The 3AAAA Profile: Is it Eagan’s Turn Again

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year Apple Valley went to state. The year before it was Apple Valley. Are the Wildcats ready for two of three?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>3AAAA Power Rankings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Apple Valley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Eagan</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rosemount</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Park of Cottage Grove</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Hastings</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Eastvieiw</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Burnsville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Bloomington Jefferson</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Section 15</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>First Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560881' first='Ja'carion' last='Green'] of Eastvew (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2118833' first='Kevin' last='Kemp'] of Eagan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'] of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560747' first='Alex' last='Schroepfer'] of Eagan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560866' first='Camare'' last='Young'] of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Second Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126455' first='Peyton' last='Gholson'] of Rosemount (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560773' first='Matthew' last='Foss'] of Hastings (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Michael McKenize of Eagan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2845973' first='Jack' last='Burke'] of Rosemount (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2460586' first='Ryan' last='Christiansen'] of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Third Team</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2398951' first='Brady' last='Hendrickson'] of Hastings (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2423150' first='Aaron' last='Sandin'] of Park of Cottage Grove (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560748' first='Brandon' last='Bihm'] of Park of Cottage Grove (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tylan Ward of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tyresse Huton of Apple Valley (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2834228' first='Justin' last='Ebbers'] of Park of Cottage Grove (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One Thought Per Team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Apple Valley. With five of their top seven players returning plus a couple up and comers and their two top guys returning - Young and Parker - the Eagles deserve to be the favorite coming into the season. They went to state last year and have their top guys back so they are the pick who should be leaned to. That said.....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eagan. Eagan is so big. They are big in their starting five and they are big in support if they want to be. And way more important, they have toughness, skill and experience. [player_tooltip player_id='1552751' first='Michael' last='McKenzie'] will be one of the best shooters in his section/league and I think [player_tooltip player_id='1560747' first='Alex' last='Schroepfer'] is one of the best few uncommitted players in the state. Alex can be used all over the court and is going to have a big senior season. Then you have [player_tooltip player_id='2118833' first='Kevin' last='Kemp'] who massively blossomed this 17u season with [program_tooltip program_id='2075685' first='Minnesota' last='Select']. Kemp has the ability to be the one player in this league that nobody has a match-up for and what he doesn't shouldn't complicated: rim run and finish. Board, rim run and finish. Board rim run and finish deep in the paint. At his agility, quick bounce, and size, few in this league do anything with him. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hastings. The loss of [player_tooltip player_id='2978874' first='Marlowe' last='Strain'] to injury does a lot here. Hastings is a well coached team that wins in their league a lot. With Strain teaming with Foss, Hendrickson and others Hastings was that next team in line to challenge but without Strain the job gets a lot tougher. The 6'4 athletic forward does so much physically for his team. Who does that open things up for?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rosemount. The Irish! I think [player_tooltip player_id='2126455' first='Peyton' last='Gholson'] is about to have a huge year and there are returning guys like [player_tooltip player_id='2845973' first='Jack' last='Burke'], [player_tooltip player_id='1560861' first='Mayon' last='Dixon'], [player_tooltip player_id='2397555' first='Brady' last='Molenaar'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1560761' first='Kavari' last='Flowers'] among others that make this a deeper team. I would say they are next in line behind the Eagles and Cats. Then you have...</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park of Cottage Grove. I like the way Park has gone about things over there. They have some good hard working players that compete pretty hard. Guards and forwards with agility and good size. They might be short that go-to scoring option but they will go team option and win a fair amount of games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eastview. The Lightning have a league star in Green and a ton of up and comers ready to fill roles. They played really well several weekends in the Breakdown Summer Series beating a lot of teams people didn't expect them to beat and they did it playing hard and playing together. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Burnsville. The Blaze have some size that should allow them to contest, board, and finish around the basket if the ball moves the way it needs to. [player_tooltip player_id='2403994' first='Yannick' last='Amoyi'], [player_tooltip player_id='2140637' first='Jayden' last='Anunda'], and Connor McDevitt should be that front three and if the backcourt guys can step up Burnsville can win some games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bloomington Jefferson. It's tough over at Jefferson right now and it's tough to say much else. Lost Marcus Horton to a transfer in the middle of the year, lost their best player to CDH in a transfer, Jack Sawyer graduated with his 16ppg, the next best player transferred to BSM and the next two best after that graduated as well. And this was a six win team last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->