Section by Section: Class AAA Outlook

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We move to Class AAA. What do the sections look like? Wide open opportunity nearly everywhere. Class AAA will have a very new look. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>1AAA</strong>. Stewartville lost another group of veterans, Byron is in a reset, and its a seven team section. Northfield, you have a shot. Faribault, you have a lot of guards to replace but you have an elite frontcourt. Austin, that zone has looked great this summer! It's wide, wide open. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven team section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2AAA.</strong> There are lots of teams here likely to take a step back based on what was lost and that includes Marshall, Worthington, Hutch, Mankato West and Mankato East. East will still have enough talent to be top five in state but maybe not top ten in state. Some of these teams can still be good. I think the teams that will be much better are New Ulm and surely St Peter. But enough to topple Cougars? I don't think so. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven team section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>3AAA</strong>. This could go any direction, especially with South St. Paul losing their big man. STA seems like the logical place to look with Lars leading the way but they are far from some big favorite, they are barely a small favorite. Roosevelt and South both have a chance to rep the Minneapolis City Conference at state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven team section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>4AAA</strong>. North St. Paul and St. Anthony Village could/should have good teams. Mahtomedi should be a top ten team. Johnson has as much talent as any team in the state not named TG or De, and you could say they are close to those teams. But the lslander streak is like a guarantee at this point until they are stopped from state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nine team section. Nine teams? They couldn't have put Edison or Camden or one of the east metro teams in the Metro East in 3AAA to give both 3AAA and 4AAA eight teams each? How weird is that? Schools a few miles from each other all over the place and one section has seven and the other nine?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>5AAA</strong>. Becker and Zimmerman are going to be good teams and Princeton will be better. That said, this is Totino-Grace all the way. They are still very talented and while Becker will likely be top ten, they will be like Monticello last year who was a top ten team, and really never had a chance against TG.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven team section. Did you know Columbia Heights is 2.2 miles from Fridley? Did you know that Columbia Heights is 1.8 miles from TG? But the Hylanders are in a section of nine teams, TG and Fridley are with M8 teams in a section of seven. I mean come on, send one of the teams in the nine team section in one of these directions to get to eight. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>6AAA</strong>. Wide open. The great wide open. Graduation, injuries and transfer have left this section short of the truly elite talent it has had. Orono will still be good, I love what Richfield has been making them a top five team and the favorite in this section, and keep an eye on AHA. The Stars could be sneaky as could Delano who was a two senior team last year (they bring back three starters and reserves so they should be solid despite the transfer). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nine team section. I remain baffled that one of these teams couldn't have been moved a few miles to another section so it was 8-8-8-8 instead of 7-9-7-9 in the metro.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>7AAA</strong>. I think this is a three team race with five rebuilds. The three teams are Denfeld who should still be good, and have size, Hibbing who has all their key pieces back, and Grand Rapids who have a chance to take a step forward. Whomever has the best guard play step up and gel could be the group that wins. Hermantown would have the best chance to be in the semis with the others as they recover a bit from injury and rough years. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eight team section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8AAA</strong>. Holy smacks we have another section with a lot of change. Lots of AAA sections with big change and this is another. Teams moving up to AAAA, teams moving down to AAA. New coaches, new players, new new new. I think Sartell has the best chance here but Apollo has a shot, Willmar has a shot if the change there works fine, and keep an eye on Detroit Lakes with a few starters back. Its wide open.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nine team section. Somebody has to have nine unless you force somebody to go to the southeast or southwest which makes no sense. And this would be the most logical to have nine. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->