The Skyline Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maranatha Christian Academy and New Life Academy were the class of the league a season ago and come into the 2022-23 as favorites once again. Here is your Skyline Conference Preview!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State</strong>: New Life Acaemy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>New Life Academy is on the short list of favorites to win Class A basketball this year. They lost only one starter and one rotation player overall from a group that played in the Class A Final Four. There is wing scoring to replace from that one player (Kollin Kaemingk) but the Eagles should have more than enough returning pieces to fill that void as this is a senior dominated group this season. In fact, so many of their players will have improved to the point that we think they should certainly be in the final four again, maybe in the title game!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Concordia Academy, Maranatha Christian Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Concordia Academy is a top 25 area team right now in Class AA and with a really nice senior group, some good health, and a nice run, they could have an outside shot at being a top ten team at some point this year. It's a really nice senior group that may have lost a good transfer, but has some really good team basketball players returning that are loyal to what they have built. MCA has a returning all league player in [player_tooltip player_id='1617685' first='Bailey' last='Mcdonald'], they have a real up and comer in [player_tooltip player_id='1288817' first='Drew' last='Balentine'], and there are several returning experienced returning players. Like many in this league they were bit but the "transfer portal" but they have enough talent to enter the season as a top 15 team in Class AA. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: St. Agnes, St Croix Lutheran, St Croix Prep, Cristo Rey Jesuit</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are two ways to look at St. Agnes who went 18-10 last year with a young team: 1) they have three really good players returning that should make them competitive and around .500, or 2) think of what could of been had the "transfer portal" not led to their top scorers going to South St. Paul. You will be happier looking at it from number one and that is the best way to do it. St. Agnes will be a solid team this year as [player_tooltip player_id='1139831' first='Andrew' last='Weber'] is a really good guard entering his upperclassmen years. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Croix Lutheran only won seven games last year and they lost their leading scorer. That said, Crusaders have the rest of their team back so they should be a handful of wins better this season. The other St. Croix names team, St. Croix Prep, was steady throughout last season and good in their league. With three starters back and a foundation of a quality program now built, they should have another good year. Maybe not a contending at the top year, but a good year. For comparison, they have about the same amount of players back from their rotation as St. Agnes, but St. Croix Prep beat St. Agnes twice last year finishing a game ahead in the table. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cristo Rey Jesuit played so many young guys last year that it was kind of their start in a phase and this year they should take that next step. The good news is they have good young talent that is now experienced and that will win more games, the bad news is they won two games last year so it's still a work in progress that should be trending in the right way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Nova Classical, Trinity</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nova lost senior starters and got much younger after going 7-21 last season and not winning a league game. They are still in the building phase but they have a good junior class of talent. Trinity relied heavily on three players and all three of those players have graduated. Trinity was really good defensively last season and they could be again, but scoring will be tough with most of their point production gone. </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>New Life Academy</li><li>Maranatha Christian Academy</li><li>Concordia Academy</li><li>St. Croix Prep</li><li>St. Agnes</li><li>Cristo Rey Jesuit</li><li>St. Croix Lutheran</li><li>Nova Classical</li><li>Trinity School</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Skyline Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962239' first='Aj' last='Greene'] of Concordia Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225656' first='Max' last='Briggs'] of New Life Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225651' first='Erick' last='Reader'] of New Life Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617685' first='Bailey' last='Mcdonald'] of Maranatha Christian (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1139831' first='Andrew' last='Weber'] of St. Agnes (jr)</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='1617733' first='Corey' last='Dotson Jr'] of Cristo Rey Jesuit (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jaiden Neish of St. Croix Lutheran (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Austin Woolf of New Life Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225658' first='Tyler' last='Huebsch'] of New Life Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1171930' first='Luc' last='Swanson'] of Concordia Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Colton Hendricks of New Life Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benjamin Raymond of Concordia Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225655' first='Bjorn' last='Benson'] of St. Croix Prep (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288751' first='Patrick' last='Akoussan'] of Cristo Rey Jesuit (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962244' first='Matthew' last='Bluford'] of Maranatha Christian Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jarory Purnell of Maranatha Christian Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109843' first='Nolan' last='Davis'] of St. Agnes (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288817' first='Drew' last='Balentine'] of Maranatha Christian Academy (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617791' first='Omar' last='Whittaker'] of Cristo Rey Jesuit (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962245' first='Isaiah' last='Bluford'] of Maranatha Christian Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1225654' first='Paul' last='Plasch'] of St. Agnes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Christian Nelson of St. Croix Prep (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Silas Revenaugh of Nova Classical (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284188' first='Miles' last='Nelson'] of Cristo Rey Jesuit (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cade Hanson of St. Croix Prep (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Luke Olson of Concordia Academy (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Si Gawrich of St. Croix Lutheran (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->