Class AAAA Title Contender Series: Park Center

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park Center has played in the last two state championship games in Class AAAA and they have the talent to get there yet again. The Pirates are next in the title contender series.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key Wins in 22-23 (28-3)</strong>: Edina, DeLaSalle, Lakeville North, Totino-Grace (x2), Osseo (x3), Holy Family, Mounds View, Andover, Eastview</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Oops</strong>: Wayzata, Elk River, Maple Grove</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Moving On</strong>:  The Pirates had eight seniors last year and half of them were big pieces to the rotation. CJ O'Hara graduated and is now at Combine Prep. JJ Ware also graduated and he is at We Are United Prep this year. Joe Burgess and Kaden Cook were also big pieces to the rotation and each of them have graduated. Overall the Pirates graduated four of the top seven guys in the rotation including their top two scoring leaders (Ware and O'Hara). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Returning Starters (2)</strong>.  The Pirates only return two starters but it's a massive two names: [player_tooltip player_id='1172835' first='Casmir' last='Chavis'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284106' first='Chiang' last='Ring']. Chavis is a nationally ranked high major level talent that can handle, that can get to the rim, and that can completely change the game when he wants to with his quickness on defense. Ring is the best shot blocker in the state and one of the most explosive finishers around the basket in the state. As you can imagine the pair is a big time lob combo threat but also they are a defensive menace as a pair as well. Chavis averaged 16 points a game last year while Ring averaged 11 points a game while also leading the team in rebounds and blocked shots. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Reserves Playing a Bigger Role:</strong> Senior [player_tooltip player_id='1549538' first='Jackson' last='Fowlkes'] is one of the best 20 prospects in the senior class. He averaged 13 points a game last season as one of the best 6th Men in the state. In fact he might have been the best 6th Man in Minnesota in 2022-23. Fowlkes is a D2 offered talent. Senior guard [player_tooltip player_id='2361368' first='Aiden' last='Memene'] is maybe the most interesting name in this article. Aiden was a good JV player, played some on varsity when the rotation went deeper, and this summer I thought he was outstanding. He and Chavis can make for an excellent combo of guards with one handling and the other scoring on the wing. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Potentials from the JV</strong>. The biggest JV name that grabs my attention is [player_tooltip player_id='1560839' first='Xavier' last='Frelix'], a sophomore six foot guard who I thought played very well when I saw him this summer. Frelix was a key part of their rotation in the summer events I saw PC in and he could have a role this winter as well. Josh Diggs, [player_tooltip player_id='2112248' first='Peter' last='Okafor'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1617786' first='Nigel' last='Caldwell'] will all be juniors after playing as sophomores last year on the JV. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>New to the Varsity program</strong>. There are three transfers that have grabbed our attention: [player_tooltip player_id='1574214' first='Temi' last='Omotoyinbo'] from Osseo, [player_tooltip player_id='1452542' first='Ari' last='Gooch'] from Camden (NJ) and Armstrong and Hopkins before that, and [player_tooltip player_id='2233674' first='Honest' last='Olango'] (from Pennsylvania). We should start with Good who played at the Hopkins younger levels a couple years ago and then was Armstrong for a bit. He was in New Jersey last year and since he's moved back, Ari has been the talk of a lot of fall basketball events. Olango comes from Pennsylvania and he was outstanding at the Expo last weekend. Omotoyinbo is a junior that was at Osseo last year, and was at Minneapolis South the two seasons before that. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: Two returning starters that are among the elite players in the state, a 6th man who is a top 20 senior in the state, a reserve coming off a huge summer, four underclassmen from last season that played well on the JV, and three very good transfers with strong experience. That is eleven guys that Park Center has (and there may be more I may have missed) to form a team that will once again be among the best in the state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->