Season Preview: Section Winner Predictions for 4A

Last but not least, here are my predictions for the 6 metro area sections in 4A.

Section 2: Eden Prairie has to be the happiest team around after finally getting away from Hopkins and Minnetonka and all the heartbreaking losses the last few years. With Shakopee losing Eric Carlson and Bloomington Jefferson losing Cole Aldrich, EP is the class of this section. Jefferson might still make some noise with Moses Alipate, but EP's Ethan Wragge will finally lead them to state.

Section 3: This is the most wide open section in the metro. Apple Valley and Lakeville S lose most everything. Park is dangerous with Jake Lindstrom back and Rosemount has Andrew Brommer returning in the middle. I'll take Burnsville here, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Eastview make some noise.

Section 4: This is a tough section. Cretin-Derham Hall has a bunch of people back, but they were disappointing last year. Henry Sibley will get better as Jake Kreuser continues to improve and they have plenty of people back. Stillwater will be a tough out with Joel Armstrong in the middle. Ditto for Tartan with their backcourt of Sam Ryan and Marc Sonnen. St. Paul Central could be a tough out as the 5 seed as they have a bunch of people back and they are tall and athletic. We'll see if they learned from their 1-13 non-conference record last year. I'm picking CDH to come out of this section with a tough win over Sibley.

Section 5: 3 teams in here to watch. Mounds View, Osseo and Cooper. Mounds View has everybody back including Mike Schramm and Ziggy Kauls knows how to coach. Osseo has Carrington Tankson and Zach Peterson back and Tim Theisen knows how to coach too. Rodney Williams Jr is a monster for Cooper and they bring in Mpls North transfer Joe Bright so they'll have a couple of very good wing players, but the loss of Dennis Williamson is huge. In addition, they have to find somebody to play the point. This section final is a must see whoever it is among these 3 teams. Give me Mounds View over Osseo.

Section 6: Minnetonka and Hopkins. Need I say more. These are the top 2 teams in the state, write down their 2 regular season meetings and this section final as game you absolutely must see. With Minnetonka getting De La Salle transfer Sedrick McBounds, that puts the final piece in place with their entire team returning. Minneapolis North is probably the 3rd most talented team in this section, but that's mainly because Armstrong and Wayzata lost everything to graduation. Give me Tonka over Hopkins as seniors beat juniors to move on to state.

Section 7: Blaine has been down in recent years and Andover has been the class of this section. I think they'll contend again, but I'll take Duluth East and star sophomore Dyami Starks to move on to state.