Escanaba Eskymos (2024-25 season: 9-14 overall, 2-6 conference, 4th)
Graduated their 2nd-Team All-Conference selection in Javon Stevenson. Taylor Asgaard was an All-Conference Special Mention selection as a junior last year. Asgaard was also an All-UP Honorable Mention pick.
Gladstone Braves (2024-25 season: 7-17 overall, 0-8 conference, 5th)
Their best players were sophomores and freshman last season, which was a bad combination for how senior dominated the conference was. The lone sophomore who was a 1st-Team All-Conference player was Lonnie Davey. The 5'10" guard averaged 20 points per game, while shooting 38% from three point range last season. Only one freshman was named to the All-Conference list, and it was the 5'9" point guard Alex Prins from Gladstone
Kingsford Flivvers (2024-25 season: 22-4 overall, 7-1 conference, t-1st)
Graduated two impactful players who are going to be tough to replace, Gavin Grondin and Morgan Sleik. The good news is that they bring back three All-Conference selections from last season; Jack Kriegl (2nd-Team), Jett Buckley (Honorable Mention, and Owen Olkkonen (Honorable Mention). The 5'10" Kriegl was also an All-UP Honorable Mention selection last season.
Marquette Sentinels (2024-25 season: 22-4 overall, 7-1 conference, t-1st)
Last year's All-UP Team of the Year. All-UP Player of the Year, Jacob MacPhee, is gone, and so are Kyler Sager and Jaxon Jurmu who were also All-UP players. They did have one other All-UP player, and luckily he is back for his senior season; 6'5" Connor Fierstine. Ford Richardson (Minnesota-Duluth football commit) was an Honorable Mention All-Great Northern last season. Pavel McCutcheon (Grand Valley State football commit) is 6'7" and provides some size for the Sentinels. Marquette should benefit from successful JV and freshman programs, they went a combine 14-1 in Great Northern play last season.
Menominee Maroons (2024-25 season: 13-12 overall, 4-4 conference, 3rd)
The Maroons return two seniors who were both All-Conference selections last season. Tanner Theuerkauf (1st-Team) and Darrent Butler (2nd-Team). Theuerkauf averaged 16.6 points per game as a junior and was All-UP First Team for the second straight season. Dylan Beal is a junior who was a Special Mention selection in the Great Northern last season. Four other seniors on the roster this season.
Projections:
1. Menominee
2. Marquette
3. Kingsford
4. Gladstone
5. Escanaba
Conference Overview:
Menominee seems to have one of the older and more experienced teams in the conference, with potentially the best player in the conference. The biggest concern is can they make that big of jump from 13-12 to winning to conference. Marquette lost a lot of their scoring from last season, but have a large senior class and have had success at all of their program's levels. They always have enough talent coming through the program, it will mostly be how long will it take to mesh after losing three very important pieces last season. Kingsford returns enough talent from last season, in some players who were younger last season. Three players who were good for them last season, but a lot of talent was lost for the Flivvers. Gladstone should be better, but size is going to be an issue still. They are still younger than most of the teams in the conference. They might be a year away from being competitive at the top of the conference. Escanaba always seems to have good athletes, but it hasn't translated over to the basketball side lately. They could finish 4th in conference again, but anything higher than that seems unlikely.
Conference MVP: Tanner Theuerkauf (Senior) - Menominee
Other Players to Watch:
Taylor Asgaard (Senior) - Escanaba
Dylan Beal (Junior) - Menominee
Darrent Butler (Senior) - Menominee
Lonnie Davey (Junior) - Gladstone
Connor Fierstine (Senior) - Marquette
Jack Kriegl (Senior) - Kingsford
Alex Prins (Sophomore) - Gladstone
Games to Watch:
Westwood @ Kingsford (12/8/25)
Menominee @ Crystal Falls Forest Park (12/16/25)
Marquette @ Westwood (1/27/26)
Menominee @ Iron Mountain (2/2/26)
Houghton @ Marquette (2/10/26)
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