The Northwest Suburban Preview

Ryan James October 18, 2021 @ 11:46 AM

Some of the elite teams and players in the state of Minnesota are in the Northwest Suburban. If you are cracking the NW Suburban preseason all league teams you are playing at a fairly high level.   Conference Commentary Top Ten: Totino-Grace, Park Center, Osseo Totino-Grace and Park Center are the favorites to win their respective classes. They are both number one entering the season with PC at 1 in AAAA and TG number one in AAA. We give the Eagles the slight edge in league play because they were two games better in the standings last season and they return more from their rotation than PC does, although both teams are super talented and will likely be neck and neck. Last year they split their games. Osseo is the other Northwest Suburban team that enters the season in the top ten. With three starters back, a ton of depth, and a wealth of upcoming talent, they should survive the pair of transfers and still have a strong season. Top Ten Potential: Maple Grove, Armstrong, Spring Lake Park, Andover The Crimson are always a solid team although they did get moved from section 8AAAA to the section with PC, Osseo, and several others so the road is tougher. The Crimson will still be very good though as they will have size, returning backcourt starters, and an ever running river of quality role players. Armstrong has a new coach but they are quite talented as well. It all depends on how the chemistry forms in a new system with some of the younger players mixing with the older players. Spring Lake Park has a really nice group of seniors that played on the 17u circuit last year and did quite well. They are a contender. Then you have the fantastic guards of Andover who led the team to a 13-6 season last year and will be even better. Compete with Most: Elk River, Coon Rapids, Rogers Elk River won six games a season ago and we think they will double that number at least. The Elks have a very good guard group that will earn them some victories and likely an upset or two. Coon Rapids should also be better. They made a playoff run and have most of their top players back from it. Rogers brings back most of their line-up so they should improve on that 5-14 record of a year ago. Rebuilding: Champlin Park, Blaine, Anoka, Centennial Champlin Park and Blaine have new coaches and there will be a lot of pieces that need to be replaced. In fact the Rebels will look completely new while Blaine has key pieces back but a new coach in place. Anoka was winless last year and the Cougars went 2-17 losing games by over 20 points a contest.   21-22 Conference Predictions NW Suburban 1 <ol> <li>Maple Grove</li> <li>Andover</li> <li>Champlin Park</li> <li>Coon Rapids</li> <li>Blaine</li> <li>Anoka</li> <li>Centennial</li> </ol>   NW Suburban 2 <ol> <li>Totino-Grace</li> <li>Park Center</li> <li>Osseo</li> <li>Spring Lake Park</li> <li>Robbinsdale Armstrong</li> <li>Elk River</li> <li>Rogers</li> </ol>   Northwest Suburban Power Rankings <ol> <li>Totino-Grace</li> <li>Park Center</li> <li>Osseo</li> <li>Maple Grove</li> <li>Andover</li> <li>Spring Lake Park </li> <li>Robbinsdale Armstrong</li> <li>Elk River</li> <li>Champlin Park </li> <li>Coon Rapids</li> <li>Rogers</li> <li>Blaine</li> <li>Anoka</li> <li>Centennial</li> </ol>   Preseason All Northwest Suburban Conference First Team [player_tooltip player_id="850710" first="Braeden" last="Carrington"] of Park Center (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962198" first="Taison" last="Chatman"] of Totino-Grace (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="958638" first="Demarion" last="Watson"] of Totino-Grace (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="891901" first="Ahjany" last="Lee"] of Totino-Grace (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1143878" first="Leo" last="Torbor"] of Park Center (sr)   Second Team [player_tooltip player_id="958757" first="Cody" last="Pennebaker"] of Park Center (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1139741" first="Logan" last="Kinsey"] of Spring Lake Park (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958650" first="Jon" last="Haakenson"] of Maple Grove (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962227" first="Samuel" last="Musungu"] of Andover (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850721" first="Benard" last="Omooria"] of Osseo (sr)   Third Team [player_tooltip player_id="958729" first="Ayouba" last="Berthe"] of Park Center (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="850721" first="Benard" last="Omooria"] of Osseo (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1223070" first="Patrick" last="Bath"] of Totino-Grace (jr) Tyirece Waits of Osseo (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962203" first="Tommy" last="Humphries"] of Totino-Grace (jr)   Fourth Team [player_tooltip player_id="958647" first="Peyton" last="Newbern"] of Armstrong (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1221143" first="Cade" last="Osterman"] of Elk River (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="962246" first="Ben" last="Kopetzki"] of Andover (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="962204" first="Lincoln" last="Palbicki"] of Maple Grove (jr) [player_tooltip player_id="850705" first="Blessed" last="Barhayiga"] of Osseo (sr)   Fifth Team [player_tooltip player_id="958739" first="Peyton" last="Belka"] of Rogers (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1268456" first="MJ" last="Galimah"] of Coon Rapids (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="958659" first="James" last="Spencer"] of Park Center (sr) AJ Kaul of Blaine (sr) [player_tooltip player_id="1284143" first="Isaiah" last="Johnson"] of Osseo (so) [player_tooltip player_id="1140532" first="Owen" last="Skram"] of Armstrong (jr)