Minnesota Way-To-Early 2019-20 Preview: Class AAA

Matt Bigelow

March 30, 2019 @ 11:40 AM

High school hoops in Minnesota ended last weekend. Before moving into full offseason mode and focusing on AAU and recruiting stuff, let’s take a quick look at what could be ahead next winter. Here’s a quick preview on Class AAA Minnehaha Academy The Redhawks have won three straight state titles at the Class AA level and will now try their hand at Class AAA. Minnehaha will not play many games next season in which it doesn’t have the better crop of talent and might be the best team in the state regardless of class size. Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren are both back along with Prince Aligbe and Kaden Johnson. Waseca Fresh off a runner-up finish in the AAA state tournament, Waseca should be one of the best teams in the state again next year. Gone will be Malik Willingham and Matt Olsem but a trio of to-be juniors in Ryan Dufault, Andrew Morgan and Kyreese Willingham will keep this team upper-echelon. Mankato East The Cougars were supposed to have something of a down year last year. That wasn’t the case at all as Jax Madson, Joich Gong and company won 24 games and reached the section final before losing to Waseca. Madson and Gong are both back and are joined by a talented cast including Pal Kueth and Jordan Merseth. They’ll be the Big 9 favorites. DeLaSalle The Islanders might not have the overwhelming talent they’ve had in previous years at this point as Tyrell Terry and Jamison Battle both graduate. But DeLaSalle brings back a solid core with Jalen Travis inside plus really solid guards around him in Semaj Hart, Andrew Irvin, Amir Whitlock and Keijuan White. Cade Haskins could be a big key as well. Mahtomedi The Zephyrs will lose a few really solid seniors including Zac Centers and Devin Melzer but they return maybe the best player in AAA aside from Jalen Suggs in J’Vonne Hadley. He’s good enough to carry Mahtomedi to a lot of wins and the Zephyrs have solid role players back in Cole Chapman and Luke Ricker. Austin The Packers have gotten to the state semifinals or further each of the last three years and they’ve got the talent to enjoy similar success next year. Agwa Nywesh will be one of the best players in the Big 9 after averaging better than 16 points as a junior. Moses Idris and Teyghan Hovland also return. Hibbing The Lumberjacks won 22 games this past winter and got to the section championship before losing to Princeton. They should go into next season as the clear favorite to get to state. Ayden McDonald, Parker Maki and Mayson Brown form one of the best trios in Class AAA and all three will only be juniors. Waconia Waconia always seems to find a way to be solid despite playing a tough schedule. PJ Hayes was one of the best scorers in the state last year and he’ll be around for one more year. Connor Schwob and Eric Groeneveld also return after solid junior years. Alexandria The Cardinals haven’t been able to break through to state recently but they’ve been one of the consistently really solid teams in Class AAA for a while. They’ll have a great shot to go deep next year with talented returning guards like Carrson Jones and Kristen Hoskins plus star big man Treyton Thompson. Marshall Another year, another strong season out of Marshall. The Tigers will lose a number of good players including Matt Onken but return Noah Puetz who will be an all-league guy in the Big South. Matt Hmielewski and Bryce Lance are both set to return as well.