Handicapping the 2019s

<p><strong>NOTE: </strong>We missed Suns 10th Jefferson in our first go-round. We&#39;ve now added them in at #9.</p> <p>Crossfire Theisen, Fury 2019 Blue and Stars Nelson have been jockeying for position at the top of this class for several years, and now North Tartan 10th EYBL and Stars Amundson are improved enough to make this a 5-way or even a 6-way race.</p> <p><strong>1.</strong> <strong>Crossfire Thiesen </strong>is the defending state champ and the #1 seed, and almost everybody is back from last year. But, their opponents have improved, so this will again be a terrific, competitive class. Kallie Theisen (Wayzata) and Jayda Johnston (Roseville) lead the way inside, Taylie Scott (Heritage) outside and Hannah Purcell (Annandale) anywhere you like.</p> <p><strong>2. North Tartan 10th EYBL </strong>finished 4th last year and is the #4 seed headed into 2017. That could change quickly. They’ve added Liza Karlen (St. Paul Central), Makayla Johnson (Champlin), Mykel Parham (Apple Valley) and Frannie Hottinger (Cretin) up front, so they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re more athletic. In the backcourt they’ve added Anna Harvey (Lakeville South) to Macy Guebert (Eastview) and Sara Scalia (Stillwater). Better. Lots better.</p> <p><strong>3. Fury 2019 Blue </strong>was runnerup last year and is therefore seeded #2. They’ve stood pat and they’re still a contender with point guard McKenna Hofschild (Prior Lake) and bigs Abby Johnson (Eden Prairie) and Carly Krsul (Armstrong) leading the way.</p> <p><strong>4. Stars 10th Amundsen. </strong>OK, you might want to look at that again. Stars Amundsen. This was Matt Nilsen’s team up until, well, now, and Macy Nilsen is back at the wing. But Greg Amundson is taking over in the coach’s box and his daughter Breianna Smestad is back, too. The top talents, however, are Kacie Borowicz (Roseau) and Tori Nelson (Sibley), and they’re back as well. Yes, they’ve passed Stars Nelson by. They may have Nilsen’s seed, which would be #5, if they’re found to be substantially the same team, which I think they are. Coach Amundson was an assistant here last summer.</p> <p><strong>5. Stars 10th Nelson </strong>was the dominant team in this classification for a couple years but they’ve lost their two best players—Hofschild and now Destinee Oberg (Holy Angels). Post Sara Stapleton (Centennial) remains along with guards Lexi Hultman (Forest Lake) and Aiana Whitfield (Benilde-SM). But, they’ve lost too much talent. They’ve still got the #3 seed, but we see them more like #5.</p> <p><strong>6. Suns Keitzer.</strong> No seed, but they’ll contend for a top 5 position this time around. Point guard extraordinaire Mimi Schrader (Wayzata) is back along with Olivia Youngdahl (Mpls. SW) and Solana Cushing (Mpls. South). Now, they’ve added post Jennifer Schaibel (Mound) and guards Abby McDonald (Hibbing) and Abby Mackenthun (NYA).</p> <p><strong>7. Rise 10th Purple.</strong> Finished 7th last time, so their the #1 alternate. There’s a strong nucleus including Courtney Freeberg (Waconia) at the post, Caitlin Rorman (Blue Earth) and Taylor Crissinger (Fairmont) at the wings, and Joey Batt (New Ulm) at the 1, but depth may be an issue.</p> <p><strong>8. Fury 2019 Gold.</strong> Finished 6th last year and might be improved. It’s just that the top 10 teams overall have improved a lot. Still, the Gold have Mariah McKeever (Ada), Delaney Runyon (Hill-Murray), Ashley Schindele (Kimball), Mackenzie Mackey (Andover), Anna Sanders (White Bear), Madison Gehloff (Waseca) and more. That’s some deep talent but might be missing the top-tier, blue chip, go-to type player.</p> <p><strong>9. Suns 10th Jefferson.</strong> Has a good nucleus inside--Kaitlin Winston (Farmington), Alexis Nance (Cooper), Averty New (Minnehaha), Sophia Montgomery (Maranatha). Danah Ocsan (St. Francis) and Shayla Miller (St. Louis Park) appear to be the top guards.</p> <p><strong>10 tie. Stars 10th Buerman, Stars 10th Bjorgard, and Stars 10th Vogelsberg. </strong>One of these could conceivably be the 2nd alternate. That’s the spot earned by Stars Amundson last year, but with Amundson moving up to take the Stars Nilsen slot, maybe one of these would also move up. Or, maybe not.</p> <p>There’s some nice talent among these 3 teams. If they were all on one team, I’d say, Look out! But, they’re not. Coach Buerman has Kendra Ekereke (Tartan), Lindsey Reps (Red Wing) and Lindsey Smitsdorff (Legacy). Coach Bjorgard has Skyler Germann and Natalie Erhard (both Minnetonka). But none of these 3 rosters is totally filled out, either. Stay tuned.</p> <p><strong>13. Crossfire 10th Smith. </strong>Guards Audrey Severson (Wayzata), Alexa Garcia (Andover) and K.J. Davis (Maranatha) lead the way.</p> <p><strong>14. Fury 2019 Iowa.</strong> Actually I know next to nothing about this team. But, the Fury name suggests quality, does it not?</p> <p><strong>15. Northern Lights 10th. </strong>Coach Adam Johnson’s club has had some nice teams over the year. This roster is not filled out as far as we’re aware but Taya and Shailey Hakamaki (Cromwell) and Vanna Kelley (Cloquet) are a start.</p>