The Big Nine Preview – Can Mayo repeat as league champ?

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mayo lost only one game last season ending the Mankato East run of titles. Do they have a chance to win it again this year?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>:  Mankato East, Northfield, Owatonna</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Big Nine does not have a title contender for state coming into the season nor do they have a top ten team entering the season. Could somebody enter the top ten? Surely. Mankato East doesn't have the talent or stars they have in recent years but they do have some good experienced players returning. East and Northfield both have the players to sneak into the top ten in AAA as the back half of the top ten is wide open. The Raiders have a nice junior class that could get them back to state one of the next two seasons. As for Owatonna, the Huskies are a top 25 team in Class AAAA and when you consider the talent level, the Huskies might just have more than anybody in the league. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Rochester JM, Winona, Austin, Century, Mankato West, Mayo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The middle of the league. The middle includes Mayo who won the league last year and has the top player in the league coming into the season in [player_tooltip player_id='2133222' first='Elliot' last='Myszkowski']. Mayo also has some good up and coming players too. They could win this league but they have a lot of spots to replace from last year's strong team. West is the team that I think could make the biggest jump, Austin will be solid, Century always pull upsets, Winona has a lot back from last year, and JM is led by [player_tooltip player_id='2435137' first='Jackson' last='Daly'] so they should take a step forward from last year's four wins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Faribault, Albert Lea</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Falcons were seven games under .500 a season ago with one of the state's best frontcourts. Now they are without the size and it should start a rebuilding season. As for the Tigers, the lone non big school in this league, they won nine games last year but lost four of their top five scorers. I think they could be in the group above but losing four starers is tough. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>26-27 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Owatonna</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northfield</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato East</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester Mayo</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mankato West</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester Century</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Austin</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Winona</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester John Marshall</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Albert Lea</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Faribault</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Big Nine</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2133222' first='Elliot' last='Myszkowski'] of Rochester Mayo (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140710' first='Willie' last='Moore'] of Owatonna (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2385637' first='Nathan' last='Long'] of Rochester Century (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2417228' first='Liam' last='Oakland'] of Northfield (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Xzayveun Sverin of Austin (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2916881' first='Mal' last='Jock'] of Mankato West (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2384018' first='Cooper' last='Routh'] of Owatonna (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2385461' first='Aguer' last='Akech'] of Rochester Mayo (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2435137' first='Jackson' last='Daly'] of Rochester JM (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2848283' first='Briggs' last='Meyer'] of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2423655' first='Griffin' last='Schott'] of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benjamin Martin of Rochester Century (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Bengstrom of Northfield (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3442991' first='James' last='Ramsey'] of WInona (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Colin Norgaard of Rochester Century (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2979781' first='Tyler' last='Holz'] of Northfield (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2853501' first='Marques' last='Jeffers'] Joseph of Albert Lea (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2835444' first='Evan' last='Senske'] of Mankato West (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2817957' first='Finn' last='Eckerman'] of Rochester Century (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gavin Hering of Mankato East (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2873196' first='Jackson' last='Holder'] of Owatonna (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2560528' first='Ryan' last='Steinke'] of Mankato West (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2824370' first='Colby' last='Mlynczak'] of Winona  (Sr).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2423171' first='Brendan' last='Klecker'] of Owatonna (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->