2025-26 Season In A Nutshell

The Czar's 2025-2026 Season Preview series concludes with the traditional Season In A Nutshell preview.  Its a higher level season overview for the casual fans who don't eat, sleep and breathe hoops like I do.  Its who and what you need to see and when and where to see it.  If you missed any of the conferences or the 156 teams covered in this preview series, the full list can be found here.

New Coaches

• Chisago Lakes - Tom Terhaar
• Cristo Rey Jesuit - Darrell Moffit
• Delano - Chance Veasey
• Eagle Ridge - Kalvin O'Neal
• Hill-Murray - Dustin Hayes
• Irondale - Travis Dedina
• Jordan - Matt Cordes
• Lakeville North - Mike Nolan
• Maranatha Christian - Al Harris
• Math & Science - Rich Berkley
• North Branch - Rob Johnson
• Park Center - Bo Powell
• Robbinsdale Cooper - Ron Howard
• Rosemount - Kevin Smith
• St. Agnes - Malique McCoy
• St. Paul Academy - Kevin Keto (returns from 1 year leave)
• St. Paul Central - Cam Jones
• St. Paul Como Park - Jake Sullivan
• St. Thomas Academy - Pat Sjoberg
• Spectrum - CJ Maternoski
• Trinity - Pat Buchanan
• United Christian - Roy Mould
• Waconia - Nick Perrin

Teams In New Conferences
Note on this section.  I only included City Conference and EMAC changes that I could verify so all updates to those leagues may not be reflected here.

• CHOF to MCAA (basketball only, was independent)
• Cristo Rey to EMAC from Skyline
• Legacy Christian to Skyline from MCAA
• Liberty Classical to MCAA from EMAC
• Maple Grove to Lake from NW Suburban
• Math & Science to MCAA from EMAC
  

Teams In New Sections

Class AAAA

• Alexandria to 8AAAA from 8AAA
• Buffalo to 6AAAA from 8AAAA
• Monticello to 8AAAA from 5AAA
• Two Rivers to 4AAAA from 3AAA
  

Class AAA

• Minneapolis Southwest to 6AAA from 6AAAA

Class AA

• Higher Ground Academy to 4AA from 4A
• Hmong Academy to 4AA from 4A
• New Life Academy to 4AA from 4A
• PACT to 6AA from 5A
• Parnassus Prep to 5AA from 4A
• St. Paul Harding to 4AA from 3AAA

Class A

• Aim Academy joins 4A (new school)
• Community School of Excellence joins 4A (new school)
• Metro Schools College Prep to 4A from 5AA

10 Notable Local Events

• Big Stage (Breakdown) - Dec 6th (Hopkins)
• Southside Showcase I - Dec 6th (Minnehaha)
• Tipoff Classic (Breakdown)- Dec 13th (Edina HS and Edina Community Center) 
  
• Southside Showcase II - Dec 13th (Benilde-St. Margaret's)
• Hutton Winter Classic - Dec 18-20 (Hamline)
• Concordia St. Paul Holiday Classic - Dec 26-27
• Capitol City Classic (Breakdown) - Dec 26-27 (Hamline, Bethel and UNW-SP)
• Southside Super Showcase - Jan 10th (Minnehaha)
• St. Paul Johnson MLK Event - Jan 19th (St. Paul Johnson)
• Border Battle- Feb 7th (Hamline)

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

• Wayzata at Prior Lake - Dec 2nd
• Totino-Grace at Prior Lake - Dec 4th 
• Apple Valley at Hopkins - Dec 9th 
• Totino-Grace at Maple Grove - Dec 11th 
• Holy Family at Minnehaha - Dec 12th 
• Cretin-Derham Hall at Totino-Grace - Dec 19th 
• Totino-Grace at Wayzata - Dec 23rd
• Cretin-Derham Hall at DeLaSalle - Jan 31st 
• Wayzata at East Ridge - Feb 9th 
• Hopkins at DeLaSalle - Feb 24th 

10 Conference Games to Watch

• Hopkins at Maple Grove - Jan 30th
• Maranatha at Legacy - Feb 3rd 
• Richfield at DeLaSalle - Feb 4th 
• Maple Grove at Wayzata - Feb 6th
• Apple Valley at Prior Lake - Feb 10th 
• Totino-Grace at Spring Lake Park - Feb 10th 
• St. Paul Central at St. Paul Johnson - Feb 10th 
• Cretin-Derham Hall at East Ridge - Feb 13th 
• Wayzata at Hopkins - Feb 17th
• Prior Lake at Eagan - Feb 20th 

10 Impact Transfers

• Izayah Cook - Wayzata from Sauk Rapids-Rice
• Justus Dayee - Tartan from Simley
• DeAngelo Dungey - Totino-Grace from Breck
• Bryce Gaustad - Anoka from Spectrum
• Max Iversen - Maple Grove from Delano
• Marcus Marshall - Maranatha from Minneapolis North
• Jack Thelen - Maple Grove from St. Michael-Albertville
• Xavier Frelix - Hopkins from Park Center
• Kwa Silikpoh - Osseo from Champlin Park
• AJ Taban - Totino-Grace from Stillwater

