Top seeds for girls basketball state tournament are no surprise

Hopkins and Providence Academy are defending state champions. Becker is a state tournament runner-up, and Mountain Iron-Buhl captured a consolation championship in 2022.

There was no suspense about which girls basketball teams would receive the top seeds in the four classes when those were announced Saturday morning by the Minnesota State High School League: Hopkins in Class 4A, Becker in 3A, Providence Academy in 2A and Mountain Iron-Buhl in 1A. The four compiled a 10-2 record in the state tournament a year ago.

Lake Conference teams took the top three seeds in Class 4A, with St. Michael-Albertville at No. 2 and Eden Prairie No. 3. Hopkins (26-2), St. Michael-Albertville (26-3) and Eden Prairie (20-9) were Nos. 2, 3 and 5 in the final regular-season rankings by Minnesota Basketball News.

Eden Prairie knocked off No. 1-ranked Chaska (27-2) in the Section 2 championship, and Hopkins outlasted No. 4 Wayzata (23-5) in overtime in the Section 6 final.

Three teams in the field have 10 losses: Eagan, Centennial and Roseville. Each of them is 19-10.

In Class 3A, the top four teams in the rankings are among the top five seeds — No. 1 Becker (25-3) in seeded first, followed by Benilde-St. Margaret's (23-6) at No. 2, Stewartville (27-2) at No. 4 and Grand Rapids (26-2) at No. 5. Eighth-ranked Alexandria (24-4) climbed into the No. 3 spot.

Becker has victories over Alexandria and Benilde-St. Margaret's. The Bulldogs were the state champion in 2021. Defending state champion Totino-Grace didn't make the field.

In Class 2A, the top four teams in the final rankings are seeded in the top four positions: No. 1 Providence Academy (27-2), No. 2 Goodhue (27-3), No. 3 Albany (28-1) and No. 4 New London-Spicer (28-1).

Providence Academy owns four wins over teams in the field, having defeated Goodhue, fifth seed Minnehaha Academy (22-7) twice and Perham (26-3). The average margin of victory was 25 points in those games.

In Class 1A, Mountain Iron-Buhl (27-3) heads a field that includes six teams ranked in the top 10 in the final poll. The Rangers have an opportunity to avenge a state tournament first-round setback last year; they drew Minneota (21-8) once again for the quarterfinals. Minneota wound up as the runner-up in 2022.

Minneota is making its sixth consecutive state tournament appearance, after winning the state title in 2019 and 2021. The Vikings were also the state champion in 2013.

Mountain Iron-Buhl is making its 12th state tournament trip in the past 13 years. It has finished as the runner-up twice, in 2012 and 2017.

Coach Jeff Buffetta's squad beat No. 2 seed Hayfield (28-3) 79-33 and No. 5 seed Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (25-4) 84-62 in December.

Defending 1A champion Hancock didn't make the field.