Class A: Region 3 Run Through

<h2>Teams</h2>Baltic: Of the 21 games last year the Bulldogs won two, were in close games three other times, and then were blown out 16 times. Rough way to go through a year but they had only two seniors and only two players bigger than six feet tall…Last year’s 13 man roster included an 8th grader and four freshman…Point guard Jon Wilhelmsen is on our sophomore top 50 watch list…Junior Kadin Wolff and sophomore forward Ethan Roggow played big roles last season… Dell Rapids: A 22-3 team that lost in the state championship. They bring back Dakota XII MVP and all state talent Ty Hoglund who recently committed to play for DWU…The Quarriers lose several seniors from last year’s rotation. Hoglund is a strong player, Sheldon Siemonsma will slide into a key role and Sam White and Tanner Heim are good talents as well. There are also young players like Mason Schmidt and 6-foot-4 Jeff Schuch to watch out for not to mention junior Mason Peter…Hoglund, Siemonsma, Heim, and White were all part of the rotation last year so they have good experience likely all stepping in as full time starters (Hoglund has been that for awhile now of course)… Flandreau: The Fliers are coming off a back and forth season that saw them go 12-10. At one point they won five of six but they just weren’t able to grab a victory over the local heavyweights they were hoping for…Flandreau played numerous underclassmen because they had only three upperclassmen on the team and still managed to be above .500 for the season…Teddy Taylor at 6-foot-6 is a junior and Xavier Pavis at 6-foot-4 also as a junior give them experienced size. Pavis was HM all league a year ago… A PG that we liked is Dalyn Bakkedahl and his return will help them stay at the minimum at double figure wins…Don’t forget about Dylan LeBrun who was outstanding for the South Dakota Hoosiers this summer and is listed as a top ten talent in the grade. LeBrun earned first time All Lake Central Conference last year while Bakkedahl was all league second team… Flandreau Indian: Coach Hendricks crew was 7-15 last season and the part that grabs one’s attention is the six game losing streak mid-year…This was an experienced team a year ago with only 6-foot-4 Keenan Roubideaux playing as an underclassmen…Doing our research we couldn’t find too much about the guys that are coming back as most information was about the graduated players… Garretson: The Blue Dragons won seven games last year after losing five of their first six games to start the year. There are teams that loss big and team that loss a lot of games that fight every night. This is a team that always battled. They lost three games in overtime before beat Tea Area in overtime in late January…They had six losses by three baskets or less…Six-foot-4 seniors Alex Anderson and Cole Fiegen are back up front along with 215 pound banging big Noah Rieber, a junior. Point guard Aaron Hoon is also back…Fiegen is a PHD100 talent that we expect to have a big season…Don’t forget about point guard Shay Gibson who is one of the best unknown junior guards in the state…Gibson was on the second team all Lake Central Conference team while Cole Fiegen was a third teamer… Madison: The Bulldogs were 19-5 last year and won nine straight games before their playoff loss which included Lennox, Sioux Valley, and SF Christian. Dell Rapids ended their season in the Regional Championship…Graduated eight seniors and several of them were key pieces to the rotation but there is still so much talent back including Taner Dehoed, Mason Leighton, Tanner Burg, all the Jankes, and size in 6-foot-5 sophomore Aaron Fiegen and 6-foot-7 junior Austin Lohsandt… Definitely like Brodie Frederiksen as a lead guard for the team…Madison lost the three guys that were named all league but there is still so much talent in this program that we expect a big season… Sioux Falls Christian: Went 16-5 a year ago but high expectations were knocked away with a three point playoff loss to Madison…Lost both games to Dell Rapids last year so they remain a thorn in the side…There is a lot of talent in each of the Charger grades and because of that expectations are high but don’t look past the four senior guard/wings they lost as Wynja, Thompson, and company won’t be instantly easily replaced. That said, the talent is there to replace them and keep moving as long as the group gels…Senior group is a monster to deal with. Barkema is one of the best uncommitted senior talents out there, Keegan Van Egdom is one of the state’s best shooters and Austin Schreuer heads our list of guys that are underrated…Love the young players they have (Dehaai, Oppold, Unruh), that group should provide depth and bench support. Don’t forget about Dejay Fykstra either as Dejay is one of the better athletes in his class and his body and game grow by the day… <h2>Predicted Order of Finish</h2><ol> <li>Sioux Falls Christian</li> <li>Madison</li> <li>Dell Rapids</li> <li>Flandreau</li> <li>Garretson</li> <li>Baltic</li> <li>Flandreau Indian</li> </ol> <h2>Preseason All Region 3</h2>First Team Chad Barkema, SF Christian Ty Hoglund, Dell Rapids Taner DenHoed, Madison Keegan Van Egdom, SF Christian Dejay Fykstra, SF Christian Second Team Sheldon Siemonsma, Dell Rapids Dylan LeBrun, Flandreau Shay Gibson, Garretson Tanner Burg, Madison Austin Schruer, SF Christian Third team Dayln Bakkedahl, Flandreau Cole Fiegen, Garretson Jon Wilhelmsen, Baltic Tanner Heim, Dell Rapids Jaden Janke, Madison Xavier Pavis, Flandreau