The Breakdown's Preseason Rankings

The 2008 Volume #7 of The Breakdown found it's way to my mailbox today! I quickly paged through to their Team Profiles and Section previews and of course to see who was on their Fab 15 List for Class A Girls Basketball in the State of Minnesota.

Fab 15 Team Rankings

1. Ada-Borup (won state championship game last year against Barnum)
2. New Life Academy (made the state tournament last year and lost to Barnum in semi's)
3. Barnum (took second last year at state tournament)
4. Cedar/Mtn. Comfrey
5. BIGFORK!!!!
6. Fulda (won state championship in 2006)
7. Hancock (took second place in state in 2006)
8. Adrian
9. Brandon-Evansville
10. Sebeka
11. Rushford-Peterson
12. New Ulm Cathedral
13. Murray Co. Central
14. Nashwauk-Keewatin (our friendly neighbors and rivals)
15. Mountain Iron Buhl (another Section 7A rival)

Section 7A Preview

1. BIGFORK
2. Mountain Iron Buhl
3. Nashwauk Keewatin
4. Floodwood
5. Cook

Top Players in Section 7A

Charlotte Overbye, MIB
Shelby Goble, Bigfork
Megan Powell, Bigfork
Essa Jacobson, Cook County
Emily Youngstrom, Cook
Alissa Autio, Floodwood
Lindsey Kingsbury, Nashwauk

The Skinny: Bigfork is looking for its first section title and they seem to have everything it would take to get it done this year. They have four returning starters who all had several double-figure scoring games last year: Shelby Goble, Annalise Klamm, Adrianna Ivanovic and Megan Powell.

It's the Overbye show in Mt. Iron-Buhl, as three (and possibly even four) sisters contribute mightily to the Rangers. Sophomore Charlotte Overbye led the conference in scoring (23.9 ppg) and was honorable mention All-State, Senior McKenzie Overbye and Junior Ashley Overbye combined to average double-digits.

Nashwauk has a talentd group of juniors who made a run to the section semi-finals last year and come back with more experience. Floodwood also has its entire starting lineup back from a section semifinal visit.

Bigfork defeated Nashwauk three times last year (67-49, 46-35 & 53-47) and MIB twice, defeating them in the quarter-final game by 24 points. The girls were able to keep their top scorer, Charlotte Overbye, to 10 points in the game.

Let's get started already!