The Prairie Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There is often some great basketball in the Prairie Conference each year with Osakis, Upsala, Browerville and others, and we don't see that changing in 2022-23! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Osakis, Browerville-Eagle Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Osakis is a top 25/30 team in Class AA basketball and if they can stay healthy - they've dealt with some injury issues - we could see them putting a really nice season together and just maybe sneaking into the Class AA top ten at some point. Osakis has a really good junior class of talent plus senior Stewart Jones could have a breakout senior season. Browerville-Eagle Valley is right there with Osakis as a top 30 team in Class AA and a top challenger for conference and section entering the season. And like Osakis, the Tigers are set up for a really nice potential run the next couple seasons. The teams split their meetings last year but Osakis had the better record overall despite injuries. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: LPGE, Swanville, Upsala</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>LPGE won only five games last year but they do return three starters and they are a team that was small for Class AA (and I guess this league) so they are now a Class A team. Expect their record to take a big jump with a schedule that has more Class A teams plus they will be more experienced this year. Competing in this league will really help them come playoff time as they will be battle tested against good Class AA teams but also have that balance of Class A experience in their non-league schedule. Swanville won 15 games last season but they lost an excellent player in Nick Mettler plus two other starters. They have a big senior group but I think they may take a step back this year in terms of record, but not a big step back. I nearly labeled Upsala as rebuilding because they lost such a great player in Levi Lampert, and because they lost seven seniors from their nine man rotation. That said, two of their best three talents are back and one of them ([player_tooltip player_id='2449397' first='Jack' last='Primus']) is just a sophomore but has experience. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong> St. John's Prep</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. John's Prep was winless in the league last season and lost four starters including two all league honored players. They did win seven games outside of the league but with a struggle in conference play and so many starters lost we are throwing them into the rebuild area. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Osakis</li><li>Browerville-Eagle Valley</li><li>Swanville</li><li>Upsala</li><li>LPGE</li><li>St. John's Prep</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Prairie Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stewart Jones of Osakis (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962286' first='Parker' last='Duncan'] of Browerville-Eagle Valley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284168' first='Kyle' last='Mages'] of Osakis (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Miguel Maloney of Browerville-Eagle Valley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lucas Miller of Swanville (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Boeckerman of Upsala (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Korbin Lowe of LPGE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2375100' first='Grant' last='Mages'] of Osakis (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blake Irsfeld of Browerville-Eagle Valley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tye Urman of LPGE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284184' first='Mekai' last='Hoelscher'] of Osakis (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Salvador Orozco of LPGE (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2449397' first='Jack' last='Primus'] of Upsala (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alex Kraker of Swanville (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sam Dehne of St. John's Prep (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->