Comets Shootout: Saturday Night 17U Review
Team Notes WOTN’s top squad defeated Comets Little in a running time way early in the second half. It was a completely balanced effort from Blake Nicols team led by some outstanding defense inside and out. The defining moment for…
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Continue ReadingTeam Notes
WOTN’s top squad defeated Comets Little in a running time way early in the second half. It was a completely balanced effort from Blake Nicols team led by some outstanding defense inside and out. The defining moment for me was Comets guard Noah Kreger trying several times on a possession to corner turn and Ethan Igbanugo cutting him off at every angle several times. It was like that seemingly on every possession.
Minnesota Comets Lewis, the top 17U team in their program, opened up with a swarming defensive first half opening the lead to 20 plus quickly and never looking back. They had more open floor enjoyment in half two highlighted by Gavin Baumgartner dunks but the initial gap was opened by the team defensive effort in half one. They beat Crossfire 78-41 led by 20 from Gavin Baumgartner and 15 from Bryce Irsfeld 15.
D1 Minnesota opened their year with a 94-44 win over Select Leafblad and the game was never a contest. Everything you need to know about the game was clear in the 40-11 rebounding advantage that D1 had overall. McKinley Wright had a triple double, Ishmael El-Amin hit four treys for his 20 points, and both Matt Hurt and Nate Reuvers scored 17.
Player Notes
Gavin Baumgartner (Comets Lewis/Wayzata). Gavin does so much it’s tough to bring together in one paragraph. Scored on six of his first eight shots and everything he did was within the framework of the offense. Gavin is a better prospect than I thought as he moves better laterally than I recall, is more explosive than expected (had two nice dunks), of course very smart with a high IQ. Scored a game high 20 and did in while accumulating four assists with four rebounds. Is dangerous with feet set but his read of the closing defender was top notch.
Ishmael El-Amin (D1 MN/Hopkins). El-Amin had his corner three point stroke going today hitting four total. Ran the floor to the corner for a pair of them while the most memorable was a curl off a screen into an NBA range contested trey. If you were to pick one thing he does better than most I think it’s become his three point stroke. The percentages are excellent.
Jake Fredrickson (WOTN/Prior Lake). Had a game high five scores for his team and all of them were intelligently crafted buckets fighting to space on and off the ball and working to get the angle for a score. Somebody to watch going forward as he found ways to score in crafty ways.
Jack Hutchison (D1 MN/Maple Grove). The Crimson guard cut off every dribble attack that Select tried and had a solid shooting day making 4 of 8 attempts. Did more of his finishing from mid-range in this game moving to a spot to catch and hit as well as making two pull-ups. I thought Jack did a great job passing the ball in this game with four assists.
Matthew Hurt (D1 MN/Rochester JM). The best part about watching Matt is seeing him run the floor, catch, and then fluidly completing a play. It could be a gliding dunk, tough angle finish, or a pass but all of them show how much body control he has moving into the play completion. Had 17 points and six boards on 11 shots.
Ethan Igbanugo (WOTN/Lakeville North). One of the best defenders I’ve seen. With length, strength, effort, and laterally explosive steps he was able to cut off everybody from the Comets that tried to attack and then closed space to force two turnovers and a dead ball. May have been the biggest impact guy out there.
Bryce Irsfeld (Comets Lewis/Browerville). His ball pressure defensively didn’t allow a Crossfire halfcourt first pass within a couple yards of the arc the entire first half. His transition push led to several buckets and he knocked out three treys for 15 points overall. Biggest thing was his ball pressure though. Outstanding defensively and if anybody ever did get an angle Bryce battled them back to where he wanted with his strength.
Rob McClain Jr (Comets K/Red Lake). Athletically this McClain has gifts that few do and at 6-foot-4 he handles the ball for his high school team and did a lot of ball handling today. Very interesting prospect who is put together extremely well already and when he leaves his feet to the rim you better have a guy in position because few can get up with him.
Nathan Reuvers (D1 MN/Lakeville North). In all honestly I’m wondering when I will see a game where Reuvers doesn’t shoot a high percentage despite having to take some difficult shots. He made them throughout the playoffs and today had 17 points including two treys making 7 of 13 field goals.
Jericho Sims (D1 MN/Cristo Rey Jesuit). Had three dunks where he was centimeters away from hitting his head. Jericho looks much stronger so what you have is a guy with Rodney Williams like length only taller mixed with Trevor Mbakwe’s quickness getting off the ground and add in he’s become much thicker. Still quite raw but his physical gifts are very rare.
McKinley Wright (D1 MN/Champlin Park). McKinley didn’t even take a shot until the half was almost over. His total focus was getting everybody involved and that is why he had a dozen assists. That and because nobody could keep him in front but he still drew all the defense and then passed. Rebounding? One of the best rebounding guards you will see. And that dribble separation step-back has become nasty. Had 11 points and ten boards with those dozen assists.
Simon Wright (Comets Lewis/Hopkins). The first thing noticed was his defensive production. If you’ve watched Hopkins you know that Simon is a fantastic defender but this was just another example of what he can do to affect a game on defense. Simon also knocked out a pair of treys and hit three shots overall before hurting his ankle.