Daniel steps into the lions' den tonight when the Bemidji Lumberjacks cagers head to Elk River to open the Section 8-4A tournament.
Other openers send Buffalo to Moorhead to complete the upper bracket while St. Cloud Tech visits Alexandria and Brainerd is at Apollo in the lower.
Elk River, Apollo, Alexandria and Moorhead were the top four seeds.
The Jacks will be decided underdogs against the highly regarded Elks who were rated fourth in the latest state rankings.
They ended 23-3 and were 16-2 in the Northwest Suburban Conference, finishing two games ahead of Osseo in a league that includes the four Anoka district schools.
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Tonight's four winners go to Sauk Rapids Saturday for the semifinals with the title game March 16 at a neutral site, likely to be chosen after Saturday's winners are known.
The Jacks have suffered through a strange year, opening 1-5, then winning nine straight but closing 1-8 to end 11-13.
They were crippled in their last three games with the loss of their scoring leader Nate Daniels who sustained a high ankle sprain in the opening minutes at Staples.
He returned to practice Monday but is highly questionable for tonight's game.
Without him, Brad Hoff will likely team with Dan Lasley and Andrew Hengel outside with Chris Marty and David Sand inside.
Alec Muller will provide backup support outside and Doug Bender and Adam Nygaard along the base line.
Bemidji and Elk River have not met this year and perhaps not ever before. Moorhead and Buffalo will also be meeting for the first time. Apollo and Alex scored sweeps over Brainerd and Tech, respectively, in Central Lakes Conference play.
Scoring leader for the Elks is Sam Halverson who shows 426 points and a 16.4 average.
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Leading Bemidji is Daniels with 379 points and a 17.2 average.
But only Hoff has topped the 10 point mark with 296 points and 12.3 average.
Bender has scored 197 points and Marty 179. Of the top nine, only Daniels, Hoff, Lasley and Nygaard will graduate this spring.
