The 2024-25 season already has 1 month in the books. What sticks out to me? Let's go league by league.
City/Independents
Hiawatha taking down Johnson and Harding on the St. Paul side. Then in Minneapolis they've beaten Hope and South and they had every chance to beat Minneapolis North. Only lost by 1 to Park in the Harding holiday tournament championship game too. We knew the name Kam Solomon but soph forward King James has been the difference there. He's having a breakout season and dominating inside. Section 5AA was already a section of death but besides the big 4 (Breck, Blake, SW Christian, Mpls N), you have undefeated Rockford, Hiawatha and 1 loss Jordan. Not to mention Maranatha, more on them later.
EMAC
Liberty has been everything we thought. Good section win at Trinity, really good home win over Spectrum and they came from 15 down to win a big league game at Twin Cities Academy. Tigers would love to have that game back. They have a big one to start next week at The Crash Pad against undefeated Avail. That will be Avail's biggest test to date. Hmong Academy already with more wins than all of last year.
MCAA
Legacy already has a major head start in the North division with a 3 point win at Spectrum. Heritage had a bumpy road trip south to Iowa and then ran into a ranked Nevis squad over the holiday. But they do have a solid home section win over Trinity and a win over Minneapolis Camden. Big one at home on Tuesday to start play in the South division against Mayer Lutheran.
Skyline
St. Croix Prep off to a nice 6-2 start against a weak schedule but its 2 league wins and 4 section wins. Middle of January features an important stretch of St. Croix Lutheran, at Maranatha and Concordia. Speaking of Maranatha, yes they lost a ton but 2-5 hasn't been expected. Tough stretch coming with St. Croix Lutheran, Lake City and at Concordia in the next 10 days. Regardless, they aren't a team you want to draw as a low seed early in the AA section of death. New Life lost a couple of expected players from the roster and its turned into a total rebuild year for them as they're still without a win at 0-7.
IMAC
Blake has run the table against a very tough schedule
with home wins over Minnehaha and Annandale plus good wins over Spectrum
and St. Croix Lutheran in the Hutton Winter Classic. Minnehaha has
played a tough schedule too. Wins over Minneapolis North and St. Croix
Lutheran plus South St. Paul show that the route to state in 4AA still
goes down Lake Street. Even with a new coach, that group has a
chemistry that works to make the whole greater than the sum of the
parts. Breck has played an insanely tough schedule as well. I just
hope they don't take it out on my alma mater this weekend. Miles Newton
has been terrific so far for the Mustangs.
Tri-Metro
Only 2 teams with winning records right now in De La Salle and Richfield. Congrats to CJ Armstrong for passing 2000 career points for Richfield over the holiday break. As to the rest of the league, Columbia Heights is rebuilding along with Kennedy. Cooper having a down year at 1-7 with the only win over Fridley. Fridley is still winless after a great year last year. Brooklyn Center is super young.
St. Paul City
No real shockers here. Johnson and Central still the class of the league with Harding fighting to get in the discussion. I haven't seen Washington yet but they appear to be more competitive this season which is good for the league.
Minneapolis City
This appears to be a wide open race. North has no size and that's hurt them in the games I've seen and they don't get after you defensively like North has historically. I should add the word YET to that as I think Ahmil Jihad will get them after people at some point. Washburn with wins over Park Center and Armstrong but 4 other single digit losses against a schedule that looks more like a super big school AAAA schedule than you'd expect.
Wright County East
Mound-Westonka has to be the story here as they stand 8-0. We'll learn a lot more about them in the next week with games vs 7AAA Stewartville and at 2AAA Orono in a rivalry game. Jordan 6-1 with a section win at Maranatha. Another big section game for the Hubmen on Friday with Hiawatha coming to town. Coach David Flom has always scheduled very tough and it shows in the 0-4 start for SW Christian. Waconia, 2AAAA Hopkins and 1AA Albany no complaints with those. They were able to force OT against Becker in the Granite City but ultimately fell short against a good AAA Mississippi 8 team.
Mississippi 8
Thunder Rolls! Zimmerman 2-0 in the league and 8-2 overall. They travel to Becker next Tuesday in an early season battle of league front runners. The other front runner is Monticello. They already have a win at Cambridge-Isanti on their resume. Chisago Lakes 1-8 is eye opening but they lost a ton. More eye popping is that they're allowing a staggering 91.9 PPG.
