The Big South Preview

<p>The Big South Conference has an East and a West, and today we look at both in the Big South Preview at NHR.</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten in State: </strong>Waseca, Marshall</p> <p>The Jays are not only top ten in Class AA, they have a legit claim to enter the season at Number one in Class AA.  Why?  At 25-5 they finished ranked second in Class AA basketball last year behind Caledonia.  But unlike Caledonia, Waseca brings back everything.  Everybody.  They don’t loss a [player_tooltip player_id="721829" first="Noah" last="King"].  "But Minneapolis North added [player_tooltip player_id="532569" first="Andre" last="Gray"]!"  I understand that’s a huge deal.  However, Waseca has a team full of experienced players that have beaten Minneapolis North each of the last two years including last year’s 92-74 win.  They’ve earned that top spot, now they must defend it.  </p> <p>What about Marshall.  The Tigers always graduate some guys, and they just cycle in new guys to mix with the returning talent.  A year ago Marshall won 28 of 30 games and form that team they returned experienced talent led by [player_tooltip player_id="774733" first="Bryce" last="Lance"] and [player_tooltip player_id="774893" first="Josh" last="Baker"].  [player_tooltip player_id="957219" first="Chase" last="Douglas"] should move into a bigger role and keep an eye on last year’s JV frontcourt [player_tooltip player_id="774935" first="Brevin" last="Runia"] and Charlie Jacobson stepping into bigger roles. Did you know?  Lance has a 4.0 gpa. Did you know? Baker made 39 percent of his threes last year. </p> <p><strong>Potential Top Ten:  </strong>Redwood Valley</p> <p>Redwood Valley has four of their top six players returning from a 19-win team.  Juniors [player_tooltip player_id="958705" first="Alex" last="Lang"] and [player_tooltip player_id="958649" first="Carson" last="Woodford"] as well as senior [player_tooltip player_id="774840" first="Connor" last="Josephson"] make for a nice group that has an outside shot at the West and maybe sneaking into that top ten.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: St Peter, Blue Earth, JCC, Worthington, Pipestone</p> <p>St. Peter is sneaky to me.  [player_tooltip player_id="774862" first="Ethan" last="Grant"] is a nice player who should lead a solid backcourt.  Worthington has talent, they just need to find the right chemistry.  If they do it’s a team that could push to 20 win caliber bunch (if it was a normal season).  If all that talent gets running in the same direction lookout.  </p> <p>JCC is a total unknown.  They won yet another section title but it was a team of seniors.  They have next to know varsity experience BUT the program will still win games. To me when you lose your entire rotation it’s some kind of rebuild, although it doesn’t mean it’s a total rebuild so I put them in this category but they really are both. Blue Earth was 14-11 last year and they return most of their team including senior leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="774780" first="Cameron" last="Anderson"] and senior big Sam Keister. Pipestone Area has three returning double figure scorers led by [player_tooltip player_id="957216" first="Dawson" last="Kellen"].</p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>:  St. James, New Ulm, Windom, Luverne, Fairmont</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>19-20 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <p><strong><u>Big South East</u></strong></p> <ol> <li>Waseca</li> <li>Blue Earth</li> <li>St. Peter</li> <li>Fairmont</li> <li>St. James</li> <li>New Ulm</li> </ol> <p><strong><u>Big South West</u></strong></p> <ol> <li>Marshall</li> <li>Redwood Valley</li> <li>Worthington</li> <li>Jackson County Central </li> <li>Pipestone Area</li> <li>Luverne</li> <li>Windom Area</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Big South </strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774893" first="Josh" last="Baker"], Marshall (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="532560" first="Ryan" last="Dufault"], Waseca (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774733" first="Bryce" last="Lance"], Marshall (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="532587" first="Andrew" last="Morgan"], Waseca (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567041" first="Kyreese" last="Willingham"], Waseca (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774780" first="Cameron" last="Anderson"], Blue Earth (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774862" first="Ethan" last="Grant"], St Peter (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957216" first="Dawson" last="Kellen"], Pipestone Area (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567104" first="Terbuto" last="Ochothow"], Worthington (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774886" first="Matt" last="Seberson"], Waseca (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774854" first="Brock" last="Bruns"], Worthington (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774850" first="Zach" last="Hoehn"], Waseca (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958664" first="Hayden" last="Jones"], St. James (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958733" first="Zach" last="Jorgensen"], Fairmont (Jr)</p> <p>Sam Keister, Blue Earth (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958649" first="Carson" last="Woodford"], Redwood Valley (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957612" first="Logan" last="Carlson"], St. James (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957219" first="Chase" last="Douglas"], Marshall (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774840" first="Connor" last="Josephson"], Redwood Valley (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958705" first="Alex" last="Lang"], Redwood Valley (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962234" first="Marenono" last="Opiew"], Worthington (Soph)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958712" first="Charlie" last="Osborne"], New Ulm (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>