The Mississippi 8 Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Monticello Magic won the league getting by Becker by three games. This year, the same two are the favorites and the gap should be closer. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Title Contenders</strong>: Monticello, Becker</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Magic graduated three all league starters but their other two starters returning are good players that will be all league guys (Nebben and Deibele) and they have several guys who played smaller roles last year stepping into bigger spots. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Becker was in second place last season when they won 17 games - which tied a school record - and the team that is likely to break the school record for wins, has six of their top seven guys back. We have the Bulldogs a top ten team in Class AAA entering the season and they are our preseason top pick in the M8. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Cambridge-Isanti, Zimmerman, Princeton, Big Lake </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cambridge-Isanti is now a junior dominant group that will have some good juniors that may be a year from making their runs, but they will still be a good team. Zimmerman has the best player in the league in McEachern and returning players back with him. They can sit in that third or fourth spot and try and shoot for the top once again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Princeton has a couple all league guys back and a couple good reserves back so we think the Tigers take another jump back to where they used to be. They have a chance to be a top three team as well led by [player_tooltip player_id='2121382' first='Noah' last='Stencel'] who scored 21 points a game last season. Big Lake won nine games last year and with three of their four top players returning the Hornets should take a step forward to at least that .500 range. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: St. Francis, North Branch</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Francis was a nine win team last year and they lost three of their top four guys, and what makes it tougher is they have had a really good name leading the team year after year, but this year we are not sure who that is. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North Branch won three games last year but they have four starters returning including a couple all league guys. They are close to taking the next step from the bottom of rebuilding. The same can be said for Chisago Lakes who won only one game in the league but before they take a step, they have to find a way to not give up 88 points per game. Eighty-Eight! Man that would have been fun to play against in high school. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>25-26 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Mississippi 8 Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Becker</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Monticello</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Princeton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Zimmerman</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Big Lake</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Cambridge-Isanti</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) North Branch</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Chisago Lakes</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) St. Francis</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Mississippi 8</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2145758' first='Thomas' last='McEachern'] of Zimmerman (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560822' first='Rhys' last='Nebben'] of Monticello (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2399176' first='Bryce' last='Paumen'] of Becker (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1628775' first='Sawyer' last='Brown'] of Becker (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2121382' first='Noah' last='Stencel'] of Princeton (Sr)</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='1506327' first='Nathan' last='Weiss'] of Becker (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2835657' first='Jameson' last='Epple'] of Cambridge-Isanti (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140576' first='Carson' last='Deibele'] of Monticello (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coen Underhill of Chisago Lakes (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1628769' first='Owen' last='Wilczek'] of Big Lake (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='2835369' first='Matthew' last='Hallberg'] of Princeton (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joe Couwenhoven of Chisago Lakes (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140623' first='Hunter' last='Miller'] of Monticello (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2462338' first='Lane' last='Pettis'] of Big Lake (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jacob Knoespel of North Branch (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cody Durham of Princeton (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2413330' first='Judd' last='Layton'] of Big Lake (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2873949' first='Landon' last='Peterson'] of Becker (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joseph Larson of Zimmerman (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2417091' first='Isiah' last='Boyer'] of Becker (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ethan Thorsen of North Branch (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424654' first='Lucas' last='Lemke'] of Zimmerman (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2399155' first='Troy' last='Nuest'] of Becker (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2814089' first='Eddie' last='Lundeen'] of Cambridge-Isanti (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jaxson Olson of Princeton (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2447455' first='Hunter' last='Olson'] of St. Francis (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->