The Big Nine Preview
The annual Big Nine preview is today and the league could be wide open to the ten teams. Top teams are replacing talent, some teams are ready to make a jump. Conference Commentary Top Ten in State: Mankato East, Austin…
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Continue ReadingThe annual Big Nine preview is today and the league could be wide open to the ten teams. Top teams are replacing talent, some teams are ready to make a jump.
Conference Commentary
Top Ten in State: Mankato East, Austin
Mankato East won the league a year ago mixing seniors with returning talent BJ Omot BJ Omot 6'8" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State #231 Nation MN and Pal Kueth Pal Kueth 6'5" | SF Mankato East | 2021 State MN . Omot is the best player and prospect in this league by a long shot right now. He and Kueth will be the best 1-2 punch in the league but there is a ton of talent to replace. That said the youth in the Cougars system has enough to step in as support.
Austin has a greater share of talent returning and may be the deepest team in the league. Teyghan Hovland Teyghan Hovland 6'3" | SF Austin | 2021 State MN will be one of the best all around players in the league and in Austin’s system there may not be a need for a Gach or Nywesh style scorer. They will come at teams in waves.
Potential Top Ten: Owatonna, Mankato West
Owatonna returns a lot of talent, enough to make the jump to a 20 win season (well, in most years they would shoot for a 20 win year). Evan Dushek Evan Dushek 6'8" | C Owatonna | 2022 State MN is the best big in the Big Nine. The Scarlets will be one of the most improved teams in Minnesota. They only won seven games last year but nearly every thing is back and they have some special players.
Compete with Most: Rochester Mayo, Northfield, Winona
I don’t know that Mayo can be a Top Ten team in Class AAAA but that doesn’t mean they can’t contend for the wide open Big Nine. Mo, Crockett, and Sharp are a strong senior pair while Makuei Riek Makuei Riek 6'5" | SF Rochester Mayo | 2022 MN has big potential. I was able to see Northfield twice last year and they gave up massive scoring numbers, and it’s hard to get that out of my head. Kip and Clay were the Raiders leading scorers a year ago and will be again. As far as Winona goes, I liked their seniors last year and felt they could of been better than 12-15. Winona lost a lot of those seniors but Jasper Hedin Jasper Hedin 6'5" | SF Winona | 2022 State MN is one of the best players in the Big Nine.
Rebuilding: JM, Century, Red Wing, Albert Lea, Faribault
Red Wing will be better than three wins, Deso Buck Deso Buck 6'1" | SG Red Wing | 2022 State MN is worth that himself. Albert Lea had a nice 19-20 season and has some quality coming up from the JV, but it doesn’t have much experience. Century needs to replace nearly everything while JM has the Tuckners back with experience but that’s it.
19-20 Conference Predictions
Big Nine
- Manakto East
- Austin
- Owatonna
- Rochester Mayo
- Mankato West
- Winona
- Northfield
- Rochester Century
- Rochester JM
- Red Wing
- Albert Lea
- Faribault
Preseason All Big Nine
First Team
Mekhi Collins Mekhi Collins 6'5" | PF Mankato West | 2022 State MN , Mankato West, Jr
Evan Dushek Evan Dushek 6'8" | C Owatonna | 2022 State MN , Owatonna, Jr
Jasper Hedin Jasper Hedin 6'5" | SF Winona | 2022 State MN , Winona, Jr
Mo Hammadelniel Mo Hammadelniel 6'2" | PG Rochester Mayo | 2021 State MN , Rochester Mayo, Sr
Teyghan Hovland Teyghan Hovland 6'3" | SF Austin | 2021 State MN , Austin, Sr
BJ Omot BJ Omot 6'8" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State #231 Nation MN , Mankato East, Jr
Second Team
Buom Jock Buom Jock 6'5" | SF Mankato West | 2022 VA , Mankato West, Jr
Pal Kueth Pal Kueth 6'5" | SF Mankato East | 2021 State MN , Mankato East, Sr
Okey Okey Okey Okey 6'2" | SG Austin | 2021 State MN , Austin, Sr
Kip Schetnan, Northfield, Sr
Brayden Williams Brayden Williams 6'3" | PG Owatonna | 2022 State MN , Owatonna, Jr
Third Team
Deso Buck Deso Buck 6'1" | SG Red Wing | 2022 State MN , Red Wing, Jr
Karsten Clay Karsten Clay 6'0" | PG Northfield | 2021 State MN , Northfield, Sr
Emmanuel Manyuon Emmanuel Manyuon 6'1" | SG Austin | 2022 MN , Austin, Jr
Makuei Riek Makuei Riek 6'5" | SF Rochester Mayo | 2022 MN , Rochester Mayo, Jr
Michael Sharp Michael Sharp 6'2" | SG Rochester Mayo | 2021 State MN , Rochester Mayo, Sr
Fourth Team
Andre Crockett Andre Crockett 6'0" | PG Rochester Mayo | 2021 MN Jr, Rochester Mayo, Sr
Mason Ellwein Mason Ellwein 6'0" | PG Mankato West | 2021 State MN , Mankato West, Sr
Victor Idris Victor Idris 6'4" | SF Austin | 2022 State MN , Austin, Jr
Martez Redeaux Martez Redeaux 6'4" | SF Mankato West | 2021 State MN , Mankato West, Sr
Ty Tuckner Ty Tuckner 6'6" | PF Rochester JM | 2021 State MN , Rochester JM, Sr
Five Team
Denval Atkinson Denval Atkinson 6'4" | PF Red Wing | 2022 MN , Red Wing, Jr
Ty Creger Ty Creger 6'0" | PG Owatonna | 2022 State MN , Owatonna, Jr
Brady Haugum Brady Haugum 6'1" | SG Mankato West | 2022 State MN , Mankato West, Jr
Luke Kottom Luke Kottom 6'8" | PF Rochester Century | 2022 State MN , Rochester Century, Jr
John Palmer John Palmer 6'0" | PG Faribault | 2021 State MN , Faribault, Sr