The South Suburban Preview
The South Suburban will see some change. Not an overload but some. Young teams are about to emerge, big names are now gone, and then there are the Panthers.
Last Year (17-18): 1) Apple Valley, 2) Lakeville North, 3) Prior Lake, 4) Lakeville South, 5) Shakopee, 6) Farmington, 7) Eastview, 8) Burnsville, 9) Eagan, 10) Rosemount
Conference Commentary
Top Ten: Lakeville North, Prior Lake
Lakeville North is loaded with seniors. This the first time in a long time I can say I don’t know much about what’s behind the seniors, but this senior class has the potential to bring home a title. They are tough, versatile, experienced, and have a star (Tyler Wahl).
Prior Lake is the other squad that has top five potential and a balanced line-up with size and stars that could bring the title back to their school. Sam Nissen in the backcourt and they are huge up front (Dawson Garcia and Robert Jones). If they developed depth they could compete for the title.
Top Ten Potential: Eastview, Shakopee
Shakopee was a game over .500 last year, Eastview was five games under the average mark. Those are things of the past. The Lightning has a stacked class of juniors that has some shooting, quality ball handlers, and a top junior front court (Tate Machacek and Steven Crowl). Shakopee was better than Eastview last season with Caleb Druvenga, Will Cordes, and Charles Katona all back. All juniors as well.
Compete with Most: Farmington
The Tigers always seem to win some games people are surprised by, but they also can’t quite make the big punch they want. This year Jameson Shrum, Adam Weed, and Miles Mendes gave them a solid team.
Rebuilding: Apple Valley, Lakeville South, Rosemount, Eagan, Burnsville
This is a few different types of rebuilds. At Apple Valley we just don’t know what they have after Mark Possis. The good thing is they all played JV last year together so the chemistry is there. The AV state rotation was all seniors. They could be good, bad, average, terrible, brutal, section champs, who knows?
Lakeville South is going to be good, they just have a lot of seniors to replace. There are some really good sophomores and tough upperclassmen guards who Coach Joey Janquart is ready to win with. Burnsville has a new coach and will look different but has a backcourt that could be very good, Eagan lost players to transfer and graduation, and Rosemount was a 2-win team last year so it can’t get much worse.
Preseason Prediction
- Lakeville North
- Prior Lake
- Eastview
- Shakopee
- Lakeville South
- Farmington
- Apple Valley
- Burnsville
- Rosemount
- Eagan
Preseason All-South Suburban Team
First Team
Tyler Wahl of Lakeville North (12)
Dawson Garcia of Prior Lake (11)
Robert Jones of Prior Lake (12)
Charles Katona of Shakopee (11)
Steven Crowl of Eastview (11)
Second Team
Tommy Jensen of Lakeville North (12)
Sam Nissen of Prior Lake (12)
Riley Mahlman of Lakeville South (10)
Tate Machacek of Eastview (11)
Miles Mendes of Farmington (12)
Third Team
Marcus Shepley of Burnsville (12)
Jaylen James of Eastview (11)
Caleb Druvenga of Shakopee (11)
Will Cordes of Shakopee (11)
Eli Mostaert of Lakeville North (12)
Fourth Team
Mark Possis of Apple Valley (12)
Joe Bachinski of Lakeville South (11)
Reid Patterson of Lakeville South (10)
Adam Weed of Farmington (12)
Josh Kamara of Burnsville (11)
Fifth Team
Julian Hutchinson of Burnsville (12)
Jackyse Jacox of Prior Lake (12)
Tate Staloch of Lakeville North (12)
Jack Rusch of Lakeville North (12)
Andrew Reuter of Rosemount (12)