Prospect Spotlight: Griffin Sage (2018)
Check out Minnesota Powerhouse and one of the guys that stands out almost immediately is Orono guard Griffin Sage.
Sage averaged more than 15 points per game as a sophomore playing at Mound Westonka before transferring to Orono for his junior season, where he averaged about 8 points per game while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.
He’s spending the AAU season playing with Powerhouse Black and while the team hasn’t had as much success early in the year as he’d like, he thinks good things are coming.
“Most of our guys have been sick or injured at some point so far so I think we’re better than our record,” said Sage. “And we’ll keep getting better throughout the spring and summer.”
This past winter, Sage served primarily as a sniper off the bench for an Orono team that could make the case for being the second best team in Class AAA. He was an instant offense type of player on a team with a lot of mouths to feed. And he was effective in that role because of his ability to play off the ball, using screens or cuts to get openings for shots.
One thing he’s focused on improving is his ball handling so that he can play on the ball more and create offense for himself or his teammates at a higher level.
“That’s a big area of improvement I’d like to work on,” said Sage. “At Mound [I was more of a combo guard] and I didn’t do that as much this past year and I’d like to get back to that.”
So this spring, Sage is playing a lot more point guard for his AAU team. While that might not ultimately be his best position, it’s a good way to fast track the development for him.
“I’ve been mostly a point and I think to play college I’ll need those skills,” said Sage. “It especially helps with my versatility and ability to do more with the ball.”
Sage has gotten some college interest to this point and has heard from Winona State, Augustana and St. Johns in particular. If he continues to play well and diversify his game, he’ll have a steady list of schools coming his way.