Last season I watched one JV game all season long and it wasn’t by choice.

But I did get a preview of some things to come for the Blooming Prairie boys basketball team when I watched the Blossoms youngsters double up Janesville/Waldorf/Pemberton in points and roll to a lopsided victory.

I know it was just JV, but 6-foot-3 center Cooper Nelson, who is now a sophmore, looked exactly like a man amongst boys. He was grabbing rebounds and blocking shots left and right and made it all look effortless.

Guard Robert Hofius, who is now a junior, was like a mini-Iverson, pestering ball handlers and making things happen for other players by driving and dishing and juniors Justen Ingvalson and AaronKrejci also caught my eye as solid players.

After the contest, I turned to my reliable photographer Eric Johnson, and said ‘either BP has the best JV team in the state, or JWP has the worst.’

I’m sure it was some combination of the two, but those four players also looked solid as varsity players for BP in an 87-43 route of Lyle/Pacelli Friday night.

Off the bench, they combined for 16 points, which doesn’t sound like much. But you have to remember the Blossoms have some big scorers in Matt Zellmer, who scored 24 Friday, and Josh Toquam.

The job of these ‘super subs’ is to keep the pedal to the medal and mantain high energy against other team’s reserves. They did that job fine against the Athletics.

BP is also getting back forward Israel Clark, who was out last year with an ACL tear. Clark will provide a lot of playmaking ability and some scoring of his own.

With a solid bench and some good starters, this Blossoms team could be one to watch this year.

As for why I watched that JV game last season, let’s just say when you’re driving back from covering a state hockey game in St. Paul and decide to cover a BP basketball game on the way home, you don’t always time it out perfectly.