Grassroots Preview: Iowa Barnstormers 15U
As we continue our grassroots preview series, Iowa Barnstormers 15U head coach Jamie Pettigrew helps me breakdown his group and what we can expect from them as they take on the adidas Gauntlet Gold Division this spring and summer. Below, you’ll find their roster, schedule, Pettigrew’s thoughts and some of my thoughts on the group as well.
Note: Due to the length of the Barnstormers’ coaches responses, their previews have been broken into three separate articles, one for each age group.
15U
Head coach: Jamie Pettigrew
Name | Height | School |
Even Brauns | 6-9 | Iowa City Regina |
Cameron Soenksen | 6-1 | Camanche |
AJ Coons | 6-5 | Solon |
Jake Auer | 6-0 | West Des Moines Valley |
Keshawn Christian | 6-3 | Iowa City High |
Masen Miller | 5-11 | Iowa City Regina |
Bowen Born | 5-10 | Norwalk |
Alex McAleer | 6-4 | DeWitt Central |
Campbell Mitvalsky | 6-2 | Cedar Rapids Washington |
Reajzuan Shockley | 6-3 | Cedar Rapids Jefferson |
Sam Kilburg | 6-0 | North Scott |
David Moreano | 6-3 | Omaha Skutt (NE) |
Kevin Nelson | 6-9 | Cedar Rapids Xavier |
Ty Anderson | 6-4 | North Scott |
Pettigrew says: “We are very excited about our 15U group! They were one of the top teams in the Midwest as 8th graders, but we felt in order to compete on the adidas Gauntlet, we still needed to improve our athleticism and length, and feel we’ve done that. Masen Miller, Bowen Born and Sam Kilburg form a strong veteran guard nucleus and provide experience in the backcourt with how we play as ‘Stormers. We added some firepower on the perimeter in Jake Auer and Cameron Soenksen (who is this piece of talented clay that I can’t wait to mold).
When you talk about talented clay to be molded, talented wing Keshawn Christian of City High is in that same mix. He along with Cam are still figuring out how we play, but those two are big reasons we think come July this team can be so much better than we will be in the spring.
We have two very versatile wing forwards in AJ Coons and Ty Anderson who will be tough matchups for opposing teams because they are so versatile. In the post we have Even Brauns and Raejzuan Shockley, two talented kids who both played major varsity roles and give you very different looks and talents.
Overall, we have nine kids in the group of played significant varsity roles this year, including Omaha product David Moreano and injured Alex McAleer, so they are a battle tested group. We are a great shooting team but we are really look to play with great pace and attack on the defensive end. We’d like to be very disruptive and wear teams down with our depth.”
Tony’s take: The first thing that sticks out to me about this group is the size they’ve got for a 15U team. I’ve been a huge fan of Even Brauns since seeing him in the Iowa Dynasty Fall League back in September, and he had a really good freshman season with Regina. He’s a highly skilled and mobile big who should have a huge summer with this group. As Jamie mentioned, the veteran guard trio they’ve got back gives them some stability as they work in incorporating their other, newer talented players like Cam Soenksen and Keshawn Christian, who are two of the most talented 2020s in the state.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of the other players on the roster that I haven’t been able to get a look at yet, guys like Reajzuan Shockley and Ty Anderson. I was able to see Bowen Born once during his freshman year, and he wasn’t great in that game, but he put up some great numbers all season, and I’m looking forward to getting an extended look at that young, gifted point guard.
With the size, guard play and versatility that this roster provides, this group should be an entertaining team to watch, and one that should have lots of success. Having so much high-level varsity experience on such a young roster is huge.
Date | Teams | Event | Location |
March 31-April 2 | ALL | NY2LA Swish N Dish | Milwaukee, WI |
April 7-9 | ALL | The ROCK Spring Classic | Madison, WI |
April 21-23 | 16U and 17U | adidas Gauntlet #1 (Live) | Fort Worth, TX |
April 21-23 | 15U | Midwest Live! | Ankeny, IA |
April 28-30 | ALL | adidas Gauntlet #2 (Live) | Emerson, GA |
May 5-7 | ALL | Spiece Run N Slam | Fort Wayne, IN |
May 12-14 | 15U and 16U | Battle at the Lakes | Minneapolis, MN |
May 27-28 | ALL | Gauntlet Qualifier | Chicago, IL |
June 10-11 | 17U Only | Rumble in the Bronx | New York, NY |
July 12-16 | ALL | Gauntlet Finale (Live) | Spartanburg, SC |
July 19-23 | ALL | NY2LA Summer Jam (Live) | Milwaukee, WI |
July 26-30 | ALL | adidas Summer Championship (Live) | Las Vegas, NV |