2022-23 Season In A Nutshell

The Czar's 2022-2023 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 14 conferences or 125 teams covered in the previews, a full list of them can be found here.

New Coaches

• Apple Valley - David Collier
• Breck - Harry Sonie
• Burnsville - Erik Leafblad
• Chaska - Nick Hayes
• De La Salle - Todd Anderson
• Edina - Jon Bryant
• Holy Family - Joe Burger
• Kaleidoscope - Randy Schauer
• Maranatha - Ervin Bryant
• Minneapolis North - Ricky Davis
• Minneapolis Washburn - Myles Shepherd
• Park of Cottage Grove - TBD
• Providence - Jake Wachholz
• Rogers - Josh Turnquist
• St. Anthony - Josh Pratt
• St. Michael-Albertville - Jeff Oseth
• St. Paul Harding -TBD
• St. Paul Humboldt - Sam Esboldt
• South St. Paul - Darren Edwards
• Spectrum - Tom Terhaar
• Spring Lake Park - Oliver Major
• Twin Cities Academy - Cornell Pillow

10 Notable Local Events

• Breakdown Tipoff Classic - Dec 10th (Hopkins)
• Southside Showcase - Dec 10th (Benilde-St. Margaret's)
• Breakdown Big Stage - Dec 17th (Osseo)
  
• Hutton Winter Classic - Dec 20th/21st (Hamline)
• East Ridge Holiday Classic - Dec 28th/29th
  
• Breakdown Capitol City Classic - Dec 29th/30th (Hamline and Concordia-St. Paul)
  
• Hall of Fame Winter Classic - Jan 14th (Anoka-Ramsey)
• Southside Super Showcase - Jan 14th (Minnehaha)
  
• Border Battle - Jan 21st (Prescott, WI)
• Community Clash - Jan 28th (West Metro locations)

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

• East Ridge at Lakeville North - Dec 6th
  
• Park Center at De La Salle - Dec 8th
• Lakeville North at Wayzata - Dec 13th 
• Mahtomedi at Stillwater - Dec 20th
• Benilde-St. Margaret's at De La Salle - Dec 20th
  
• Holy Family at Park Center - Dec 21st
• Eden Prairie at East Ridge - Dec 22nd
  
• East Ridge at Wayzata - Jan 31st 
• White Bear Lake at Wayzata - Feb 23rd
  
• De La Salle at Wayzata - Feb 28th
  

10 Conference Games to Watch

• West Lutheran at Legacy - Dec 12th
  
• White Bear Lake at Stillwater - Dec 16th
• East Ridge at White Bear Lake - Jan 3rd
  
• Eastview at Lakeville North - Jan 10th
  
• Totino-Grace at Park Center - Jan 12th
• Orono at Bloomington Jefferson - Jan 27th
  
• Stillwater at White Bear Lake - Feb 2nd
• New Life at Maranatha - Feb 3rd
  
• Park Center at Totino-Grace- Feb 9th
• Lakeville North at Eastview - Feb 14th
  

10 Impact Transfers

• Kole Hanson - Edina to Holy Family
  
• Molley Kamara - Park Center to Champlin Park
  
• De'Mari Larkins - Minneapolis South to Osseo 
• Lorenzo Levy - Concordia to Minnehaha
  
• Jaden Morgan - Two Rivers to De La Salle
  
• CJ O'Hara - Hopkins to Park Center
  
• Gavin Pierce - Hopkins to Prior Lake
  
• Chiang Ring - Minneapolis South to Park Center
  
• Jerome Williams - Minneapolis South to Minnehaha
• Max Wilson - Hopkins to Minneapolis North
  

10 Upperclassmen to Watch

• Taison Chatman - Totino-Grace
  
• Daniel Freitag - Bloomington Jefferson
• Tommy Humphries - Totino-Grace
  
• Jack Janicki - White Bear Lake
  
• Boden Kapke - Holy Family 
• Jackson McAndrew - Wayzata
  
• Jack Robison - Lakeville North
• Max Shikenjanski - Stillwater 
• Nasir Whitlock - De La Salle
  
