The Valley Conference Preview

An improving league that has balance and talent is the Valley Conference.  Today we look at the southern Minnesota league in depth.    Conference Commentary Top Ten in State – Nicollet, St. Clair With a top player like Riley HulkeRileyHulke6'1" | PGNicollet | 2020StateMN graduating and a couple starters that need to be replaced, Nicollet has some holes to fill.  But with an All State Class level player back in Shane StevensonShaneStevenson6'6" | PFNicollet | 2021StateMN plus a couple others returning, Nicollet is a state contender in a year where there is no real favorite at all.  St. Clair doesn’t have a star like Stevenson but they have much more returning than Nicollet or just about everybody else from a 17-win club.   Potential Top Ten in State – TML-GHEC, Mankato Loyola With four of their top six guys back - including a pair of double figure scoring threats - TML-GHEC is another contender for this league.  Adam and Matt Heckman lead the way and both bigs could give a double-double with Adam capable of doing it on a nightly basis.  Loyola graduated a lot of players so contending will take some work but their backcourt of Logan CarlsonLoganCarlson5'10" | PGSt. James | 2021StateMN and Lawson GodfreyLawsonGodfrey6'1" | SGMankato Loyola | 2023StateMN will be one of the best backcourts in this league.   Compete with Most – Madelia, Cleveland, Martin County West Ja’Sean Glover is the best player in this conference and one of the top two players in Class A basketball.  Maybe the best.  Madelia lost three starters from last year though so they have spots to fill around Glover.  Cleveland has a lot more back from last year than Madelia did although they won only nine games.  Ben HoldenBenHolden6'6" | PFCleveland | 2021StateMN is one of the best players in the league.  Martin County West won 18 games last season but lost their top two scorers, that’s the bad news.  Bringing back half the rotation is the good news.  Rebuilding – Alden-Conger, LCWM, JWP   20-21 Valley Conference Predictions Nicollet St Clair TML-GHEC Mankato Loyola Madelia Martin County West Cleveland LCWM JWP Alden-Conger   Preseason All Valley Conference  First Team Conner Andree of St. Clair (Jr) JaSean GloverJaSeanGlover6'3" | SGMadelia | 2022StateMN of Medelia (Jr) Adam HeckmanAdamHeckman6'6" | CTML-GHEC | 2022StateMN of TML-GHEC (Jr) Ben HoldenBenHolden6'6" | PFCleveland | 2021StateMN of Cleveland (Sr) Shane StevensonShaneStevenson6'6" | PFNicollet | 2021StateMN of Nicollet (Sr)    Second Team Logan CarlsonLoganCarlson5'10" | PGSt. James | 2021StateMN of Mankato Loyola (Sr) Lawson GodfreyLawsonGodfrey6'1" | SGMankato Loyola | 2023StateMN of Mankato Loyola (Soph) Eric Rohlfing of Cleveland (Sr) Colton ThomsenColtonThomsen6'4" | SGNicollet | 2022StateMN of Nicollet (Jr) Mason WardMasonWard6'0" | PGSt. Clair | 2022StateMN of St. Clair (Jr)   Third Team Zach AndersonZachAnderson6'3" | SFMartin County West | 2023StateMN of Martin County West (Soph) Devin EmbacherDevinEmbacher5'8" | PGSt. Clair | 2022MN of St. Clair (Jr) Matt Heckman of TML-GHEC (Sr) Cael Jaskulke of TML-GHEC (Sr) Tom LoefflerTomLoeffler6'3" | SFSt. Clair | 2022StateMN of St. Clair (Jr)   Fourth Team Collin Bode of Nicollet (Sr) Landon Dimler of JWP (Fr) Isaac Mueller of Cleveland (Sr) Tanner Sinn of Martin County West (Jr) Zack Wells of LCWM (Soph) Owen Wolter of TML-GHEC (Sr)