Section 3AAAA: First Look

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Apple Valley went to state in 2025, Eagan went to state in 2024. Who is going to make it two of three? That's the 25-26 question!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Summer Summary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eagan and Apple Valley have been going back and forth now for two years with a lot of the same guys. In five games Apple Valley has three wins to the two wins from the Cats with the rubber match being last year's section final. This year.... there could be three more games. And guys like [player_tooltip player_id='1560866' first='Camare'' last='Young'], [player_tooltip player_id='1560747' first='Alex' last='Schroepfer'], [player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'], [player_tooltip player_id='2118833' first='Kevin' last='Kemp'], [player_tooltip player_id='2460586' first='Ryan' last='Christiansen'], [player_tooltip player_id='1552751' first='Michael' last='McKenzie'], Tylan Ward Jr, and Will Berran have been deeply involved in those five games and these seniors will get more year of this recent rivalry in 25-26. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yes Eagan and Apple Valley are heavy favorites in the section. They are top ten level teams in Class AAAA basketball. But if somebody were to sneak in and crash the party, who would it be? Hastings won 20 games last year, they are well coached, and they have a lot of pieces returning. Everybody in the section knows they have to take the Raiders very seriously with [player_tooltip player_id='1560773' first='Matthew' last='Foss'] and Marlowe Strain returning.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Also keep an eye on Rosemount. I think they are likely a year away from being called a section title contender, and this program has gone through a lot of change lately so they might need that year of adjustment. The young names of [player_tooltip player_id='2397555' first='Brady' last='Molenaar'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2126455' first='Peyton' last='Gholson'] make you think future, but Rosemount played a lot of juniors last year so there will be a veteran group that is thinking, NOW! Also keep an eye on Eastview. The Lightning won a lot of games this summer in the Breakdown Summer Series and they will have a top five player in the section in [player_tooltip player_id='1560881' first='Ja'carion' last='Green'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 3 1AAAA Players</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) [player_tooltip player_id='1560747' first='Alex' last='Schroepfer'] of Eagan</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) [player_tooltip player_id='1560866' first='Camare'' last='Young'] of Apple Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) [player_tooltip player_id='2118833' first='Kevin' last='Kemp'] of Eagan or [player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'] of Apple Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Should Improve Their Record</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Eagan (17-12 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Eastview (5-22 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Apple Valley (23-8 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Might Not Match Last Year's Win Total</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Park of Cottage Grove (12-16 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Lots of low totals, I don't think these teams will go lower than the six, five, four, etc we saw a year ago. There might be low numbers for a few, but I don't think it will be lower than 4-5 wins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->