Metro East
North St. Paul good wins over South St. Paul, Harding and Armstrong catches the eye. Also crazy that's the only 3 games they've played. Compare that to 9 games already for South St. Paul. South St Paul with an interesting section and league game vs St. Thomas Academy on Friday. Early season league test for undefeated Tartan against Mahtomedi on Friday as well.
Metro West
Benilde-St. Margaret's defense has stood out in their early season undefeated run. Orono with the emotional openiing night win over Wayzata has been what we expected. Section road wins over Delano and Richfield should pretty much ensure that it comes down to their 2 games vs BSM and the league standings for the top seed in 6AAA. St. Louis Park jumping up into the rankings was more than I expected. Their lineup is absolutely huge. But consistency there is a question. Farmington outdueled them down the stretch, particularly on the offensive glass, over the holiday. They're the kind of team right now that if it starts to go bad, it can get off the rails quickly. I gave Chaska the Czar curse as they lost 5 tough games in a row after a 3-0 start. They get Wayzata next week.
Outstate AAAA
Sauk Rapids with wins over Breck, Alexandria and Champlin Park before stumbling against Fargo Davies over the weekend. SRR vs STMA next week in a huge section matchup that could determine the top seed. Very versatile lineup that's fun to watch. Moorhead has a nice group of youngsters and I'm a big fan of PG Brian Zarazua.
On the southern side of things, Owatonna at 6-2 is a nice surprise even against a soft schedule. Rochester John Marshall is hard to figure. They have pieces but have lost to Burnsville and didn't look good in the game I saw vs Anoka. But then they came back the next day and knocked off Farmington. That shows that if they put all the pieces together, they aren't a team to draw in that 1AAAA opener. A really fun rematch with Farmington could loom in the section semis.
Northwest Suburban
Totino-Grace giving up 44 to Max Lorenson and 40 to Cedric Tomes in a loss at East Ridge is mildly concerning. They have a game of the year candidate at 1AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday. Park Center has had a bunch of different lineups and now Xaver Frelix is out with a hand injury. Yes the schedule has been very tough for the 2-7 Pirates but not having a real identity sticks out. Anoka has a nice win over Eagan to start the season 8-1. Big game for them coming up at Champlin Park. Spring Lake Park lost a ton but they're 6-3 and have a nice junior group.
Suburban East
No surprises at the top. The league looks much like it did last year. 2 elite teams, a couple others that are decent that beat up on everybody else. CDH has been elite as expected. East Ridge played them tough for about 3/4 of the game until a late run blew it open. Then the home win over Totino-Grace. They did hit a hiccup against Eden Prairie over the holiday. Mounds View, Park, Stillwater and Roseville (in no order) look to be the teams fighting for those next spots.
South Suburban
I thought Prior Lake could make a jump and the 8-1 start is impressive. The only loss was the opener at Wayzata. They already have home wins over Shakopee and Lakeville North in the conference race. Wins over Minnetonka, Chanhassen, Eden Prairie and Chaska mean they're 5-0 in section games as well. Those head to head wins won't be ignored come seeding time (I'm looking at you section 4AA) Eagan off to a 6-1 start continuing the momentum from last year's trip to the state tournament. They have a home win over Farmington and the only loss is to Anoka in the Capitol City Classic. Farmington with wins over Totino-Grace, Chaska, Lakeville North and St. Louis Park. Losses to Champlin Park, Eagan and Rochester John Marshall. Hard to figure. A fun scheduling quirk means Farmington and Prior Lake will not play each other until Feb 18th and then the rematch is a week later. Keaton Ressler has been great for Lakeville South but his backcourt mate Malachi Gant has stuck out to me as well. Shakopee and Lakeville North both lost a ton from last year's rosters and are still putting it together. North with a much more interior based attack thanks to their size. Shakopee besides Tommy Auge isn't big and they want to run and shoot it. They'll play each other Friday night.
Lake
Wayzata after back to back losses in week 1 has won 7 in a row with all but 1 of those by 27 or more points. 9 triples in the 1st 9 minutes to jump on Shakopee at their place was just the most recent example. They've cleaned up the defensive side and now look like the team we expected at the start of the year. Speaking of defense, Hopkins has just been mauling people with their defense. And their offense didn't need the help. Minnetonka with Jacob Hudson and Caleb Francois on the wings has been much better than I expected. They've gotten thru a stretch without Isa El-Amin as well. Good 7-1 start for STMA with wins at Maple Grove and over Champlin Park. Only loss is a 5 point loss to Prior Lake in the Granite City Classic. Moorhead and Sauk Rapids-Rice come calling in the next week in critical section 8AAAA games.
