The Valley Preview
Who will lead the way in the Valley Conference this year? Prep Hoops breaks down a league that has a lot of talent in southern Minnesota. Ben Holden of Cleveland Conference Commentary Top Ten Potential: Martin County West, Nicollet…
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Continue ReadingWho will lead the way in the Valley Conference this year? Prep Hoops breaks down a league that has a lot of talent in southern Minnesota.
Ben Holden of Cleveland
Conference Commentary
Top Ten Potential: Martin County West, Nicollet
MCW won the league last year with a perfect record and they bring back a pair of all conference players in Geistfeld and Reyes. They lost three of their five starters but again, return two of their three best players plus have a couple nice freshmen. Wyatt Geistfeld scored 17.3 points per game on 51 percent shooting from the field plus led the team in assists, blocks, steals and rebounds, by a load. An all around talent at 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds who is also a really good football player. Watch out for Zach Anderson too, had a nice year last year and is now a frosh.
Nicollet closed the gap on Martin County West last year from game A to game B and we think if the Raiders improve defensively they can get past MCW in the standings. Both teams have similar amount of players having graduated, with both teams having some young players stepping up and two big starters back. We just think that Riley Hulke and Shane Stevenson have what it takes to push their team to first.
Compete with Most: TML-GHEC, Mankato Loyola, Janeville-Waldorf-Pemberton, St Clair, Madelia, Cleveland
All the initials of TML-GHEC will provide a young team that is going to improve on that 15-12 record. They could approach 20 and enter talks for a top 20 team in the state at some point, but that is more likely for next season. Six-foot-6 Adam Heckman is a sophomore to watch averaging 10/5 as a frosh. We really like Ben Ellingsworth as a Loyola senior that will be a 20 point per game scorer. There is uncertainty around him which makes you wonder how many games they will be above .500 but Ben should lead them. TML-GHEC has more upside than Loyola, but this year Ellingsworth should led them to a similar season. These teams play two one score games last year splitting them.
Janeville-Waldorf-Pemberton will take a step forward from their 7-19 season led by all league scorer Kobe Weimert who is a senior playmaker at 5-foot-11. A lot returns around Kobe meaning JWP should get to .500. Speaking of .500 we fully expect Cleveland back at the mark led by Ben Holden and Isaac Mueller. It was a down year but they will be back in the fight.
Another young team that will be good is St. Clair. In fact you can say that the “sophomore core is about to soar!”It may take another year as St. Clair only won nine games last year but 5-foot-11 Connor Andree, 6-foot-2 Thomas Loeffler, and 5-foot-11 Mason Ward are all stat stuffers ready to explode. Speaking of sophomores ready to sore, the best prospect in this conference is Ja’Sean Glover of Madelia. Not sure how much is around him at this point but Glover can go. A top 35 sophomore in the state.
Rebuilding: Alden-Conger, LCWM
The Knights won nine games last season and lost all of their top pieces. They will certainly be heading in a new direction. LCWM won only one game last season and their top guys from a year ago graduated.
Predicted Order of Finish
- Nicollet
- Martin County West
- Mankato Loyola
- TML-GHEC
- St. Clair
- Cleveland
- Janeville-Waldorf-Pemberton
- Madelia
- Alden-Conger
- LCWM
Preseason All Valley Conference
First Team Pre-Season All Conference
Ja’Sean Glover of Madelia (Soph)
Ben Holden of Cleveland (Jr)
Wyatt Geistfeld of Martin County West (Sr)
Riley Hulke of Nicollet (Sr)
Kobe Weimert of Janeville-Waldorf-Pemberton (Sr)
Ben Ellingsworth of Mankato Loyola (Sr)
Second Team Pre-Season All Conference
Shane Stevensen of Nicollet (Jr).
Angel Reyes of Martin County West (Sr)
Connor Andree of St. Clair (Soph)
Thomas Loeffler of St. Clair (Soph)
Mason Ward of St. Clair (Soph)
Adam Heckman of TML-GHEC (Soph)
Third Team Pre-Season All Conference
Zach Anderson of Martin County West (Fr)
Owen Wolter of TML-GHEC (Jr)
Mychal Fisel of Janeville-Waldorf-Pemberton (Sr)
Garrigan Morgan of Mankato Loyola (Sr)
Jon Mans of Nicollet (Sr)
Ben Radke of Nicollet (Sr)