The Lake Superior Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Just like we said yesterday in the 7AAA conversation, Denfeld, Hibbing and Grand Rapids are near the top and fighting for trophies at the end of the year!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top Ten in State:  Hibbing, Grand Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hibbing and Grand Rapids have the players to start in the top ten of Class AAA. Hibbing is 7th, GR is in that ten/eleven area which depends on the day as I decide if I like Tech, Apollo, Johnson, Highland Park or GR better. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hibbing has been building for this season since this group of seniors was playing at Hibbing Basketball Camp as elementary schoolers. Many teams in this section have had their turn at state (GR last year, Denfeld the year before) and it seems like Hibbing's turn. But GR and Denfeld have enough back to crush their dreams. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top Ten in State Potential: Duluth Denfeld </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Denfeld is going to be good but they don't quite have the same amount of experience back as Hibbing and even Grand Rapids. But I think Dupree will have a big sophomore year and [player_tooltip player_id='2877064' first='Carter' last='Brown'] might go from 28 and 13 to like 41 and 17 or something. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Compete with Most: Hermantown, Cloquet, Superior</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hermantown. They have dealt with injuries. They have dealt with rough situations. They have had to put young layers in tough spots. All of that has happened, and I think it could turn into motivation and experience that puts them in the race as well. But they only won single figure games last season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cloquet does not have much information out there but we know that they return [player_tooltip player_id='3014754' first='Max' last='Jazdzewski'] and Evan Rothamel who could lead them to that .500 area for next season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What about Superior? Obviously its a Wisconsin team so my knowledge is limited here. They were 18-8 last season and we know that junior guard Beckam Lull is really good. Also keep an eye on sophomore Beau Brzezinski, a 6'4 frontcourt player. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rebuilding: Rock Ridge, Proctor, Duluth Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rock Ridge was a five win team last year, and they lost all of their starters. They will need to use the non league schedule to get some experience. Proctor is another team that really there is no information at all, we just know they won ten games last season. Duluth Marshall was like Rock Ridge last season, they won five games a year ago and they did that playing a lot of seniors so they are likely starting over. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>26-27 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Lake Superior Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Hibbing</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Grand Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Duluth Denfeld</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Hermantown</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Superior</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Cloquet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Proctor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Rock Ridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Duluth Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Lake Superior</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2877064' first='Carter' last='Brown'] of Duluth Denfeld (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126126' first='Ray' last='Brau'] of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2814304' first='Gavin' last='Wegwerth'] of Grand rapids (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2979877' first='Jack' last='Bottoms'] of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3679246' first='Logan' last='McNear'] of Grand Rapids (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2810623' first='Sawyer' last='Senst'] of Hernmantown (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2860110' first='Ethan' last='Morgan'] of Grand Rapids (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3014754' first='Max' last='Jazdzewski'] of Cloquet (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2860101' first='Noah' last='Schulz'] of Hermantown (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Beckam Lull of Superior (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2919686' first='Joseph' last='Dupree Jr'] of Duluth Denfeld (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aidan Reini of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evan Rothamel of Cloquet (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ben Sundland of Hemantown (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Beau Brezezinkski of Superior (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2521685' first='Tristan' last='Latimore'] of Denfeld (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2964369' first='Grant' last='Toewe'] of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2860474' first='Corbin' last='Petcoff'] of Hermantown (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jeremiah Rayton of Rock Ridge (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='3183175' first='Rocco' last='Rossini'] of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Beckett Engel of Rock Ridge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->