The Lake Preview

The Lake Conference has long been considered the toughest league in the state of Minnesota. Change continues to go through the league but talent is still very solid. Conference Commentary State Title Contender – Wayzata, Hopkins But Wayzata only won 11 games last year! This is true. But Hopkins doesn’t have the star power! Sure. But then again Class AAAA basketball is as wide open as we’ve seen, plus the Trojans are talent stacked and will likely enter the year healthy this season. And Hopkins may not have a nationally ranked stud like [player_tooltip player_id="532358" first="Kerwin" last="Walton"] or Zeke Nnaji, but they are still very talented. In fact Wayzata has the guard combo (Berkland, Beeninga, Williams) mixed with D1 size (Heide and Bjerke) plus bench depth to bring home the title. They are actually my pick to win the title. Hopkins will enter the season as a top five squad with Treml leading the way, Nnaji and Chisely with size up front, [player_tooltip player_id="957132" first="Xavier" last="White"] on the verge of a huge season, and Tristian Lee defending everything. Top Ten in State – Edina The Hornets are big ([player_tooltip player_id="774757" first="Bastian" last="Swinney"], [player_tooltip player_id="958698" first="Dane" last="Lusty"], and [player_tooltip player_id="850735" first="Brady" last="Helgren"]), they are young and talented (Helgren, Lusty, Sammy Presthus, Gabe Jobe, [player_tooltip player_id="962231" first="Easton" last="Breyfogle"]), and they are experienced (Swinney, Helgren, Presthus, and [player_tooltip player_id="774926" first="Marcus" last="Crawford"]). Edina is a top ten team and if they find the chemistry they have as good of a chance as any to make a run in a wide open Class AAAA. In-Between - Minnetonka The Skippers will be young, but very talented. They were 12-15 last season but will be better this year. How much better? Tonka will certainly start the year as a top 15-20 team and could climb that ladder. With guards like junior [player_tooltip player_id="850734" first="Cohen" last="Kellogg"], sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962205" first="Jalen" last="Cain"], sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962207" first="Ibrahim" last="El-Amin"], and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962220" first="Alex" last="Jones"], the Skippers can put four guards on the floor as tough any in this league. It’s the best group of young guards in this league. Compete with Most – Eden Prairie, Buffalo The Eagles have [player_tooltip player_id="774873" first="Cole" last="Tiran"] and [player_tooltip player_id="774912" first="Will" last="Foster"] returning so there is some experience there. Tiran will be a nice D3 basketball player in the future plus [player_tooltip player_id="796949" first="Ryan" last="Warren"] is going to have a good year. The guards of EP will be solid, but they have gone through a big change. Buffalo also lost a really nice senior class that unfortunately didn’t live up to what they had hoped for with Aidan Bouman heading to school early and [player_tooltip player_id="721845" first="Tony" last="Dahl"] getting hurt. [player_tooltip player_id="850738" first="Antonio" last="Bluiett"] is one of the best players in the league and there are some solid players up front (Zach Zrust and [player_tooltip player_id="958797" first="Will" last="Pool"]) as well as in the backcourt ([player_tooltip player_id="958713" first="Carter" last="Jackson"]) that will keep the Bison tough. Rebuilding – STMA If we are being totally honest, I think STMA has the talent to be a solid basketball team. [player_tooltip player_id="958639" first="Johnny" last="Tennyson"] is a really good junior guard and we saw a lot of STMA seniors have nice summers. But STMA had some pretty good players last year and they went 0-12 in the Lake, and 8-20 overall. With a lot of players stepping into varsity for the first time they are a team rebuilding a line-up, and when you had 0 league wins last year, I have to say it’s rebuilding.   20-21 Conference Predictions <ol> <li>Wayzata</li> <li>Hopkins</li> <li>Edina</li> <li>Minnetonka</li> <li>Eden Prairie</li> <li>Buffalo</li> <li>STMA</li> </ol>   Preseason All Lake First Team [player_tooltip player_id="850713" first="Carter" last="Bjerke"] of Wayzata (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850703" first="Camden" last="Heide"] of Wayzata (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774738" first="Jaelen" last="Treml"] of Hopkins (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="957132" first="Xavier" last="White"] of Hopkins (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="532609" first="Kody" last="Williams"] of Wayzata (Sr)   Second Team [player_tooltip player_id="774744" first="Eddie" last="Beeninga"] of Wayzata (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850738" first="Antonio" last="Bluiett"] of Buffalo (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850735" first="Brady" last="Helgren"] of Edina (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850704" first="Elvis" last="Nnaji"] of Hopkins (Jr) Sammy Presthus of Edina (Jr)   Third Team [player_tooltip player_id="958661" first="Drew" last="Berkland"] of Wayzata (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="962205" first="Jalen" last="Cain"] of Minnetonka (Soph) [player_tooltip player_id="962207" first="Ibrahim" last="El-Amin"] of Minnetonka (Soph) [player_tooltip player_id="958639" first="Johnny" last="Tennyson"] of STMA (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774873" first="Cole" last="Tiran"] of Eden Prairie (Sr)   Fourth Team [player_tooltip player_id="957153" first="Andrew" last="Chisley"] of Hopkins (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774926" first="Marcus" last="Crawford"] of Edina (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850734" first="Cohen" last="Kellogg"] of Minnetonka (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774778" first="Tristan" last="Lee"] of Hopkins (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="796949" first="Ryan" last="Warren"] of Eden Prairie (Jr)   Fifth Team [player_tooltip player_id="774912" first="Will" last="Foster"] of Eden Prairie (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958713" first="Carter" last="Jackson"] of Buffalo (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962220" first="Alex" last="Jones"] of Minnetonka (Soph) [player_tooltip player_id="774757" first="Bastian" last="Swinney"] of Edina (Sr) Zach Zrust of Buffalo (Jr)