Preseason Rankings – Class A Top Ten

<p>Who are the top ten teams entering the 2020-21 season in Class A basketball?  Find out today at NHR. </p> <ol> <li>Nevis</li> <li>Hayfield</li> <li>North Woods</li> <li>Nicollet</li> <li>Westbrook-Walnut Grove</li> <li>Southwest Minnesota Christian</li> <li>Nashwauk-Keewatin</li> <li>St Clair</li> <li>BOLD</li> <li>Ashby</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Notes</strong></p> <ul> <li>Friday we will expand the list to the top 25 preseason teams in Class A basketball. </li> <li>The Nevis Tigers were 24-4 a year ago and they return four starters including playmaker Derek Lindow and shooter/leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="958734" first="Eddie" last="Kramer"]. They have the best combo of returning talent from a very good 2019-20 team. Nevis won their sub-section last year but didn’t get a chance to compete for the section title. </li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="957199" first="Ethan" last="Slaathaug"] of Hayfield (cover photo) is coming off of a 23 point per game junior year and with two other starters returning – sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962284" first="Isaac" last="Matti"] and junior Easton Fritcher – the expectations in Hayfield are high. Hayfield was 24-6 last year. </li> <li>The season was cancelled before North Woods and Nashwauk-Keewatin had a chance to push for the the state tournament. North Woods had won the section the previous three seasons.  The Grizzlies had beaten the Spartans 86-83 early in the season and it was an overtime classic.</li> <li>The all important Section 2A will be highlighted by Nicollet, St. Clair, and BOLD.  Nicollet has the best combination of returning quality and star power ([player_tooltip player_id="774858" first="Shane" last="Stevenson"]), St. Clair has the most talent back but they weren’t as good as BOLD and Nicollet last year, and BOLD loses most of their line-up but has the best senior in Class A basketball ([player_tooltip player_id="567070" first="Drew" last="Sagedahl"])</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p>