Section 5AAA: First Look

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 5AAA is the spot where the state decided to take TG and Fridley and pair them with the North of the Metro Mississippi 8. A move that has made the Class AAA stronger in terms of quality of teams at state in the current landscape of Class AAA hoops.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Summer Summary</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 5AAA has become the group that Totino-Grace has landed in and they won two section games by large margins and then beat a top ten Fridley team by 19.  Will it be similar this year?  I think so.  The Eagles return three of their starters and graduated only two players but lost a key transfer.  The Eagles should be the favorite in the section, and in the state tournament still but for the moment the rest of Class AAA feels a door has maybe opened.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are teams in this group that went young and had solid seasons.  I would look to Monticello and Becker in this regard.  Becker is more guard heavy, the Magic seem to have a lot of pieces that could give them an outside shot at 20 wins this year.  I would look at Fridley, St. Francis and Big Lake as teams that will be hurt somewhat by graduation, but Big Lake ([player_tooltip player_id='1628769' first='Owen' last='Wilczek']) and St. Francis ([player_tooltip player_id='1874817' first='Connor' last='Peterson']) have a standout player that will keep them tough.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 3 5AAA Players</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560835' first='Tian' last='Chatman'] of Totino-Grace</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560740' first='Dothan' last='Ijadimbola'] of Totino-Grace</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574227' first='Chace' last='Watley'] of Totino-Grace</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Should Improve Their Record</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Zimmerman (6-21)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Monticello (11-16)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Princeton (4-23)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Might Not Match Last Year's Win Total</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fridley (19-8)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Big Lake (14-14)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Francis (11-16)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->