Minnesota’s Top Ten “League Pass” Rankings: Class AA
The NBA season is underway this week and that means a free trial of NBA League Pass for all you basketball junkies! Sure, the Golden State Warriors are on pace to plow through the league once again, but that doesn’t…
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Continue ReadingThe NBA season is underway this week and that means a free trial of NBA League Pass for all you basketball junkies! Sure, the Golden State Warriors are on pace to plow through the league once again, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t fun and interesting and exciting players, teams and storylines to follow in between; how will DeAndre Ayton pan out in Phoenix? Is Trae Young going to be Steph Curry 2.0? People who love basketball, these questions are for you, and so is today’s content.
Today we run through some of the more thrilling teams around the state of Minnesota at the Class AA level that you should dig up a livestream on or check out in person if you can!
10) St. Croix Prep – Fill it up, SCP! Daniel McCarrell returns at almost 19 points per game and is the primary scoring option. Jayton Metcalf might be on schedule for a return from injury as well and he can put the ball in the hoop consistently too. They’re small but will absolutely shoot the lights out so their pace will likely be way up there. Addison Metcalf and Andrew Howard provide more sufficient guard play.
9) New London-Spicer – The three-headed offensive monster that is Brandon Adelman, Ander Arnold and Ryan Wyganowski has potential to emerge from the Wright County West and Section 3AA-North unscathed. Adelman is a creative shot-maker who has a nice first step, Wyganowski is one of the better spot-up shooters around and Arnold fills in the gaps inside and out. Another team who can score the ball often and has continuity and chemistry.
8) St. Cloud Cathedral – Nick Schaefer and Jackson Jangula form a backcourt that rivals just about any they’ll face all season. Jangula has a great feel for both transition and halfcourt decisions with the ball and Schaefer is always in that right spot to receive from him for scores. The junior class is led by Jacob Stoltzenberg, another quality shooter for the Cathedral perimeter.
7) Breck – David Roddy by himself is enough to warrant a viewing; the 6-5 forward has an assortment of Division 1 offers and is physically unparalleled in Class AA. He’ll be a 23/12 kind of player once again, and will be supported well by sharpshooter Joey Ganley and sparkplug point guard Jalen Morton, who I really liked in the playoffs last year. Breck has a chance to climb the AA rankings as the season progresses with their size advantage.
6) Maranatha Christian Academy – Maranatha is paced by their frontcourt duo of Clarence and Hakim Daniels, two of the best rebounders in the MCAA. Their wingspans and leaping ability are high above most of the rest they’ll play throughout the season, and add that to their expanded skillsets with the ball in their hands—that’s a scary combo. Expect the Mustangs to compete with just about everybody on their beefed-up schedule.
5) Minneapolis North – Though freshman stud Trejuan Holloman now attends Cretin-Derham Hall, the pipeline of youthful talent is not empty for Coach McKenzie. Davon Townley showed plenty of promise as a versatile frontcourt option and has the athleticism to be a bona fide rim-runner, while guards Eli Campbell and Willie Wilson bring length and plenty of turnover capability to the perimeter. They’re superior within the Minneapolis City Conference and will challenge their share of other metro powers.
4) Cristo Rey Jesuit – James Sommer stands 6-3 with a clean handle and a pretty shooting stroke. The Puma two-guard has skyrocketed his stock in the past handful of months and is looking to lead his squad to another successful season. Fellow backcourt teammate Erick Burgess can fill up the stat sheet as well. They fall into the same section as a few other top teams so that shakeout will be interesting.
3) Lake City – Lake City boasts two of the more battle-tested 2020s in Nate Heise and Reid Gastner. That duo can take on most of their conference slate alone. Heise’s a tough guard at 6-3 with a heat check shot and Gastner’s physicality makes plays on defense that few others can. They’ll score a lot and give up less. Hopefully we see them up in the metro a little bit more!
2) Perham – The returners from a one-loss Yellowjacket team are Jenson Beachy, Josh Jeziorski and Carter Cresap, all future college athletes that have a lot of skill and speed and strength. Perham got knocked out in the section final for their only loss of the season; you’ll be hard-pressed to find a team in the state with more experience coming back and more to prove. They’re a top five preseason team with a ton of good basketball players.
1) Minnehaha Academy – No-brainer, right? Jalen Suggs spearheads the best team in AA once again. A mix of speed, scoring and athleticism is back in Kaden Johnson, Chet Holmgren and Prince Aligbe. Their wealth of talent is still untouchable and they’ll have primetime watchability all season as long as they’re fully healthy. Redhawks at the top again.