Division Four Preseason

In the lower divisions we've really seen an influx of the "charter schools". These schools aren't your traditional private school powers that we are used to see but, new upstart schools with strange names and some of them are private, in the case of Destiny last year in D4. You have Destiny, Milwaukee Academy of Science in D4 and then in D5 even more with Young Coggs Prep winning a title two years ago. This will further the private vs public or better worded city vs rural. There no doubt needs to be something done but, there isn't a blanket solution for all. For every "non traditional" school that dominates there's two or three that can hardly compete in their conference and theres some that have even left the WIAA all together. Myself I'm in favor of a multiplier of 1.5 or so but, I'm not here to talk about those issues here are my D4 rankings for preseason.

1. The Prairie School- Have one of the best players in the division and the state in 6'5 senior JC Butler who averaged 26 points a game and nearly 10 rebounds. Butler isn't the only one as they bring back three other starters including fellow senior 6'1 Troy Mikaelian who averaged 16 a game himself.

2. New Glarus- Four starters back from a 20 win team, including three who averaged 13 plus points in in juniors 6'1 Zach Feller, 5'10 Jaden Kreklow and 6'5 senior Cullen Brooks.

3. Roncalli- State team a year ago and they bring back four starters. Headlined by their back court in 6'0 senior Mitchel Schneider and 5'9 junior Chombi Lambert.

4. Markesan- 15 wins a year ago. They are led by a pair of 20 point scoring seniors in 6'1 Carson Clark and 6'0 Drew Bernhagen.

5. Destiny- Defending state champs lost all five starters but, they had a ton of talent on their team and should have a monster year from 6'3 senior Devonte Caldwell who can flat out score.

6. Mineral Point- 17 win team that bring back a pair of 20 point scorers in 6'3 senior Chance Wendhausen and 6'2 sophomore Isaac Lindsey. Have a talented freshemn class coming in.

7. Howards Grove- 20 wins last year and they have three starters back. Did lose their top two scorers though.

8. Marathon- They've really become a given for the top 10 in D4 and have four starters back three of which averaged double digits in points.

9. Clear Lake- D5 power moving up to D4 and the success should continue.

10. Milwaukee Academy of Science- Guaranteed to win at least 15 games a year in the past five years or so. 6'1 sophomore Kaleim Taylor. is a big time scorer.


You see a few of the normal teams but, there is quite a few new teams as well.