The Central Minnesota Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Central Minnesota Conference was a three way race last year with Eden Valley-Watkins and BBE tying at the top, and Paynesville Area one game behind them. What will the league look like this year? Prep Hoops gives you our view!</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</strong>:  BBE, Eden Valley Watkins</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>BBE will be on the verge of top ten but they will need some time to adjust because so much of their line-up last year was seniors. [player_tooltip player_id='1284178' first='Luke' last='Dingmann'] will be one of the best players in Class A plus Taylor Pieper looks next up, but there will be many holes to fill initially. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eden Valley-Watkins on the other hand is a team with a known name ([player_tooltip player_id='1434977' first='Noah' last='Stommes']), a team that went to state last year, and a team that has almost all of their key pieces returning. This is a team that will be looking at not just a state trip but a run at a championship. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Paynesville Area, Royalton, ACGC, Kimball Area</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bulldogs of Paynesville are an AA team that will be in that good to potentially really good area. They lost six of their top eight guys but the two returning players were starters and key players at that. Royalton was the middle of the pack team from last season and with two starters back but 4-5 pieces to replace, they are likely to be in a similar spot. ACGC is the team that should make a jump. They were 11-14 last year but have four starters back and a potential 20 point per game guy in [player_tooltip player_id='2398530' first='Kyler' last='Pickle'] entering his senior season. Kimball Area is another team that should be better as they have all but two guys returning from the previous season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Holdingford, Maple Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holdingford won six games last year and it was with a line-up that did have seniors. They are likely to be playing a lot of young guys with a mix of older players. This will be a team that might be short on depth versus some times but they will compete. Maple Lake was winless last season so it's a rebuild. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Eden Valley-Watkins</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>BBE</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Paynesville Area</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>ACGC</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Royalton</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Kimball Area</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Holdingford</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Maple Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Central Minnesota Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1434977' first='Noah' last='Stommes'] of Eden Valley-Watkins (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284178' first='Luke' last='Dingmann'] of BBE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parker Schultz of BBE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brayden Pung of Paynesville Area (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2398530' first='Kyler' last='Pickle'] of ACGC (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='1434065' first='Nolan' last='Geislinger'] of BBE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryce VanderBeek of Paynesville Area (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wyatt Moehrle of BBE (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owen Mortenson of Kimball Area (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Marcus Forsythe of ACGC (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cal Ollman of Royalton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Peyton Hooper of Kimball Area (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2524653' first='Dawson' last='Hofer'] of Holdingford (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jonas Morrison of ACGC (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team </em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2445574' first='Bryant' last='Knaus'] of Kimball Area (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taylor Pieper of BBE (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Logan Pesta of Royalston (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nick Lind of Maple Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->