Drake Team Camp: Take Five
Tyrell Terry Nabs Offer
This kid is not from Iowa, but from north of the border in Minnesota, still, he’s one of our favorite players. The smooth 6-foot-1 point guard had a slight Iowa tie coming into the weekend, that the Iowa Hawkeyes had offered him. Well now two of Iowa’s four D1 programs are involved — Terry was so good this weekend, that Drake extended an offer at the camp. He plays for DeLaSalle, a Minnesota power at the 3A level, and D1 Minnesota 16U, one of the best grassroots teams in the country, so look for more offers to roll in. Nebraska has also offered the highly skilled point guard, so we expect Drake to be a long shot, but it’d be nice to have this talent — Minnesota’s 2nd-ranked 2019 — right here in Iowa’s capital city.
Davenport West
We were curious to see how the terrific trio of Davenport West would play this weekend against teams like Dubuque Hempstead and Des Moines North. Well, we were at both of those games, and came away rather impressed. It wasn’t so much the Hempstead game that caught our eye, the Mustangs wiped the floor with the Falcons. But against the Polar Bears, West’s height proved to be a match-up problem, and that could be a running theme throughout next winter. Brett Erwin is a nicely built 6’8 center, and Trey Sampson is a lengthier and slender 6’7 post. Those two are perfectly complimented by the speedy Kenny Clay, and athletic and well-experienced 5’7 point guard. Watch out for the Falcons next season.
Dubuque Hempstead
With two of the best 2018s in the state, we knew this Hempstead team would be a likely candidate to get back to the state tournament next season, and a darkhorse to possibly win it all in 4A. But we realized this weekend that it’s much more than just Keith Johnson and Lucas Duax. Curtis Martin we knew about, but he really caught our eye last weekend with his grit and tough defense. He was glued to Tyreke Locure and Tyrell Terry when the Mustangs played Des Moines North and DeLaSalle. and then there’s Will Courtney, another grit guy, who is the glue of the team. His high-motor and knack for being in the right place at the right time will be key to the Mustangs’ success. And don’t sleep on 2019 shooting guard Max Duax, he’ll be a sniper next season.
Boys State Tourney
Wells Fargo Arena is just too big for the boys state tournament. This past season, aside from the Valley/Des Moines North quarterfinal match up, it was mostly empty in there. Maybe the emptiest was during the 4A title game between Valley and Iowa City West. There’s lots of variables that come into play; spring break, streaming online, social media, or in the West/Valley case, simply the novelty of making a title game wearing off (they’ve played each other three of the last four years in the 4A final). Regardless of what the reason may be, attendance is seemingly down lately. The Knapp Center is just a couple miles down the road, kids would still get the thrill of playing in the capital city. And the gym is nice, new-ish, well-maintained, and most importantly, smaller. It would be loud, raucous, and way more fun in there then at WFA, in my humble opinion.
Drake
With a new coaching regime at the helm in Des Moines, comes a new sense of excitement for what may come. It’s no secret, Drake has been down the past few years. And since it’s success in 2007-08, when they won the Missouri Valley and nabbed a 3-seed in the NCAA Tourney, the Bulldogs have finished above .500 just twice, the last time being 2011-12. It’s great that Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls have their fun every season with above-average basketball programs, but how fun would it be for Iowa’s biggest city to have a team like that? We’re wishing Niko Medved and his staff all the best. Des Moines is ready for some high-level hoops success.