Team Name: Rice Lake Warriors
Head Coach: Kevin Orr, 11th year
Current Record: 13-3 (Through Jan. 28)
Ranked: No. 7 among Division 2 teams by WBCA/WisSports.net
Top Players: Sophomore Henry Ellenson (6-9) is ranked No. 2 in the state among 2015 prospects by WisSports.net and has scholarship offers from Georgetown, Iowa State, Marquette and Minnesota, among others … Wisconsin is also expressing extremely strong interest in Ellenson, who is averaging a team-high 20.4 ppg … Senior Ellwood Ellenson (6-8), Henry’s older brother, is averaging 10.8 ppg for the Warriors. Ellwood Ellenson has an offer from Division II Wingate State … Junior guard Brandyn Christman (6-2) adds 9.1 ppg for Rice Lake.
Notes: Henry and Ellwood Ellenson’s older brother, Wally, is a freshman on scholarship at Minnesota … Ellenson’s father, John, played collegiate basketball at both Marquette and Wisconsin … The Warriors are the defending champions in the Big Rivers Conference. 

Team Name: Prior Lake Lakers
Head Coach: Alex Focke
Current Record: 10-5 (Through Jan. 28)
Ranked: Unranked
Notes: Three years ago Coach Alex Focke took over a Laker program that was 3-24 and falling quick. Transfers and a drop in talent level had set the program back a great deal. In Focke’s first season injuries decimated what talent they had resulting in a 6-21 season but there was promise. Last year the team improved by nine games and now they are 11-5 and pushing for a state tournament appearance.
Leading the way is junior guard Jon Sobaski. The D1 talent (offers from NDSU and SDSU) has amassed 772 points through 57 career varsity basketball games and is currently scoring 17 points a night while also distributing to the collection of size his team has up front. At seven feet tall Utah State signed Carson Shanks is scoring 9.4 points a contest while also blocking shots at a four per game rate. Northern State signed 6-foot-10 center Jeff Probert is giving the team 6.5 points a game and 6-foot-6 Gopher football recruit Nick Hart bangs on the glass off the bench scoring five a game with five boards. Sobaski also has wing options in Taylor Heidecker, Noah Scanlon, and Jason Faul who combined for 22 points an outing.