The Wright County East Preview
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Holy Family was the class of the league a season ago but it looks like nearly all of the contenders to Fire repeat chances has improved. Here is the Wright County East Preview. Conference Commentary Top Ten in State: Holy…
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Continue ReadingHoly Family was the class of the league a season ago but it looks like nearly all of the contenders to Fire repeat chances has improved. Here is the Wright County East Preview.
Conference Commentary
Top Ten in State: Holy Family, Delano
The Fire have a first team all state star returning in Kole Hanson Kole Hanson 6'2" | PG Holy Family | 2024 State MN , they have some young up and comers for depth, and they added a pair of metro transfers in Luke Graff Luke Graff 6'3" | SG Holy Family | 2024 State MN and Brayden Carlson Brayden Carlson 6'8" | C Holy Family | 2024 State MN who both played with Hanson for multiple seasons on the D1 Minnesota roster. With talent handling, in the paint and on the wing the Fire are a state title contender.
Delano will enter the 23-24 season a top ten team in Class AAA (HF is in Class AA). The Tigers were a 20 game winner last year and bring back four starters. They will have a load of scoring punch at guard although maybe not as deep in the post when it comes to physical low post battlers (although they do have some 6’5 returning players so there is length although not as much strength). Tigers are in a deep section but have as good of a chance as anybody in 6AAA.
Top Ten in State Potential: Southwest Christian
I have Southwest Christian 30th in Class AA which means they are the last team listed that would qualify for this category. What do they have going on? A new coach, they have a returning standout, they have a good player coming back from injury, a key transfer in Mason Wood Mason Wood 6'4" | SF Southwest Christian | 2024 State MN from Shakopee, and they have some young talent. In all, the Stars have eight players back from their rotation last season plus they added a quality transfer. That all adds up to an improved team that should move up from an 8-win team at least doubling their win total.
Compete with Most: Jordan, Hutchinson, Mound-Westonka
Jordan lost four of their top five contributors from a team that was 13-13. They will have enough depth and toughness to be a competitive team and not slip far but it doesn’t look like they will have the talent to match what they did last year. Hutchinson returns their entire rotation from last season led by a couple senior captains and a good junior class. Once healthy Nathan Johnson Nathan Johnson 6'5" | SF Hutchinson | 2025 State MN has a chance to be really good for Hutch. Mound-Westonka returns five of their top seven teams including their standout Max Kraay Max Kraay 6'5" | SF Mound-Westonka | 2025 State MN . They should take a nice jump up from six wins. Will they jump with or over Hutch and Southwest Christian? Tough to know as they split with both teams, and all three teams return nearly everything.
23-24 Wright County East Conference Predictions
- Holy Family
- Delano
- Southwest Christian
- Mound-Westonka
- Hutchinson
- Jordan
Preseason All Wright County East Conference
First Team
Kole Hanson Kole Hanson 6'2" | PG Holy Family | 2024 State MN of Holy Family (sr)
Brayden Carlson Brayden Carlson 6'8" | C Holy Family | 2024 State MN of Holy Family (sr)
Luke Graff Luke Graff 6'3" | SG Holy Family | 2024 State MN of Holy Family (sr)
Will Strandemo Will Strandemo 5'11" | PG Delano | 2024 State MN of Delano (sr)
Max Kraay Max Kraay 6'5" | SF Mound-Westonka | 2025 State MN of Mound-Westonka (jr)
Second Team
Max Iversen Max Iversen 6'2" | PG Delano | 2026 State MN of Delano (soph)
Mason Wood Mason Wood 6'4" | SF Southwest Christian | 2024 State MN of Southwest Christian (sr)
Jake Schultz Jake Schultz 6'0" | PG Delano | 2025 State MN of Delano (sr)
Brayden Beckering Brayden Beckering 6'3" | SG Southwest Christian | 2025 State MN of Southwest Christian (jr)
Carter Verhasselt Carter Verhasselt 5'10" | PG Hutchinson | 2024 MN of Hutchinson (jr)
Third Team
Carter Reinbold Carter Reinbold 5'9" | PG Mound-Westonka | 2024 MN of Mound-Westonka (sr)
Kaden Butler Kaden Butler 6'3" | SG Hutchinson | 2024 State MN of Hutchinson (sr)
JJ Longstreet JJ Longstreet 6'6" | PF Delano | 2025 State MN of Delano (jr)
Isaac Tollefson Isaac Tollefson 6'0" | PG Southwest Christian | 2025 MN of Southwest Christian (jr)
Seth Young Seth Young 6'2" | SG Jordan | 2024 State MN of Jordan (sr)
Nathan Johnson Nathan Johnson 6'5" | SF Hutchinson | 2025 State MN of Hutchinson (jr)
Fourth Team
Bryce Tappen of Mound-Westonka (sr)
Logan Butler Logan Butler 6'3" | SF Hutchinson | 2024 State MN of Hutchinson (sr)
Gordie Molin of Southwest Christian (sr)
AJ Newell of Southwest Christian (sr)
Drew Coleman of Holy Family (soph)
Frank Nau of Delano (sr)