2023-24 Season In A Nutshell

The Czar's 2023-2024 Season Preview series concludes with the traditional Season In A Nutshell preview.  This is a higher level season overview for casual fans who don't eat, sleep and breathe hoops.  Its who and what you need to see and when and where to see it.  If you missed any of the conferences or teams covered in the previews, a full list of them can be found here.

New Coaches

• Eastview - Danny Olsen
  
• Eden Prairie - Zander Culver
• Hill-Murray - Cam Jones
  
• Hmong Academy - Mike Sauer
• Holy Angels - Troy Bell
• Maranatha - Matt Shepard
  
• New Life Academy -  Charlie Hoaglund
  
• North St. Paul -  Anthony Harris
  
• Rogers - Mike Pomroy
• Roseville - Jamin Cook
• St. Louis Park - Arsenio Richardson
  
• St. Thomas Academy - Jacob Sand
  
• Southwest Christian - David Flom
  
• White Bear Lake - Aaron Turner

10 Notable Local Events

• Breakdown Tipoff Classic - Dec 9th (Hopkins)
• Southside Showcase - Dec 9th (Benilde-St. Margaret's)
  
• Breakdown Big Stage - Dec 16th (Park Center) 
  
• Hutton Winter Classic - Dec 19th/20th (Hamline)
• CSP Holiday Classic - Dec 28/29th (Concordia-St. Paul)
  
• Hall of Fame Winter Classic - Jan 13th (Anoka-Ramsey)
• Southside Super Showcase - Jan 13th (Minnehaha)
  
• Dream Classic - Jan 15th (Minneapolis Roosevelt)
  
• Border Battle - Jan 20th (Benilde-St. Margaret's)
• Breakdown Community Clash - Jan 27th (STMA, Becker and Chanhassen)
  

10 Non-Conference Games to Watch (single game events only)

• Lakeville North at East Ridge - Dec 5th
  
• Shakopee at Wayzata - Dec 12th
• De La Salle at Benilde-St. Margaret's - Dec 22nd
  
• Wayzata at Lakeville North - Jan 4th
  
• Benilde-St. Margaret's at Totino-Grace - Jan 6th
  
• Minnetonka at De La Salle - Jan 6th
• Alexandria at Orono - Jan 6th
  
• Wayzata at East Ridge - Jan 8th
• Hopkins at De La Salle - Feb 24th
  
• East Ridge at Totino-Grace - Feb 28th

10 Conference Games to Watch

• East Ridge at Cretin-Derham Hall - Dec 19th 
• Tartan at South St. Paul - Jan 17th
• Spectrum at Heritage - Feb 2nd
  
• Totino-Grace at Park Center - Feb 2nd
• Lakeville South at Lakeville North - Feb 13th
  
• De La Salle at Columbia Heights - Feb 15th
• Breck at Minnehaha - Feb 22nd
• Orono at Benilde-St. Margaret's - Feb 23rd
• Holy Family at Delano - Feb 23rd
• Minnetonka at Wayzata - Mar 1st
  

10 Impact Transfers

• Daniel Freitag - Bloomington Jefferson to Breck
  
• Luke Graff - Champlin Park to Holy Family
  
• Joe Mitchell - Apple Valley to Cretin-Derham Hall
• Temi Omotoyinbo - Osseo to Park Center
  
• Zy'Lerre Stewart - Totino-Grace to Columbia Heights
  
• Jack Thelen - Monticello to St. Michael-Albertville
• Daejohn Thomas - East Ridge to St. Paul Johnson
  
• Jaeden Udean - Columbia Heights to De La Salle
• Kayden Wells - Benilde- St. Margaret's to Minnetonka
• Christian Wiggins - Benilde-St. Margaret's to Wayzata

Extra: Jerome Williams and Harrison Aligbe from Minnehaha to east coast prep schools

10 Upperclassmen to Watch

• Cash Chavis - Park Center
  
• Daniel Freitag- Breck
• Isaiah Johnson-Arigu - Totino-Grace 
• Kyle Jorgensen - Minneapolis Washburn
  
• Jackson McAndrew - Wayzata
• Jon Mekonnen - Eastview
• Chiang Ring - Park Center
  
• Jack Robison - Lakeville North
• Andy Stefonowicz - Minnetonka
  
• Jalen Wilson - Benilde-St. Margaret's
  

10 Underclassmen to Watch

• Tian Chatman - Totino-Grace
  
• Tyler Forrest - Chaska
  
• Dothan Ijadimbola - Totino-Grace
• Will Kirsch - Waconia
  
• Joe Mitchell - Cretin-Derham Hall
  
• Jayden Moore - Hopkins 
• Colin Piper - White Bear Lake 
• Jack Thelen - St. Michael-Albertville
  
• Cedric Tomes - East Ridge 
• Jaeden Udean - De La Salle
  

10 Local Teams to Watch

• Benilde-St. Margaret's
  
• De La Salle
  
• East Ridge
  
• Lakeville North
• Lakeville South
  
• Orono
  
• Park Center
  
• Shakopee
  
• Totino-Grace
  
• Wayzata

Active Streaks of 20 Games Or More In Conference Play

• Minnehaha - 49 wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 at St. Paul Academy
• 30 home wins.  Last home loss was 1/28/14 vs Blake in Tri-Metro play. 
  29-0 home record all-time in IMAC play (includes neutral home games in 17-18)
• 23 road wins.  Last road loss was 2/6/15 at St. Paul Academy 
• Minneapolis North - 48 home wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 vs Minneapolis South
  
• Minneapolis Roosevelt - 47 losses 
  
• 21 home losses - Last home win was 2/1/19 vs Minneapolis Washburn
  
• 26 road losses.  Last road win was 1/24/19 at Minneapolis South
  
• Nova Classical Academy - 41 losses
• 0-41 all-time in Skyline play
• 21 home losses. Last home win was 2/19/19 vs International School in TCAC play.
  
