The St. Paul City Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Paul Johnson bested St. Paul Highland Park by a game to earn the conference title last season. What does the St. Paul City Conference look like in 2023-24? We have a look today! </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>: Central, Highland Park, Johnson</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Central was 15-9 a season ago and finished third in the league with a 9-3 conference record. They return two of their three best players but Central does lose three starters. The Minutemen are a top contender for this league with one of the best returning players in the league in [player_tooltip player_id='1574222' first='Allan' last='Lankfard'] Jr. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Highland Park was a one score loss to Central away from tying Johnson for the league title. Highland Park beat Johnson once, they knocked off Central in that other game, and they bring back four of their five starters and are looking for more this year. The Scots are also a veteran team so this should be a really exciting race this year in the St. Paul City. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I'm really excited for this race this year because last year there was a ltight race, because there are three pretty good teams, and because St. Paul Johnson coach [player_tooltip player_id='2126456' first='Colin' last='Moore'] put it down for everybody to see in the Breakdown book when he said "we will win a lot of games shock a lot of people plus all of (our) players take pride in defense and playing with heart". Love that! Coach has laid down the confidence for a team that did graduate three of their top four scorers. Johnson does welcome back [player_tooltip player_id='1284114' first='Daejohn' last='Thomas'] who was at East Ridge as a junior but at Johnson as an underclassmen (and now as a senior too). Thomas and Turner are going to be a very, very physical pair in the frontcourt and they are playing ball pressuring guards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Como Park, Harding</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Como Park will be better this year as they return all but one player from last year's rotation (one graduated senior from last year's team). The Cougars return their top four scorers. Is that enough to be a contender? That might be asking a bit much but they will be a better team. Harding was 6-6 in the league putting them in the middle. They also won half of their 24 games overall, and of course they bring back half of their top six scorers. And I could see Harding beating right in the middle of the league again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Humboldt, Washington</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year Humboldt had a new coach, they had a lot of young players and while they did win two league games they did take lumps losing games by 23 points a night. They had a very interesting mix of juniors and 8th graders last season and a couple seniors. The experience gained should help them take a step. Washington was winless in a dozen St. Paul City games but they did go 9-7 in non league games which was good for them. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 St. Paul City Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Johnson</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Highland Park</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Central</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Harding</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Como Park</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Humboldt</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Washington</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All St. Paul City Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560859' first='Kenneth' last='Turner'] of Johnson (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284114' first='Daejohn' last='Thomas'] of Johnson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874937' first='Xavier' last='May'] of Highland Park (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574222' first='Allan' last='Lankfard'] Jr of Central (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104515' first='Ai'John' last='Douglas'] of Harding (jr)</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='1436444' first='Andrew' last='Bacigalupi'] of Highland Park (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284181' first='Mason' last='Aarness'] of Como Park (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874938' first='Yared' last='Yohannes'] of Highland Park (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dhimani Tucker of Johnson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874806' first='Charles' last='Duncan'] of Highland Park (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pierre Stewart of Harding (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284150' first='Jalani' last='Mays'] of Johnson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2120500' first='Eli' last='Moseman'] of Central (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Albert Wellington of Humboldt (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2364200' first='Luqman' last='Ibrahim'] of Harding (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dejuan Jones of Como Park (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ja'Hari Hill of Como Park (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eliezer Lopez-Henriquez of Central (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jonathan Santiago of Washington (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nathanael Chea of Harding (jr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->