The North Star Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The North Star Conference is a ten team league that was controlled by Sacred Heart, Northern Freeze and WAO in 2022-23. How much will change in 2023-24? Join Prep Hoops this morning and we have a look!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Contenders</strong>: Northern Freeze, Sacred Heart, Warren Alavardo-Oslo, Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northern Freeze lost four of their five starters/all league honored players to graduation. That said, they have one starter back and all of their reserves plus they were the only team in the North with a winning record so they should be in a good spot once again. Even if they only have a couple seniors. Sacred Heart looks to have two of their top four players back plus a decent part of their role players. They should be in position to be the best in the league again and be a potential top ten team in state after winning 28 games last season. We think Warren Alavardo-Oslo can be a contender but they did take a pretty serious graduation hit. Northern Freeze and Sacred Heart did too but I think WAO's may have been a bit stiffer. They have two key rotation players back so they should still be a good team with an outside shot at the title. Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke is my pick to make a big jump. After winning 15 games last year they have the senior duo to make a run at things and if they defend, they can think about a shot at maybe winning getting 20 wins!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Kittson County Central, Stephen-Argyle, Roseau, Red Lake County, Clearbrook-Gonvick</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>KCC has their second leading scorer back and a freshmen that has a chance to be a 4.5 year standout. They lost four of their top six from an 11-win team but should have enough to at least match last year's success. Replacing the Kaden Vig scoring will be tough though. When it comes to Stephen-Argyle we know nothing: no rosters or stats anywhere online, they never submit anything to the Breakdown book, nothing on social media, nothing. All we know is they were 9-17 last year and lost their best player. Roseau has a frosh in [player_tooltip player_id='2126146' first='Jordan' last='Borowicz'] who last year scored 23 points a game as an 8th grader, an impressive year one accomplishment on a 7-win team. He and fellow all league player Gunnar Lund (scored 19 a game) should have Roseau taking a step forward. Red Lake County has a lot of young talent that should be maturing. If they take the defensive step they can move into the contending role because the talent is there to be a really good team. Clearbrook-Gonvick has a couple solid guards back and should take a step forward.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Badger/Greenbush-Middle River</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>BGMR won four games a season ago and graduated most of their production. Based on last year's roster they will be without a senior this year so it's a rebuild for the future at this moment. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 North Star Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>North</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northern Freeze</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Kittson County Central</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Roseau</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Stephen-Argyle</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Badger/Greenbush-Middle River</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>South</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Sacred Heart</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Warren Alavardo-Oslo</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Red Lake County</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Clearbrook-Gonvick</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Power Rankings</em> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Sacred Heart</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northern Freeze</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Warren Alavardo-Oslo</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Red Lake County</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Clearbrook-Gonvick</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Kittson County Central</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Roseau</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Stephen-Argyle</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Badger/Greenbush-Middle River</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All North Star Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2399797' first='Josiah' last='Sundby'] of Sacred Heart (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284177' first='Lewis' last='Jones'] of Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1468773' first='Everett' last='Nelson'] of Northern Freeze (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2451453' first='Parker' last='Erickson'] of Sacred Heart (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1490631' first='Owen' last='Chervestad'] of Red Lake County (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blake Rychlock of Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126146' first='Jordan' last='Borowicz'] of Roseau (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Connor Durden of Red Lake County (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hassani Bruton of Clearbrook-Gonvick (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109876' first='Ty' last='Vig'] of Kittson County Central (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='1946314' first='Kaden' last='Pierce'] of WAO (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ben Goudge of Clearbrook-Gonvick (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cade Knutsen of Northern Freeze (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Greg Downs of Sacred Heart (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gunnar Lund of Roseau (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Underdahl of Northern Freeze (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kellen Johnson of Kittson County Central (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Adam McIntyre of WAO (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Isaac Sunby of Sacred Heart (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Will Gieseke of Red Lake County (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Masen Swenson of Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->