The Minnesota River Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bulldogs of Lester Prairie were the best team in the Minnesota River a season ago. Can The LP hold off Mayer Lutheran and Belle Plaine once again? Is NYA for real? We look into that and more as we dive into the Minnesota River Conference!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Lester Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bulldogs have the best combination of talent and experience from a good team. They have one of the best point guards in the junior class plus several workers. The Bulldogs might have the perfect combo of players when it comes kids that want to battle on D. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Mayer Lutheran, Belle Plaine, LeSueur-Henderson, Norwood Young-America</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>NYA is a sneaky team here. After very strong squads from Maple River, Glencoe-Silver Lake, and LCWM, I think they are next in line in 2AA. O'Neil and Strickfaden are good for at least 40 a night and most of their line-up returns so they should take a nice big step forward. Belle Plaine should also be better with their top guy back and a good part of their rotation returning. I like Grant Adams from the Giants so they will be a tough team to beat each night but L-H lost too much to graduation for me to think they will be too much better. And speaking of lost a lot to graduation, Mayer Lutheran likely lost more from their rotation to graduation than any other team in this league. The Crusaders will still be good, Marcus Johnson and Josiah Clark are solid but there are a lot of players to replace. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Tri-City United, Sibley East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams won three games total last season, and both lost at least five guys from their rotation. Likely another rebuilding season. Feel bad for Tri City United as they were hurt by injuries some last year as there was a bit of promise to their team. </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>Lester Prairie</li><li>Norwood-Young America</li><li>Belle Plaine</li><li>Mayer Lutheran</li><li>LeSueur-Henderson</li><li>Tri-City United</li><li>Sibley East</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Minnesota River Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trever Schauer of Lester Prairie (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braeden O'Neil of Norwood-Young America (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225639' first='Noah' last='Strickfaden'] of Norwood-Young America (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andrew Siegle of Belle Plaine (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grant Adams of LeSueur-Henderson (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Marcus Johnson of Mayer Lutheran (sr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ryan Retser of Belle Plaine (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2093701' first='Connor' last='Radtke'] of Lester Prairie (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962294' first='Tanner' last='Scheevel'] of Lester Prairie (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josiah Clark of Mayer Lutheran (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Emmett Gerris of Belle Plaine (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aaron Druley of Norwood-Young America (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jake Druley of Norwood-Young America (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>LaDamien Gatlin-Coellner of Lester Prairie (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284208' first='Reggie' last='Vosejpka'] of Tri City United (jr)</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='2093705' first='Alek' last='Hodny'] of Lester Prairie (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dylan Graff of LeSueur-Henderson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hank Holicky of Tri City United (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Zach Kettner of Sibley East (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2256383' first='Joseph' last='Ballalatak'] of Sibley East (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->