The St. Paul City Preview

<p>Central and Highland Park split the league title last season and Johnson was right on their heels.  How does 21-22 look different?  We break down the St. Paul City Conference today. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Contenders: </strong>Central, Johnson</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958752" first="Gedeon" last="Musabyimana"] is the best player in this league and he returns as do several role players for Central.  Central will be in the mix again for the league title, and will enter the year as the favorite. Johnson won nine of a dozen games last season and bring back three starters.  Another year where the Johnson vs Central games will be for the gold. </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most:  </strong>Como Park, Harding</p> <p>Como Park won only two games last year as they gave up way too many points each game.  Como Park does have all their talent back from last year so they should improve but they have to fix their defense to contend.  Harding was a well coached veteran team a season ago but they lost their best three players from a 5-8 team so there are some key spots to fill.  </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Highland Park, Humboldt, Washington</p> <p>It’s impossible to know what Highland Park has this year as everything on the court last year was seniors.  They will look almost entirely new save a couple guys who played in blowouts last season.  Picking where they will finish in this league is tough. They have been a solid team though so we expect them to compete at a reasonable level. Humboldt had a couple really good players last year in Garcia and Williams and they got the team to .500 but they are gone and this team will look different, and face some challenges. Washington’s best players are gone from a team that was winless in the league last year.  It’s a rebuild.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Central</li> <li>Johnson</li> <li>Highland Park</li> <li>Como Park</li> <li>Harding</li> <li>Humboldt</li> <li>Washington</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All St. Paul City Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958752" first="Gedeon" last="Musabyimana"] of Central (sr)</p> <p>Ishmael David of Johnson (sr)</p> <p>Christian Jones of Johnson (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1184630" first="Donavan" last="Clinton"] of Como Park (sr)</p> <p>Maik Alabi of Humboldt (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Amir Plair of Como Park (sr)</p> <p>Jaylen Cardenas of Central (sr)</p> <p>Allan Lankford of Central (fr)</p> <p>Rickhi Graham of Johnson (sr)</p> <p>Jakobi Bear-Taki of Central (sr)</p> <p>Tyquan Allen of Washington (jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>Demure Larkins of Humboldt (sr)</p> <p>Adnaan Mohamed of Harding (sr)</p> <p>Dae’John Thomas of Johnson (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284181" first="Mason" last="Aarness"] of Como Park (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1221164" first="Rhvell" last="Benjamin"] of Harding (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958812" first="Donnell" last="Gibson"] of Como Park (sr)</p>