The St. Paul City Preview

<p>The St. Paul City Conference was split by Central and Johnson last year, so what’s next?  NHR dives into the St. Paul City Conference today to try and provide some answers. </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top League Contenders</strong> - Johnson, Central</p> <p>Johnson returns half of their top eight including their top player <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957154" first="Julian" last="Hodges"]</strong> and frontcourt standout <strong>Qiujuan Lewis</strong>. Hodges is a three-sport standout that excels in baseball, is a standout receiver and d-back on the football field, and is an all league returning hooper as well as a St. Paul City league MVP candidate.  Lewis is a 6-foot-3, 210 pound banger that uses strength and body control to board in the same rate he scores.  Lewis will likely pull in a double-double each night on average.  Add in <strong>Christian Jones</strong> and <strong>Ishmael David</strong>, a pair of 3-4 bucket a game guards with experience and you have a true contender.  </p> <p>Central and Johnson split games last year and both went 11-1.  As good as I think Johnson will be, Central brings back more.  A lot more. In fact Central has four returning starters including three returning double figure scorers (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957623" first="Kaden" last="Doram"]</strong> at 12 a game, <strong>Gavin Gothard</strong> at 10.5 a game, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958752" first="Gedeon" last="Musabyimana"]</strong> 10 a game).  Add in <strong>Donnie Preston</strong> and that’s four all league guys plus a 6th Man ready to step into a starting role (<strong>Jaylen Cardenas</strong>). Doram and Hodges will go head to head as the top players in the league. </p> <p><strong>Next Up</strong> - Highland Park, Harding</p> <p>The clear third best team in the league was Highland Park.  The Scots were 0-4 vs Johnson and Central but 8-0 against the rest of the league.  And this year Highland Park hopes to take the step to contendership with four starters back, three of which are double figure scoring talents.  Can Highland park top Central or Johnson?  The first time the Scots faced the top pair they played with them to the end.  The second of time it wasn’t close.  Most under the radar player in the state could be <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957229" first="Carter" last="Owens"]</strong>, a 20 point per game Highland Park player ready to make his case for League MVP.  Harding should step forward to about .500 in the league and improve on their seven win total.  They have a top player back in [player_tooltip player_id="774841" first="Alex" last="Addai"] along with Sam Gray for one of the best frontcourts in the league.  If they can replenish in the backcourt Harding will take steps. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong> - Washington, Humboldt, Como Park. </p> <p>Washington lost a pair of 20 point per game talents, four starters, and five of their top seven guys from a .500 team.  There is still good talent on the team but many key spots need to be filled by inexperienced talent.  Humboldt is rebuilding, but in a different way.  They added [player_tooltip player_id="532566" first="Xavier" last="Garcia"] from St. Croix Lutheran and Kamron Terry from Henry Sibley as transfers.  With their best player [player_tooltip player_id="957622" first="Brian" last="Williams"] and starter Keith Pabon also back Humboldt should help them work towards the middle spot in the league.  Williams and Garcia could be a great pair.  Como Park brings back all but one guy from last season, but it’s a team that was winless last year.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>20-21 St. Paul City Conference Predictions<br /> <br /> </strong></p> <ol> <li>Central</li> <li>Johnson</li> <li>Highland Park</li> <li>Humboldt</li> <li>Harding</li> <li>Washington</li> <li>Como Park</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All St. Paul City Conference </strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774841" first="Alex" last="Addai"] of Harding (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957623" first="Kaden" last="Doram"] of Central (Sr) </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="532566" first="Xavier" last="Garcia"] of Humboldt (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957154" first="Julian" last="Hodges"] of Johnson (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957229" first="Carter" last="Owens"] of Highland Park (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Gavin Gothard of Central (Sr)</p> <p>Qiujuan Lewis of Johnson (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958752" first="Gedeon" last="Musabyimana"] of Central (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957621" first="Nico" last="Peterson"] of Highland Park (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957622" first="Brian" last="Williams"] of Humboldt (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>Jaylen Cardenas of Central (Jr)</p> <p>Ishmael David of Johnson (Jr)</p> <p>Christian Jones of Johnson (Jr)</p> <p>Joey Kottke of Highland Park (Sr)</p> <p>Donnie Preston of Central (Sr)</p> <p>La’Kendrick Reed of Washington (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Salman Ahmed of Harding (Sr)</p> <p>Joe Conzet of Highland Park (Sr)</p> <p>Isaac Foster of Highland Park (Sr)</p> <p>Sam Gray of Harding (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958760" first="Jountay" last="Kibble"] of Como Park (Jr)</p> <p>Anton McDaniels of Washington (Sr)</p>