The Northwest Suburban Conference – 1 Preview

<p>The Northwest Suburban Conference is about to be discussed in a few different parts.  Today we begin with the NWSC-1 teams. </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten in State</strong> – Champlin Park, Maple Grove</p> <p>In the preseason Class AAAA rankings that many have seen in the Breakdown book - and will be slightly updated when we introduce them here publicly next week - Maple Grove and Champlin Park are right next to each other.  The Rebels have a better group of top three returning players, but Maple Grove has more experience back, a better crop of younger talent stepping up, and the Crimson beat CP by 11 and by 9 in their two games last year.  This all gives Maple Grove a slight edge coming in but Josh Strong and Francis Nwaokorie may have a lot to say about that considering they will be the two most talented players on the floor when the Crimson and Rebels match up.  </p> <p><strong>Should Improve a Step -</strong> Andover, Anoka</p> <p>There are a lot of positive signs for Andover:  they went 9-10 in league play last year, they have a senior in [player_tooltip player_id="774785" first="Calvin" last="Foy"] who is excellent to lead this club as a three year starter, and they have a young group of sophomores capable of being all league players right now ([player_tooltip player_id="962246" first="Ben" last="Kopetzki"] and Sam Musungu).  The need is for some of the size to develop.  Anoka suffered a rough year winning only one league game and four overall but it was a team made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores and now all of those players are older.  They will take a step forward but the question becomes, how big of a step?</p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong> - Blaine</p> <p>The Bengals will almost always be right there in a competitive way.  Last year they were 9-10 in the league (1-6 outside the league) plus they have a really nice junior scorer in <strong>Aaron Kuhl</strong>.  Four of their top six players have graduated including two all league players. </p> <p><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">Rebuilding</strong><span style="font-size: 1rem;"> - Coon Rapids, Centennial</span></p> <p>Coon Rapids has a nice group of juniors that could make them competitive and a senior returning from injury but they don’t have a ton of returning experience.  There are some players with size that have pitential.  They have only two guys returning that have played solid minutes from a 4-15 league team.  Centennial brings back a couple starters and all of their reserves.  They will be more experienced but not sure how much more talented.  [player_tooltip player_id="957626" first="Mason" last="Lindsay"] is a nice player. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>20-21 Conference 1 Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Maple Grove</li> <li>Champlin Park</li> <li>Andover</li> <li>Blaine</li> <li>Coon Rapids</li> <li>Anoka</li> <li>Centennial</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Northwest Suburban Conference - 1</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774895" first="Caden" last="Boettcher"] of Maple Grove (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774795" first="Dylan" last="Gichaba"] of Champlin Park (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958650" first="Jon" last="Haakenson"] of Maple Grove (Jr)</p> <p>Francis Nwaokorie of Champlin Park (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774746" first="Joshua" last="Strong"] of Champlin Park (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957204" first="Terence" last="Anthony-Larmouth"] of Maple Grove (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774785" first="Calvin" last="Foy"] of Andover (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958651" first="Aaron" last="Kaul"] of Blaine (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962246" first="Ben" last="Kopetzki"] of Andover (Soph)</p> <p>Sam Musungu of Andover (Soph)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774864" first="Jordan" last="Doe"] of Coon Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>MJ Galimah of Coon Rapids (Jr)</p> <p>Alpha Kamanda of Anoka (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957626" first="Mason" last="Lindsay"] of Centennial (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962204" first="Lincoln" last="Palbicki"] of Maple Grove (Soph)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957647" first="Jatai" last="Dillard"] of Maple Grove (Sr)</p> <p>Armanti Henry of Coon Rapids (Sr)</p> <p>Japheth Nymari of Anoka (Jr)</p> <p>Samuel Olson of Blaine (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962226" first="Donald" last="Prah"] of Anoka (Soph)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1071203" first="Andy" last="Tran"] of Maple Grove (Sr)</p>