• 23 road losses.  Last road win was 1/25/19 at International School in TCAC play.
  
• Mounds Park Academy - 39 losses 
  
• 21 home losses -  Last win was 2/9/18 at home vs St. Paul Academy
• 73 road losses including their years in the Tri-Metro.  Last road win was 2/1/08 at St. Paul Academy.
• Hill-Murray  - 38 losses.  Last win was 2/18/21 vs Two Rivers
  
• 49 road losses.  Last road win was 2/10/17 at South St. Paul.
• De La Salle - 24 wins.  Last loss was 1/11/22 at Columbia Heights
• Spectrum - 23 wins.  Last loss was 1/25/22 vs West Lutheran
• Maranatha - 21 wins.  Last loss was 2/4/22 vs New Life Academy
• East Ridge - 21 home wins.  Last home loss was 2/19/21 vs Woodbury
  

Section Winners

I gave thoughts on 14 conferences plus independents.  I'll match that here with predictions for the winners of 14 metro area sections.  That includes the 6 local A, AA and AAA sections and all 8 AAAA sections.

4A: With Legacy moving up to section 6AA, its a really weak section.  New Life will have the chance to repeat.  Heritage is my pick here.  CHOF and Higher Ground are sleepers.

4AA: Minnehaha loses 2 major pieces.  Can somebody like St. Paul Academy jump up and over take them?  I don't see it but it should be very competitive.

5AA: Breck is the team to keep an eye on here and they're my pick.  But Holy Family with Kole Hanson and traditional power Minneapolis North will give them a run.  Blake and Maranatha won't be easy outs.  SW Christian could be a major sleeper here.

3AAA: South St. Paul is my pick to move on out of a weak section.  St. Thomas Academy and Highland Park are also contenders here.
4AAA: The defending state champion Totino-Grace moves to section 5AAA only to be replaced by the state runner up De La Salle.  Give me the Islanders in an epic 3rd game vs Columbia Heights.

6AAA: Benilde-St.Margaret's comes out of the class AAA section of death.  Orono and Delano are major contenders here.  Cooper and Richfield will be tough outs.

1AAAA:  Lakeville North owns this section and I can't pick against that.  I see another Lakeville city meeting for the state ticket.

2AAAA: Once again its the class AAAA section of death.  I'll take Minnetonka to repeat but Shakopee is a major threat here.  Chanhassen, Waconia and Eden Prairie all good enough to win it as well.

3AAAA: Eastview loses a ton but with Daniel Freitag now at Breck, they have the best player in a weak section.  Lightning move on.

4AAAA: East Ridge trying to rebound after a disappointing loss to White Bear Lake in last year's section final.  They're arguably the favorite.  But give me Tartan here as they haven't come out of the section in a long time.  Cretin-Derham Hall is a spoiler here.

5AAAA:  Park Center is the heavy favorite and pick here.  District rivals Osseo and Maple Grove are the other contenders.

6AAAA: Another year, another Hopkins vs Wayzata 3rd game for a section title.  Wayzata moves on.

7AAAA:  Another weak year in section 7 (does anybody know the last time this section won a game at state?).  I see it as a brother battle between Forest Lake and Duluth East.  Forest Lake gets my vote with everybody coming back.

8AAAA: This section provides great entertainment each year.  Buffalo repeats as section champs.

Season Thoughts

Let's begin with my take on the big elephant in the room, the shot clock.  I believe it will be far less noticed than many fans may expect. I recall watching a number of shot clock games last year where I didn't even realize it was in use until a long period into the game.  Where you will notice it is late in the game when you can't hold the ball.  With apologies to the Suggs/Holmgren triangle delay era, no more of pulling the ball out with 5 minutes to go.  I'm looking forward to seeing how teams manage the last 2-3 minutes.  The other strategy item to watch is what teams do at the end of the clock.  Is it just high pick and roll, do teams switch defenses late, how many late clock sets do teams have are just some of things I'll be watching for.  But overall I expect it to be less of a factor than some may expect.

Its another quality year of events on the season schedule.  The Border Battle at Benilde-St. Margaret's on January 20th is loaded.  With my Wisconsin roots, I'm really looking forward to that.  Though my outlandish Breakdown book prediction on it may come back to haunt me.  Also keep an eye on Saturday, January 6th.  That day is one of the more loaded game days for non-conference showdowns that's I've seen in a long time.  That's particularly true in AAA with Benilde-St. Margaret's at Totino-Grace and Alexandria visiting Orono.  That's a chance for locals to see Minnesota commit Grayson Grove.  A salute to General Grove for expanding the battle field.  You also have Lakeville South visiting Chanhassen, Minnetonka at De La Salle and a possible 7AAAA finals preview of Forest Lake visiting Duluth East that day.  Another future Rodent Gopher, Isaac Asuma and top ranked Cherry, will be in the metro for the tip off classic and over the holidays in the Concordia-St. Paul holiday event where they have a game on December 29th with Park Center.  The Asuma and Cash Chavis matchup will be fun to watch.

Its a new 2 year cycle of section assignment before the 6 year makeover.  Class AAAA should be deep again as Park Center and Wayzata look to make runs again.  Minnetonka and Buffalo also poised to make return trips.  Lakeville North looks to continue their dominance of section 1AAAA.  The top of AAA is stacked with Totino-Grace, Benilde-St. Margaret's, Orono, Alexandria, Hermantown, Mankato East and De La Salle.  The Breck vs Minnehaha dynamic in the IMAC will be fun in AA.  Not out of the question to see a 3rd meeting between those 2 at state.

 

The time is now.  Go #ShockTheCzar.