Battle at the Lakes: What We Learned
We covered the PrepHoops Battle at the Lakes over the weekend in Minnesota. Let’s look at What We Learned at Battle at the Lakes!
Minnesota Talent
I mostly cover the state of Illinois for PrepHoops, but always enjoy coming up to Minnesota to see the talent. The state has consistently gotten better and better over the last few years as far as elite level prospects and depth. Despite the injury to top 3 2019 national prospect Matthew Hurt who was sidelined with a hand injury there was still plenty big time prospects on display. Five star 2020 point guard Jalen Suggs put on a show for Team Sizzle 16U. On the 17U level Race Thompson in 2018 and Dain Dainja in 2020 are both coveted high-major prospects that play for D1 Minnesota. We found several other names that are young division one talents in 2020 point guard Lucye Patterson and 2019 lead guard Tyrell Terry who both played at a high level.
George Conditt is the Truth
The 6’10” post from Corliss has had quite the rise over the last few weeks! The Team RWA post went from relative unknown during the high school season to a lock to be in the top 10 in the June update of the PrepHoopsIllinois 2018 rankings. Why has this occurred? Why he was an unknown is a couple reasons. First he goes to Corliss which is definitely not known as a traditional basketball powerhouse. The second is he had a major growth spurt over the last year. Conditt is a versatile offensive weapon that can face up hitting shots and use his long strides to attack from the high-post. Flashes skill in the post, but needs to add strength to max his ability in that area. Solid rebounder that has the quickness to rebound in and out of area. Defensively he is a monster as a shot blocker both in the paint and swatting threes. No doubt mid-major talent that will be one of the most heavily tracked 2018 prospects in July.
Raekwon Drake Takes Game to Next Level
Drake is a 6’5” forward that is coming off a state championship at Orr where he was the key player for the 2A champs. He has always been looked at as an undersized power forward that relies strictly on his athleticism and motor to produce. This limited his value at the college level. Drake has been in the gym nonstop over the last year working on diversifying his game and making major strides in other areas of his game. The biggest is his perimeter shot. Drake is much more comfortable shooting it from the mid-range. Still has room to go on the three, but did connect on several. Ball handling has improved attacking off the bounce from the perimeter. He still brings so much with his rebounding at an elite level with his freakish hops. Contests shots on the interior. Drake is a mid-major prospect.
Team Rose Talented But Inconsistent
Team Rose 17U was the team with the most highly ranked prospects from Illinois in the event. They made a couple of recent moves getting rid of some guys and added Chase Adams as well as Dannie Smith to the mix. Friday night they really struggled coming off the bus cold against Butler Elite and took a tough loss. The Adidas Gauntlet team bounced back on Saturday with a pair of excellent wins. Blew out their opening round opponent in the tournament and then put on a show against a loaded D1 Minnesota with Kendle Moore and Raekwon Drake leading the way. Then they fell later that night in a letdown game.
Small College Players in 2018
It is not a secret that the 2018 class in Illinois doesn’t have the amount of traditional high-major or even D1 prospects that we are used too. In that respect it is the worst group since 2012. There are a lot of small college players that continue to emerge and will be able to contribute at the D3/NAIA levels. Some of the names that participated at Battle that fit this include Kyle King (Tri City Thunder), Eric Peterson (Tri City Thunder), Evan Yekes (Team RWA), Brian Hernandez (Team Rose), Zion Fortune (Chicago Demons), and many more.
It is a Shooting Game
If you can’t shoot, you can’t play! That is the way the game is going. Perimeter prospects at the 1, 2, and 3 positions have to be able to shoot the way the game is going. We saw some big time shooting performances throughout the weekend. Simeon’s Kenny Pittman was lights out for Young & Reckless as he could not miss on Saturday. Loyola 2019 Robert Hubbard was on fire for Full Package. Best shooting performance of the weekend might have been Curie 2019 shooting guard Dajuan Gordon who was about as scorching as you could be from three for Team Rose 16U. He went for 37 points.
2019 Depth Emerging in Illinois
Sunday we spent the day evaluating the 16U group and a lot of new names emerged on our radar. The depth continues to show in 2019 at all levels. Guards/Wings that put themselves on the radar included Dajuan Gordon (Team Rose), Trevon Hamilton (Team Rose), Justin Harmon (All-In Athletics), Tavion Underwood (Young & Reckless), and Keenan Jones (Young & Reckless).