The Tomahawk Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's two year title run should not be declared over but they do have pieces to replace. Is there a team out there ready to step up and take their spot at the top?</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 Potential</strong>: Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With four of their top six guys back including two double figure scores SESM is still in really good shape for another good season. In fact, you could argue they should enter the season at top ten. That said, Class A is really really deep this season and SESM did lose their top two players. As far as the conference goes, SESM is still in very good shape with Wait and Walter leading the way. They have really good Class A size too. And remember, SESM will be younger this year as they only have two returning seniors and only one of those seniors (Wait) has experience. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Contenders</strong>:  Springfield, New Ulm Cathedral, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, Cedar Mountain</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At Springfield it's now Brayden Sturm's team. Last year he was a frosh playing with good seniors but now he's the top player back. It will be tough to make last year's 18 wins but they will still be good. New Ulm Cathedral has about as much back as Springfield and they will also rely heavily on a young player becoming the team leader (Wilfahrt). Jevan is coming off of a 16.3 point, 7.4 rebound, 4.3 assist, 2 steal, 1.5 block per game season and he's a junior.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Remember, Buffalo Lake-Hector beat New Ulm Cathedral last year and took both Springfield and SESM to overtime. They had a 10 win conference season (10-6). And they bring back their top two players/scorers. Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart is on the up! The one problem the Mustangs have is they need to replace three starters and their sixth man. Those were their key role players so they need the reserves to step up. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cougars lost only one player so they will be better. They have two all league players returning including Brandon Pendleton. The concern? This is a really small team. In fact only two guys are the team are taller than six feet and half of the dozen returning players are under six feet. And remember, this team beat New Ulm Cathedral and Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart last season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Minnesota Valley Lutheran</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>MVL was really young last season so their sophomores took some lumps but will be better this year. They win six games last year and with so much of this group being experienced juniors we think they should be a 10, 11 win team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong>  Wabasso, Sleepy Eye</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There is not much information to go on here with Wabasso. We know they lost a couple all league players from a 12-win team and they have a junior class that they will lean on this year. But as for the talent it's tough to know, seems like they are taking a step back but again, little information to go on. Sleepy Eye was the only team in the league to not average 50 or more points a game last season and this year they will have no seniors. Surely a team building for next year. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop had the worst record in the league last season at 5-23. They lost their best couple players and have only one senior, also rebuilding. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2022-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>New Ulm Cathedral</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Springfield</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Cedar Mountain</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Minnesota Valley Lutheran</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Wabasso </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Sleepy Eye</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Tomahawk Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1434062' first='Jevan' last='Wilfhart'] of New Ulm Cathedral </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1341716' first='Kaleb' last='Wait'] of SESM (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284232' first='Will' last='Walter'] of SESM (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chase Hubin of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Branndon Pendleton of Cedar Mountain (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brayden Sturm of Springfield (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benjamin Pearson of MVL (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mark Anderson of SESM (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Connor McColley of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dakota Pendleton-Sam of Cedar Mountain (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cole Thompson of MVL (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jonathan Petermann of SESM (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benjamin Blomberg of New Ulm Cathedral (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2369585' first='Kyler' last='Flunker'] of MVL (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->