The Lake Superior Preview

<p>The Lake Superior Conference was won by Cloquet last season in an overwhelming way.  This year? Duluth Marshall should challenge.  Here is the Lake Superior Conference preview. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten</strong>:  Duluth Marshall</p> <p>Marshall returns four of their top six players from a season ago and they have a scorer in [player_tooltip player_id="1143874" first="Jasper" last="Timm"] that they can lean on.  Timm is the go to guy and there are several key role guys that are ready to help Marshall be a top ten team in Class A basketball.</p> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential: </strong>Cloquet, Hibbing</p> <p>Cloquet is a top 20 team in Class AAA basketball with an outside shot at potentially breaking into the top ten.  Barney and Turnbull are two of the best players in the league, they have the talent to lead this club to the league championship.  If several of the role spots are filled in a solid way Cloquet should earn the title. With so much lost to graduation Hibbing has to replace four starters so not quite Class AAA top ten but [player_tooltip player_id="850731" first="Ayden" last="McDonald"] has the talent to keep them close and maybe even get them there. </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>:  Grand Rapids, Superior, Hermantown</p> <p>Grand Rapids has one of the league’s best players returning in [player_tooltip player_id="958688" first="Austin" last="Hanson"].  The Thunderhawks have a number of starters that must be replaced but the team will go as Hanson goes.  Superior has three of their top six guys back and those three players had good 17u seasons.  They now need to step into the main producing roles and if they play well, Superior can contend.  Hermantown has two of their best four guys returning although the team is likely a year away. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Denfeld, Proctor</p> <p>Proctor was 2-13 last year, winless in league play, and all of their key players were seniors.  It’s a rebuild. Denfeld won only one game last year and beat Proctor, but that was it. </p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Hibbing</li> <li>Cloquet</li> <li>Duluth Marshall</li> <li>Grand Rapids</li> <li>Superior</li> <li>Hermantown</li> <li>Duluth Denfeld</li> <li>Proctor</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Lake Superior Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958688" first="Austin" last="Hanson"] of Grand Rapids (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958845" first="Conner" last="Barney"] of Cloquet (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1143874" first="Jasper" last="Timm"] of Duluth Marshall (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958699" first="Alec" last="Turnbull"] of Cloquet (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962316" first="Blake" last="Schmitz"] of Hermantown (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850731" first="Ayden" last="McDonald"] of Hibbing</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Mason Boos of Duluth Marshall (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962302" first="Keaton" last="Christianson"] of Hermantown (jr)</p> <p>Alex Olson of Duluth Marshall (sr)</p> <p>Evan Bennett of Superior (sr)</p> <p>Ethan Florek of Grand Rapids (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958735" first="Hayden" last="Verhel"] of Hibbing (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>Shane Leask of Superior (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1139244" first="Brooks" last="Johnson"] of Duluth Marshall (fr)</p> <p>Jack Sorenson of Cloquet (sr)</p> <p>Jon Bongiovanni of Duluth Denfeld (sr)</p> <p>Robert Olson of Superior (sr)</p> <p>Amari Manning of Hibbing (sr)</p>