The MCAA Preview

<p>The MCAA is now an 8-team league with a better geographical balance. Four schools left the conference with two new programs stepping in their place. Here is our preview.</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Contenders: </strong>Heritage Christian, LPHT, Spectrum, West Lutheran</p> <p>This league is truly wide open. Some oddities led to Heritage Christian not always having the expected line-up but they do return a couple starters led by TJ Guggenberger. The Bulldogs of Lester Prairie lost a lot of their grinders/workers but they do have a nice point guard in Evan Lee and an up and coming talented forward in Zach Jackson who is arguably the best junior in the league. The pair will make for quality leaders as young players fill the other roles. As far as Spectrum goes, they lost more to graduation than any team in this league BUT they have the best player in the league in Max Lawrence and they have the top sophomore (Titus Skistad). West Lutheran brings back three of their top four guys including Troy Kokkinen who led them in everything</p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Legacy Christian, North Lakes Academy,</p> <p>Legacy Christian may take another step forward led by a solid junior class that includes Jordan Sperl and Harley Kendall. North lakes won 16 games last year and return all but two players.   That said, they lost their 20 point per game scorer (Cole Donelan) and against some of the teams in their new conference, NLA didn’t fair all that well a year ago.</p> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong>  Eagle Ridge, PACT</p> <p>Eagle Ridge won only three games last year and lost their top players and at this point it’s unclear what the school will have now have for experienced talent. PACT should be better but they lost three starters and their leading scorer from a five win team. It will be mostly juniors with experience so they could finishing between 4 and 7. But it’s a new team.</p> <p><strong>19-20 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity</li> <li>Spectrum</li> <li>West Lutheran</li> <li>Legacy Christian</li> <li>Heritage Christian</li> <li>North Lakes Academy</li> <li>PACT Charter</li> <li>Eagle Ridge</li> </ol> <p><strong>Preseason All MCAA Conference </strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>Max Lawrence of Spectrum (Sr)</p> <p>Troy Kokkinen of West Lutheran (Sr)</p> <p>TJ Guggenberger of Heritage Christian (Sr)</p> <p>Jake Wald of Legacy Christian (Sr)</p> <p>Evan Lee of LPHT (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Zach Jackson of LPHT (Jr)</p> <p>Jordan Stone of PACT (Jr)</p> <p>Sam Bjorlin of West Lutheran (Jr)</p> <p>Ethan Crandell of Northern Lakes Academy (Sr)</p> <p>Ethan Virshek of Heritage Christian (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>Keshawn Johnson of West Lutheran (Sr)</p> <p>Titus Skistad of Spectrum (Soph)</p> <p>Evan Jacobson of Heritage Christian (Sr)</p> <p>Tyler Cowden of PACT (Jr)</p> <p>Harley Kendall of Legacy Christian (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Alex Heimerl of LPHT (Jr)</p> <p>Alex Ten Napel of Northern Lakes Academy (Sr)</p> <p>Carson Sharp of Legacy Christian (Sr)</p> <p>Tanner Scheevel of LPHT (Fr)</p> <p>Christian Schmidt of West Lutheran (Soph)</p>