The Granite Ridge Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Granite Ridge Conference was naturally won by state champion Albany last year and they will be the favorite this season. Pequot Lakes has replaced Zimmerman in the league, and this is a league is rebuilding in some form all over as it was senior dominated. </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>: Albany </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Albany won a state title last year mixing a good senior class with a couple outstanding juniors. Those juniors (Austin and Hondl) return with a few seniors looking to defend their title. It will be tough with only a few seniors that have experience but this will be a top Class AA team again.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Mora, Milaca, Little Falls, Foley, Pierz, Pequot Lakes</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mora is a very good program and [player_tooltip player_id='1584900' first='Gage' last='Braiedy'] is a strong player to bring them into the next run. That said. Braiedy was on the floor with all seniors last year so there will be some growing pains early this year. Like Mora, Milaca was a good team but it was senior dominated. Milaca has a ball handler back and that is it from their 23 win team. Little Falls was a big surprise last year and with two starters back in a league that lost so much, they can match that 14 win total from a season ago. Foley has more starters back than any team in the league that won double figure games last season. They should make a jump. After winning 27 games behind one of the best players in the program's history (Eli Laposky) Pequot Lakes enters the new era with some reserves back from last year, but starting fresh. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: St Cloud Cathedral</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cathedral was 17-11 last season but their rotation was also all seniors, quite a theme in this league. Cathedral will have nearly an entire new team on the floor. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Albany</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mora</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Pequot Lakes</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Little Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Foley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Pierz</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Milaca</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>St. Cloud Cathedral</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Granite Ridge Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Samuel Hondl of Albany (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ezekial Austin of Albany (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1584900' first='Gage' last='Braiedy'] of Mora (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617753' first='Jaxon' last='Janski'] of Little Falls (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1535036' first='Noah' last='Oberfeld'] of Pierz (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='1617742' first='Gavin' last='Gross'] of Foley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andrew Olson of Albany (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Derek Dahmen of Foley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104518' first='Carter' last='Gwost'] of Little Falls (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brayden Spiczka of Pequot Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joey Stuckmayer of Pierz (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braden Taylor of Milaca (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cole Rueckert of Foley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kyle Winscher of Pierz (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Conner Quale of Pequot Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109875' first='Harrison' last='Kennen'] of Pequot Lakes (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ben Barclay of Pierz (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->