The Central Lakes Preview

Ryan James October 7, 2020 @ 04:45 PM

Year to year the Central Lakes Conference always gives you something new. Last year Fergus Falls won the league. Here is this year’s preview. Conference Commentary Top Ten in State: Fergus Falls, Alexandria With the Otters returning [player_tooltip player_id="567061" first="Dominic" last="Aguilar"] and Chase Fazio they are a certain threat in Class AA basketball. They need some role players to step up if they are to fulfill want they want but Aguilar at combo guard and Fazio inside is a combo others don’t have. For Class AA basketball they are top ten. I’m not sure that Alexandria will start in the top ten as Class AAA basketball is all of a sudden deep and talented with prospects from all corners of the state. Alexandria was 20-9 last year and return their top three players led by new Bemidji State commit [player_tooltip player_id="774753" first="Colton" last="Roderick"]. Alex and Fergus Falls split games last year but the Otters won the league. Why am I picking Alexandria to win it this year? Two reasons: 1) they return a bit more talent and 2) the CLC seems to have a new winner every year. Compete with Most: St. Cloud Apollo, Brainerd, Sartell-St. Stephen, Rocori, Willmar The Apollo Eagles will not slip as far from last year as you think but they have a ton of players to replace. [player_tooltip player_id="958643" first="Thomas" last="Diew"] is one of the best players in the league for certain they will go through him. Brainerd has a bit more back than Apollo but like Apollo the Warriors have a top talent to run their offense through regularly. That player is [player_tooltip player_id="774897" first="Griffin" last="Rushin"]. The better of the three teams listed should be Sartell based on the amount of talent coming back. And don’t sleep on Rocori, a 13-15 team from a year ago that returns three of their top four players. Willmar won only seven games last year but they were a younger squad. They should be about a .500 team this year. Rebuilding: Sauk Rapids-Rice, St Cloud Tech   20-21 Conference Predictions <ol> <li>Alexandria</li> <li>Fergus Falls</li> <li>Sartell-St Stephen</li> <li>Rocori</li> <li>Brainerd</li> <li>St Cloud Apollo</li> <li>Willmar</li> <li>St Cloud Tech</li> <li>Sauk Rapids-Rice</li> </ol>   Preseason All Central Lakes Conference First Team [player_tooltip player_id="567061" first="Dominic" last="Aguilar"] of Fergus Falls (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958643" first="Thomas" last="Diew"] of St. Cloud Apollo (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774868" first="Chance" last="Fazio"] of Fergus Falls (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774753" first="Colton" last="Roderick"] of Alexandria (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774897" first="Griffin" last="Rushin"] of Brainerd (Sr)   Second Team [player_tooltip player_id="957212" first="Gustav" last="Gunderson"] of Sartell (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="957619" first="Tucker" last="Haakonson"] of Rocori (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850732" first="Erik" last="Hedstrom"] of Alexandria (Jr) Kris Hoskins of Alexandria (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="958727" first="Devyn" last="Yeager"] of St. Cloud Tech (Jr)   Third Team [player_tooltip player_id="774916" first="Luke" last="Humbert"] of Rocori (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958683" first="Mason" last="Lund"] of Sartell (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="957611" first="Ethan" last="Opsahl"] of Sauk Rapids-Rice (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774845" first="Jayden" last="Philippi"] of Rocori (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="957234" first="Jacob" last="Rosendahl"] of Willmar (Sr)   Fourth Team Abel Aho of Fergus Falls (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774940" first="Chase" last="Dirksen"] of Willmar (Sr) Alex Harren of Sauk Rapids-Rice (Jr) Blake Hartwig of Sartell-St. Stephen (Sr) Sam May of Willmar (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774866" first="KyTavion" last="Norwood"] of St. Cloud Tech (Sr)