The Hiawatha Valley Preview

Ryan James October 16, 2019 @ 06:44 PM

The Hiawatha Valley Conference has come a long ways over the years. Who is the best in the league in 2019-20? Prep Hoops takes a closer look. Conference Commentary State Championship Contenders: Lake City The Tigers are one of the top contenders for the Class AA state title. Because Caledonia is in the same section one of these top 3-4 teams in the state may not even get to state but with the talent Lake City has, they could bring a state title home for the first time in 30 years. Potential Top Ten: Zumbrota-Mazeppa, Cannon Falls, Stewartville If the Cougars can replace the depth behind their top two returning players, they could match their 17-9 record of a year ago. Hutton and Cylkowski both averaged double digits and return. Cannon Falls lost two of three to the Cougars a year ago but they also bring back more from last year's team. The teams had similar records (both had 17 wins). In Stewartville expectations are high with Will Tschetter being a top junior and Nolan Stier being a serious up and comer. There are several young players that need to step forward. Compete with Most: Goodhue, Rochester Lourdes, Byron We think really high of Sam Opsahl which is why they get the jump on some others on the list plus Goodhue returns a load of their rotation. The team can defend but can they produce the points need for enough wins? As far as Lourdes goes, it's tough to expect them to match last year's 17 wins when they lost six of their top seven guys to graduation. Colin Meade is very good, but he will need to shoulder a lot of the load. The Byron Bears will be a much better team. They have a quality junior class that includes three returning starters. Rebuilding: Triton, Kenyon-Wanamingo, Pine Island, Kasson-Mantorville Triton doesn't bring back enough to improve on last year's record - based on what we can tell - and Kenyon-Wanamingo is one a hole that may take a long while to dig out of. Pine Island was a game over .500 last year and has a really nice player in Carter O'Reilly but they have a lot to replace, too much to expect a similar record. Jace Bigelow is one of the best teams in the league but Kasson-Mantorville has so much growth that still needs to occur.     19-20 Conference Predictions Blue <ol> <li>Cannon Falls</li> <li>Zumbrota-Mazeppa</li> <li>Goodhue</li> <li>Triton</li> <li>Kenyon-Wanamingo</li> </ol> Gold <ol> <li>Lake City</li> <li>Stewartville</li> <li>Byron</li> <li>Rochester Lourdes</li> <li>Pine Island</li> <li>Kasson-Mantorville</li> </ol> Overall <ol> <li>Lake City</li> <li>Stewartville</li> <li>Cannon Falls</li> <li>Zumbrota-Mazeppa</li> <li>Byron</li> <li>Goodhue</li> <li>Rochester Lourdes</li> <li>Pine Island</li> <li>Kasson-Mantorville</li> <li>Triton</li> <li>Kenyon-Wanamingo</li> </ol>   Preseason All Hiawatha Valley Conference First Team Nathan Heise of Lake City (Sr). Reid Gastner of Lake City (Sr). Will Tschetter of Stewartville (Jr). Colin Meade of Rochester Lourdes (Sr). Sam Opsahl of Goodhue (Sr).   Second Team Jace Bigelow of Kasson-Mantorville (Jr). Nolan Stier of Stewartville (Jr). Jake Wohlers of Lake City (Sr). Zach Hutton of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr) Carter O'Reilly of Pine Island (Sr).   Third Team Justin Wohlers of Lake City (Soph). Jake Braaten of Byron (Jr). Luke Sjoquist of Cannon Falls (Sr). Drew Otte of Cannon Falls (Sr) Tyler Underwood of Byron (Jr).   Fourth Team Anthony Cylkowski of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr) Haevan Quimby of Triton (Jr). Easton Hulke of Byron (Jr). Rhett Schaefer of Cannon Falls (Sr) Austin Quandt of Stewartville (Sr).