The Wright County East Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holy Family was the class of the league a season ago but it looks like nearly all of the contenders to Fire repeat chances has improved. Here is the Wright County East Preview. </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</strong>: Holy Family, Delano</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Fire have a first team all state star returning in [player_tooltip player_id='1287442' first='Kole' last='Hanson'], they have some young up and comers for depth, and they added a pair of metro transfers in [player_tooltip player_id='1284180' first='Luke' last='Graff'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284091' first='Brayden' last='Carlson'] who both played with Hanson for multiple seasons on the [program_tooltip program_id='2075431' first='D1' last='Minnesota'] roster. With talent handling, in the paint and on the wing the Fire are a state title contender. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Delano will enter the 23-24 season a top ten team in Class AAA (HF is in Class AA). The Tigers were a 20 game winner last year and bring back four starters. They will have a load of scoring punch at guard although maybe not as deep in the post when it comes to physical low post battlers (although they do have some 6'5 returning players so there is length although not as much strength). Tigers are in a deep section but have as good of a chance as anybody in 6AAA. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Southwest Christian</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I have Southwest Christian 30th in Class AA which means they are the last team listed that would qualify for this category. What do they have going on? A new coach, they have a returning standout, they have a good player coming back from injury, a key transfer in [player_tooltip player_id='1442578' first='Mason' last='Wood'] from Shakopee, and they have some young talent. In all, the Stars have eight players back from their rotation last season plus they added a quality transfer. That all adds up to an improved team that should move up from an 8-win team at least doubling their win total. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Jordan, Hutchinson, Mound-Westonka</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jordan lost four of their top five contributors from a team that was 13-13. They will have enough depth and toughness to be a competitive team and not slip far but it doesn't look like they will have the talent to match what they did last year. Hutchinson returns their entire rotation from last season led by a couple senior captains and a good junior class. Once healthy [player_tooltip player_id='1436459' first='Nathan' last='Johnson'] has a chance to be really good for Hutch. Mound-Westonka returns five of their top seven teams including their standout [player_tooltip player_id='1585944' first='Max' last='Kraay']. They should take a nice jump up from six wins. Will they jump with or over Hutch and Southwest Christian? Tough to know as they split with both teams, and all three teams return nearly everything. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Wright County East Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Holy Family</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Delano</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Southwest Christian</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mound-Westonka</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Hutchinson</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Jordan</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Wright County East Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1287442' first='Kole' last='Hanson'] of Holy Family (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284091' first='Brayden' last='Carlson'] of Holy Family (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284180' first='Luke' last='Graff'] of Holy Family (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284231' first='Will' last='Strandemo'] of Delano (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1585944' first='Max' last='Kraay'] of Mound-Westonka (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560739' first='Max' last='Iversen'] of Delano (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1442578' first='Mason' last='Wood'] of Southwest Christian (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1582111' first='Jake' last='Schultz'] of Delano (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103376' first='Brayden' last='Beckering'] of Southwest Christian (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284096' first='Carter' last='Verhasselt'] of Hutchinson (jr)</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='2002813' first='Carter' last='Reinbold'] of Mound-Westonka (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1617763' first='Kaden' last='Butler'] of Hutchinson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103353' first='JJ' last='Longstreet'] of Delano (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2175457' first='Isaac' last='Tollefson'] of Southwest Christian (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1985359' first='Seth' last='Young'] of Jordan (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1436459' first='Nathan' last='Johnson'] of Hutchinson (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryce Tappen of Mound-Westonka (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2364171' first='Logan' last='Butler'] of Hutchinson (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gordie Molin of Southwest Christian (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>AJ Newell of Southwest Christian (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Drew Coleman of Holy Family (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Frank Nau of Delano (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->