Class A Title Contender Series: Tea Area

<p>Tea Area is another top contender for the Class A title and technically they are still the defending Class A champs! Here is a look at the Titans, a squad with five returning starters as well as several bench talents back as well. </p> <p><strong>Moving On</strong>:  Tea Area lost two seniors that played a season ago, both off the bench.  Six-foot-2 wing [player_tooltip player_id="988900" first="Joe" last="Walnofer"] and forward [player_tooltip player_id="879120" first="Max" last="Peterson"].  Walnofer was a very active player that rebounded at a high rate in relation to his minutes, defensively he could disrupt, and he was commonly good for 2-3 buckets a contest.  Tea Area has a lot back but they will have to fill the energy of Walnofer.  </p> <p><strong>Returning Starters</strong>: A full slate of five.  Those players are: 5-foot-10 junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="968157" first="Jeff" last="Worth"]</strong>, 6-foot-2 junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="812209" first="Cael" last="Lundin"]</strong>, 5-foot-11 senior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="757879" first="Garrett" last="Kolbeck"]</strong>, 6-foot senior wing <strong>Austin Lake</strong>, and 6-foot-7, 270 pound senior center <strong>Caden Ellingson</strong>.   Ellingson has traditional center size but with good hands and feet (he’s a D1 offered football prospect).  Caden rebounds in bulk playing about half the game and he’s a high percentage finisher around the basket. </p> <p>The rest of the returning starters are guards.  [player_tooltip player_id="812209" first="Cael" last="Lundin"] is a returning all state player that averaged 15.6 points, five boards, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 steals a contest.  Lundin is being looked at by several local top scholarship programs after his big sophomore year as well as a great run with the South Dakota Venom 16s.  Also on that Venom team was [player_tooltip player_id="968157" first="Jeff" last="Worth"], one of the most dangerous shooters in the class.  Worth’s hot hand can result in 4-5 threes in a hurry as he’s a 40 percent plus guy at the arc. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="757879" first="Garrett" last="Kolbeck"] is one of the leading three point shooters on the Titan team and one of the leaders in assists.  A guy that can be used at both guard spots plus he’s a tough guard willing to laterally ruin somebody’s day with his defense.  Kollbeck has recently picked up an offer from Jamestown.  The other senior guard is Austin Lake, another strong guard returning to the line-up.  Lake is the type that is willing to do whatever his team needs including being a backcourt rebounder and next pass ball mover.  </p> <p><strong>Reserves Playing a Bigger Role:  </strong>Returning from the Tea Area bench are senior wings <strong>Gabe Glanzer </strong>and<strong> Braden Beach</strong>. Beach is more of an attack minded wing while Glanzer will confidently took 3-4 treys off the bench last season and was also among the teams better passers.  Glanzer seems ready to play a much bigger role for Tea Area this year either working to take a starting job or holding down the 6th Man role with quality minutes.  </p> <p><strong>Potentials from the JV: </strong>A player I am interested in seeing is sophomore guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="963779" first="Blake" last="Thompson"]</strong>.  Blake had some explosive scoring games for the JV plus he’s a clever passer as well.  The jack of all trades is junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="968219" first="Alex" last="Pies"]</strong>, a run all day type of guy who will basically do whatever is asked.  Many of these players are competing in football right now but Pies is scoring goals for the soccer team.  </p> <p>Who backs up Ellingson?  That will likely be 6-foot-7 junior <strong>Cole Schilling</strong>.  Cole recorded a few double-doubles on JV last season and was a tough shot blocker.  Cole is about 190/195 weight wise with a fairly extensive wingspan.   Also keep an eye on six foot junior <strong>Alex Weber</strong>. It’s a deep backcourt for sure but Tea Area has another potential shooter in Weber. </p> <p><strong>Final Thoughts: </strong>Tea Area looks to be another top five caliber squad and legit state title contender.  Why?  They certainly have one of the state’s best players in Lundin plus their is experienced depth coming back from a 15-6 team.  Throw in legit size in the paint and you have to like the depth of this team going forward.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>