, another member of the All-Metro first team, described the Royals' defensive strategy against Tucker: "We try to get up on him and try to make him take tough shots. We know he's going to hit some. We just try to limit the number of shots that he gets."
Tucker only attempted three shots in the first half of the section final, but his 16-point second-half performance was concrete evidence of his scoring capabilities, as well as his basketball maturity.
"He's a kid who loves the game and loves to play, and is not going to quit on his teammates," Minnetonka coach John Hedstrom said. "He got frustrated in the first half [against Hopkins], but that leadership came to the top. In the past he'd get frustrated and emotionally lose it a little bit. He didn't do that, and that's what we've seen all year."
Tucker has long been known as a great spot-up perimeter shooter, but this season he rounded out his game with a more aggressive, drive-to-the-basket approach. That created more opportunities to dish off to his teammates and draw fouls, and also made Tucker an even more dangerous scorer.
"I think most of it is confidence," he said of his scoring ability. "People talk about my shooting form and stuff like that, but I don't think it matters how you get the ball there. I think it matters if you have the confidence to take the next shot, knowing that you've missed the last five. I think I have a lot of confidence when it comes to shooting the basketball."
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Rodney Williams is going to get his due next year
Williams is going to be the states top recruit next year and is a better player then Tucker and Cowels. Who cares what the writers think? … read more Tubby understands that adding Williams will be a key move for Minnesota Basketball, Williams playing in Williams Arena is going to be legendary, and if he decides to commit to Tubby early it will be his team in 2 years...
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