The Mid-State Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pequot Lakes made the move out of the league after being on top as well as going to state. Detroit Lakes was on top with them last season and should enter the season as the favorite. </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 Potential</strong>: Detroit Lakes, Crosby-Ironton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DL has three starters returning and all three were all league players including league MVP Mason Carrier (the highly rated Gopher football commit). There are reserve and role player spots to fill but the main pieces from a 17-9 team return. I have DL a top 20 team in Class AAA and CI as a top 20 team in Class AA basketball. CI has four starters back from a 17-win team and like D1 should move to the 20-win area. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Aitkin, Park Rapids Area</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aitkin won 11 games last season and lost a pair of all league players. That said, they have a solid senior class led by Braedyn Smith and 6'8 [player_tooltip player_id='1628773' first='Isaac' last='Asmus'] is now a sophomore that has matured some and should be able to provide more to the team with another year of experience. With three starters back including a couple all league players that averaged double figures, Park Rapids should be a better team</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Staples-Motley </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Staples-Motley won ten games last season but key seniors are gone and they will be a team with only 1-2 seniors and mostly juniors and sophomores. They will not be very big.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>***Quick Note, I am seeing a Noah Larson from CI and Park Rapids, both pretty good players so just know that is not an error that there are two guys with the same name but at different schools.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Mid-State Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Detroit Lakes</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Crosby-Ironton</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Aitkin</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Park Rapids Area</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Staples-Motley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Mid-State Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mason Carrier of Detroit Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284152' first='James' last='Stokman'] of Crosby-Ironton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617737' first='Devon' last='Berg'] of Detroit Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brandton Marsh of Detroit Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Larson of Crosby-Ironton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Larson of Park Rapids (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braedyn Smith of Aitkin (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jordan Mount of Crosby-Ironton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446770' first='Alex' last='Schultz'] of Staples-Motley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1628773' first='Isaac' last='Asmus'] of Aitkin (soph)</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='1284199' first='Noah' last='Morris'] of Park Rapids Area (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joseph Ringhand of Crosby-Ironton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reece Borgmann of Detroit Lakes (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Avandre Brandt of Staples-Motley (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blake Morris of Park Rapids Area (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->