The South Suburban Preview – Who is the Favorite?

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prior Lake won the league by four games last winter and they look like a favorite but...... this league should be wide open and these league could be turned on its head. We explain below. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State</strong>: Prior Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prior Lake is the one South Suburban team in the top ten to start the season and it's been a long time since there were that few teams ranked from this league in the top ten. The Lakers have size in NSIC committed bigs [player_tooltip player_id='2126466' first='Kobby' last='Sambrew'] (UMD) and [player_tooltip player_id='2052332' first='Trey' last='Theis'] (Minot State) plus a scorer in [player_tooltip player_id='2433515' first='Kolby' last='Thompson'] who has great potential. You throw some skilled wings in there and you have a team with experience, size, skill, and depth. Do they have the decision maker to pull it all together? If they do it could be a great year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: Farmington, Lakeville South, Apple Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Tigers, Cougars, and Eagles are all top twenty level teams that could jump into the top ten. Or they could be top 20/30 area teams and have a few struggles. It depends on.... will Farmington have the guards coming from the JV to be a top ten team? They surely have the size. Will South have enough depth to replace the pieces to be a top team? The Cougars will have good players back but the depth is what needs to work out. Then Apple Valley. They had an amazing second place finish last year and they have four of their top eight guys back. [player_tooltip player_id='2419997' first='Gio' last='Horton'] had a bad accident and hurt his eye this fall and he's one of the best two or three guards in the sophomore class. If Horton is healthy to play this year the Eagles will be a top ten level team. If he is out they are likely more of a top 20-25 team but still good. There is some uncertainty there. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Eastview, Rosemount, Shakopee, Burnsville, Lakeville North, Eagan</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The next six. They will all be competitive, and they will have have some hills to climb. Which teams can be the most consistent and which teams will fail to be consistent? Eastview has as much young talent as anybody and they had a great summer winning games in the Breakdown Summer Series. North has Owen but do they have enough depth to get back on track? There were some struggles this summer. Eagan has some size, but do they have guard play in a new era? Shako has talent but they were really bad last year, should we expect a big jump or just a small jump? And does [player_tooltip player_id='2126468' first='Blake' last='Betton'] play high school hoops or go to Penn State early like some other top players have done? Then Burnsville. Everybody thinks past them but they play tough, they have some size and athletes and more returning players than some others. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>26-27 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>South Suburban Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Prior Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Farmington</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Apple Valley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lakeville South</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Eastview</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rosemount</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Shakopee</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Burnsville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lakeville North</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Eagan</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All South Suburban Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126458' first='Luke' last='Schroeder'] of Shakopee (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126466' first='Kobby' last='Sambrew'] of Prior Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140675' first='Owen' last='Brezinski'] of Lakeville North (Sr). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126447' first='Briggs' last='Sheridan'] of Farmington (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126455' first='Peyton' last='Gholson'] of Rosemount (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126465' first='Tommy' last='Schabert'] of Farmington (Sr).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2400080' first='Nolan' last='Greene'] of Lakeville South (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2416949' first='Tyrese' last='Hutton'] of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2433515' first='Kolby' last='Thompson'] of Prior Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126468' first='Blake' last='Betton'] of Shakopee (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2419997' first='Gio' last='Horton'] of Apple Valley (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2052332' first='Trey' last='Theis'] of Prior Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2421164' first='Ryan' last='Miskowicz'] of Eagan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2568101' first='Donjae' last='Knox'] of Eagan (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Connor McDevitt of Burnsville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josh Mroczenski of Rosemount (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140606' first='Ethan' last='McGrath'] of Eastview (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3705065' first='Kannon' last='Axdahl'] of Eastview (Fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140646' first='Justice' last='Demarco'] of Rosemount (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thomas LeDuc of Farmington (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140615' first='Gavin' last='Stuart'] of Lakeville South (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2833380' first='Dereon' last='Barnes'] of Burnsville (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Quintin Lewis of Apple Valley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2381986' first='Gabe' last='Stadler'] of Lakeville North (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140559' first='Ben' last='Goring'] of Farmington (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Sixth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2831701' first='Oliver' last='Villalobos'] of Lakeville South (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3666768' first='Gabe' last='Granger'] of Eastview (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2835671' first='Max' last='DuBore'] of Prior Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2560496' first='Josh' last='Running'] of Rosemount (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2417389' first='Jake' last='Courts'] of Shakopee (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->