The Metro West Preview

<p>The Metro West has expanded by three schools and is now a ten team league that’s working to become a power league.  Here is your Metro West Preview. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten</strong>: Benilde-St. Margaret’s</p> <p>BSM should be much improved.  They won the Breakdown State Summer Tournament this year beating some of the best squads in the state.  They will have a nice group of guards returning mixing with a couple quality transfers. </p> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential:  </strong>Chaska, Orono, Cooper</p> <p>Chaska is a top 20 area Class AAAA squad.  Their frontcourt of [player_tooltip player_id="850714" first="Brady" last="Nicholson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1288805" first="Jakobe" last="Lyles"] is high quality.  Everything depends on how the young Chaska guards come up from the JV and how ready they are for the high level.  They will be steady but will that be enough to win the league?  We shall see. Chaska and Cooper have become a fin rivalry at the top of this league and they split the league last year both with 11-1 records.  Cooper has leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="958641" first="Davion" last="Evans"] back along with a couple frontcourt players who I think have really good potential as solid seniors.  Keep an eye on the Cooper sophomore class too.  As far as Orono goes, they should have one of the two deepest, most talented guard groups in this league.  If the gel and they have just enough around the basket Orono could have a very good season. </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Bloomington Jefferson, Chanhassen, Waconia</p> <p>Jefferson has surprised people here and there over the years as they are always tough defensively plus the move the ball and grind on offense. With an elite sophomore in [player_tooltip player_id="1151197" first="Daniel" last="Freitag"] and some veteran guards they will be solid again. Chanhassen should take a step forward from last year’s 3-10 record.  [player_tooltip player_id="1287439" first="Max" last="Woods"] is a PG they can build things around for four years plus the program has a motivated staff, some size, and a number of returning experienced players. It’s tough to know exactly where to put Waconia.  They have moved to a new league and section and have a new coach so there is change.  There are a lot of quality workers on this team and two guys they can lean on as a 1-2 punch in [player_tooltip player_id="1223098" first="Ty" last="Miller"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1144097" first="Noah" last="Bonick"] plus quality role guys. All depends on how the chemistry forms/continues under a new coach. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Kennedy, New Prague, St. Louis Park</p> <p>Kennedy was 2-16 a season ago and they lost their top scorer and their top young player (then 8th grader Jaleel Donley who transferred to Hopkins).  It feels like New Prague has been starting over constantly for much too long.  Now they enter a new league with a couple juniors back but with a lot of question marks after going 5-14 last year. St. Louis Park won only three games last year and it could be tougher this year.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Benilde-St. Margaret’s</li> <li>Chaska</li> <li>Robbinsdale Cooper</li> <li>Orono</li> <li>Waconia</li> <li>Bloomington Jefferson</li> <li>Chanhassen</li> <li>New Prague</li> <li>Bloomington Kennedy</li> <li>St. Louis Park</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Metro West Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958657" first="Dan" last="Ijadimbola"] of BSM (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1151197" first="Daniel" last="Freitag"] of Bloomington Jefferson (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850714" first="Brady" last="Nicholson"] of Chaska (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958641" first="Davion" last="Evans"] of Cooper (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850737" first="Maddox" last="Alipate"] of BSM (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1144097" first="Noah" last="Bonick"] of Waconia (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1288716" first="Maxwell" last="Woods"] of Chanhassen (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1189958" first="Isaiah" last="Hagen"] of Orono (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1223098" first="Ty" last="Miller"] of Waconia (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850734" first="Cohen" last="Kellogg"] of Orono (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="796949" first="Ryan" last="Warren"] of BSM (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958682" first="Wally" last="Wisniewski"] of Waconia (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1288805" first="Jakobe" last="Lyles"] of Chaska (sr)</p> <p>Prince Appiah of Cooper (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="960334" first="Aidan" last="Atkins"] of Bloomington Jefferson (sr)</p> <p>Jake Farrell of Orono (sr)</p> <p>Ethan Cromy of New Prague (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1268462" first="Sam" last="Best"] of BSM (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1268469" first="Joe" last="Meath"] of Waconia (sr)</p> <p>Chris Martin of Bloomington Kennedy (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962230" first="Kyle" last="Kallenbach"] of Orono (sr)</p> <p>David Conners of Cooper (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p>