The Northland Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nevis and Cass Lake-Bena were the class of the league last season as top ten teams in Class A and the best teams in the Northland Conference. What will change this year?</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</strong>: Nevis, Cass Lake-Bena</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nevis lost only one game from the team that won the state consolation championship. They should be thinking league, section and state title trophies and I believe they are. The pieces to make a run are there as they have guard play, skill, size and experience. Cass Lake-Bena also returns the majority of their line-up and they have some of the best offensive firepower in Class A hoops. The Panthers are looking to get back to state for the first time in six years (especially considering they were supposed to go in 2020 but didn't get the chance). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Contender</strong>: Red Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I think Red Lake might be the top contender to the favorites because they have their top guy back and five of their eight best players returning to the team. We don't think they have the players to overtake Nevis or Cass Lake-Bena outside of maybe a game, but they should take a step ahead of PRB and Blackduck. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Pine River-Backus, Blackduck, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pine River-Backus won 18 games last season but they lost so much of their line-up it might be tough to replicate. They will by no means fall into major struggle as they are a good program with a couple returning players, but likely not enough to make a league push of any kind. Blackduck lost their all conference players and a number of starters from a 16 win team. Should still be solid but have to break in a number of starters. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley should be getting better as they have a nice class of juniors. They only lost a few seniors from last year and there is only one senior this year. They should be competitive this year and have a team that can make a run for sure next year (and maybe they come together quicker than expected!)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> Northome/Kelliher, Laporte</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northome/Kelliher was a one win league team last year that lost three guys to graduation. Unfortunately there are no stats turned in and no submissions to the Breakdown book from them so we know little. Laporte has a solid sophomore group and a good senior in Grant Nelson so they might be able to improve on that 3-21record. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Northland Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Cass Lake-Bena</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Nevis</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Red Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Pine River-Backus</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Blackduck</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Walker-Hackensack-Akeley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Laporte</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northome/Kelliher </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Northland Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284127' first='Dominic' last='Fairbanks'] of Cass Lake-Bena (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284165' first='Kaydin' last='Lee'] of Cass Lake-Bena (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103319' first='Alex' last='Lester'] of Nevis (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284161' first='John' last='Paul Benson'] of Nevis (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2398568' first='Austin' last='Ahrendt'] of Nevis (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='1284136' first='Gerald' last='Kingbird Jr'] of Red Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andrew Buekers of Pine River-Backus (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kingsley Whitebird of Cass Lake-Bena (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284159' first='Joe' last='Houchin'] of Nevis (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109862' first='Devan' last='Lindow'] of Nevis (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jack Brown of Red Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tatyen Boswell of Cass Lake-Bena (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parker Brock of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grant Hamilton of Laporte (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brennan Kortuem of Blackduck (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Christian Moe of Nevis (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2449438' first='Tate' last='Norman'] of Pine River-Backus (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tyrone Beaulieu of Red Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->