Teams to Watch: 6A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The season is upon us! Time to look at some of the teams to watch in 6A, considering the “Returners,” “Contenders” and “Unknowns”:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Returners:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Valley Northwest: The Huskies were handled by Wichita Heights in the state finals, but they return a wealth of talent from that bunch, led by stud guard [player_tooltip player_id='1378390' first='Grant' last='Stubblefield']. They've got length to spare, starting with forwards [player_tooltip player_id='1461338' first='Joey' last='Matteoni'], [player_tooltip player_id='1270297' first='Jaxon' last='Klein'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1561993' first='Landon' last='Braun']. If some new guards can take up some slack, they will have a plethora of options on offense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wichita Heights: The Falcons were explosive and diverse a year ago. They lost some of that explosiveness, but you can bet there will be some new studs ready to seize their chance. Point guard is in the capable hands of [player_tooltip player_id='1080161' first='Marcus' last='Zeigler Jr'] (pictured). The big question is where will [player_tooltip player_id='1270090' first='TJ' last='Williams'] play basketball this year. If he's on the court for the Falcons at any point this season, it's a game-changer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Challenger:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Manhattan: The Indians have one of the best bigs in the state in [player_tooltip player_id='1080174' first='Jack' last='Wilson']. There is a lot of length on the roster, including a couple of new faces in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2321581' first='Landon' last='Knopp']</strong> and the Newcomer twins. They will look to some newcomers like <strong>Miles Braxmeyer </strong>and [player_tooltip player_id='1173007' first='Jason' last='Kim'] at guard. How much can they improve on their 9-14 record from last year? We'll see.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Unknown:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mill Valley: They were just 10-11 last year. They have so much young talent, you would expect a big improvement this season. They start with highly-regarded sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1588338' first='Carter' last='Kaifes'] and senior guards [player_tooltip player_id='1268856' first='Dylan' last='Blazer'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1624983' first='Jameson' last='Fisher']. They also can look to junior [player_tooltip player_id='1438640' first='Dallin' last='Wallace']. But questions include how transfer [player_tooltip player_id='1378441' first='Gus' last='Hawkins'] will fit in after blowing up in football. And a big question is over how the Jaguars will adapt to the 6A level after getting bumped up a class.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->