2014-15 Section 5AA South Preview

This is the 15th preview in my 2014-2015 season preview series.  Week 3 of this 5 week long season preview series concludes with a look at the south subsection of section 5AA.  The north subsection is omitted because there's only 1 school in the subsection that I follow.  For a list of all the season previews and how they are generated, click here. 

Section 5AA South Sub-Section
Defending Champion: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

Predicted Seeding

1. Breck
2. Rockford
3. Watertown-Mayer 
4. Providence Academy 
5. Brooklyn Center
6. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted
7. International School 
8. Minneapolis Edison 

Breck is loaded and has to be the favorite on paper.  They have 5 senior starters returning and their 6th man.  The 3 teams outside of the area I follow lose 8 of their 9 double figure scorers.  Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted loses 4 double figure scorers.  Watertown-Mayer loses a pair of double figure scorers.  Rockford loses their top 2 but does return Jeremiah Bingham (10.3 PPG).  Rockford also brings back 3 juniors who saw time last year.  Junior Cole Gagnon is the only top 6 scorer returning for HLWW.  Soph Trae Berhow and senior Ryne Alger will be the top options for Watertown-Mayer.  Brooklyn Center has a scorer and some athletes back from a midlevel team in this section.  Providence has to replace their front line but they have backcourt options.  Rockford and Watertown-Mayer fight for 2 and 3.  Providence and Brooklyn Center fight for the last home game.  HLWW takes up the 6 slot.  International School finished 2nd in the EMAC last year. They lose top scorer Ethan Forney and over 23 PPG.  Junior Rich Berkeley averaged 12.5 last year and should see that go up.  But they'll still have to fight with Edison to not get the 8 seed.

Sleeper: Brooklyn Center.  With wing Tedyke Clark coming back, they have a goto guy to carry them.  Add in some athletes and their style of play is something not seen by the others in  this section.

Sub-Section Winner: Breck.   Considering what everyone else lost, this is a no-brainer pick.  But the Mustangs had a disappointing year last year.  Now they're on their 3rd coach in 3 years.  They have a very challenging schedule to test themselves.  Non-conference games include Holy Family, Redwood Valley, Minnetonka, Perham, Annandale, and Waconia.  Watertown-Mayer can make a case to steal the top seed if they can win at Breck on January 3rd and at home in the season opener vs Rockford.