The Metro East Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tartan won the Metro East by three games a season ago and they will enter the year the favorite once again. </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 in State</strong>: Tartan</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tartan brings back four of their better players, gets another back from injury, and has talent coming up that will play as underclassmen. They allowed only 56 points a game last year (best in Class AAAA) and we think they will be a top ten team most of this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: St. Thomas</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>STA has an outside shot at being a top ten team. With two double figure scoring, All conference honored players back among five returning players, they could have an outside shot at hitting the top ten this season. As for them vs the Zephyrs, STA has more back than Mahtomedi (they split games last season). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Mahtomedi, South St. Paul, Hastings, North St. Paul, Hill-Murray</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A year ago the Zephyrs were one of the better stories of the season as they won 16 games for the season after their season started with seven straight losses. That's the positive, as is having one of the best sophomores in the state in [player_tooltip player_id='2140712' first='Willie' last='Roelofs']. That said, Mahtomedi lost five of their top six guys to graduation and they need to fill spots again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South St. Paul has the talent to be a top ten team for sure but at the same time, they did last year too and went 13-15. SSP lost their top three scorers - leading scorer Elonzo Simmons graduated as did Gavin Pendergast and Jordan Terhune who both walked on at Eastern D1 schools - but at two games under .500 a reset seems like it might be good for the Packers. Role players [player_tooltip player_id='2424046' first='Jimmy' last='Thomas'], [player_tooltip player_id='1288687' first='Sincere' last='Casarez-McCampbell'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2575631' first='Caleb' last='Marik'] return and it's tie for the youth movement to step forward ([player_tooltip player_id='2569256' first='Marco' last='London'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2126446' first='Mustafa' last='Mohamed']) along with transfer [player_tooltip player_id='1874806' first='Charles' last='Duncan']. They could be 13-15 again, or they could contend for the league title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hastings was 14-13 last year but they have three guys who will be three year starters this year and they are a well coached team. They often have less talent than their opponents but they out work, out skill, and out coach some of the other teams and play good basketball. They could make a run at the league this year as I think they can beat everybody in games except Tartan. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North St Paul lost three of their best four players from a 9-win team but they also have one of the best players in this league in junior [player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King']. The team will depend on how everything develops getting depth but King could have a hell of a season. Hill-Murray returns four starters from an 11-win team but this is also a team that won only four league games. That said, they did deal with some injuries last year and they do have three all league players back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding: </strong>Two Rivers, Simley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With their best two players graduated, a new coaching coming in, and this coming off a 17-loss season, they are restarting at Two Rivers. But they are restarting with good players in [player_tooltip player_id='1560793' first='Lamont' last='Michaels'], Julian Greer and [player_tooltip player_id='2109879' first='Ramzi' last='Rislove']. Simley has a new coach and they are a young coming off of a rough season. But it's a good coach, they have young players are very good, and they should improve on their record. But Simley was winless in the league last year so they have some things to learn. </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) Tartan</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) St. Thomas Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) South St. Paul</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Hastings</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Mahtomedi</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Hill-Murray</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Two Rivers</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) North St. Paul</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Simley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason Metro East</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CJ Banks of Tartan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2119593' first='Lars' last='Osteraas'] of St. Thomas Academy (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140712' first='Willie' last='Roelofs'] of Mahtomedi (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288719' first='Xavier' last='Daniels'] of Hill-Murray (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126446' first='Mustafa' last='Mohamed'] of South St. Paul (Soph)</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='2405556' first='Tre' last='Lovelace'] of Simley (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King'] of North St. Paul (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kevin Wilson Jr of Tartan (Fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560773' first='Matthew' last='Foss'] of Hastings (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424019' first='Andrew' last='Nolde'] of St. Thomas Academy (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874806' first='Charles' last='Duncan'] of South St. Paul (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109933' first='Kyan' last='Esterby'] of Hastings (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560793' first='Lamont' last='Michaels'] of Two Rivers (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104486' first='Jerror' last='Borsay'] of Tartan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2406764' first='Thomas' last='Myers'] of HIll-Murray (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2448447' first='Weston' last='Schult'] of Hastings (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2569256' first='Marco' last='London'] of South St. Paul (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Julian Greer of Two Rivers (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288687' first='Sincere' last='Casarez-McCampbell'] of South St. Paul (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jakhi Richmond of Tartan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109879' first='Ramzi' last='Rislove'] of Two Rivers (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Conner Streiff of Simley (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2175467' first='Lyric' last='Groth'] of Simley (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ben Myers of Hill-Murray (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424046' first='Jimmy' last='Thomas'] of South St. Paul (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2575640' first='Jaylen' last='Goergen'] of Tartan (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2120503' first='Elijah' last='Adzimahe'] of North St Paul (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->