Coach’s Take: Kingdom Hoops Elite 17U (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. Jake Sullivan…
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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.
Jake Sullivan — Kingdom Hoops Program Director
Doug Wilson, 6’6 PF, Des Moines Hoover
“I’ve never seen a basketball player quite like him. It’s always hard to compare a high school kid to an NBA guy, but the only other guy I’ve seen like him is Dennis Rodman. His skill set isn’t great, in terms of his shooting, his form, or his ball-handling. But he’s got this incredible nose for the ball and is the best rebounder I’ve ever seen, period. I’ve been doing this stuff for 12 years in the AAU basketball world, playing in college, playing on the Nike circuit when I wan in high school, I’ve never seen anything like him. He has the ability to change a game just with his effort and his ability to finish around the rim. He can guard positions one through five and in my opinion is the best rebounder in the county — I haven’t seen anyone that’s even close to him. Most likely Douglas is going to be a JuCo guy, he’s got some work to do just academically and with his ACT and stuff. But my guess is he’ll be a high-level JuCo guy for two years, and will be playing high level Division I basketball three years from now.”
Drew Maschoff, 6’3 G, Ankeny
“He’s been a part of our organization since he was a fourth-grader or fifth-grader, so it’s been fun to watch him grow really into a leader. As he was growing and getting better he was learning how to lead vocally, and how to compete every single play, every single game. And you could really see that all come full-circle in Lawrence — the way he played, the way he competed. And he’s going to be a college basketball player, and he’s going to end up going to school for free. He’s got a handful of D2 offers; Sioux Falls, Rockhurst, Northwest Missouri State have all been in on him a ton. And he has gotten some D1 interest, though no offers yet. It’ll be interesting to see what he decides. I think Sioux Falls is probably leading everybody else right now, but it’ll be interesting.”
Ben Juhl, 5’11 G, Des Moines Christian
“Ben had an unbelievable spring for us. Ben came over from All Iowa Attack his 15U year. He’s just an underrated kid, he does whatever the team needs to be successful; knock down shots, comes off the bench, can play multiple positions from the one through the three, he’s left-handed, he’s a better athlete than people give him credit for. He’s another guy that is not only going to have a great senior season and could lead Des Moines Christian back to another state tournament appearance, but he’s going to go on and play college. I think he’s in between an NAIA and Division II guy, and time will tell how it plays out. But he’s just a glue guy, the glue of the team, and if you don’t have guys like him, then you don’t have the success that we had in July.”
Lim Chuol, 6’2 SF, Chariton
“Lim has been in our program since sixth grade, he had never really played basketball at that point. And he just continued to grow and develop. His move to Chariton his freshman year in high school (I thought) was a big part of his development in getting him in a place where he could be successful; academically, athletically, putting the right family structure around him. Now he’ll get the opportunity to play after high school and he’ll go and lead Chariton without Daric Laing and TJ Hockenson next year. He had a great summer for us, and did so many things off the bench for us to make us successful.”
Jal Bijiek, 6’7 SF, Des Moines North
Jal had a good July, and obviously he has offers from North Dakota and Southeast Missouri State, so he’s got some opportunities in the works for him. And he’s grown a ton over the years, from being an uncoordinated lanky kid that just wanted to play basketball, to being a Division I basketball player. He had to deal with a bunch of injuries late in the spring that affected him during June, and it really affected him early in July. But he ended July on a really good note, and I think in the (Hardwood Classic) championship game against Team Penny he had five dunks or something, and really played some good basketball. Right now is a time for him to really decide what he wants to do in terms of maybe committing early, or does he want to wait out the high school season — or even go JuCo and fill out his body a little more. He’s going to have a lot of options, and he’s going to be a huge part of a really, really good Des Moines North squad this year. To see him grow and develop into a Division I recruit is a fun part of the process.”