Coach’s Take: Iowa Barnstormers 16U (Part I)
Tony Roe, Travis Hines and I certainly provided our fair share of player evaluations this spring and summer, but we thought we’d give the guys who know the kids best a chance to be vocal: the coaches.
KC Schmitt — Iowa Barnstormers 16U coach
Elijah Hazekamp, 6’5 SF, Bishop Heelan
“Elijah is one of those kids that can play position-less basketball. He has great size for a wing, and he’s unbelievably skilled. Nothing really phases him, his footwork is really good. He’s got to get a little quicker laterally to defend a wing, but other than that he’s just fantastic. He plays with nonstop energy. And you can basically play him anywhere you want as a coach, because you’re going to find a match-up that he’ll take advantage of. Lehigh loves him and has called me about eight times since July — we’ll see what happens with that.”
AJ Green, 6’1 PG, Cedar Falls
“AJ is probably the best shooting point guard I’ve ever coached. The way that he gets into his pull-up and the footwork and the step-backs, just every little thing that he does with that ball is really, really fundamentally sound. I would say he’s a high-major kid when Duke University says they love him. They probably won’t ever offer him because they have an offer out to Tyus Jones’ little brother, but the Duke assistant has said that the kid (Green) is phenomenal. At some point somebody (high major) is going to take a chance on him.
Brady Sartorius, 6′ PG, Mount Pleasant
“Brady had a good summer. He’s a really good defender. He’s almost too unselfish, I would like to see him get a little more selfish. He’s got a good pull-up jumper. But he’s just a great kid; he’s a great kid to be around and he’s a great kid to coach. I know Drake has called him a couple of times, and personally I think he could be a great Division II guard. Maybe not as good a shooter as (former Barnstormer) Turner Scott, but I think he’ll find a D2 that he’ll really be able to play at and enjoy, and be a good point guard for them.”
Carter Stevens, 5’9 G, Dubuque Senior
“Carter played with us all year, and we kind of took him and didn’t know if he’d be able to match up size-wise, And I tell you what, all through July Carter was absolutely amazing. He’s so successful because it doesn’t matter, he’s going to get his shot off, even though he’s 5’9, he’s so quick and his shot is so quick that he’s going to get it off, even if a 6’5 kid is guarding him. If he continues to show he can score, and he continues to show he can defend, I would say he’s at least a D2 kid, if not maybe a small D1 school might take chance on him.”
Sam Ingoli, 6’4 G, Dowling
“Sam is awesome. Sam fit in from day one. We never really had a legit defender, we had a bunch of guys that could score and Sam filled that role, and he proved to us that he’s a better shooter than anyone has ever given him credit for, including myself. And he’s really just crafty at getting to the rim. He’s got a good footwork, and he’s just a really good basketball player. He’s probably a mid-major type player or above. He’s getting some interest from Stanford, he’s getting some interest from Lehigh, Stetson. A bunch of schools have taken notice and they’re all just kind of wondering if any of the big fish come and play.”