The Lake Preview

Ryan James October 4, 2021 @ 06:14 PM

The Lake Conference has long been considered one of the best leagues, if not the best league in the state of Minnesota. It’s very tough once again.   Conference Commentary Top Ten: Hopkins, Wayzata, Eden Prairie Wayzata is the defending state champs. They have two starters returning, the first three guys off their bench are back, some young studs coming up, and a group of talent from JV/B/9 that lost a combined two games last season. They are ready to defend the title. I think people might be over looking the Hopkins Royals a tad. They have one of the state’s best bigs in [player_tooltip player_id="850704" first="Elvis" last="Nnaji"] plus 6th Man Max Wilson returns. They have a couple very good transfers including [player_tooltip player_id="962199" first="CJ" last="O’Hara"], some of the state’s best young talent overall, and a nice group of seniors that played well on JV last season. Then you have Eden Prairie. The Eagles earned third in the Lake last year after replacing a legendary senior class. Several of their key players also return. Top Ten Potential: Edina, Minnetonka, Buffalo There will be some parents, several players, and maybe a coach or two who get offended by being ranked 4-6 in the Lake this year but it’s no insult, all of these teams have the talent to potentially be top ten squads. All three of these teams could make the state tournament. Right now I think these three teams are three of the best 17 or 18 squads in Class AAAA. Compete with Most: STMA There are some leagues north of the metro that STMA could win, or be very competitive in. They will be competitive in the Lake. That said, I think they will come up a bit short talent wise compared to the other six teams.   21-22 Conference Predictions <ol> <li>Wayzata</li> <li>Hopkins</li> <li>Eden Prairie</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Edina</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Minnetonka</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Buffalo</li> <li>STMA</li> </ol>   Preseason All Lake Conference First Team [player_tooltip player_id="962199" first="CJ" last="O’Hara"] of Hopkins (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850713" first="Carter" last="Bjerke"] of Wayzata (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850704" first="Elvis" last="Nnaji"] of Hopkins (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1220360" first="Chiddi" last="Obiazor"] of Eden Prairie (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850735" first="Brady" last="Helgren"] of Edina (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850738" first="Antonio" last="Bluiett"] of Buffalo (sr)   Second Team [player_tooltip player_id="962205" first="Jalen" last="Cain"] of Minnetonka (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="958639" first="Johnny" last="Tennyson"] of STMA (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1143873" first="Zach" last="Zrust"] of Buffalo (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1143875" first="Gabe" last="Jobe"] of Edina (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962207" first="Ibrahim" last="El-Amin"] of Minnetonka (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="958661" first="Drew" last="Berkland"] of Wayzata (sr)   Third Team [player_tooltip player_id="850726" first="Sammy" last="Presthus"] of Edina (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1201757" first="Spencer" last="Hall"] of Wayzata (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="1167554" first="Hayden" last="Tibbits"] of Wayzata (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="1144095" first="Miles" last="Smith"] of Eden Prairie (sr) Max Wilson of Hopkins (jr)   Fourth Team Andy Stefanovic of Minnetonka (so) [player_tooltip player_id="958768" first="Vlad" last="Ciubotaru"] of Minnetonka (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="796955" first="Ryan" last="Harvey"] of Wayzata (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1220363" first="Jermell" last="Taylor"] of Eden Prairie (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="958797" first="Will" last="Pool"] of Buffalo (sr)