The Hiawatha Valley Preview

<p>What would you compare the Hiawatha Valley league to?  I would say it’s Minnesota version of the Missouri Valley Conference.  Here is your Hiawatha Valley League preview. </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential:</strong> Lake City, Goodhue</p> <p>Lake City returns all of their key pieces from a 13-6 team.  What’s even more important is that most of those key pieces were playing as underclassmen last year.  They have a ton of room to grow.  Lake City is a top ten team in Class AA while Goodhue is a top ten level team in Class A.  [player_tooltip player_id="962224" first="Will" last="Opsahl"] and [player_tooltip player_id="958721" first="Dayne" last="Wojcik"] make one of the best 1-2 punches in Class A basketball.  What we said about Lake City is nearly the exact same for Goodhue, they return most of their line-up including all their starters, many of which were underclassmen last season. </p> <p><strong>Top Contenders: </strong>Byron, Stewartville</p> <p>Byron will be right there competing with Goodhue and Lake City for the league title.  Yes Braaten and Ahjany are gone, but Byron still has a number of high quality players.  They are a Class AAA team and we don’t think they will be top ten there (although don’t put it past them) but they are certainly a contender for the Hiawatha Valley title. Stewartville lost four of their top five scorers and those players - including [player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"] - will be tough to replace.  That said, most of their bench returns and there are some good young players ready to make a move.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most:  </strong>Cannon Falls, Kasson-Mantorville</p> <p>Cannon Falls was three games under .500 last year and with what is returning they could be somewhat similar to that this year although maybe a game or two better.  Kasson-Mantorville is in a similar situation to Cannon Falls although they may have a bit more experienced talent with their 3-4 starters back.  </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding:  </strong>Rochester Lourdes, Zumbrota-Mazeppa, Pine Island</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Lake City</li> <li>Byron</li> <li>Goodhue</li> <li>Stewartville</li> <li>Kasson-Mantorville</li> <li>Cannon Falls</li> <li>Rochester Lourdes</li> <li>Zumbrota-Mazeppa</li> <li>Pine Island</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Hiawatha Valley Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="796956" first="Justin" last="Wohlers"] of Lake City (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1225623" first="Ryan" last="Heise"] of Lake City (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962224" first="Will" last="Opsahl"] of Goodhue (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284140" first="Hunter" last="Lorenson"] of Lake City (soph)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958721" first="Dayne" last="Wojcik"] of Goodhue (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958741" first="Jaxon" last="Marine"] of Byron (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958779" first="Camden" last="Holecek"] of Kasson-Mantorville (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958753" first="Trent" last="DeCook"] of Byron (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958776" first="Carson" last="Matzke"] of Lake City (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1268458" first="Miles" last="Hettinger"] of Stewartville (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284149" first="Jaden" last="Shones"] of Lake City (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962258" first="Isaac" last="Dearborn"] of Byron (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1139594" first="Henry" last="Tschetter"] of Stewartville (soph)</p> <p>Mason Flom of Kasson-Mantorville (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1226399" first="Parker" last="Dunham"] of Rochester Lourdes (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1288667" first="Noah" last="Blanchard"] of Cannon Falls (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Riley Kuehl of Pine Island (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1225627" first="Adam" last="Poncelet"] of Goodhue (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1173255" first="Bode" last="Mayer"] of Stewartville (sr)</p> <p>Jordan Klepel of Kasson-Mantorville (sr)</p> <p>Max Barnes of Stewartville (sr)</p> <p>Tyson Christensen of Goodhue (sr)</p>