Class AA: Five Questions for the 2025-26 Season

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class AA season could be a wild one. There are so many contenders! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Can Minnehaha Academy make it ten straight?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hawks have been qualifying for state for nearly a decade now and they can make it a full decade with another trip to state this season. They lost just about everybody from their 24-25 line-up to graduation but they do return high potential [player_tooltip player_id='2436914' first='Kellen' last='Troup'] plus [player_tooltip player_id='2416947' first='Ayden' last='Green'] is listed as transferring to the school. That instantly gives Minnehaha Academy two of the best three players in the section plus they have up and coming young talent. Minnesota Academy is a big favorite to make it to state yet again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>What is left at Breck?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If all the transfer rumors are correct, Breck lost a couple seniors to graduation and then lost Green to Minnehaha, [player_tooltip player_id='1560824' first='Deangelo' last='Dungey'] to Totino-Grace and [player_tooltip player_id='2126145' first='Waleed' last='Muhammad'] to Richfield. That said, I think they still have their best all around player in Mu Muhammad and they still have their size in [player_tooltip player_id='1560864' first='JP' last='Musoke']. They are going to need to get some wing scoring punch from some younger players though but with Mu and JP, this is still a top ten team in Class AA.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Will JCC be the biggest team in Class AA?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jackson County Central is going to be huge. By huge I mean tall, strong, long, and whatever else you want to call it. [player_tooltip player_id='1601069' first='Roman' last='Voss'] has committed to Minnesota football, 6'7 [player_tooltip player_id='1560751' first='Weston' last='Rowe'] has committed to Northern Iowa football, and throw in 6'10 transfer [player_tooltip player_id='2519956' first='Sullivan' last='Hall'] (averaged a double double last year in Iowa) and you have a huge team. Plus there is a 6'4 shooting guard and with him it will be a 6'0-6'4-6'4-6'7-6'10 line-up to start with. Preseason number one? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Who is number one entering the season?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We continue with JCC and the number one ranked team chat. They are surely a team to talk about as a potential state title contender this year and they could have a claim to be that top team. Montevideo is another team that I would talk about as a potential number one. They return their top guys and nearly their entire team from a state tournament participant. We can talk Minnehaha Academy, Breck, Pequot Lakes is a team to talk about, and then you have the teams just outside of the west metro: Belle Plaine and GSL. Will Waseca have enough back around [player_tooltip player_id='2121332' first='Deron' last='Russell'] to make another run? And what about.....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Class A to Class AA impact</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>....those new teams coming into Section 1AA. Lake City will be a contender as will be Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Cannon Falls. Caledonia is usually here but they lost a ton of players outside of [player_tooltip player_id='2387331' first='Grant' last='King']. Stepping into those spots will be Goodhue and Rushford-Peterson who are coming up from Class A. Goodhue went to state last year and they have all their top pieces back. Goodhue isn't just a state tournament contender, they are a state title contender! And Rushford-Peterson is a top ten level Class AA level team as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>EXTRA. Holy Family. </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We had Holy Family as a top five team in Class AA coming into the season because they are returning four starters with some pretty solid players including [player_tooltip player_id='1213758' first='Andrew' last='Coleman'], [player_tooltip player_id='2140617' first='Geno' last='Ward'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2140577' first='Carson' last='Kuchenbecker'] but now you add [player_tooltip player_id='1560786' first='Lexyn' last='Grof'] to that team, we are now talking about the 5AA favorite. And not just the 5AA favorite entering the year, but with transfers changing the landscape so much in the metro Class AA schools, Holy Family likely moves into top five in Class AA discussion instantly with this transfer. Grof scored 22 plus points a game at Jordan last year and they were a top 20 team with him coming into this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->