• Nolan Winter - Lakeville North
  

10 Underclassmen to Watch

• Max Lorenson - Eden Prairie
  
• Daniel Molhoek - Edina
  
• Jayden Moore - Hopkins 
• Temi Omotoyinbo - Osseo
  
• Anthony Smith - Hopkins
• JJ Sullivan - Eden Prairie
  
• Cedric Tomes - East Ridge 
• Tyler Wagner - Totino-Grace
  
• Jalen Wilson - Benilde-St. Margaret's
• Brady Wooley - Orono
  

10 Local Teams to Watch

• Bloomington Jefferson
  
• De La Salle
  
• East Ridge
  
• Eastview
• Holy Family
  
• Lakeville North
  
• Park Center
  
• Totino-Grace
  
• Wayzata
• White Bear Lake

Active Streaks of 20 Games Or More In Conference Play

• Minneapolis North - 72 wins
• 42 home wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 vs Minneapolis South
• 36 road wins.  Last loss was 2/5/16 at Minneapolis Washburn
• Minnehaha - 41 wins.  Last loss was 2/6/15 at St. Paul Academy
• 25 home wins.  Last home loss was 1/28/14 vs Blake in Tri-Metro play. 
  24-0 home record all-time in IMAC play.
• 20 road wins.  Last road loss was 2/6/15 at St. Paul Academy
  
• Minneapolis Roosevelt - 37 losses.  Last win was 2/1/19 vs Minneapolis Washburn  
• 21 road losses.  Last road win was 1/24/19 at Minneapolis South
  
• Nova Classical Academy - 33 losses
• 0-33 all-time in Skyline play
  
• Mounds Park Academy - 31 losses.  Last win was 2/9/18 at home.
• 69 road losses including their years in the Tri-Metro.  Last road conference win was at St. Paul Academy 2/1/2008
• Brooklyn Center - 26 losses.  Last win was 2/28/20 at St. Anthony
•  20 home losses.  Last win was 2/22/19 vs Columbia Heights
  
• Hill-Murray  - 22 losses.  Last win was 2/18/21 vs Two Rivers
  
• 41 road losses.  Last road win was 2/10/17 at South St. Paul.
• Anoka - 22 home losses.  Last win was 1/21/20 vs Rogers
• Note this doesn't count 2 other home games during 2020-21 season as the NWS only counted 1st meeting of the shortened COVID season as a conference game.
  

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 all the 6 local A,AA and AAA sections and all 8 AAAA sections.

4A: I see a rematch here between Legacy and New Life as the clear top 2 teams in the section.  They'll meet at Hamline just before Christmas as a nice preview of that game.  Give me New Life but either team is a sleeper to pull off a run at state.

4AA: Minnehaha still the favorite here in another down year in the section.

5AA: Holy Family with the addition of Kole Hanson to go with the huge front line of Boden Kapke and Collin Mulholland is the easy pick here.

3AAA: De La Salle a heavy favorite here with another year of Nasir Whitlock.
4AAA: The defending state champion Totino-Grace returns most of their lineup so they are the heavy favorite here.

6AAA: Orono is my pick here with pieces at all positions and experience.  Beware too of BSM with a ton of talented youth.

1AAAA:  Lakeville North still the class of this section.

2AAAA: Once again a section of death.  Minnetonka returns a ton of firepower from a year where they exceeded my expectations.

3AAAA: Daniel Freitag will once again carry Jefferson but it won't be enough.  Eastview reloads and wins the section again. 

4AAAA: East Ridge loses Kendall Blue but still has a very deep roster.  This will be a fun section to watch with Max Shikenjanski and Jack Janicki able to put a team on their back.

5AAAA:  Park Center reloaded their roster and already had a very strong JV squad coming up.  District rivals Osseo and Maple Grove are the other contenders here.

6AAAA: Wayzata's guard play and experience is still too much for this section.

7AAAA:  Andover will be a tough out here with their duo of Ben Kopetzki and Sammy Musungu.  Duluth East will still be a factor here with guard Jobe Juenemann.  However, the loss of Isaac Nyakundi on the front line tilts the scales away from the Greyhounds.

8AAAA: This section once again figures to be wide open as it was all over the place last season.  Moorhead made it thru with their big lineup.  They are still big with MN-Moorhead commit Adam Jenkins inside and lanky wing Dylan Zimmerman.  I'll take them to make the trip south to Target Center.

Season Thoughts

I don't recall a season where picks for the top teams have been so straight forward in all 4 classes.  Class AAAA should be very good at the top with Park Center, Wayzata, Lakeville North and East Ridge all being very experienced.  Eastview and the section 2 winner will be very battle tested as well.  In AAA, Totino-Grace, Mahtomedi, De La Salle and Orono make up a powerful local group of teams.  In AA, Holy Family loads up and adds Joe Burger to coach.  Plus the story of former NBA player Ricky Davis taking over for Larry McKenzie at Minneapolis North.  In single A, New Life and Legacy as noted above are 2 of the big fish locally in single A.  While Cherry is the class A favorite, remember New Life beat them down last year at state.  But that was a different time and roster.

The time is now.  Go #ShockTheCzar.