The Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo: Minnesota Preview Part 1
The Northstar Hoops Top 250 Expo is a month away and the word is out. You’ve all seen the many sign-ups flash across Twitter as early sign-ups have been huge.
The younger level numbers for players in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 classes has resulted in two separate events on September 17th, one for the younger players and one event for the older players.
In September college coaches can be out watching talent and there are some quality 2017s who have signed up early to be sign by them, and the many workers at the event.
2017. Our biggest excitement is seeing names at the event that are new to us. Guys that will play varsity basketball but didn’t have big varsity roles a year ago. The list of these players is long and ranges from the Wabasso area down to Rochester and from one side of the metro into the city and moving to the other side.
There are of course other known names that will hope to make an impact with their play, workout, skills, or all of the above. CJ Woda of Heritage Christian and Brayden Urie are two talents who have recently been offered scholarships and will headline the event. Logan Rezac of Andover is likely to be the top scorer and of course is a key D3 recruit.
Litchfield’s Noah Kreger has garnered D3 interest, Jake Kutina will be Shakopee’s leader this year, Richfield scorer Antonio Maddox will be there, Hunter McCalla and his high potential as a big guard has signed up, Kaleb Nelson of Waconia will look to capitalize on his great summer with Select Ellis that got his name out there, 6-foot-8 bigs Kevin Totusek and Devon Schultz will compete, and we are also looking forward to seeing Sam Carver from Coon Rapids.
2018. There are many kids in the top 150 Expo that made a great first impression to the state this spring and summer and they are hoping to make another impression this September to get their name on the national Top 250 list (which will list the best of the 17 events held around the country).
Jordan Belka of Rogers, Mitchell Irlbeck of Redwood Valley, Manny Jingco of Stillwater, DJ Johnson of Eden Prairie, and Sawyer Levos of Hastings are all players that we talked about after seeing them compete in 16U this year. Jingco was an all state 16U guy, Irlbeck is the next Redwood standout, and Belka will team with Matt Carik and Mitch Spilles to lead Rogers.
A couple of west metro kids we are anxious to see are Colton Codute of Orono and Trever Kaiser of Dassel-Cokato. Codute is one of the players that Orono will depend on going forward and Kaiser was a key Comets Stumpf player, how will he look when he’s the guy other teams are locking in on? A couple key guys we are looking forward to watching close.
Another player ready for a big role is Garett Maag of St. Croix Lutheran. Garett didn’t have the AAU year he wanted because he missed a lot of time due to injury. Maag should be healthy and ready to compete hard at the Expo. Nathan Macho wasn’t hurt but we didn’t see his Minnesota Eagles team as much as we wanted to this summer so his progress is something that will be on the “list to see”.
One guy who is throwing his name in the hat of “Best PGs in Minnesota’s junior class: is Bryce Phillips of North St. Paul. Where does he belong among that group? Let’s find out! And Mitch Plombon of St. Cloud Cathedral. Is the combo forward more four, more three, or does he do both? How is he using his explosive ability around the basket? The Top 250 Expo will let us know.
2019. The biggest name at the event so far is Courtney Brown Jr of East Ridge. Brown is considered a top two or three player in Minnesota’s 2019 class and this is an event that he could shine at. If so, I would expect to see his name hanging around the top names in the country on the Top 250 Expo List for 2019s.
New London-Spicer guard Brandon Adelman impressed us in the Breakdown Summer Showcases and with Comets Schmidt. Logan Nagorski is a hard working forward from Big Lake we look forward to seeing, good things have been said about Mark Possis of Apple Valley, and the same can be said about Riley Berger from Minnetonka.