The Big Nine Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The state of Minnesota has 48 conferences so it's time for us to start previewing the 2022-23 season.&nbsp; We at Prep Hoops will hit up the previews via conferences, sections, individual teams, and some individual ways over the next 2.5 months, and today we get rolling with the Big Nine Preview (ABC order).&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State:&nbsp;</strong> Mankato East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>East is our favorite coming in and they are a top ten squad heading into the season. How? They lost seniors and transfers? Because what they have coming up and returning is quite impressive. There is a nice group of role playing seniors mixed with a top junior shooter (Carson), a top sophomore floor general (Madson), and one of the elite freshman (Braden). With Austin going through a change with Fadness out and Owatonna having to replace so much, I think Joe Madson has the edge coming into the year despite losing so many players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: Austin, Mankato West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trust me, Austin is right there. They have more back from last season than any of the contenders and they certainly made the right pick in assistant Jamal Gibson. Gibson has been with Austin and is the right man for the job. That said, he does not have experience that a Madson does of course so we have to see how he does before giving them the initial top spot. And West. West? Yes West. I have them fifth coming in but in terms of Class AAA, with young talent and a very good transfer in [player_tooltip player_id='1284169' first='Landon' last='Dimler'] from JWP, they could be very good. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Owatonna, Northfield, Mayo, Winona</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owatonna and Northfield will compete for the league title with Austin and East. They are in the "Compete with Most" because they are in the middle of the Class AAAA power rankings where as Austin, East, and West are top 20 teams in Class AAAA. Owatonna lost a lot but return an all league player in Burmeister. Northfield might have the top 1-2 combo in the league in Richardson and Koepp. If the depth is around them, they could win the league. Mayo is a sleeper here. They were a game under .500 last year but have their two best players back. Winona on the other hand lost a lot but do return an all league talent in Bryan Cassellius </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Century, JM, Faribault, Red Wing, Albert Lea</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lots of rebuilding here. [player_tooltip player_id='1220356' first='Ryan' last='Ohm'] is really good for Century and they have some young talent so they are the best of the bunch. [player_tooltip player_id='962257' first='Logan' last='Tuckner'] and [player_tooltip player_id='962297' first='Pal' last='Wal'] are all league players but they don't have much around them. Faribault was 3-23 last season and lost three of their top four and Red Wing lost almost all of their rotation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><u>Big Nine</u></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Mankato East</li><li>Austin</li><li>Owatonna</li><li>Northfield</li><li>Mankato West</li><li>Rochester Mayo</li><li>Winona</li><li>Rochester Century </li><li>Rochester JM</li><li>Fairbault</li><li>Red Wing</li><li>Albert Lea</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Big Nine</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962297' first='Pal' last='Wal'] of Albert Lea (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1140142' first='Isaiah' last='Hanson'] of Rochester Mayo (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1220354' first='Soren' last='Richardson'] of Northfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1220355' first='Blake' last='Burmeister'] of Owatonna (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962257' first='Logan' last='Tuckner'] of Rochester JM (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284169' first='Landon' last='Dimler'] of Mankato West (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] of Mankasto East (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryan Cassellius of Winona (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1355507' first='Carson' last='Schweim'] of Mankato East (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1220356' first='Ryan' last='Ohm'] of Rochester Century (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284087' first='Austin' last='Koep'] of Northfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288822' first='Ater' last='Manyuon'] of Austin (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braden Petzel of Mankato East (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1392723' first='Kairee' last='Gadson'] of Rochester Mayo (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1221153' first='Trey' last='Satre'] of Mankato West (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1436471' first='Jack' last='Lang'] of Austin (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574219' first='Kyle' last='Stienke'] of Mankato West (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288836' first='Buai' last='Duop'] of Austin (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dominic Dimaggio of Northfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ian Ehlers of Faribault (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->