High School Border Battle: Team Takeaways
Over the weekend, six Iowa teams made their way up to Madison, WI to take part in the High School Invitational Border Battle. Below are some things we took away from viewing each of the teams multiple times over the course of the weekend.
Camanche: The Indians lost their top two scorers with the graduations of Dakota Soenksen and Dylan Hundley, but where they seemed to miss them the most was on the glass, where they were routinely beat badly when we saw them over the weekend. Hundley provided size and toughness on the interior that is now lacking. Big man Calvin Ottens is a large body in the paint, but has a long way to go before being able to contribute at anywhere near the level of Hundley on the glass and in the scoring column. The guard play for the Indians will be good with the duo of Cameron Soenksen and Dev Patel, a pair of playmaking and scoring guards. With their style, the Indians are going to score plenty of points again this year after averaging 73 a game last season, but they’ll need to find some extra pieces to take some of the pressure off that backcourt tandem. Maybe that guy will be Carson Seeser or Evan Hall. And if they can get some production out of Ottens, that would also go a long way. Soenksen and Patel will win them plenty of games, but if they want to get back to the state tournament, they’ve got some work to do.
Center Point-Urbana: The biggest flaw over the course of the weekend for the Stormin’ Pointers was turnovers. There were an awful lot of them in the games that I saw. JoJo Frost, last year’s starting point guard, has graduated, and they need someone to step into that role and limit the mistakes. If they’re able to take care of the ball, they’ve got some talented players that will win a lot of games in the WaMaC. 6-5 senior Grant Dirks has spent most of his career banging in the paint, but is working to expand his skill set, and can step out and knock down jumpers now. They got some decent production out of a pair of players (6-6 Alex Grawe, 6-4 Cody Westcott) who look like they can provide minutes in the paint, allowing Dirks to move around on the offensive end a bit more, where he can be a matchup problem. They’ve got some shooting they can put around Dirks with guys like Dylan Harris and Alex Wade, so if they can just limit the turnovers, they shouldn’t have issues scoring. They struggled on the defensive end against some of the more athletic teams in Madison, but they also won’t see that type of athleticism in the WaMaC, so I think they’ll be fine on that end. This is a borderline top 10 3A team to open the year.
Dubuque Wahlert: Last year was a rough one for Wahlert, going just 7-16 after playing in three straight 3A championship games. A lot of last year’s group is back, and while they lack a true standout player, they’ll be one of the most balanced and deep teams in the class. All 12 players scored in the first game we saw them play, and while Matt Bandy was probably the best player over the course of the weekend, there were six or seven different players who had great stretches. They shared the ball well, played hard on both ends of the floor and have some shooting to put around Bandy in the paint. As the weekend wore on, Peter Timmerman got more and more aggressive, getting to the rim for buckets or to get to the free throw line. If he plays this winter with that same mentality, he can be one of the better players in the MVC. The development of 6-9 center Sam Gruhl could push this group over the top. He’s still very raw, but he runs the floor and competes on both ends. He’s developing some finishing moves around the rim, and his size will be an issue in the paint. If they can get some solid minutes out of him, it’ll go a long way towards winning more games this season. This group should be back in the running to make it to the 3A state tournament.
Spirit Lake: Like Center Point-Urbana, Spirit Lake struggled a bit on both ends when they matched up against supremely athletic teams like Madison East. They won’t see that type of athleticism in the Lakes Conference. Junior big man Owen Coburn keeps getting better, and is a potentially dominant force in the paint on both ends of the floor. He’s becoming more fluid athletically, runs the floor really well and finishes at the rim. He also controls the glass on both ends. The guard play was solid for most of the weekend, with guys like Frankie Ramos, Ben Newman and Kyler Olsen giving the Indians good minutes. Olsen in particular was strong on the defensive end, and all three are capable of knocking down shots. Wings Mason McCaffery and Alex Van Dyke provide some additional length and scoring ability to help take the pressure off of Coburn. This group won’t be very deep, but the starting five has the potential to be among the best in 3A, and as such, this is a no doubt top 10 team in 3A to open the year. (Rankings will come out in August, after evaluating players during the July live period.)
West Delaware: The Hawks are coming off a season that saw them as the state’s last remaining undefeated team, losing in the state semifinals to Sergeant Bluff-Luton. They struggled over the weekend, particularly on the defensive end, giving up a load of backdoor layups and open jumpers. Offensively, there were good things with junior big man Derek Krogmann, who will be a first-team All-State player this winter. Wing Tyler Kelley also had some nice stretches over the weekend, which they’ll need from him. He’s always been a gifted scorer, but with the graduation of John Nagel, they’ll need Kelley to take on a bigger scoring role, which is something he’s certainly capable of. This group really misses graduated point guard Ryan Trainer, who was a calming influence on both ends of the floor for four years. It will take a while to replace him. This is still a top-10 group in 3A, as Krogmann is one of the top two or three players in the class, but don’t expect another undefeated regular season. There are some issues to take care of on both sides of the ball. (Good thing it’s just the summer.)
West Fork: Traditionally one of the best 1A programs in the state, West Fork had a solid showing over the weekend in Madison. Junior wing Zach Martinek is one of 1A’s best players, and he averaged 17 a game over the weekend for the Warhawks. He’s a versatile scoring threat who can also facilitate, and isn’t selfish (as a matter of fact, there are times I’d like to see him be more aggressive.) They got some really strong production out of 6-4 post player Nathan Meinders, who showed the ability to finish at the rim and clog up the paint on the defensive end. Thomas Nuehring also had a strong weekend from his guard spot, knocking down 3s and getting to the rim. Following the graduations of their second and third leading scorers, look for increased production out of junior Mitchell Halloran and sophomore Ian Latham, each of whom had solid stretches. The Warhawks could find themselves ranked near the lower half of our top 10 come August, and if not, they’ll be just outside looking in. This group will be dangerous yet again.