The 2AAA Profile

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mankato East is a strong favorite to make the state tournament for the fourth straight season. The odds are strong but this section will be deeper this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2AAA Power Rankings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato East</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato West</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Marshall</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>St. Peter</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Worthington</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Hutchinson</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>New Ulm</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Section 15</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>First Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104550' first='Alex' last='Franson'] of Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103251' first='Ganden' last='Gosch'] of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574219' first='Kyle' last='Steinke'] of Mankato West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424016' first='Maurice' last='Staley'] of Mankato West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Second Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1886972' first='Amari' last='Nobles'] of Mankato East (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560798' first='Lucas' last='Gustafson'] of Mankato East (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1436459' first='Nathan' last='Johnson'] of Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109878' first='Cooper' last='Mensink'] of Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1858356' first='Jacari' last='Swinea'] of Worthington (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Third Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424013' first='Dwuan' last='Reliford'] of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owen Potts of St. Peter (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109870' first='Jeremiah' last='Soderlund'] of St. Peter (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braden Petzel of Mankato East (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brandon Koster of Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One Thought Per Team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mankato East. The depth is what will make East the big favorite in section and league, and a state title contender. A scholarship PG, scholarship forward, up and coming juniors that are highly ranked in their class, plus others that fill roles in strong ways. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mankato West. Staley and Steinke will keep this team as one of the better in section and conference but it will be the depth that needs to develop that will really tell if they are contenders.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Marshall. On one hand, they had the worst record in the section. On the other hand, they have a real standout in Franson and they bring back most of their team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hutchinson. The Tigers lost much of last year's producers including their top three scorers and five of their top seven guys. They won 17 games but do they have enough to get near .500?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Worthington. Worthington may have lost a bit too much to be as good as last year but they will still be a solid team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Peter. St. Peter will be better, but will they be a few games over .500 or can they be a 20 win team? They feel closer to about .500 as they did lose a couple all league players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>New Ulm. New Ulm is the team that really got stung by graduation and they will likely be in a rebuild for the moment. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->