This is the 9th installment in the 08-09 Season Preview series. If you missed any of the 1st 8 previews, you can use the Section and Conference Previews page to go back and read them. In this installment, a look at the Suburban East Conference.
Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders (2007 Season 23-4, 14-2)CDH will have to replace a couple of star guards that are now playing D1 football, Michael Floyd (Notre Dame) and John Nance (U of M). But the highest rated football player of them all, Seantrel Henderson, returns to lead the way. He's part of a loaded 2010 class that includes frontliner Clay Horne and guard Jake Frey just to name a couple. Senior Peter White was a major JV contributor last year up front. Guards Bo Bona and Marcus Binns return to provide experience. Point guard play will be a large determination of their success.
Stillwater Ponies (2007 Season 22-5, 14-2)
Star forward Joel Armstrong is gone to Winona State along with guard Aaron Anderson. But the Ponies have a couple of nice juniors to take their places. Guard Paul Franklin played a bunch of varsity minutes last year and made one of the plays of the year last season when he hit a half-court buzzer beater to steal a game at Johnson. Center Ryan Duxbury is an absolute beast inside and should have some terrific battles with Henderson of CDH.
Mounds View Mustangs (2007 Season 21.7, 12-4)
The Mustangs lose a couple of very good seniors in Mike Schramm and Nick Bartlett. Senior Dan Carroll returns to lead with way with senior Justin Harding and sophomore Jordan Van Eps. Not overly athletic but very disciplined and mistake free under longtime coach Ziggy Kauls.
Forest Lake Rangers (2007 Season 19-10, 9-7)
The Rangers will try to recover from a tough loss to Cambridge-Isanti in last year's 7AAAA final. They lose a couple of their top scorers, Brad Kopp and Ryan Brown. 2 starters (Griffin Lentsch being one of them) and junior Zach Riedeman return for one of the most methodical squads in the metro. Their open post motion offense and 1-3-1 defense really limit the number of possessions.
Woodbury Royals (2007 Season 13-15, 7-9)
If Forest Lake is the tortoise, then Woodbury must be the hare. Top scorer Aaron Myers and point guard Matt Slayton are gone. They do return a couple of high-scoring wing players in senior Bo Schiffler and junior Nick Quicksell. Ernest Dorsett returns to run the show at the point. Schiffler had 11 straight double-figure games in points before having only 5 points in the section semifinal loss to CDH. They'll play small and they'll run as much as any team in the metro.
White Bear Lake Bears (2007 Season 10-17, 7-9)
Junior frontcourt players Spencer Cummings and Richard Azevedo return to lead the way. Cole Christenson returns to lead the backcourt.
Park Wolfpack (2007 Season 9-18, 5-11)
All everything guard Jake Lindstrom is gone for the Wolfpack. Cody Hofmann and Craig Brown return in the backcourt. Andy Voigt returns up front.
Roseville Raiders (2007 Season 6-21, 3-13)
The Raiders return the top player in the league, Bucknell commit Mike Muscala. Guard Erik Nockleby is gone along with forward BJ Letourneau. With limited options around Muscala and a tough group of teams at the top of the league, the Raiders will likely struggle again this season.
Hastings Raiders (2007 Season 5-22, 1-15)
Hastings returns leading scorer senior Jake Ryan along with junior forwards Shane Monjeau and Nick Gmiterko. They'll try to use last year's season as a building block to continued improvement.
Predicted Order of Finish
- Cretin-Derham Hall
- Mounds View
- Stillwater
- Woodbury
- Forest Lake
- White Bear Lake
- Roseville
- Park
- Hastings
Games that will determine the conference title
- Mounds View at CDH - January 20th
- Stillwater at Mounds View - January 23rd
- CDH at Stillwater - January 27th
- CDH at Mounds View - February 20th
- Mounds View at Stillwater - February 27th
- Stillwater at CDH - March 6th
- Eden Prairie at CDH - December 4th
- Monticello at Mounds View - December 5th
- St. Thomas Academy at CDH - December 12th
- Eden Prairie vs Mounds View - December 27th (1st round Bethel Tournament)
- Mounds View vs Minnetonka - December 29th (projected Bethel semifinal)
- Mounds View vs Sibley - December 30th (projected Bethel final)
- Stillwater vs Plainview-Elgin-Millville - December 30th (projected Rochester Rotary semifinal)
- Stillwater vs Apple Valley - December 31st (projected Rochester Rotary final)
- St. Paul Johnson at Stillwater - January 3rd
- CDH at De La Salle - February 21st
- CDH at Lakeville North - February 28th
Thanks for the SEC Preview Czar, I especially like the best games to watch posted at the end. That includes every conference, I just put them on my calendar as must see games. Hope to get the chance to meet you this year at a game!
ReplyDeleteGo Warriors!
Thanks Warrior. I try to get all the best games in that list, but I know I don't get them all. Tough league this year as the battles between the top 5 teams should be really fun to watch and that doesn't even count watching Muscala. I felt bad leaving out the games with the top teams against Woodbury and FL. After all, Woodbury gave Stillwater all they could handle during the regular season and then knocked them out in the 1st round. I'll be seeing a lot of CDH this season so look for me perched high above the action in their gym.
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