Some of the Best Boys and Girls Basketball Players Coming to St.

The yearly Granite City Classic boys and girls basketball event will take place in the St. Cloud Metro Area December 29th and 30th. Justin Hegna is one of the organizers of the event and he joined me on WJON. Breakdown Sports has had involvement as the operator of the event for the past 14 to 15 years and full control in the last 12 years. Hegna indicates the event has been going on for about 35 years. The event is a classic which means the opponents are pre-determined which Hegna says helps for scheduling and to set up some great unique matchups.

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This year's event will feature 78 varsity teams and around 100 younger level teams. The event will be using St. Cloud State, St. John's, St. Ben's, Tech, Apollo and Sartell-St. Stephen High Schools. Hegna explains they probably would have had around 140 younger level teams but transportation issues for schools has cut that number down a bit. The majority of the teams play 2 games in this event. Hegna says they have schools of all sizes ranging from the smallest in the state at the Class A level to the largest in the Class AAAA level. He indicates some of the best teams and players in the state will be playing in this event.

Some players to watch next week include center Boden Kapke from Holy Family Catholic, who's headed to Butler University, point guard Isaac Asuma from Cherry, Max Shikenjanski from Stillwater, Chase Thompson from Alexandria, and Tamron Ferguson from Tech. Hegna says they have the best girls lineup they've ever had at the Granite City Classic. Top girls teams include Becker, Alexandria, Minnetonka, Mountain Iron-Buhl and Wayzata. Hegna says they will have 17 to 18 potential girls Division I basketball players playing in this event.

If you'd like to listen to my 2-part conversation with Justin Hegna it is available below.