The Gopher Conference Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Triton was the king of the East last season, JWP was on top of the West a year ago. Will that change? We dive in and find out today..</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top Ten in State: Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>JWP has three starters back from a team that played in the state title game last year, but did lose two double figure scorers. That said, they have a star in Bauer and some key rotational pieces as well return. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top Ten Potential: Triton, Hayfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Vikings won 19 games last season and they return all but one player from last year's rotation. If things fall right Hayfield could be competing for the section and a top ten spot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cobras are interesting. They have another standout prospect in [player_tooltip player_id='2375788' first='William' last='Thiemann'] that is going to be very good, and some returning players. It's a new team without Pierce and they should be good. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Compete with Most: Blooming Prairie, Bethlehem Academy, NRHEG, Medford, Kenyon-Wanamingo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Blossoms could have a good record again, they likely should. But will they be able to compete for the league and section title? That is the question, they do have three starters back. Kenyon-Wanamingo has all their guys back so they should improve. They need to mature as a defense but the potential is there. Bethlehem Academy has four starters back from an 11-win team including the top scorers. Medford won five games last year and they should win even more this year. It may not mean contention but they should be better. NRHEG has everybody back from last season and they should take a step forward.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rebuilding: Randolph, USC, WEM</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Randolph lost their top two scorers from last season and they are a bit short on senior experience so they ares tarting over a bit. WEM lost three of their best four players from an 11-win team and they will be younger. Could be solid, but they will look like a newer team. USC was a five win team last year but they do return all but two players from the rotation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>26-27 Conference Power Rankings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Triton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Hayfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Blooming Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Kenyon-Wanamingo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Bethlehem Academy</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) NRHEG</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Waterville-Elysian-MorristownRandolph</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Randolph</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(10) Medford</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(11) United South Central</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Gopher Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2386616' first='Gavin' last='Bauer'] of JWP (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Willliam Thiemann of Triton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2846686' first='Charlie' last='Walker'] of Hayfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126171' first='Gabe' last='Staloch'] of Blooming Prairie (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2824381' first='Landon' last='Seiler'] of Medford (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Graden Thomas of Triton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Heden of Kenyon-Wanamingo (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cole Bartz of WEM (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2815258' first='Gavin' last='Weedman'] of JWP (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Caden Dokkestol of Bethlehem Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braxton Koss of Triton (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3066648' first='Calvin' last='Nissen'] of NRHEG (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rylan Nelson of Hayfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jayden Barnick of USC (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seth Aldorfer of Kenyon-Wanamingo (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3653988' first='Wyatt' last='Rafdal'] of Blooming Prairie (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brooks Gilliland of NRHEG (so)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2388746' first='Kingston' last='Lee'] of Blooming Prairie (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3551373' first='Owen' last='Dotterweich'] of Bethlehem Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2362112' first='Jaden' last='Smith'] of Randolph (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayden Dillon of Bethlehem Academy (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Sixth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2815326' first='Jaxon' last='Wolff'] of JWP (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nolan Pack of Hayfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2386227' first='Oliver' last='Bauer'] of Kenyon-Wanamingo (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2917731' first='Jared' last='Nybakke'] of Randolph (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Axel Meek of Hayfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dominic Olson of NRHEG (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->