The best high school hoops blog in Minnesota ... and maybe the world

As good a job as our startribune.com high school sports posse does, nothing compares to the Czar.

Upload assumes that the Twin Cities Hoop Czar has a real name and a life beyond going to basketball games. But you wouldn't know it from reading his in-depth, from-the-stands, sometimes opinionated accounts of metro boys' basketball games.

Here's how the Czar describes himself: "I'm a rabid high school basketball fan with no affiliation or allegiance to any metro school. I focus mostly on the boys basketball scene in the Twin Cities, but I may comment on the girls game or Wisconsin action if there's nothing going on with the boys. My perspective is that of a fan first and foremost. I combine that with my 3 seasons of experience as a player and 5 years as a manager. I also consider myself to be a basketball purist and student of the game. What I write here is best described as an off-beat diary of what I see and think as I follow the different teams and travel to the 140+ varsity games I see each season."

Saturday's schedule includes Class 4A semifinals in Chaska and Burnsville. He was in Osseo for a pair of section finals on Friday and at Park Center the night before and at Tartan the night before that and at Wayzata...

You get the idea.

By his own account, he'll be the guy sitting in the top row across from the team benches.

Plus the Czar has links to just about anything that moves in Minnesota boys basketball. He goes to Fall League games and the nonstop off-season whirl of AAU spring and summer games. If you want to pick an argument about the state scoring records being set by Class 1A basketball talent, the Czar and his followers will chatter back.

Here's the blog, which has inspired Upload to go watch a game. I'm off to Benilde-St. Margaret's to watch the Red Knights play Richfield. Tip-off is in 44 minutes.