The West Central Preview

<p>Melrose moves into the King’s Chair as heavy West Central Conference favorites but keep in mind this is traditionally a very tough league.  </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten in State</strong> – BOLD, Melrose</p> <p>BOLD has several new bodies to replace so conference play could be quite tough.  Teams like Melrose, Minnewaska, Morris Area, and Benson will likely have a better combination of talent and experience when they play BOLD, at least early in the season.  That’s the conference comparison.  But in looking at Class A basketball, BOLD has one of the two best players in the class in [player_tooltip player_id="567070" first="Drew" last="Sagedahl"] plus a tradition of winning.  BOLD could have a .500 season in the West Central but still make a run at section and state titles in a wide open Class A.</p> <p>This is Part 2 of Prep Hoops telling you to watch out for Melrose.  Part 1 was talking about [player_tooltip player_id="532590" first="Rowan" last="Nelson"], this is part 2, part three will be in the contender series.  Melrose has earned that much respect.  They have eight of their top nine scorers back from a team that went 23-6 and was the favorite to win the section title before the season was cancelled.  Melrose is the heavy favorite to win the section. </p> <p><strong>Potential Top Ten in State</strong> – Minnewaska Area</p> <p>For me Minnewaska Area is the best team in Section 3AA (the place most of these teams are in section wise) for many reasons.  1) The Lakers had the best record in 3AA last year (21-7) and their senior class is experienced and talented. 2) The current senior class gives Minnewaska Area four returning starters and a star in [player_tooltip player_id="957211" first="Peyton" last="Johnsrud"]. 3) Minnewaska Area won 12 of their last 13 games before falling in the section title game 69-60 to JCC. </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most –</strong> Morris Area, Benson, Sauk Centre</p> <p>Morris Area and Sauk Centre have a pair of star players in [player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"] and Jay Neubert respectively.  Both Loge and Neubert are game changers that will keep their teams competitive each night allowing them to win their share of games.  The tough part is that for Morris Area they have a pair of all conference players to replace among others.  Sauk Centre has it a bit tougher with only three experienced players back and nobody on the returning roster bigger than 6-foot-2.  Benson is in a different position as they have four starters returning plus a lot of their bench from a 15-12 club.  But does Benson have the talent to top Morris Area?  Double figure losses last year suggest they may not. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding - </strong>Montevideo</p> <p>This is the good side of the rebuilding phase as Montevideo has most of their team back and now they are experienced.  It was tough going through a one win season, and this is still a smaller team so that has to be kept in mind, but Montevideo will be improved and more competitive as a very good group of juniors takes another step. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>20-21 West Central Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Melrose</li> <li>Minnewaska Area</li> <li>Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta</li> <li>BOLD</li> <li>Benson</li> <li>Sauk Centre</li> <li>Montevideo</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All West Central Conference </strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>Peyton Johnsurd of Minnewaska Area (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"] of Morris Area (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774837" first="Grant" last="Moscho"] of Melrose (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="532590" first="Rowan" last="Nelson"] of Melrose (Sr)</p> <p>Jay Neubert of Sauk Centre (Fr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="567070" first="Drew" last="Sagedahl"] of BOLD (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774829" first="Cole" last="Hedman"] of Benson (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957634" first="Mason" last="Heidgerken"] of Melrose (Sr)</p> <p>Sam Hested of Minnewaska Area (Sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957638" first="Ben" last="Peterson"] of Benson (Sr)</p> <p>Aaron Ver Steeg of Minnewaska Area (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958740" first="Durgin" last="Decker"] of Morris Area (Jr)</p> <p>Brett Engelmeyer of Melrose (Sr)</p> <p>Abe Peterson of Benson (Sr)</p> <p>Macoy Theisen of Sauk Centre (Jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958758" first="Thomas" last="Tiernan"] of Morris Area (Jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Ethan Ettel of Melrose (Sr)</p> <p>Brady Hoffman of Minnewaska Area (Sr)</p> <p>Max Marks of BOLD (Jr)</p> <p>Brayden Schultz of Montevideo (Jr)</p> <p>Braeden Tersteg of BOLD (Sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>