The Suburban East Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>East Ridge won the SEC by two games a season ago and they enter the 23-24 season as the favorite again. Here is the Suburban East Preview!</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> East Ridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another year, another Raptors top ten team, another East Ridge team with a big name prospect and several future local college players in the MIAC and such, another Raptors team that will win the league most likely, but can they get past that section final? They have done it once since the building opened. That said, this year they are the big favorite in both league and section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Cretin-Derham Hall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I like this CDH team. They have a handful of tough guards with Mitchell being a top ten sophomore in the state and they have a frontcourt battler in Dixon that I really enjoy watching when he's actively battling just out-efforting the opposition. Throw in some veterans and the Raiders are one I could see sneaking into the top ten at some point. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Mounds View, Forest Lake, Roseville, Woodbury, Park of Cottage Grove</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park of Cottage Grove losses their best two players from a nine win team BUT they do have five guys returning from their line-up. I think they will be tougher than people think but pry in a similar spot record wise. Woodbury lost their top two scorers but bring back the majority of the rest of the line-up. They should improve on those four wins from a year ago. Mounds View is almost always solid but I am not sure they can quite hit that 17 win total this year, likely closer to a game under .500. Roseville should be in a similar competitive spot to Mounds View as the Raiders have two of their three best guys back including [player_tooltip player_id='1170508' first='Ataa-Adjetey' last='Mensah'] who I think is in for a huge season. Roseville has some good young players too. Forest Lake was just 9-18 last year but they return everything from last year's team and they have a star in [player_tooltip player_id='1284201' first='Owen' last='Waldoch']. If things go right they should be able to flip their record, or at least close to it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Stillwater, Irondale, White Bear Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At both Stillwater and White Bear Lake it's the post Max and post Jack eras. Max Shikenjanski and Jack Janicki were four year stars that were the face of their teams bringing them back from a struggling time. Now the pair are going and the new Ponies, Bears teams will look different. Not necessarily a certain struggle, but looking very different. The Ponies do have four guys back from their rotation though. White Bear Lake is a more likely struggle with all five starters gone plus two key reserves graduated. They have one player from the regular rotation. Irondale losses six of their top seven players from a team that won 11 games. They are well coached and they battle so not a push over but a lot of new bodies from a team that was six games under .500. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Suburban East Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>East Ridge</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Cretin-Derham Hall</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Forest Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mounds View</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Roseville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Stillwater</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Park of Cottage Grove</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Woodbury </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Irondale</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>White Bear Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Suburban East Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560882' first='Cedric' last='Tomes'] of East Ridge (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284201' first='Owen' last='Waldoch'] of Forest Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560868' first='Joseph' last='Mitchell III'] of Cretin Derham Hall (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284105' first='Charlie' last='Theis'] of East RIdge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284104' first='Charlie' last='Bern'] of East Ridge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ataa Adjetey Mensah of Roseville (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joey Freitham of Mounds View (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574220' first='Monteff' last='Dixon Jr'] of Cretin-Derham Hall (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103401' first='Jake' last='Dedominces'] of Irondale (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617779' first='Marquivion' last='Beasley'] of Woodbury (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nate Hatteberg of Roseville (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parker Wellman of East Ridge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1296156' first='Eli' last='Roe'] of Mounds View (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>AJ Kennedy of Park of Cottage Grove (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braeden Turk of Forest Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lake de Jongh of Stillwater (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1547645' first='Grant' last='Miley'] of East Ridge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2362562' first='Brennan' last='Sauvageau'] of Forest Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284086' first='Anthony' last='Knight'] of Cretin Derham Hall (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Miskar Esayas of Park of Cottage Grove (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Miles Bollinger of Cretin-Derham Hall (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brett Hilde of Stillwater (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560749' first='Colin' last='Piper'] of White Bear Lake (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1434067' first='Quentin' last='Cobb-Butler'] of Woodbury (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284210' first='Reid' last='Olson'] of Forest Lake (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->