The Tri-Metro Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Tri-Metro has grown to a nine time league with the addition of Robbinsdale Cooper and Bloomington Kennedy. Those schools will join six others in trying to knock off Columbia Heights who has won the league the last two seasons. Here is the Tri-Metro 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>: Columbia Heights, DeLaSalle</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Columbia Heights will look a bit different this year after their 2022 class led them to so many big victories the past 2-3 seasons. There is still talent at Heights and their coaches - led by Willie Braziel - always get their team to play at a higher level than anticipated so we still think they are a top ten team despite four new starters taking the floor this season. DeLaSalle has a "new" coach but Todd Anderson is not new to the Islanders at all as he is a highly respected long time assistant. They are coming off a state title game run returning their best player (Nasir Withlock) and several experienced players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Richfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Spartans have a quality mix of quality transfers coming in, quality youth coming up, and quality experienced reserves coming back. They are a top 20 team in Class AAA with a chance to push for the top ten if they gel like expected. Really like the leadership I've seen in fall league from [player_tooltip player_id='1221142' first='Jalen' last='Hayes'] and overall the talent level if solid. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Robbinsdale Cooper, Fridley, Holy Angels</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cooper may not be a top ten team in Class AAAA this year but for this league they will most certainly be in the mix as a top four squad. Bo Powell always has his team competing at a strong level regardless if he has a small group, a young group, a bigger group, or whatever. Fridley, always competes. They may not be a contender sometimes but they always compete and they will do so again. Holy Angels lost some key players but I don't think they are going to slip as far as some might think. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Bloomington Kennedy, St Anthony Village, Brooklyn Center</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kennedy has a new staff led by Pat Buchanan and they are coming off a six win season. They will not be a push over because they have returning experienced players but they are starting fresh again. St. Anthony Village actually has seven of their top eight guys back so the only way it's really a rebuild is that they have a new coach in Josh Pratt. BC won three games last year and they gave up 86 points a contest so they are still rebuilding at this time. </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>DeLaSalle</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Columbia Heights</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Richfield</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Robbinsdale Cooper</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Fridley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Academy of Holy Angels </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>St. Anthony Village</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Bloomington Kennedy</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Brooklyn Center</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Tri-Metro Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284156' first='Jency' last='Davis'] of Columbia Heights (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1221142' first='Jalen' last='Hayes'] of Richfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Isreal Moses V of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962210' first='Quyavant' last='Douglas'] of Brooklyn Center (sr)</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='1172778' first='Sam' last='Massaquoi'] of Robbinsdale Cooper (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284207' first='Randy' last='McClendon Jr'] of Columbia Heights (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1296151' first='Antwan' last='Smith'] of Fridley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1148715' first='Jaden' last='Morgan'] of DeLaSalle (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288764' first='Pj' last='Pounds'] of DeLaSale (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1221167' first='AJ' last='Boarman'] of Holy Angels (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1287467' first='Bronell' last='Marcus'] of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CJ Armstrong of Richfield (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Myles Dillon-Parks of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962241' first='Nathan' last='Lucas'] of St. Anthony Village (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>FourthTeam</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1638427' first='Michael' last='Cooper'] of Robbinsdale Cooper (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1221165' first='Martez' last='Wise'] of Columbia Heights (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1221166' first='Jaylen' last='Boehm-Peterson'] of Holy Angels (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617809' first='Zavier' last='Hayes'] of Richfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1570376' first='Riley' last='Blaylark'] of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284088' first='Avery' last='Wells'] of Richfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1505462' first='Kenji' last='Asai'] of St. Anthony Village (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jamian Cook of Robbinsdale Cooper (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1169692' first='Aidan' last='Higgins'] of DeLaSalle (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tajan Pearson of Bloomington Kennedy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962307' first='Leavale' last='Hicks'] of Columbia Heights (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->