2018-19 Section 4AAAA Preview

This is the 23rd preview in my 2018-2019 season preview series.  Continuing our look at the class AAAA sections, we move on to section 4.  For a list of all the season previews and how they are generated, click here.

Section 4AAAA (8 teams)
Defending Champion: Cretin-Derham Hall (defending AAAA state champion)

Tournament Schedule:
Quarterfinals: Wednesday, March 6th
Semifinals: Saturday, March 9th at Hastings
Finals: Thursday, March 14th at Hastings

Predicted Seeding

1. East Ridge
2. Cretin-Derham Hall
3. Tartan
4. St. Paul Central 
5. White Bear Lake 
6. North St. Paul
7. Woodbury
8. Stillwater

This is another section where you could end up with 3 conference champions all battling it out.  Certainly the Suburban East champ will be here.  Tartan hopes to be that team from the Metro East.  Central is the heavy favorite in the St. Paul City.  They could get an interesting 1st round matchup as the weaker St. Paul City schedule always knocks their seed down.  Cretin-Derham Hall has a bunch of talent so they won't drop far despite losing a ton from the state championship squad.  Schedules and Suburban East voting pretty much ensure that Tartan and Central won't end up higher than 3rd and 4th respectively.  White Bear Lake is the best of the rest.  Woodbury at North St. Paul on Dec 22nd should be for the 6 seed with both having to replace most of their lineups.  Stillwater remains in rebuild mode.

Sleeper: White Bear Lake.  They have a very good duo of Sam Schwartz and Jeremy Beckler that needs to be dealt with.  Not a team you want to see in the 4 vs 5 game.

Section Winner: East Ridge.  This is the start of what could be a big run for the Raptors.  Their size and experience prevails here in a tough section.