The Black Hills Conference Preview
St. Thomas More is getting set for a huge senior season with high expectations. They should get decent competition within the league. Conference Commentary State Contender: St. Thomas More They have so much talent back that they are a pretty…
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Continue ReadingSt. Thomas More is getting set for a huge senior season with high expectations. They should get decent competition within the league.
Conference Commentary
State Contender: St. Thomas More
They have so much talent back that they are a pretty strong favorite to win Class A and of course win this league. PJ Freidel has graduated but every other major piece is back and they warmed up for the year as a high school team having big success in an AAU event in Vegas. Expectations are high but the team has so many pieces.
Top 10 Right Now: Red Cloud
We will have them in the top ten or eleven area likely when the first set of state rankings come out. They definitely have a lot of pieces to replace with four starters gone but there are three players back from the rotation including Will Garnier and underclassmen Ale Rama
Compete with Most: Sturgis, Hot Springs, Custer, Belle Fourche
This is a group of four teams we are very interested in how they play. Sturgis has an excellent junior group led by Dawson Geueke and Connor Crane and Hot Springs senior class is expecting to do some big things after winning just nine games a year ago. Cade Maciejewski leads a nice junior class. Blake Martinz returns for Custer but they lost a lot to graduation while Belle Fourche lost their best player but returns a few starters.
In-Between: Spearfish, Hill City
Digging into Spearfish more it’s really tough to know what they are going to be. So much of what they did last year came from a strong senior class so the players taking the court this year will be largely inexperienced. Hill City could also belong in the top group with Ryan Skillingstad and Chance Simmons back but if they are to step up from eight wins they need a bit more help.
Rebuilding: Lead-Deadwood, Douglas
Lead-Deadwood has to be better, the best players last year were junior but on the other hand the team won a single game. Douglas won four games but most of their top guys were seniors.
Conference Power Ranking
- Thomas More
- Red Cloud
- Sturgis (added them since they are on the all conference lists)
- Custer
- Hot Springs
- Belle Fourche
- Spearfish
- Hill City
- Lead-Deadwood
- Douglas
Preseason All Black Hills Conference
First Team
Isaac Kortemeyer, St. Thomas More, Sr
Jake Satter. St Thomas More, Sr
Preston Arity, St Thomas More, Sr
Tayton Maher, St. Thomas More, Sr
Cade Maciejewski, Hot Springs, Sr
Second Team
Connor Crane, Sturgis, Jr
Blake Martinz, Custer, Sr
Dawson Geuke, Sturgis, So
Ryan Skillingstad, Hill City, Sr
Will Garnier, Red Cloud, Sr
Third Team
Dillon Burns, Lead-Deadwood, Sr
Austin Hammon, St. Thomas More, Sr
Bryson Westland, Belle Fourche, Sr
Jace Fischer, Sturgis, Jr
Chance Simmons, Hill City, Jr
Fourth Team
Skyler Haden, Hot Springs, Sr
Ryan Nelson, Belle Fourche, Sr
Max Nelson, Lead-Deadwood, Sr
Zion Henderson, Hot Springs, Sr
Bret Mattson, Lead-Deadwood, Sr
Ale Rama, Red Cloud, So