The Independents Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are various teams in Minnesota that do not have a conference. We have put them together in the Independents preview. And keep in mind, these are independent teams that we know are going to play this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Independents Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Moorhead</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Moorhead Spuds have been a consistent program and this year I feel like they have a solid shot to make a run at the section 8AAAA title. The combination of Smith at lead guard and Zimmerman as the scoring wing should allow the Spuds to push for another 20 wins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Hiawatha Collegiate, CHOF, Higher Ground Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hiawatha Collegiate lost four players to graduation but they have their next star in Kam'Ron Solomon plus a few others ready to make an impact. CHOF has a big group of senior guards this year that scored in double figures a season ago. They should push way past that 13-win area and maybe make a Section 4a run. Higher Ground Academy won 17 games with a mix of sophomores and 8th graders. Not sure if the 8th graders are returning but if they do this should be a deep team at their level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Duluth East, Bemidji, Hope Academy, Kaledioscope Charter</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Duluth East lost seven or eight seniors from the rotation of a 20-win team. They have a couple nice young players to move towards with the future of this program which is a good thing, but there will be several new faces on the floor. I do like the potential of the Nyberg and Meyer combo.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bemidji is in a very similar spot to Duluth East in that they have two young guards moving forward that look to be the future of the program, but they also lost six of their top eight to graduation from a 15-win team. Hope Academy won eight games last year and they relied heavily on two players to get those eight wins. One of those players graduated but Brian Moss returns. Kaledioscope Charter lost their best five players to graduation from a five win team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Independents Power Rankings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Moorhead</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Duluth East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bemidji</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hiawatha Collegiate</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CHOF</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Higher Ground Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kaledioscope Charter</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hope Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason Independents</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1434054' first='Dylan' last='Zimmerman'] of Moorhead (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kam'Ron Solomon of Hiawatha Collegiate (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560797' first='Jaxon' last='Boschee'] of Bemidji (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2362574' first='DJ' last='Smith'] of Moorhad (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560767' first='Ty' last='Nyberg'] of Duluth East (soph)</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='1489494' first='Brennan' last='Meyer'] of Duluth East (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Erro Harms of CHOF (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Henry Bluhm of CHOF (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1434060' first='Braden' last='Luksik'] of Bemidji (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1625005' first='Brian' last='Zarazua Jr'] of Moorhead (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Domonick Watkins of Hiawatha Collegiate (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brian Moss of Hope Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Abdilahi Abdirashid of Higher Ground (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landon Strandlund of CHOF (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Abdiaziz Abdi of Higher Ground (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ian Schwab of Kaledioscope Charter (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->