Comets Shootout: Saturday 17U
The 17U level is all about “Prove Yourself”. College coaches watching close hoping to add you to their future and seeing you compete against the state’s best. The 17U at the Whitney Center, here is what I witnessed on my courts.
Comets Servaty 6-foot-9 big Justin Balcome out of Alexandria was the prospect note of the day. He started the game against WOTN Wold with an early dunk and then moved to the arc to hit a three moments later. Two more threes came after that, a couple baseline jumpers, and a back to the basket score. Add in the dozen physical boards and you have a double-double in game one led by his 19 points in half a game.
Comets Servaty won 64-34 over WOTN Wold and another top performer was Gavin Bates out of Sibley East. This is a physical guard that scored 23 plus a night west of the Twin Cities this year and it was easy to see why. The kid is relentless. Made seven of his ten field goals physically attacking the rim plus grabbed eight boards. A power guard? Yes.
Also playing well for Comets Servaty was Tyler Kittleson of Totino-Grace. He’s a 6-foot-6 player with a nice touch hitting a couple threes plus making a baseline jumper. Scored twelve for the game and was selective in his approach also leading the team in assists. WOTN was led by Tyler Thorsen who scored ten for his team.
Comets Elite at first trudged through Select Leafblad and then ran by then later. It was an 82-34 finish and five guys finished in double figures. For starters, Matt Todd came off ball screens and just picked Select’s guards apart for his ten points and five assists. Kyler Kluge put together a couple three-point makes for his dozen points and a different looking Brevyn Spann-Ford (stronger and also leaner) cruised around for four scores and five assists. This is a Comets team with many dimensions and these versatile players make them even more difficult to guard than I expected.
Joseph Hedstrom looks great in Comets Blue. He’s every bit of 6-foot-10 and moving well. There is a confidence to him that will go a long way and I think that came from a nice finish to the season when Hopkins went more of a double post look. He scored four times from the field and three of them were facing up out of the post and showing a nice short touch that was true. Joseph also moved well off the ball to get into position to score and that led to the five of six free throw shooting and a team high 13 points.
I’ve done a lot of wondering of how Trevor Kaiser would fit in in terms of how often he would get looks and where he would play with this talented Comets team. He’s going to be a key piece, he’s just too good not to be. But how? Today he fit by rebounding more than any on his team (six), he knocked out a couple open threes and scored actively. Trevor will play a key role, he’s too smart, skilled, and tough not to have success.
The Both and Duoth Gach show has come to St. Cloud. I’m not exactly sure of what they will be like at the college level yet but I feel they have the definite D1 potential. It’s not if but more of where. For the time being I’m just going to enjoy watching them together. The connection they have on the court is incredible. And the highlights? Some of the best you will see. Fans lined up all over to watch D1 Minnesota and the Gach brothers are a key reason why along with Matt Hurt and Race Thompson.
You want to see a guy confidently shoot from wherever, get a look at Lake City guard Marc Kjos, the guard that led his team to state this year. He hit five threes from every angle on the court and gave his team a chance in a close loss to Select.
Mark Kotieno Mboya. A 6-foot-9 junior foreign exchange student with a parent from Kenya and a parent from Poland. First thought is “he is big enough” and yes he is. But does he move well? Yes. Runs up and down with the pack, quick off his feet, agile in his turn. Consistent and hard working? The effort was there. This is a prospect to know as he will make an entrance in the 2018 rankings in a very high spot next week. Played at Pine Island this year. Play of the game had to of been his strong two hand second bounce dunk.
Minnesota Select will be tough to score on. CJ Dickson is a DeLaSalle educated defender, Cire Mayfield has the potential to be a big time ball pressure defender, Jake Binley is 100 percent effort, Charlie Gove simply doesn’t make defensive position mistakes, Beijan Newbern has the ability and the pedigree (dad is all time steals leader at the University of Minnesota) and we all saw what Luke Martens can do this year at state.
Select had a balanced scoring effort to beat the Lightning by eight. Dickson led with his second half push to 15 points including a couple late transition scores and Newbern had two of the prettiest full speed finger rolls through traffic you will see. Martens and Binley paced the team early points wise and then the Dickson/Newbern pair finished it off. Also liked the potential of Nick Fulford who has a lot more agility and vertical bounce than I recall from the winter. Then you have Mayfield and that rapid push. This young St. Louis Park product can get up the floor with the best of them. Had some pretty passes a dribble into the lane too.
Shae Mitchell of Lakeville South is playing with D1 Minnesota again this weekend so I would assume that is good to go. He gave his team two early jumpers in the form of a three and a baseline jumper plus he athletically finished. Playing with a bit more attitude and the jumper seems to be there. If he keeps hitting that jumper and competing hard he is going to find a nice spot.
Matthew Hurt changed the game with TC Finest. There was a lot of fire and talk but he stepped on the floor and made a deep post attempt after a beautiful fake plus made another deep post score and a three to change the momentum. The TC Finest fire messed with a few of the D1 Minnesota kids but Hurt came on the floor, ignored the chatter, changed the game. Boarded and swatted too. Game changer.
Cody Landwehr had some tough moments but late in the game he put TC Finest away with his two jumpers. The game was still somewhat within reach but then Cody’s elbow flash jumper make followed by a three was the final nail. Young man has a nice touch at his size in the frontcourt.
I was impressed with the fire that TC Finest brought to the game. I will forever believe that Curtis Bell is a guy that has a bright future and whomever brings him in next year will benefit greatly. He was steady for this team. The player that gave the team chance was Quincy Blu, a DeLaSalle sophomore. Blu drained three treys, defended aggressively, and pushed the pace. His defense gave the opposing guards issues. Blu’s third three brought TC Finest within 26-22 and nobody expected that late in the half.