The Metro East Preview

<p>North St. Paul earned a Metro East title last year by two games.  There’s been a lot of change in the league in the last eight months, who is the favorite now?</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p>Top Ten in State - South St. Paul</p> <p>The Packers resurgence will take another step.  As a young team they won 18 games.  The group can no longer be called "young" with [player_tooltip player_id="774816" first="Marquise" last="Gleb"] being a senior leader and producer, [player_tooltip player_id="958636" first="Alonzo" last="Dodd"] one of the elite players in the class as a junior, [player_tooltip player_id="958644" first="Shawn" last="West-Zimpel"] as a transfer over ready for his junior year, and Max Wilson being a top ten sophomore in state.  It’s a group of players ready to make a run, and that run should mean winning this league. </p> <p>Top 25 in State - Tartan, Simley</p> <p>Mark Klingsporn isn’t about to let South St. Paul just step in and take this.  The Titans have been winning 20 or more games since I started paying attention to basketball (hopefully they get to play 20 games this winter).  [player_tooltip player_id="957203" first="Dewayne" last="Thompson"] steps over from Henry Sibley and based on what I was reading in the Breakdown book, his teammates have Mr. Basketball award winner level faith in him.  Both Thompson and [player_tooltip player_id="774927" first="Curtis" last="Favors"] on this team, Tartan will be very tough to beat.  Another team that will be tough to knock off is Simley.  With one of the league’s best backcourts returning from a .500 team - RJ Jioklow and [player_tooltip player_id="567121" first="Breyton" last="Buysman"] - Simley has a real chance to be a top three team in the Metro West. </p> <p>Compete with Most – Hastings, Mahtomedi, North St. Paul</p> <p>The Raiders of Hastings won’t fall far despite losing four starters.  They play some of the best team basketball around meaning Evan McGinnis and Japhi Gudissa (the best two players back) are going to be tough to deal with.  There isn’t much size on the team though.  Mahtomedi is another team that plays a tough brand of basketball but lost a lot of talent.  The transfer of [player_tooltip player_id="957131" first="Cal" last="Greene"] to a school in Tennessee made things even tougher.  [player_tooltip player_id="962216" first="Will" last="Underwood"] and Ryan Maule will be a tough backcourt.  NSP won the league last season but has gone through a lot of change with four starters gone and a new head coach taking over.  The hold over is [player_tooltip player_id="774876" first="Laron" last="Thomas"], one of the hardest working active players out there.  </p> <p>Rebuilding – Henry Sibley, Hill-Murray, St. Thomas Academy</p> <p>All three of these teams struggled last year.  Sibley losses the most from last season so they will have the most change to go through.  Hill-Murray has the most back but they struggled the most in league play.  St. Thomas is likely the best bet to take a step forward, but they were only a two win team last year. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>20-21 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>South St. Paul</li> <li>Tartan</li> <li>Simley</li> <li>Hastings</li> <li>Mahtomedi</li> <li>North St. Paul</li> <li>St. Thomas Academy</li> <li>Henry Sibley</li> <li>Hill-Murray</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Metro East</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958636" first="Alonzo" last="Dodd"] of South St. Paul (Jr)</p> <p>RJ Jioklow of Simley (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774876" first="Laron" last="Thomas"] of North St. Paul (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962201" first="Maxsamus" last="Wilson"] of South St. Paul (Soph)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958644" first="Shawn" last="West-Zimpel"] of South St. Paul (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567121" first="Breyton" last="Buysman"] of Simley (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774927" first="Curtis" last="Favors"] of Tartan (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774816" first="Marquise" last="Gleb"] of South St. Paul (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957203" first="Dewayne" last="Thompson"] of Tartan (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962216" first="Will" last="Underwood"] of Mahtomedi (Soph)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>AJ Burns of Tartan (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957620" first="Ryan" last="Chamberlain"] of St. Thomas (Sr)</p> <p>Japhi Gudissa of Hastings (Sr)</p> <p>Evan McGinnis of Hastings (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774805" first="Luke" last="Vandermeer"] of Simley (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Yenika Fondongallah of St. Thomas (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958773" first="Ramontay" last="Harmon"] of South St. Paul (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774878" first="Cameron" last="Latvis"] of Henry Sibley (Sr)</p> <p>Ryan Maule of Mahtomedi (Sr)</p> <p>Sam Yanz of Hill-Murray (Jr)</p>