DULUTH — There is less than a month until the section and regional tournaments begin in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Those who know me are fully aware that playoff basketball is far and away my favorite time of the year to be a sports reporter. There is nothing better than a gym filled to the brim with people supporting their hometown in a win-or-go-home contest.
With the magic of March quickly approaching, it feels like a good opportunity to check in with several of the top local programs and ask one simple question: who’s playing playoff-caliber basketball right now?
I don’t think there’s a team in the Northland flying under the radar more than Barnum. The Bombers, who make their 2025-26 Power 5 debut this week, are 18-4 and have won six of their last seven.
Led by seniors Julian Beckstrand and Brock Hurst, Barnum has a substantial amount of size for the Section 7A bracket, which will be a distinct advantage in trying to dethrone perennial contenders Cherry and Deer River in an ever-competitive 7A landscape.
Duluth Denfeld continues to impress me. We all know about the scoring prowess of junior forward Carter Brown and the playmaking and defensive ability of Lee Brooks, but there are others around them that make the Hunters dangerous in Section 7AAA.
Antonio Brown (33) of Duluth Denfeld tips a rebound against Gaige Houston (20) of Cloquet on Thursday, Dec. 11 in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
If Denfeld’s role players can get going, it’s going to open the floor even more for Brown and Brooks, who continue to be the engine of a Hunters team trying to reach the state tournament in back-to-back years for the first time in program history.
Let’s take a look at more of the top local programs rounding into playoff form.
Rules of the Five
This list and its comments are based on games prep sports reporters Jamey Malcomb, Jake Pryztarski and Reagan Hoverman have watched and/or stats that have been submitted to the Duluth News Tribune.This is a ranking of the top five basketball teams — boys and girls — in the Northland, regardless of class size.We are allowed to be prisoners of the moment. If a struggling team gets a fun win, they might pop up on the Five and disappear the next week.To keep things a little varied, we’re going to pick out three teams from the two rankings to write a little about each week.
We’ve talked about junior forward Carter Brown and senior guard Lee Brooks time and time again this season, and for good reason. They’re Denfeld’s engine, but if the Hunters are going to make a run, the role players are going to have to play well, too.
When I spoke with Denfeld head coach Phill Homere after his Hunters downed Grand Rapids in late January, he told me something that has stuck with me. The game plan going into that contest was to get senior Antonio Brown going early.
He’s a good player, no doubt, but I would have imagined Carter Brown, who averages over 27 a game, would have been the focal point. Homere’s theory was this: if they can get Antonio going down low, it would open up the rest of the floor.
Carter Brown ultimately got hot early and that game plan went to the wayside, but the point remains. If Antonio Brown — a 6-foot-7 old-school center — can get going, it will take Denfeld to another level. I think he’s going to be the key to Denfeld’s playoff run.
I’ve covered two Grand Rapids games this season and the thing that stands out above all else is how hard they play. Every team I’ve ever covered thinks they play hard, and most do, but when Rapids is rolling, it looks a little bit different than most.
There’s no question their hustle and tenacity every night is a reflection of every player in the program buying into what Chadwick Persons is teaching. The Thunderhawks have depth and a perfect mix of young up-and-coming players and program veterans.
Grand Rapids head coach Chadwick Persons celebrates with his team as they erase a 14-point deficit in the first half of their game at Duluth Denfeld on Thursday evening, Jan. 29.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
They’re one of the most well-coached groups in the Northland, and when they’re firing on all cylinders, I think they’re capable of wearing the Section 7AAA crown.
Barnum’s Rich Newman is no stranger to success. The longtime Bombers head coach is enshrined in the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and has amassed over 500 career wins, but he doesn’t often have a group like the one he has this winter.
Size has often been a limiting factor for a Barnum program that has made just one state tournament since 1983. This season, they have Brock Hurst, a 6-foot-7 senior who is capable of putting the Bombers on his back.
He’s a dominant interior force, and he’s surrounded by outstanding athletes like fellow senior Julian Beckstrand, who is committed to play football at Minnesota Duluth. If the Bombers are going to get over the hump, this is absolutely the season to do it.
1. Duluth Marshall (16-6)
I have to tip my cap to Proctor head coach Matt Solberg and the athletic administration for building a daunting schedule, which will have them fully prepared for the Section 7AA tournament in the coming month.
The Rails have won six of their last seven, with the lone five-point defeat coming at the hands of Duluth Marshall, a 7AA opponent, on Jan. 20. The next four games will tell us even more about how much Proctor can compete with some of the truly elite programs.
Chloe Carlson (3) of Proctor dribbles the ball against Minnehaha Academy on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Proctor.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
They will square off against Providence Academy, the four-time defending Class AA champions, along with the team that beat them in the 2025 title game, Crosby-Ironton, led by Tori Oehrlein, Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer. Then they end the season with Mountain Iron-Buhl, the top-ranked Class A program in the state.
I’m excited to see how Proctor handles such a grueling slate of games, because there is probably no tougher closing slate in the state than the one the Rails are about to face.
Rock Ridge has perhaps the clearest path to a section title of any program in the Northland. While the 7AA girls bracket is a gauntlet including some of the top prospects in the state and even the country, that’s not the case in Section 7AAA.
The Wolverines are coming off 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns in which they emerged victorious in the 7AAA tournament. They are the clear favorite to do it again, largely because of Maija and Lexi Lamppa, who are longtime staples in Rock Ridge’s program.
Maija Lamppa (3), left, and Lexi Lamppa (5) of Rock Ridge look on while the officials chat during a break in the action in the first half of the Wolverines’ road game against Duluth Marshall on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group
They were instrumental in knocking off previously undefeated Mountain Iron-Buhl on Feb. 10, a 79-67 win over the top-ranked Class A program in Minnesota. I know Rock Ridge is multiple classes larger, but that win carries a significant amount of weight.
4. Mountain Iron-Buhl (22-1)
Reagan Hoverman joined the Duluth News Tribune as a sports reporter in July 2023 after spending the better part of two years covering a variety of prep and collegiate sports at the Pierce County Journal in Ellsworth, Wis. Before that, he was a news and sports reporter at the Inter-County Leader in Frederic, Wis.