The Heart O Lakes Preview

<p>Can anybody hand Perham a defeat this year?  Will Perham contend for the state title this March?  It the Heart O Lakes Preview!  Now. </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten in State: </strong>Perham, Pelican Rapids</p> <p>The Jackets went a perfect 28-0 last season and they enter the season a top 4-5 team in Class AA basketball.  With leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="774759" first="Finn" last="Diggins"] and sharp shooter [player_tooltip player_id="567093" first="Elijah" last="Morris"] returning their are still high expectations for Perham.  Perham has four players back from last year’s rotation overall, and a nice group of young players ready to supply depth. </p> <p>If there is a team that can push Perham this year, it’s Pelican Rapids.  The Vikings bring back four starters and have a senior class that has shooting, guard play making, size, and depth.  The McKale Korf, [player_tooltip player_id="957606" first="Logan" last="Fahje"], Jayden Rutherford backcourt ranks with some of the best in Class AA basketball. </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most:</strong> DGF, Barnesville, Breckenridge, Frazee, Hawley</p> <p>DGF had a potent attack leading to 22 wins.  They could depend on four guys a night for double digit numbers.  Half of those players have graduated but expectations are high for [player_tooltip player_id="962228" first="Owen" last="Leach"] who put up 16 and 8 last year as a 6-foot-5 frosh.  If this was a normal 26-game schedule year I would tell you that Barnesville is a sleeper squad to hit that 20 win mark.  They have one of the top couple point guards in this league in senior Isaac Tonsfeldt plus a rising junior named Kaden Zensen.  Isaac is a 20 a game scorer while Isaac is likely to average a double-double this year.</p> <p>In researching Breckenridge’s talent coming back this summer I was quite surprised that this was only a 13-14 team.  They have a nice senior class led by [player_tooltip player_id="958791" first="Cooper" last="Yaggie"] at guard, [player_tooltip player_id="957218" first="Jonah" last="Christensen"] at wing, and Anthony Conzemius up front.  Part of me thinks because there is a new coach it’s a bit of a rebuild, but with quality seniors it’s really not.  Breckenridge has the talent to be top five in this league, but then again they went 2-6 last year against Perham, Pelican, DGF, and Barnesville including two very ugly losses to DGF.  Tough to know really want to expect.  </p> <p>Frazee could take a jump this year!  They have a couple senior scorers, some decent size for the league, a junior group ready to contribute, they could improve on that struggling league record. A way I can show I think this is a good league?  Hawley isn’t going to be a pushover either.  With only one person lost from last year’s 0-12 in league team, they will improve.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>19-20 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <p>Perham (1)</p> <p>Pelican Rapids (2)</p> <p>DGF (3)</p> <p>Barnesville (4)</p> <p>Breckenridge (5)</p> <p>Frazee (6)</p> <p>Hawley (7)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Central Lakes Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774759" first="Finn" last="Diggins"], Perham (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957606" first="Logan" last="Fahje"], Pelican Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774826" first="McHale" last="Korf"], Pelican Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962228" first="Owen" last="Leach"], DGF (Soph)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567093" first="Elijah" last="Morris"], Perham (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Jack Courneya, Frazee (Sr)</p> <p>Ian Mickelson, DGF (Sr)</p> <p>Jayden Rutherford, Pelican Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957201" first="Liam" last="Sytsma"], Pelican Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>Isaac Tonsfeldt, Barnesville (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>Broden Fleishner, Frazee (Sr)</p> <p>Hayden Grani, Hawley (Jr)</p> <p>Carson Hespe, Perham (Sr)</p> <p>Grant McMartin, Perham (Sr)</p> <p>Gabe Thompson, Perham (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958828" first="Kaden" last="Zenzen"], Barnesville (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>