Way-Too-Early Season Preview: Class A Top 10

Basketball season is months away but it’s never too early for way-too-early season. Class A has been fairly wide open the last few years with Minneapolis North moving up to AA even if the state tournament scores didn’t necessarily reflect that last year. The field looks similarly flat this year as there are a lot of teams that can make a case to not just be the No. 1 team, but there’s a ton that could reasonably be ranked. Here’s a way-too-early Top 10 at the Class A level: Henning The defending state champs don’t bring back a majority of its core, but with the pieces the Hornets do have back, there’s cause for plenty of excitement. Parker Fraki and Isaac Fisher should form one of the best backcourts in Class A as both guys can control the game, get into the paint, score, playmake and defend. Blake Wallevand was a rotation guy last year. Lee Bjorklund gives them some experience as well. Overcoming a lack of size will be something they have to do again, but the Hornets have so much guard talent in house. BOLD An argument could be made that the Warriors were the most talented team in Class A last year and again next winter. While they lost earlier than expected in the postseason, this is a team that won’t lack for talent or expectations. Gavin Vosika is one of the best point guards in the state. He’s joined by Jordan Sagedahl and Drew Sagedahl in what might be the highest scoring trio in Class A. Matthew Moorse gives them four returning starters. Like Henning, overcoming a lack of size will be something they might have to do. Minneota Minneota had a weird season. Winning 24 games is certainly a feat, but for a team that had the requisite talent to win a state title, a second half of the season marred with the infamous free throw controversy and an early postseason exit puts a damper on things. The Vikings should be awfully good again in 2019-2020 though. Logan Sussner averaged nearly 19 points and 11 rebounds and Jacob Hennen put up better than 14 points per game as just a sophomore. Both those guys could see increases in points with Thomas Hennen gone to graduation. WEM The Buccaneers won 25 games last year and while some of their dominance was in relation to the Gopher Conference being collectively bad, part of it was a young team growing into upperclass roles after a building season. Grant McBroom and Cole Kokoschke will be all-league players and are two of the better players in Class A. Zack Sticken and Matthew VanHoudt are both back as well. Domanik Paulson could be a breakout guy at the point guard spot. North Woods The Panthers have gone to three straight state championship games and with Cade Goggleye gone to graduation, the expectations of title contention may not be quite as strong. But North Woods certainly has the juice to get back to state and contend. Trevor Morrison averaged 14 points and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Darius Goggleye joins him to form a deadly frontcourt duo. TJ Chiabotti emerged as a potential go-to guy on the wing as a freshman and could be the school’s next star. Springfield Losing a guy like Ike Fink is going to be tough to overcome but Springfield has some awfully good players still in the program. Decker Scheffler has been one of the best players in Class A playing the Robin role the last couple years and he could put up massive numbers as a seniors. Mitchell Buerkle has averaged 10 and 11 points per game the last two years and will step up on the food chain. The Tigers also return five other rotation guys. Rushford-Peterson The Trojans weren’t great last year but even in a down year, they won 18 games and advanced to the section semifinals. Landon Skalet was a key cog on both ends but after him, the Trojans bring back a big chunk of their core. Luke O’Hare could be one of the best players in the area on the wing. Kobe Lind and Justin Ruberg were all conference caliber last year as underclassmen. Vincent Mason and Jack Kopperud are both back as well. Minnesota Valley Lutheran MVL is in a similar boat as Springfield in that the Chargers have to replace an all-time best at their school with Jake Kettner gone to graduation. But there are guys seemingly ready to take the next step starting with point guard Dunwa Omot who averaged 16 points per game a year ago. Mason Cox averaged 11 points and seven rebounds and Jace Morotz averaged 11 per game. The Chargers won 25 games a year ago and they are good enough to win 20-plus again. Mahnomen/Waubun The Thunderbirds won 19 games a year ago and looked like a threat to win Section 6 again until they were demolished by Henning in the postseason. Mahnomen/Waubun returns almost every key guy from the team, including double figure scorers in Jayden Heisler, Parker Syverson, Treston Spalla and Buster Walker plus return top assist guy Jon Starkey. This is a team that could take a big step in win totals. Ada-Borup The Cougars were one of the best teams in Class A from start to finish last year, losing just three times all year and getting to the state tournament. Mason Miller returns and gives them one of the best big men in Class A. Preston Gwin and Verdis Barber were the team’s second and third leading scorers last year as juniors and could take on bigger roles offensively with the Cougars graduating three multi-year starters.