The South Suburban Preview

Next up? The South Suburban. How does the league look this winter? A much deeper league of talent than it’s been in recent years. Here is our preview of the ten programs in the league. Conference Commentary State Title Contender - Lakeville South The Cougars have the best combination of size, talent, returning starters, upcoming players, and experience from a top ten team, of any Class AAAA team in the state. They are the safe pick as the preseason number one because of how they played last year and what they have back. Top Ten in State - Eastview, Shakopee Eastview lost a great group of seniors, but what’s coming back to the program will come closer to matching last season’s performance than many think. Names like Purcell, Ambrose, Scales, Shannon, and Spann all had good summers. Eastview will be big, athletic, and well coached. How does fellow top ten team Shakopee compare? I would say they will also be well coached, will also have the size, and where their line-up isn’t as athletic, Shakopee has more experience than Eastview (and some other top ten squads). Potential Top Ten in State - Lakeville North North had what was to be a "down year" and they won 17 games. The Panthers are likely to be right back in the thick of things with a combination of talented seniors and upcoming young talent. Many were hoping North would be down for awhile, but they won’t get their wish. Compete with Most - Prior Lake, Rosemount, Farmington The South Suburban is going to be better this year than it’s been in terms of depth. Prior Lake won’t be a top ten squad but with [player_tooltip player_id="850712" first="Malcolm" last="Jones"] in the middle and senior guards they will be solid. Rosemount returns four starters and has one of the league’s most dangerous scorers in [player_tooltip player_id="796947" first="Caleb" last="Siwek"]. The Irish will take a big step forward. Farmington was 11-16 last year but they have three starters returning (two that were all league players) and two guys back from injury who are starting caliber. Rebuilding - Burnsville, Eagan, Apple Valley Burnsville lost their coach, their talented young point guard, and their best frontcourt player. All from a last place team. It’s a program with some talent but going in a new direction. Eagan is likely to take another step in their rebuilding process and they are in a good spot to do it. Two young starters back, young reserves are back, and a good JV should help this team move closer to the .500 mark for the year. Apple Valley has a new coach and some new talent, and based on what we saw this summer from several of their guys, they will step out of last place and be an improved team. Also know, there is a massive, massive difference between the bottom teams in this league and say the Northwest Suburban Conference. For example Farmington is 7th in this league prediction wise, but also predicted as a top three team in Section 1AAA. Eagan is picked 9th of 10 in this league but yet I have them as a top four squad in Section 3AAAA. That's how good this league is this season. If you look at the bottom 3-4 here, and then let's say they played the bottom four of the NWSC, the SS teams would hammer those squads.   20-21 South Suburban Conference Predictions <ol> <li>Lakeville South</li> <li>Eastview</li> <li>Shakopee</li> <li>Lakeville North</li> <li>Prior Lake</li> <li>Rosemount </li> <li>Farmington</li> <li>Apple Valley</li> <li>Eagan</li> <li>Burnsville</li> </ol>   Preseason All South Suburban Conference First Team [player_tooltip player_id="850712" first="Malcolm" last="Jones"] of Prior Lake (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850728" first="Nick" last="Katona"] of Shakopee (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774771" first="Avery" last="Mast"] of Lakeville South (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774734" first="Reid" last="Patterson"] of Lakeville South (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="796947" first="Caleb" last="Siwek"] of Rosemount (Jr)   Second Team [player_tooltip player_id="567126" first="Will" last="Blascziek"] of Lakeville North (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958680" first="Kyle" last="Hrncir"] of Farmington (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774732" first="Riley" last="Mahlman"] of Lakeville South (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774806" first="Zach" last="Spann"] of Eastview (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962214" first="Nolan" last="Winter"] of Lakeville North (Soph)   Third Team Jamal Ambrose of Eastview (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="957223" first="Cooper" last="Laufenburger"] of Lakeville North (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774901" first="Jackson" last="Purcell"] of Eastview (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958669" first="Kenji" last="Scales"] of Eastview (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="962213" first="Emmanuel" last="Schmitter"] of Eagan (Soph)   Fourth Team [player_tooltip player_id="774853" first="Isaac" last="Ask"] of Farmington (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850730" first="Sam" last="Fliehe"] of Lakeville South (Jr) Nolan Loehr of Rosemount (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958711" first="Quinten" last="Snell"] of Shakopee (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="1071107" first="Mick" last="Wherley"] of Shakopee (Sr)   Fifth Team [player_tooltip player_id="958654" first="Yarin" last="Alexander"] of Burnsville (Jr) [player_tooltip player_id="774871" first="Noah" last="Friedt"] of Apple Valley (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850717" first="Cade" last="McGraw"] of Shakopee (Jr) Dylan Omwemo of Apple Valley (Soph) [player_tooltip player_id="957196" first="Henry" last="Shannon III"] of Eastivew (Sr)   Sixth Team [player_tooltip player_id="962223" first="Khalif" last="Bettis"] of Burnsville (Soph) Kortland Johnsen of Apple Valley (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774911" first="Tommy" last="Mestnik"] of Prior Lake (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="567123" first="Trystan" last="Ressler"] of Lakeville South (Sr) [player_tooltip player_id="774860" first="Zach" last="Wenthe"] of Rosemount (Sr)