The Big Nine Preview

It's that time! Time to spend about 2.5 months previewing the 2023-24 basketball season in every which way possible. And that includes previewing most, if not all of the 47 conferences in Minnesota!   Last Year   On the Money: We were either perfect with our prediction or one spot off on ten of the twelve teams. That's some damn good predicting.   Yikes RJ! I had no idea Rochester JM had so many good juniors. I picked them 11th, they finished 4th. I also picked Winona four spots too high last year.     Conference Commentary   Top Ten in State: Mankato East, Faribault   Mankato East has four of their top seven guys back and that includes two time Big Nine player of the Year [player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'], Minnesota State committed [player_tooltip player_id='2103251' first='Ganden' last='Gosch'], Fury 16s all State player [player_tooltip player_id='1560798' first='Lucas' last='Gustafson'], and Select 16s All State Player [player_tooltip player_id='1886972' first='Amari' last='Nobles']. That's a strong crew from a team that finished second in state last year.   Faribault is the up and comer returning all of their pieces. What makes that even more important? They have a nationally ranked center in [player_tooltip player_id='2115655' first='Ryan' last='Kreager'] that is a top shot blocking threat but around him is worker [player_tooltip player_id='2118832' first='Breuer' last='Wolff'] plus four guards including Braden Schultz, [player_tooltip player_id='2412797' first='Rashid' last='Ibrahim'], [player_tooltip player_id='1560854' first='Tristan' last='Gonzalez'], and of course [player_tooltip player_id='2109883' first='Mohamed' last='Madey'] who had a great off-season with Select.   Top Ten Potential: Rochester JM, Mankato West, Northfield   JM is in that top 20 area of Class AAAA but with four starters back they have a chance to make a top ten push and an outside shot at the league title. Replacing Chan Malith will be very tough but then again, who expected Chan to have the year he did? Braylon Sawyer, Eliah Ladu, [player_tooltip player_id='2450020' first='Deng' last='Lueth'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2422069' first='Angok' last='Kucha'] all have the potential for a strong season.   Northfield and Mankato West are both teams that have talent and could get into the top ten of Class AAA and stay there. West is led by [player_tooltip player_id='1574219' first='Kyle' last='Steinke'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2424016' first='Maurice' last='Staley'] who are both very good but they will need to develop some depth around them. Northfield also needs to find depth but between [player_tooltip player_id='1521424' first='Kayden' last='Oakland'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1385264' first='Isaiah' last='Mahal'], big things are expected.   Compete with Most: Century, Owatonna, Austin   Owatonna and Century are always good programs that will beat some teams that we have listed above them, I just don't know that they have the experienced depth coming into the season to pick them high right now. They both had some tough losses to graduation. Austin was 9-18 last year but they have some guys that should take a step forward and get the Pack near .500   Rebuilding: Mayo, Red Wing, Winona, Albert Lea   Mayo lost a lot. There is good young talent there but they will likely need a year. Red Wing and Winona seem to be in a talent rut at the moment while Albert Lea has been in a talent rut for about 20 years.   24-25 Conference Predictions   Big Nine   <ol class="wp-block-list"> <li>Mankato East</li>   <li>Faribault</li>   <li>Rochester JM</li>   <li>Mankato West</li>   <li>Northfield</li>   <li>Rochester Century</li>   <li>Owatonna</li>   <li>Austin</li>   <li>Rochester Mayo</li>   <li>Red Wing</li>   <li>Winona</li>   <li>Albert Lea</li> </ol>     Preseason All Big Nine   First Team   [player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] of Mankato East (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2103251' first='Ganden' last='Gosch'] of Mankato East (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1574219' first='Kyle' last='Steinke'] of Mankato West (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2115655' first='Ryan' last='Kreager'] of Faribault (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1385264' first='Isaiah' last='Mahal'] of Northfield (Sr)     Second Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2109883' first='Mohamed' last='Madey'] of Faribault (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1521424' first='Kayden' last='Oakland'] of Northfield (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1886972' first='Amari' last='Nobles'] of Mankato East (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1560798' first='Lucas' last='Gustafson'] of Mankato East (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2422068' first='Brayson' last='Sawyer'] of Rochester JM (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2424016' first='Maurice' last='Staley'] of Mankato West (Sr)     Third Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2109917' first='Nolan' last='Ginskey'] of Owatonna (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2422066' first='Markes' last='Simpson'] of Rochester Century (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2422069' first='Angok' last='Kucha'] of Rochester JM (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2450020' first='Deng' last='Lueth'] of Rochester JM (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1584901' first='Ricky' last='Wengert'] of Rochester Century (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2118832' first='Breuer' last='Wolff'] of Faribault (Jr)     Fourth Team   Eliah Ladu of Rochester JM (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2381757' first='Cole' last='Hebrink'] of Austin (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2124278' first='Isaac' last='Peterson'] of Rochester Mayo (Jr)   JuJu Koehler of Red Wing (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2439121' first='Mikah' last='Christopherson'] of Austin (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1874799' first='Braden' last='Schulz'] of Faribault (Sr)

It's that time! Time to spend about 2.5 months previewing the 2023-24 basketball season in every which way possible. And that includes previewing most, if not all of the 47 conferences in Minnesota!