The Big Nine Preview

<p>The annual Big Nine preview is today and the league could be wide open to the ten teams.  Top teams are replacing talent, some teams are ready to make a jump. </p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten in State: </strong>Mankato East, Austin</p> <p>Mankato East won the league a year ago mixing seniors with returning talent [player_tooltip player_id="850715" first="BJ" last="Omot"] and [player_tooltip player_id="774742" first="Pal" last="Kueth"]. Omot is the best player and prospect in this league by a long shot right now.  He and Kueth will be the best 1-2 punch in the league but there is a ton of talent to replace.  That said the youth in the Cougars system has enough to step in as support.</p> <p>Austin has a greater share of talent returning and may be the deepest team in the league.  [player_tooltip player_id="774763" first="Teyghan" last="Hovland"] will be one of the best all around players in the league and in Austin’s system there may not be a need for a Gach or Nywesh style scorer.  They will come at teams in waves. </p> <p><strong>Potential Top Ten:</strong>  Owatonna, Mankato West</p> <p>Owatonna returns a lot of talent, enough to make the jump to a 20 win season (well, in most years they would shoot for a 20 win year).  [player_tooltip player_id="850718" first="Evan" last="Dushek"] is the best big in the Big Nine.  The Scarlets will be one of the most improved teams in Minnesota.  They only won seven games last year but nearly every thing is back and they have some special players.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>:  Rochester Mayo, Northfield, Winona</p> <p>I don’t know that Mayo can be a Top Ten team in Class AAAA but that doesn’t mean they can’t contend for the wide open Big Nine.  Mo, Crockett, and Sharp are a strong senior pair while [player_tooltip player_id="958652" first="Makuei" last="Riek"] has big potential.  I was able to see Northfield twice last year and they gave up massive scoring numbers, and it’s hard to get that out of my head.  Kip and Clay were the Raiders leading scorers a year ago and will be again.  As far as Winona goes, I liked their seniors last year and felt they could of been better than 12-15.  Winona lost a lot of those seniors but [player_tooltip player_id="958646" first="Jasper" last="Hedin"] is one of the best players in the Big Nine. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>:  JM, Century, Red Wing, Albert Lea, Faribault</p> <p>Red Wing will be better than three wins, [player_tooltip player_id="958731" first="Deso" last="Buck"] is worth that himself.  Albert Lea had a nice 19-20 season and has some quality coming up from the JV, but it doesn’t have much experience.  Century needs to replace nearly everything while JM has the Tuckners back with experience but that’s it. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>19-20 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <p><strong><u>Big Nine</u></strong></p> <ol> <li>Manakto East</li> <li>Austin</li> <li>Owatonna</li> <li>Rochester Mayo</li> <li>Mankato West</li> <li>Winona</li> <li>Northfield</li> <li>Rochester Century</li> <li>Rochester JM</li> <li>Red Wing</li> <li>Albert Lea</li> <li>Faribault</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Big Nine</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958360" first="Mekhi" last="Collins"], Mankato West, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850718" first="Evan" last="Dushek"], Owatonna, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958646" first="Jasper" last="Hedin"], Winona, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957618" first="Mo" last="Hammadelniel"], Rochester Mayo, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774763" first="Teyghan" last="Hovland"], Austin, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850715" first="BJ" last="Omot"], Mankato East, Jr</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958702" first="Buom" last="Jock"], Mankato West, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774742" first="Pal" last="Kueth"], Mankato East, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957155" first="Okey" last="Okey"], Austin, Sr</p> <p>Kip Schetnan, Northfield, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958681" first="Brayden" last="Williams"], Owatonna, Jr</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958731" first="Deso" last="Buck"], Red Wing, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774800" first="Karsten" last="Clay"], Northfield, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958771" first="Emmanuel" last="Manyuon"], Austin, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958652" first="Makuei" last="Riek"], Rochester Mayo, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774831" first="Michael" last="Sharp"], Rochester Mayo, Sr</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957222" first="Andre" last="Crockett"] Jr, Rochester Mayo, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="774798" first="Mason" last="Ellwein"], Mankato West, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958655" first="Victor" last="Idris"], Austin, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957233" first="Martez" last="Redeaux"], Mankato West, Sr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1071109" first="Ty" last="Tuckner"], Rochester JM, Sr</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Five Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958749" first="Denval" last="Atkinson"], Red Wing, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958725" first="Ty" last="Creger"], Owatonna, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="796953" first="Brady" last="Haugum"], Mankato West, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958789" first="Luke" last="Kottom"], Rochester Century, Jr</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="957635" first="John" last="Palmer"], Faribault, Sr</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>