Three Up, Three Down: Class AAA

Ryan James January 9, 2025 @ 09:54 AM

Three teams that we had quite low in the preseason Class AAA power rankings have had fantastic starts to the year while a couple top ten potential teams have slipped over the holiday.   Three Up   Cloquet (10-1). The Lumberjacks are beating up on teams from their section, beating up teams in their area, and they've beat teams with really good players like Denfeld, Marshall, and surprising Hibbing. Senior [player_tooltip player_id='2104541' first='Jack' last='Battaglia'] is leading the way with an outstanding season scoring nearly 29 points a game along with 7.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.3 a contest. Jack is shooting 46 percent from the field, 36 percent from the arc and 85 percent at the foul line. Six-foot-4 senior Jacob Nelson is averaging 12.5 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.   Zimmerman (9-2). Zimmerman was 6-21 last year and they've already made a three game improvement with 2.5 months to go! They recently beat Becker meaning Zimmerman has won five of their last six games. The scoring combo of junior [player_tooltip player_id='2145758' first='Thomas' last='McEachern'] and senior [player_tooltip player_id='2109914' first='Gianni' last='Artisensi-Skime'] leads the way but the team has more depth than expected as well. This could be a 20 win team if they keep playing like this.   North St. Paul (4-1). I'm not sure why the Polars only played three games in December but they won those games and they have won four of five so far. And the one loss was a three score loss to STA who is also playing pretty well right now. [player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King'] is scoring 17 points a game which was expected but the depth behind him was not as guysT like sophomore Terrence Horton have really stepped up.     Three Down   Delano (4-5). Delano has went through a lot already this season with a coaching switch and injuries to both [player_tooltip player_id='1560739' first='Max' last='Iversen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2103353' first='JJ' last='Longstreet']. [player_tooltip player_id='1582111' first='Jake' last='Schultz'] is scoring 22 a game and keeping the Tigers near .500 but it's a tough task with so many unexpected things happening. Delano has lost four of five and they are just starting a stretch of road games in seven of eight contests. And they have to go to Mankato, Redwood Valley, Byron and Marshall for some of those trips! Yikes to that schedule.   South St. Paul (5-6). The Packers have the potential to win their conference and even be a Class AAA top ten team but they are 5-6 having lost five of their last six games. Losing games is one thing but losing to Johnson by 36 and to Breck by 59 points is another, and they have lost league games to NSP as well as Mahtomedi (by 20). [player_tooltip player_id='2126446' first='Mustafa' last='Mohamed'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2126460' first='Donte' last='Branch'] are both scoring 15 a game to lead the team.   St. Paul Johnson (6-4). Johnson is a top ten level team in this class potential wise and they started that way beating a good St. Croix Prep team, crushing South St. Paul and knocking off a solid Denfeld squad. Things have slipped since though losing to Class AA Hiawatha (6-6) by 13, losing to top ten ranked Stewartville by a dozen, losing to now struggling St. Louis Park by 14, and getting clobbered by Tonka by 35 points. Three win Highland Park gave Johnson a run recently too before Johnson beat them 71-64. [player_tooltip player_id='2119645' first='Tyrel' last='Pride'] is leading the team with 17 points a game while big Kenny Turner is scoring 12 a contest and sophomore Colin Moore is putting up 8.5 a contest.

Three teams that we had quite low in the preseason Class AAA power rankings have had fantastic starts to the year while a couple top ten potential teams have slipped over the holiday.