The Polar Preview – Big & Small

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We have put the Polar League Preview together, both Big and Small, even though they are now different leagues. So here you go, Polar Big! And Polar Small!</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 Potential: </strong>Esko, Cromwell-Wright</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Esko lost all time leading scorer (and now the best PFF rated college football freshman in the nation) Koi Perich to graduation along with several others, but they have two players back from last year's rotation in Haugen and Owens, plus 6'6 transfer Josh Synnott will now be playing as well. Synnott averaged 18 points a game at Proctor as a sophomore but didn't play varsity last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cromwell-Wright won 17 games a year ago including all league games, and they return all of their key pieces. They have an outside shot to make a push into the top ten area of Class A. League MVP [player_tooltip player_id='2620268' first='Brady' last='Dahl'] is back for Cromwell-Wright.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Conference Contenders</strong>: Moose Lake-Willow River, McGregor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Moose Lake-Willow River won 21 games a season ago and they should be good again. How good? They have three of their seven rotation players back including one of their leading scorers. I would say they will be a good team and Polar Big league contender, but not quite top ten in state potential. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McGregor might push Cromwell-Wright in the Polar Small as they also bring all of their key pieces back. The problem is, both teams bring all of their guys back and the games last year weren't close. But McGregor should improve on their 11-win season from a year ago. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Barnum, Two Harbors, Cook County, South Ridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barnum is going to be a big basketball team. They will use players that are 6'6, 6'5, 6'3 and 6'3 in their lie-up which is as big as they have been. They won 19 games last year and if they can get the guard play they could contend for this league. Two Harbors won 15 games a year ago but what they have returning is an uncertain. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cook County improved last year winning half of their league games and eight games overall. They took a step forward and with them having all of their players back they should take another step forward. And South Ridge also brings back most of their players including both all league players. They won only six games a year ago but they should win double figures games this year on their full schedule. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding: </strong>Carlton-Wrenshall, Floodwood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carlton-Wrenshall won 21 games last year but everybody from their main rotation graduation outside of one player. The Raptors won't be a struggle, they do have a nice player in Jack Korpela, but they have a lot of spots to fill. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Floodwood was winless last year in 25 games losing their games by an average of 49 points a night. They had four upperclassmen last year, and they will have only four this year so numbers are 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>Big</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Esko</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Moose Lake-Willow River</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Barnum</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Carlton-Wrenshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Two Harbors</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Small</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Cromwell-Wright</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) McGregor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Cook County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) South Ridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Floodwood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason Polar Big </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josh Synnott of Esko (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104463' first='Sam' last='Haugen'] of Esko (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Youngs of Moose Lake-Willow River (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jack Korpela of Carlton-Wrenshall (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446756' first='Bryce' last='Ferguson'] of Barnum (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pierce Korpela of Barnum (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1456173' first='Jacion' last='Owens'] of Esko (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2124214' first='Jace' last='Gomez'] of Two Harbors (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Layne Radzak of Moose Lake-Willow River (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reese Bode of Moose Lake-Willow River (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason Polar Small </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2620268' first='Brady' last='Dahl'] of Cromwell-Wright (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109919' first='Dylan' last='Nyberg'] of Cromwell-Wright (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kaiden Kellerman of McGregor (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sam Metzen of McGregor (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Denali Blackwell of Cook County (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gavin Willeck of South Ridge (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Drew Nyberg of Cromwell-Wright (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sawyer Fierkelepp of South Ridge (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rohan Rude of Cook County (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tucker Korpi of Cromwell-Wright (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->