Posted By: Jason Iacovino

In case you haven't noticed, Big 9 basketball is all-new this season with the addition of two founding members who have been out of the league for over 30 years.

Red Wing and Northfield rejoined the Big 9 here in 2014-15, making it a 12-team league.  For basketball, this means the road to a league championship is a marathon, not a sprint.  This season the league will experiment with a full double round-robin schedule, meaning the number of conference games increases from 18 to 22.

There's a number of ways to look at this, but what we know for starters is both Owatonna varsity coaches (Boys coach Josh Williams and girls coach Tricia Hoffman) see problems with a conference schedule that leaves little flexibility to get games in against other Class AAAA opponents.  My guess is the Big 9 will explore returning to an 18-game schedule in the near future, perhaps by forming two divisions.

But in the meantime, no conference championship trophy will mean more than the ones awarded under the current format.  While some conferences don't even begin league play until after the new year, and others, like the Lake Conference, have just five members, the Big 9 will be a true test of endurance.

So far this season, Red Wing (6-0) has emerged as a surprising front runner on the boys side, with Rochester John Marshall (5-1) close behind.  The two teams will meet for the first time this season on Jan. 13.  The three-time defending Big 9 champion Austin Packers (3-2) have big wins over JM and Rochester Mayo, but they also have two narrow losses to Faribault (38-35 in overtime) and Northfield (57-56).

Speaking of the Raiders (4-2), they are also trying to make their mark in coming over from the Missota Conference under coach Andy Berkvam.  Berkvam, as you may know, won multiple State championships with the Lakeville North girls team before switching over to the Northfield boys last year.

The Owatonna boys (3-3) will face Northfield at home on Friday after hosting Faribault on Tuesday this week.  These games could be an indicator of whether or not the Huskies can hang around in what is obviously going to be a competitive race that could take many twists and turns (It's not likely Red Wing will remain undefeated for too long).

On the girls side, the Huskies (3-1) are in a 5-way log jam for second place behind conference-leading JM (4-0).  Like their male counterparts, the Owatonna girls were not competitive in losing to JM last Friday.  The difference is the Rockets are a substantially bigger favorite on the girls half of the league, led by Arizona State recruit Jamie Ruden, who for my money is clearly the best player in the Big 9.

If the OHS girls can manage to pick up wins over Faribault and Northfield this week, both on the road, they would enter a nice Christmas break with a 5-1 league record including wins over two of the upper teams (Mayo and Northfield).

Still, there's a long, long way to go.  And that's good in some ways and bad in others.

It is true that the current format makes it tougher to prepare for Section tournaments (The Section 1AAAA favorite in both boys and girls is Lakeville North), but the thrill of a conference race is something that in my view should be welcomed.  We're about to start a new era in football that dismisses conferences.  I understand that new system has advantages, but I still think there's something special about a conference title.

Namely, not every team can win a Section or State championship--but most teams in the State feel they have a chip and a chair for a league title.  The Owatonna boys and girls each have three Big 9 championships since 2005.  If either manages to get one this season, it would be perhaps the greatest accomplishment in the history of the league.

Jason Iacovino can be heard Tuesdays and Fridays on KRFO-AM 1390 at 3:50 p.m. Leave a comment below and follow him on Twitter @JasonIacovino.

 

 

 

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