2026-27 City Conference Preview

This is the 2nd preview in the 2026-2027 season preview series.  For the first conference on the list, I start with a look at the City Conference made of of small local charter schools.  Its not exactly clear who is in the league as there are different lists.  This group is not to be confused with the Minneapolis City Conference or the St. Paul City Conference.  For a list of all the season previews and how they are done, click here.

Exploration Explorers (2025-26 Season, 9-14)
Exploration looks to improve on last season's record with a young cast coming back.  This year may not be the year but they look to be building for later seasons.

High School for Recording Arts Falcons (2025-26 season 0-8)
The Falcons have 1 win combined over 2 seasons.  Last season was a season of blowouts. 

Higher Ground Academy Panthers (2025-26 season 21-9)
The league champions have to replace 7 seniors.  That includes top forward Abdiaziz Abdi and PG Sakariya Ahmed.  Both scored over 1000 points in their careers.  Seniors Heysan Nure, Asif Bashir and Hanad Moalim will step into significant roles.  Soph guard Abdullahi Guled will also see rotation minutes.

Lincoln International Eagles (2025-26 season 1-1)
Lincoln's season appears to have ended early as they played a couple of games in week 1 and then no results.

Metro Deaf School Cheetahs
No information available.

Metro Schools College Prep Lions (2025-26 season 8-11)
Forward Aiman Hassan needs to be replaced.  Forward Shakur Musse and lefty wing Najmudiin Abdi return as the top offensive threats.  Junior forward Omar Abdirahman also returns to the rotation.  Sahal Aden and Sharmarke Ali will also see rotation minutes.

Minnesota Transitions Wolves (2025-26 season 10-9)
They were competitive with the top teams in the league last season, Higher Ground and Ubah.  Unknown what they have back but they usually have good guard play.

St. Paul City School Wolves (2025-26 season 0-4)
This is another team that played early in December and then wasn't around after that.

Ubah Academy (2025-26 season 16-8)
Star center Omar Omar is a major loss inside.  In league play he was capable of a triple double every night.  A pair of double figure scorers on the wing are also gone.  Guard Abdullahi Mahamoud is the top returning scorer.  Abdullahi Warsome returns to the rotation on the wing.  Ayub Hersi and Guled Farah are options to replace Omar inside.

Venture Academy Tigers (2025-26 season 1-3)
They split with Exploration and lost big to Higher Ground and Ubah.

Overview
As always, there's very little to go on here.  Heavy losses at Higher Ground, mean I'm picking Ubah to win the league.  Higher Ground will still be right there.  Minnesota Transitions and Metro Schools College Prep make up a middle tier.  Exploration looks to jump into that group.  Long seasons ahead for everybody else.