The South Suburban Preview
Conference Commentary State Contender: Apple Valley The Eagles are one of the two favorites as they return their starting line-up from last season. What is different this year? Tre Jones and Gary Trent Jr are now nationally ranked talents with…
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Continue ReadingConference Commentary
State Contender: Apple Valley
The Eagles are one of the two favorites as they return their starting line-up from last season. What is different this year? Tre Jones and Gary Trent Jr are now nationally ranked talents with Duke offers and Brock Bertram is headed to Buffalo. All five starters will be better. That said, they have to replace three college basketball players from their bench so depth must be developed.
Top Ten in State Right Now: Lakeville North, Shakopee
The Panthers and Sabers are traditionally amongst the best and that will not change. What does change is that Shakopee lost a lot of backcourt talent and is playing in a tougher section. As for the Panthers, their yearly challenge against JM in sections is going to be much tougher. But they will come better this year with more senior experience. Both are top ten caliber teams right now. And both have the players to make a run to the state final game.
Potential Top Ten: Lakeville South
The Cougars have a tough core group of seniors especially around the basket (Martin, Swanhorst, Cuddigan), they have one of the state’s best lead guards in Jack Sorenson, one of the top sophomores in Shae Mitchell, and don’t forget about Cade Carlson and Blake Wacholz. Problem is they have been injured and the coaching situation has changed so the W-L numbers haven’t been that of a team that would be top ten. This year it should be.
Compete with Most: Eastview, Rosemount, Burnsville, Prior Lake
All of these teams have talent, and they all have enough of it to compete against most in the league. The battles amongst each other will be outstanding. Eastview has a good situation, Rosemount and Burnsville have quality staffs on the right track, and then there is Prior Lake who seems to always be looking for a new coach. If Eastview gets some interior play to replace the three seniors from last year they will move up to the next group, the guard play is there. Rosemount’s group of the Loehrs, Muir, and Hanson, the top scorer coming back, is really good and watch out for Prior Lake. They won’t be down too much as Kortez and Sitzmann are a good combo.
Rebuilding: Farmington, Eagan
Eagan had a lot of senior talent a year ago, and fell apart. Terribly. Chances of them being much better are not good. The Tigers were 11 games under .500 last year and they lost three of their top four scorers. Rebuilding may not be the right term because Lucas Berg, Sam Wilson, and Alex Hart are solid but losing Speikers and Ferm from an 8 win team makes you think they won’t win as many games.
Conference Predictions
- Apple Valley
- Lakeville North
- Shakopee
- Lakeville South
- Eastview
- Rosemount
- Prior Lake
- Burnsville
- Farmington
- Eagan
Preseason All South Suburban
First Team
Gary Trent Jr, Apple Valley, Jr
Tre Jones, Apple Valley, So
Steffon Mitchell, Shakopee, Sr
Brock Bertram, Apple Valley, Sr
Jack Sorenson, Lakeville South, Jr
Second Team
Carter Brooks, Lakeville North, Sr.
Nathan Reuvers, Lakeville North, Jr
Cameron Kirksey, Apple Valley, Sr
Shae Mitchell, Lakeville South, So
Jordan Bolton, Apple Valley, Sr
Third Team
Booker Coplin, Shakopee, Sr.
Sean Ryan, Eastview, Sr
Jameson Bryan, Eastview, Jr
Cal Pesola, Lakeville North, Sr.
Luke Loehr, Rosemount, Jr
Fourth Team
Sam Schuberg, Eagan, Sr
Blake Wacholz, Lakeville South, Sr
David Lindstrand, Lakeville North, Sr.
Martin Mitchell, Eastview, Sr
Brian Sitzman, Prior Lake, Jr
Fifth Team
Jack Kortes, Prior Lake, Sr
Jared Hanson, Rosemount, Jr
Taylor Triplett, Shakopee, Sr.
Drew Stewart, Lakeville North, Sr.
Jason Gumm, Burnsville, Sr.
Sixth Team
Alec Loehr, Rosemount, Jr.
Aaron Ertz, Apple Valley, Sr
Jake Cuddigan, Lakeville South, Sr
Devin Mays, Prior Lake, Sr
Mason Carpenter, Eastview, Jr
Seventh Team
Alex Hart, Farmington, Sr
Tucker Shepley, Burnsville, Sr
Kelly Muir, Rosemount, Sr
Sam Wilson, Farmington, Jr.
Aloung Kang, Burnsville, Jr.