10 Upperclassmen to Watch

• Baboucarr Ann - Maple Grove
• Nolen Anderson - Wayzata (Minnesota commit)
• Dothan Ijadimbola - Totino-Grace (Drake commit)
• Max Iversen - Maple Grove (North Dakota St commit)
• JoJo Mitchell - Cretin-Derham Hall (U of St. Thomas commit)
• Jayden Moore - Hopkins
• Ahmed Nur - Hopkins
• Ty Schlagel - Cretin-Derham Hall (Nebraska commit)
• Cedric Tomes - East Ridge (Minnesota commit)
• Christian Wiggins - Wayzata (Iowa St commit)

10 Underclassmen to Watch

• Justus Dayee - Tartan
• Jaylen Greer - Two Rivers
• Ichima Idoko - DeLaSalle
• Kolden Johnson - Anoka
• Malik Martin - Minneapolis Camden
• Lamar McBride - Minneapolis Camden
• Tre Moore - Hopkins
• Emmanuel Oyesanmi - Tartan
• Kevin Wilson - Tartan
• Daniel Zoa - Totino-Grace

10 Local Teams to Watch

• Cretin-Derham Hall
  
• DeLaSalle
• East Ridge
• Hopkins
• Maple Grove
• Richfield
• St. Paul Johnson
• Tartan
• Totino-Grace
• Wayzata

Active Streaks of 20 Games Or More In Conference Play
Nova Classical and Mounds Park Academy broke big losing streaks last season.  Most of this year's streaks are new.

• St. Paul Washington - 36 losses
• Last win was 3/4/22 at St. Paul Humboldt
• Mounds Park Academy - 27 home losses
• Last home win was 2/9/18 vs St. Paul Academy
• Benilde-St. Margaret's - 24 home wins
• Last home loss was 2/8/22 vs Orono
• Burnsville - 23 road losses
• Last road win was 1/24/23 at Rosemount 
• St. Croix Lutheran - 22 wins
• Last loss was 2/2/24 at Maranatha
• Tartan - 22 wins
• Last loss was 2/8/24 at St. Thomas Academy
• Simley - 21 home losses
• Last home win was 1/13/23 vs Hill-Murray

Section Winners

I gave thoughts on 16 conferences plus independents.  I'll match that here with predictions for the winners of 15 metro area sections.  That includes the 6 local A, AA and AAA sections and all 8 AAAA sections.

4A: Liberty Classical.  With Legacy moving up and Heritage graduating everybody, the Lions get the default nod here.

4AA: Minnehaha has won this section 9 straight years.  Hard to see it not being 10.

5AA: Holy Family is thefavorite here with a high powered roster.  Maranatha should be right there with them.  Then a strong list of dangerous teams behind that.  Minneapolis North, SW Christian, Blake and Hiawatha all have talented pieces to move deep in the section.

3AAA: This section has been the city Cinderella story the last 2 seasons.  Its a very weak and wide open section.  I'll take craziness and another city story here.  Give me Minneapolis Roosevelt.
4AAA: De La Salle moves on again from this section.  Johnson is the main threat here.

5AAA: Totino-Grace continues their run without a ton of resistance.

6AAA: Richfield loads up and should make a run thru this section.
1AAAA: I'll take Rochester Mayo here with everybody coming back and a down year for the South Suburban reps of the section.

2AAAA: Not quite the usual section of death but the top half all capable of winning it.  Rivalries galore here only add to the flavor.  Prior Lake is the pick.

3AAAA: The top of this section remains the same.  I like Apple Valley here with Camare Young.  Eagan more than capable of making here too.

4AAAA: The section is top heavy again with a loaded Tartan squad, U of M recruit Cedric Tomes at East Ridge and a very talented Cretin-Derham Hall squad.  Let's go with Tartan in a grudge match of last year's section final.

5AAAA:  Maple Grove.  Easy favorite here with a loaded roster.

6AAAA: Wayzata.  Can't bet against the loaded state champs here.  But Hopkins will not be an easy out.

7AAAA: Another down year in this section.  I see a battle between Anoka and Blaine here.  Anoka moves on.

8AAAA: This section doesn't disappoint and it won't this year either.  Moorhead will have their hands full returning to state with defending AAA champ Alexandria, Bemidji and Brainerd all looking to claim the crown.  I'll take Alexandria here.

Season Thoughts

Plenty to watch and we'll begin with the Lake Conference.  The Breakdown has the top 3 teams as the top 3 in AAAA.  Will be very surprised if Mr Basketball comes from outside these teams.  Can Wayzata repeat?  Will Ken Novak get 20 wins at Hopkins to break the all-time coaching wins record?  Does he stay if he gets the record?  James Ware leaves Park Center to become the coach in waiting at Hopkins.  Just as interesting is Bo Powell leaving Robbinsdale Cooper, going to St. Agnes very briefly and ending up returning to Park Center where he took a struggling program to a state runner up finish in 2014.  Can Tartan or East Ridge break Cretin-Derham Hall's hold on section 4AAAA?  How far does Alexandria go without Chase Thompson and moving up to AAAA?  

The top of AAA locally will be loaded with Totino-Grace and don't miss those Tri-Metro games between Richfield and DeLaSalle.  AA will be well represented  locally with Minnehaha, Holy Family and Maranatha all capable of making a run.  I'll be interested to see how Jordan does with Matt Cordes getting back into the coaching ranks.  He had a great run at New London-Spicer.  The state tournament moves back a week.  It will feel like football with that awkward extra week between making state and the state tourney games.  Time to #ShockTheCzar, let's go!