The MN High School Preview: Top 10 Week One Games

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The season begins THURSDAY with 50 games to open the season. Between Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, what are the top ten games to see this week? We give that list NOW!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>PEM at Lake City (Friday). What a season opener! In fact, these coaches must have looked at their AD like.... really? But it's second ranked PEM against fourth ranked Lake City right out of the gates! [player_tooltip player_id='1339196' first='Aeron' last='Stevens'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1225623' first='Ryan' last='Heise'], a couple NSIC signed forwards going at it. Should be a lot of fun.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benilde-St. Margaret's at Alexandria (Friday). When it comes to prospects, you have [player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] against [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] which is must see stuff. But even more fun is that [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'], [player_tooltip player_id='1574215' first='Abu' last='Keita'], [player_tooltip player_id='1572691' first='Jaleel' last='Donley'] and so many others are in this Class AAA top ten game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hopkins at Orono (Saturday). The guard match-up of [player_tooltip player_id='1550877' first='Jayden' last='Moore'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] will be great but I also like the idea of watching [player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'] against Vincent Hillsheim. Orono is a top five Class AAA team whereas Hopkins is a top 20 Class AAAA team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cherry at Deer River (Thursday). Not quite the same headliner that last year was but pretty close. Cherry is ranked second in Class A basketball while Deer River starts the year at 15th. Deer River lost their big name but really does bring back a lot of talent so [player_tooltip player_id='1288733' first='Isaac' last='Asuma'] and company will be challenged. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cass Lake-Bena at Legacy Christian (Friday). We have the 8A favorite traveling to the metro to take on one of the 4A favorites in Legacy Christian. Dom Fairbanks and [player_tooltip player_id='1288688' first='Aiden' last='Johnson'] are names to watch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chanhassen at Holy Family (Saturday). The neighborhood rivalry, these schools are six miles away from one another. The [player_tooltip player_id='1287442' first='Kole' last='Hanson'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1287439' first='Max' last='Woods'] guard match-up should be great. How does the Storm and their new roster (they graduated a lot up front) handle the massive size of the Fire?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Austin at Byron (Saturday). We have a new coach at Austin in Jamaal Gibson taking on Kyle Finney, an Austin graduate who used to coach the younger Austin levels. Byron is healthy again so this will be a great 1AAA match-up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Glencoe-Silver Lake at Jordan (Thursday). Another fun game between teams moderately close to one another, [player_tooltip player_id='1284132' first='Eli' last='Ehrke'] and the Panthers look to get back to state this year. Jordan lost some big number guys but are always a good team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Minnetonka at Prior Lake (Friday). Section 2AAAA posturing already! [player_tooltip player_id='1161947' first='Joshua' last='Ofori'] is back so the Lakers have some agile size to try and slow the Tonka frontcourt, but what can the Lakers do with that Andy and Ibo backcourt?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Badger/Greenbush-Middle River at Fertile-Beltrami (Thursday). A quality northern Minnesota match-up. BGMR had a rough follow up to their 2021 state season but Zac Balwat is still there. Fertile-Beltrami lost two top guards but they have three all conference players returning. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->