The Gopher Conference Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A season ago Blooming Prairie was the class of the East, and JWP was the class of the West. How does the Gopher look this year? And who are the stars of the Gopher Conference?</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 Team in State</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: Blooming Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Blossoms lost some key figures and I believe that the battles with Triton and Randolph will be very good in the East. Anybody can take the crown, but the Blossoms have the experience of being a top ten team and a team that has two starters returning. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Randolph, Triton, JWP, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Hayfield, Kenyon-Wanamingo, USC</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With a couple all-conference players returning among seven guys coming back from last year's rotation, the Rockets should be better. They were a nine win team last year that gave up more points than anybody else in the league. Another team with a lot back is Triton who returns the best player in the league plus three other guys who were in their top six last year. The Cobras were 12-16 a season ago and should flip their record around at least. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>JWP won the league but they lost three all league players and their top returning guys move from underclassmen to juniors. They are also a small team. JWP will be in the mix still, it's just that they will not have the experience and depth they did. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown had a bit better record than Randolph and Triton last year, they beat both those teams last year, and the Bucs bring their top guys back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I think Hayfield will be better. Their record might be just under .500 but they should be better than a five win team. Good coaching, some solid young players, a few decent older guys, it should be a step forward from rebuilding. Kenyon-Wanamingo has five of their top nine back, but they lost their top two scorers. They have a few starters back and three reserves returning, but they seem to be right in the .500 area once again. USC has two starters back and half of their rotation is returning overall. They are in a decent spot that could go either way, pretty much like the other six teams in the is section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Medford, NRHEG, Bethlehem Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Medford only played a dozen games last year, they lost by an average score of 75 to 37, and they have two seniors at the most this season. NRHEG won only three games last season and they lost a lot of their key players to graduation. They have a lot of young players ready to go with some seniors but overall it's another rebuilding year. Bethlehem Academy was better than the others in this category but they weren't great, they lost their best players, and they are going to be very small. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>24-25 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Blooming Prairie </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Waterville-Elysian-Morristown</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Triton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) JWP</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Randolph </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Kenyon-Wanamingo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Hayfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) USC</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Bethlehem Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(10) NRHEG</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(11) Medford</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>East</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Blooming Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Triton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Randolph </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Kenyon-Wanamingo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Hayfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Bethlehem Academy </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>West</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Waterville-Elysian-Morristown</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) JWP</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) USC</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) NRHEG</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Medford</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Granite Ridge</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2119578' first='Pierce' last='Petersohn'] of Triton (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104535' first='Brady' last='Kittelson'] of Blooming Prairie (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560810' first='Daulton' last='Bauer'] of JWP (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2437346' first='Gavin' last='Brown'] of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2120515' first='Colton' last='Ford'] of Randolph (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2381767' first='Talen' last='Taylor'] of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126171' first='Gabe' last='Staloch'] of Blooming Prairie (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hunter Kriesel of Randolph (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560813' first='Caleb' last='Quast'] of JWP (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rylan Nelson of Hayfield (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aiden Crabtree of USC (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oren Alexander of Randolph (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2385644' first='Eli' last='Hedeen'] of Kenyon-Wanamingo (Fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gentrell Johnon of Hayfield (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2375788' first='William' last='Thiemann'] of Triton (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nathan Mutchler of USC (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joe Mills of Kenyon-Wanamingo (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carson Lorenzen of Randolph (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dawson Meier of Hayfield (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2385617' first='Cooper' last='Cooke'] of Blooming Prairie (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->