The Lake Superior Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven Minnesota teams in the North Shore area plus one from the state of Wisconsin. The Lake Superior Conference, and four or five teams could be contenders for the conference top spot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>League Title Contender</strong>: Denfeld, Superior, Hermantown, Cloquet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hermantown had the best record among Minnesota teams in this league by far, and the one team with a similar record (Superior High School out of Wisconsin), and Hermantown beat them by 27. The Hawks lost four starters but they do return a very good prospect in 6'7 [player_tooltip player_id='2466467' first='Lance' last='Janson'] and all of their reserves including Alex Schott. While they did beat Superior, they lost to Denfeld twice in two score games a season ago. With four guys back from an eight man rotation, Hermantown will be younger, but still a good team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Denfeld has the top scorer back in [player_tooltip player_id='2104431' first='Marnaries' last='Ferguson']. Ferguson was listed last year as a 5'10 point guard earning first team all conference honors. He averaged 21 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals a game. He is back to lead but all conference honored players Finnley Powell and Ethan Starstead have graduated from Denfeld, as have rotation players Deon'Tae Persaud-Davis, Mace Brooks, Daquan Moore, Dashawn Moore, and Desmond Tillman. That means seven guys from a team that was three games over .500 are no longer with the team. Ferguson does have [player_tooltip player_id='2466472' first='Lee' last='Brooks'], Nathan LaPlante, and Josh Rock back along with him and they averaged six points, four points and three points a game last year respectively. That's a lot of quality to replace but it's helped by having one of the elite players in the league. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Suprior lost leading scorer Tresean Sanigar to graduation which is a big loss as he scored 22 points a game. However, Superior does returning second leading scorer Calvin Anderson (a junior) who scored 16 a game, starters [player_tooltip player_id='2124278' first='Isaac' last='Peterson'] and Drew Eisel who scored seven and six a game last season, and reserve Landon Anrig. The only Lake Superior team that Superior lost to last year was Hermantown (in a blowout), but they beat GR by 14, Denfeld by 18, and Cloquet by 21. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The most experienced team in this group will be Cloquet (who was one game over .500 last season). But there is no way to say this other than being blunt, Cloquet got whooped by Denfeld, Cloquet and Hermantown, twice each. That said, Cloquet has something that these other teams don't have and that is two scoring options that scored in big numbers per game last year and that is [player_tooltip player_id='2104541' first='Jack' last='Battaglia'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2435947' first='Shazae' last='Henagin']. Cloquet also has more players back from last year than any of the other contenders as five of their top seven guys return. And they are all seniors. So on one hand, they have more scorers and players returning, on the other hand, they have to figure out how to compete with the others </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Grand Rapids, Duluth Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grand Rapids has a very good player in [player_tooltip player_id='1560804' first='Joey' last='Sutherland'] who should take the next step and be one of the few elite scorers in this league. He will get some help from Reid Ketola and a few others, but they have a lot of spots to replace from a team that struggled. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In talking conference, Duluth Marshall will have trouble contending for depth reasons. They are a Class AA sized team in a league with almost all Class AAA teams. However, they have the returning experience - four of five starters - along with a star in [player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] to win some section games and dream for bigger things. Brody Carlson, Aaden Westerbur, and Josh Johnson are all returning starter level players so they could get a win or two against the upper part of the league. And it could happen. Early in the season last year Marshall was whooped by the good teams in the conference, but later in the year they competed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Hibbing, Proctor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hibbing has a new coach again coming off a four win season. [player_tooltip player_id='2126126' first='Ray' last='Brau'] is one of the best players in his class state wide but the few good players from last year around him graduated, and the guys with potential coming up need to learn some more before this team can be good. They should be better than a four win team with Brau, but it's going to be tough. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Proctor was a five win team last season and they lost three of their four best players. And not only did they have a tough time in this league, they lost to Hibbing by a lot. This is a Class AA team that is rebuilding, and they are doing it in a league that is full of bigger and more talented teams compared to them. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>24-25 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Hermantown</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Superior</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Cloquet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Duluth Denfeld</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Duluth Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Grand Rapids </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Hibbing</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Proctor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Lake Superior</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] of Duluth Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126126' first='Ray' last='Brau'] of Hibbing (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104541' first='Jack' last='Battaglia'] of Cloquet (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104431' first='Marnaries' last='Ferguson'] of Duluth Denfeld (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Calvin Anderson of Superior (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='1560804' first='Joey' last='Sutherland'] of Grand Rapids (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2466467' first='Lance' last='Janson'] of Hermantown (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2435947' first='Shazae' last='Henagin'] of Cloquet (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2124278' first='Isaac' last='Peterson'] of Superior (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Drew Eisel of Superior (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brody Carlson of Duluth Marshall (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aaden Westerbur of Duluth Marshall (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alex Schott of Hermantown (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2466472' first='Lee' last='Brooks'] of Duluth Denfeld (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josh Johnson of Duluth Marshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reid Ketola of Grand Rapids (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James Wilmot of Cloquet (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nathan LaPlante of Duluth Denfeld (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Hansen of Cloquet (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landon Anrig of Superior (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->