The West Central Preview

<p>Melrose won the West Central last year but is facing a bit of a rebuild. Who is the favorite this year? Check out our West Central Preview! </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten: </strong>Morris Area/CA</p> <p>Get excited Tiger fans, the Class AA state title is wide open. With Minnehaha Academy having only two guys back from the rotation, with Caledonia losing four starters and being smaller, and with Minneapolis North being very good but on a four year title drought (that’s both a statement of great respect, and disrespect I think), with five starters back and a star in [player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"], the Tigers have a legit title shot.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Sauk Centre, Montevideo, BOLD</p> <p>The Mainstreeters will be small, but they will be talented and that 5-7 league record (12-9 overall) should improve  They have a player to build around in [player_tooltip player_id="1284153" first="Jay" last="Neubert"] and a number of good players returning with him. Montevideo took a step last year and will take another step this season.  They won’t be big but they will have a veteran line-up that will play well together.  I’m not totally sure what to think of BOLD.  They played 5-9 less games than the rest of the league last year including 3-4 less league games.  They lost a 30 point per game scorer in Drew Sagedahl so you would think "rebuild" but then again they have experienced guys back, so not really a rebuild.  Tough to know what to think of them simply because they played less games than most last year and lost a superstar, but have a couple good players back. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding: </strong>Melrose, Minnewaska Area, Benson</p> <p>Melrose lose seven of their top eight guys.  This is a good program so falling to the bottom isn’t likely but they will have basically a brand new rotation.  Minnewaska Area was four games under .500 last year falling short of what they were hoping for last season.  Five starters graduated, they have a new coach, and this is the definition of a rebuild. Benson won three of a dozen league games last year and lost their three best players so it will likely be tough for them to be better than three games under .500 (overall) like they were last year. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Morris Area/CA</li> <li>Sauk Centre</li> <li>Melrose</li> <li>BOLD</li> <li>Montevideo</li> <li>Minnewaska Area</li> <li>Benson</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All West Central Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"] of Morris Area/CA (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284153" first="Jay" last="Neubert"] of Sauk Centre (so)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958758" first="Thomas" last="Tiernan"] of Morris Area/CA (sr)</p> <p>Matthew Warring of Sauk Centre (jr)</p> <p>Toby Gonnerman of Morris Area/CA (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Macoy Thiesen of Sauk Centre (sr)</p> <p>Brandon Jergenson of Morris Area/CA (sr)</p> <p>Cole Visser of BOLD (sr)</p> <p>Tyler Rademacher of Melrose (sr)</p> <p>Kaden Boike of Montevideo (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958740" first="Durgin" last="Decker"] of Morris Area/CA (sr)</p> <p>Max Marks of BOLD (sr)</p> <p>Landon Stock of Montevideo (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284134" first="Ethan" last="Riley"] of Sauk Centre (so)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Hunter Kostelecky of Minnewaska Area (sr)</p> <p>Andrew VanBinsbergen of Montevideo (sr)</p> <p>Juan Espinoza of Benson (jr)</p> <p>Damon Uhde of Minnewaska Area (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>