When John Sutherland, 2020 Senior Forward from Grand Rapids, Minnesota plays, you can almost guarantee he'll have a double-double. Sutherland a Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) commit, as a junior only had four games without a double-double when he averaged 27.5 points and 12.3 boards. In 2019-20 he is averaging 31.7 points and 13 rebounds per game for the 13-8 Thunderhawks, and he has only two games of less than 10 rebounds. Those two games were 9 rebounds.
Sutherland has scored more than 40 points three times with scoring games of 51 versus Hermantown, 46 versus Denfeld, and 41 versus Princeton. So on Super Bowl Sunday Sutherland and I exchange a few messages about the season.
Q: How's the season going so far?
A: It’s going good we are 13-7.
Q: How have you played?
A: I’ve been playing well, having a great season.
Q: What things from AAU did you bring over to the high school season?
A: Scoring in traffic and playing through the physicality.
Q: You and your team really got some attention from your play this summer, did you guys have a sense of that you had a chip on your shoulders? Or going out there with something to prove?
A: Yeah I guess you could say we had chip on our shoulder. We wanted to prove that northern teams could hold their own.
Q: How's it feel to be committed to a college already?
A: It feels great I can focus on the season and seeing how far we can go! I’m excited to play for a great program!
Q: What do plan to study and major in at UMD?
A: I plan to study business and don’t quite know what major yet.