Class A Preseason Top Ten in Detail

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class A top ten includes a handful of teams that we think can walk out of Williams Arena with the title come late March. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[table id=199 /]<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Pelican Rapids. A 24-win team in Class AA basketball that returns all but one guy from a state tournament team. They have a returning all league ball handler, a D2 signed big, and a full roster that made it to state at a higher level last year, so naturally moving down with the same team that is one more year experienced should have high expectations. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Cherry. Cherry earned second place in state a season ago and they return [player_tooltip player_id='2126128' first='Isaiah' last='Asuma'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1601068' first='Noah' last='Asuma']. They won 30 games but now they will be short on the depth that they had in luxury the past four or five seasons. There are some good young players and guys moving up from the JV that will fill roles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Hills-Beaver Creek, 26, return all top guys. Like Pelican Rapids, Hills-Beaver Creek brings everything back that was key to their roster last year, a team that won 26 games. They didn't make state because the Patriots ran into the state champs (DB) in sections but expectations are very high this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Red Lake County. Another veteran team that returns just about everything from a strong team. RLC won 30 games last year and made the state tournament, and with Bemidji State signed [player_tooltip player_id='1628768' first='Connor' last='Duden'] back to lead the way, expectations are high.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. You will feel a theme here for most teams on this list..... JWP won 25 games last year and they return four starters. And the starters back are all key players including the Bauers who put together a high percent of their stats. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Dawson-Boyd. The state champs from last year, the Jacks won 30 games. They return three of the top six including [player_tooltip player_id='2823917' first='Gunner' last='Liebl'], but their 6'7/6'8 size is now playing for Brad Bigler. That said, expectations are still there for a strong year because Liebl and several other players are very good players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Braham. The Bombers won 22 games last season and they return everything. If anybody was every in a good spot to finally stop Nevis from getting to state, it's the Bombers. [player_tooltip player_id='2369272' first='Tyler' last='Eklund'] and his big numbers lead the way but this is a deep and athletic team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Fertile-Beltrami. A 24 win team that has very productive size and should make a strong push for that section title as they battle RLC and others for state. Fertile-Beltrami returns their top six scorers from last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Park Christian. A 23 win team that returns two of the top three players and four of their top six players. PC has three double figure scores back including [player_tooltip player_id='1415930' first='Isaac' last='Jacobson'] who scored 17 points a contest a season ago. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(10) Springfield. The Tigers lost their top guy from last year but this is a 27 win team that has everything else back from 24-25. It's a tough team with size and skill. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->