The Granite Ridge Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mora, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Albany were the clear class of the league in 2021-22. What could change this winter and what will likely stay the same? We have a look, at the Granite Ridge Conference!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State:</strong> Albany, Mora</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's not often that you lose four of our five all league honored players and you stay in the top ten at the small school level by Albany is different. They have a senior in [player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'] who is headed to the NSIC, they have a trusted group of seniors along with him, and Albany has one of the elite group of sophomores in the state regardless of class. I don't have Mora as top ten right now, but they are next up so I put them here. The defending champs lost the league player of the year in 6'7 Garrett Honstrom but they bring back everybody else from 25-4 team. They will be a top contender once again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: St. Cloud Cathedral, Zimmerman, Milaca, Pierz</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Cloud Cathedral lost the most from last year's top teams. They do return a couple starters but not quite as much as the top contenders. They will still be one of the better teams in the league but they have more to replace than Mora and Albany. Zimmerman should take a big step forward from their six win season. They return their top three players and should be a top four squad in the league. Considering how badly Cathedral beat Zimmerman last year, I'm not ready to make the Thunder top three. Milaca was 5-9 vs league teams, and 11-3 against non league teams. Will they improve in the league? [player_tooltip player_id='962296' first='Peyton' last='Hunt'] is a good player to lean on to try and make a jump. And remember, Milaca beat Zimmerman twice last season, and they beat Cathedral once against two losses although one of those loses was in overtime. I think Milaca makes a jump as that senior class is very strong. I like what the Oberfeld brothers bring to the court so I think they will keep Pierz in battles each night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Little Falls, Foley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Little Falls won only eight games last year and most of their rotation was seniors, so there is a lot to replace. Foley played a lot of seniors last season and they weren't very good. That likely means another season building for the future. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Albany</li><li>Mora</li><li>Milaca</li><li>St. Cloud Cathedral</li><li>Zimmerman </li><li>Pierz</li><li>Little Falls</li><li>Foley</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Granite Ridge Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'] of Albany (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Max Sampson of Mora (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1286547' first='Sam' last='Hondl'] of Albany (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962296' first='Peyton' last='Hunt'] of Milaca (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lewis Wolbert of Milaca (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Caden Spence of Zimmerman (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carter Voss of Albany (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dallas Fix of Mora (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1223082' first='Davis' last='Artisensi-Skime'] of Zimmerman (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1535036' first='Noah' last='Oberfeld'] of Pierz (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kyle Martin of Milaca (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Emanuel Kutzera of St. Cloud Cathedral (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1584900' first='Gage' last='Braiedy'] of Mora (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hunter Dipprey of Zimmerman (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ian Oberfeld of Pierz (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Max Pfeiffer of St. Cloud Cathedral (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trace Hasz of Milaca (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1575328' first='Ezekiel' last='Austin'] of Albany (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James Oslin of Mora (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225628' first='Beau' last='Thoma'] of Little Falls (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->