The Little Eight Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hillcrest Lutheran Academy was the class of the league by six games. Is anybody in the league ready to make up that difference and take home the conference crown? We have a look today! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a league where second place and seventh place were two games apart. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>League Title Contender</strong>: Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, Underwood, Brandon/Evansville, Battle Lake, Border West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hillcrest lost their two all league players which will be tough to deal with but they do return most of the rest of their rotation. This might not be a team that makes the final four of a very good Section 6A but they should be close.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I like Underwood to win this league. Most of their line-up returns from the second best team in the league including a couple all league players. Do they have enough to make up that six game gap? I think so. Watch for Border West to be apart of this league race as well. They are a senior dominant team with a couple all league players returning and they were right in the middle of the league with the rest of this section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brandon/Evansville will be right there too. They have a couple all league guys back too. Not as much returning experience as Underwood but still a good amount. Battle Lake is in the mix as well. They had the second best record in the league last year. Losing a couple all league players is tough but like Underwood and Brandon/Evansville, Battle Lake has two returning double figures scores and some support players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Hancock, Ashby, Parkers Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Owls have one of the best players in the league but they did lose the rest of their top key players so they will be on the outside looking in when it comes to this middle of the pack fight to the top. But that doesn't mean they don't have an outside shot as Evink is a top player in the conference. Ashby is in a similar spot to Hancock. They have a couple good players back including one of the best players in the league, and another to support him, but they have more to replace than the rest of the middle of the league. As far as Parker Prairie goes, I really don't have much information to go off of here. I do know they lost their best couple players but that is the extent of my knowledge. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Rothsay</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another team that we are short on information about, but we do know this is a small team with everybody from last year being six feet or under, and they were the one team that had a truly rough league season last year. </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) Underwood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Brandon/Evansville</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Hillcrest Lutheran Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Battle Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Border West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Hancock</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Ashby</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Parkers Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Rothsay</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Little Eight team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2449409' first='Micah' last='Fuller'] of Brandon/Evansville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2574763' first='Drew' last='Evavold'] of Underwood (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holden Rinke of Border West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104467' first='Chase' last='Evink'] of Hancock (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Easton Nelson of Ashby (Sr)</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='2617560' first='Hudson' last='Risbrudt'] of Underwood (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braxtyn Cameron of Battle Lake (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2449413' first='Kyle' last='Kremer'] of Border West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tanner Riedel of Brandon/Evansville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Preston Berge of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maddox Mekalson of Battle Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evan Lundgren of Underwood (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Traeton Nelson of Ashby (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Vincent Nash of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kaleb Hammes of Underwood (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sean Berge of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ethan Swedberg of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Daxton Risbrudt of Underwood (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aidan Heggem of Battle Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->