The Big Nine Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's that time! Time to spend about 2.5 months previewing the 2023-24 basketball season in every which way possible. And that includes previewing most, if not all of the 47 conferences in Minnesota!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State: </strong> Mankato East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cougars have the pieces to not only run away with this league, to not just be a top five team, I think East can dream about a title. They have a junior lead guard that was arguably the most accomplished sophomore in the state last year in [player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson']. East also has a fantastic junior class that has not just Madson but several wings that are excellent players. They have size in sophomore Braden Petzel, there are role players that have improved. and [player_tooltip player_id='1355507' first='Carson' last='Schweim'] is now back from injury. The Cougars are in a great spot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: Mankato West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West has a couple big number producers in Kyle Steinke and [player_tooltip player_id='1284169' first='Landon' last='Dimler'] plus other pieces around them that are returning with experience. If anybody could get a win over East it's West because they have the second most talent in the league and they of course are the local rivals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Rochester Century, Owatonna, Northfield, Mayo, Winona</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The next spots seem up for grabs. Century has [player_tooltip player_id='1332274' first='Shaun' last='Wysocki'], but they have a ton of seniors to replace and I believe there is a new coach there now as well. Owatonna has some pieces back but they were a strong backcourt that will be new. I really like Koep and Mahal together for Northfield, and Mayo had a great summer in the Breakdown Summer Series of events, but do they have enough for a top third run? Winona lost three starters but [player_tooltip player_id='2364156' first='Jackson' last='Harvey'] might be the best player you don't know. A hard working talent that scored 16 a game last season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Austin, Faribault, Red Wing, JM, Albert Lea</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Austin will pretty much be an entirely new varsity team with almost all new names in the rotation. Faribault is likely in the last year in rebuilding stage but this is the year they could win some games. They have a nice sophomore class. Albert Lea lost their best players and is now in Class AA, JM is basically starting over, and Red Wing lost a lot of seniors and they had a rough year last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><u>Big Nine</u></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato East</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato West</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester Century</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northfield</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Owatonna</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Winona</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester Mayo</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Austin</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Faribault</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Red Wing</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester JM</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Albert Lea</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Big Nine</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1332274' first='Shaun' last='Wysocki'] of Rochester Century (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] of Mankato East (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284169' first='Landon' last='Dimler'] of Mankato West (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1355507' first='Carson' last='Schweim'] of Mankato East (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103251' first='Ganden' last='Gosch'] of Mankato East (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='2364156' first='Jackson' last='Harvey'] of Winona (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kyle Steinke of Mankato West (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284087' first='Austin' last='Koep'] of Northfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1385264' first='Isaiah' last='Mahal'] of Northfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1525727' first='Sawyer' last='Markham'] of Rochester Mayo (jr)</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='1441838' first='Manaow' last='Omot'] of Mankato East (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1931515' first='Rielly' last='Kleeberger'] of Owatonna (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braden Petzel of Mankato East (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1275978' first='Dwayne' last='Bryant'] of Mankato East (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1978828' first='Isaiah' last='Bell'] of Winona (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874799' first='Braden' last='Schulz'] of Faribault (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->