Minnesota First Look: North Woods

Matt Bigelow

November 27, 2019 @ 09:00 AM

North Woods has been one of the elite programs in Class A the last three years, reaching the state championship game three years in a row. Despite graduations to key players each year, North Woods has finished as the state runner-up three straight years. And while the best player during that run is now gone, the Grizzlies should be strong yet again in 2019-20. KEY RETURNERS: Trevor Morrison, TJ Chiabotti, Darius Goggleye North Woods will go into this year without arguably the best player in school history, Cade Goggleye, but it still has one of the best frontcourt pairings in Class A. Trevor Morrison is coming off a season in which he averaged better than 14 points and seven rebounds and is one of the best big men in Northern Minnesota. He’s got excellent low-post skills, strong hands and the ability to finish in traffic. Life will be more difficult for him without Goggleye, but Morrison is a double-double threat night in and night out. Dairus Goggleye emerged as a really nice piece for the Grizzlies last season, averaging better than 10 points and five rebounds despite coming off the bench a decent amount of the time. At 6-foot-4, he’s active and athletic around the rim, finishing at a high rate while feasting on the offensive glass. He’s a solid defender too, and will be a big key in North Woods continuing to play a pressure-style defense. Chiabotti becomes the go-to guy on the perimeter after an awesome freshman season in which he averaged better than 16 points and nearly four assists per game. He likely takes on a more prominent role handling the ball and he’ll be the guy the Grizzlies rely on for shot-creation in the halfcourt. STEPPING INTO NEW ROLES: Davis Kleppe, Jared Chiabotti, Brendan Chiabotti, Alex Hartway, Bryce Chosa With the Grizzlies graduating so many solid seniors including Chase Kleppe, Ian Sherman and Dylan Chiabotti, there are a lot of minutes available for young guys to step in and grab. A lot if likely falls on a collection of underclassmen including Davis Kleppe, Alex Hartway, Jared Chiabotti, Brendan Chiabotti and Bryce Chosa. North Woods has sustained an incredible amount of winning the last few years and consistently grows good players who are ready to replace departing seniors. This new batch of players will have to step up and while they are well-insulated with Morrison, TJ Chiabotti and Goggleye proving capable of handling large loads, the development of those underclassmen could determine how high this team’s ceiling is. QUESTION: How do the Grizzlies replace Cade Goggleye? North Woods has lost valuable players each year since it reached the state title game three years ago. None of them were as important as Goggleye. The senior guard finished his career with more than 2,000 points and was the engineer for everything the Panthers did on both ends of the court. His long-range shooting was a weapon. His passing ability made everybody better and his defense on and off the ball set the tone. Replacing him is an impossible task. So how does North Woods adjust? They have talented players still. But the team is going to have to win a lot different than its grown accustomed to. SEASON OUTLOOK North Woods might fly under the radar a little bit this year given the Grizzlies are graduating a really good class of seniors that were paramount to their success the last few years, but don’t expect them to stop winning this winter. They’ve got a dominant frontcourt pairing and a core of promising young players waiting in the wings who know nothing but winning. Their floor might not be as high as the previous two iterations of North Woods, but the ceiling is still state title contender.