Division Three Preseason Rankings

In the past division three always seemed to be one of the most interesting divisions and seemed to have the most "good" teams but, this year D3 actually seems to be a little down. There's not really any dominate teams so that should at least make things interesting. Probably the most interesting thing is D4 power Dominican moving up to D3 as they will try to continue their state dominance. Unfortunately Dominican probably isn't as talented as they've been in the past so I see their state championship streak coming to an end.

1. Ripon- All five starters are back and they are led by D1 recruit 6'8 senior Bennett Vander Plas who averaged 20 and 11 a year ago along with fellow senior 6'4 Eddie Muench who will play at the college level somewhere. I will be curious to see how talented point guard 5'8 senior Mevlin Lee fits into things having transferred from Milwaukee Riverside. Having lost Luke Loewe to transfer Ripon was really missing a solid point guard at times. Muench did his best but, he is much better catching and shooting then scoring off the dribble.

2. Waupun- Defending state champs play in the same conference as Ripon so that will make things very interesting. They lost only one game a year ago and bring back their leading scorer in 6'5 sophomore Marcus Domask along with fellow double digit scorer 6'3 junior Owen Theune.

3. Dominican- The D4 power I mentioned early is down a bit but, they do have some pretty good talent. They have three starters back in 6'0 junior Gacoby Jones who is one of the elite point guards in the state, 6'2 senior Jake Bennett a sharpshooter and three year starter, and 6'2 senior Ralen Brown who is a big time athlete. Throw in 6'8 senior Will Jelacic who average eight and six a year ago coming off the bench.

4. Xavier- State runner ups a year ago and they lost alot but, they've become a staple at state and 6'0 junior Hunter Plamann should have a monster season after having a coming out party at state last year despite playing with an injury.

5. Prairie du Chien- Another state team a year ago having lost only three games. They were extremely deep last year which should help them make up for losing three starters. Leading scorer 6'6 senior Nate Banasik is back as is third leading scorer 6'2 senior Chas Sagedahl who can shoot it from the outside.

6. Lake Mills- May have the best back court in the division behind senior guards 6'1 Alex Ranney and 6'0 Brady Wagner who are both four year varsity players and have the ability to light it up at any time.

7. Prescott- Really grown a rich tradition and they have big man 7'0 senior Owen Hamilton leading the way whose a D1 college recruit along with 5'10 junior Petey Brookshaw who averaged 15 a game last year.

8. Evansville- 22 win team a year ago and they have four starters back, three of which averaged double digits in points, led by 6'0 Brennen Banks who led the team with 18 a game.

9. Valders- Won 21 a year ago and they have a very strong tradition as of recent. A starting line of 6'7, 6'5, and 6'5 shouldn't hurt either.

10. Beloit Turner- Ok this was a complete yearbook steal here. They have 6'5 senior Alec Fruin who averaged 22 points game and 6'0 junior Nacio Villarreal who averaged 12 a game.

11. Columbus- Have two big time scorers back in undersized big man 6'2 senior Tanner Perry and point guard 6'1 senior Noah Coughlin. Perry averaged 20 points a game while Coughlin is a three year starter that averaged 15.

12. Mauston- Grasping a little year but, they are defending champs of the South Central conference and won 19 games a year ago. 6'2 senior Tarren Hall averaged 22 points a game a year ago.

13. Edgewood- Lost a lot from last years team but, it's always hard to count out an Edgewood team. You know their going to be well coached and are going to play extremely hard. 6'4 senior Alex Arians is poised for a monster year.

14. Marshall- Another team with a strong tradition and 6'5 senior Adam Wehking is a double double waiting to happen.

15. GET- Strong tradition rains here again and coach Wagner has always had successful teams.

Well there are my rankings. I'll admit and I think you can tell that things were pretty rough after the first eight. With those thoughts I'm sure the bottom of the rankings will change a decent amount.