UPDATED 2019 Rankings: Take Five
Dynamic Duos
In this class, more than any other we’ve covered since 2014, there are several guys from the same teams at the top of the rankings. We’ll start with Waukee: Noah Hart (10th) and Dylan Hart (11) each check in very high, but Waukee is so loaded that both had limited roles last season as sophomores. They’ll each start this season, and will be eyeing state tournament berth’s the next two, undoubtedly. Similar to the Waukee situation, but even more extreme, is the situation at Valley. It has two guys, Trayvon Williams (12th) and Agueck Deng (15th) who rank very high, but neither even played varsity last season. That’s how loaded Valley is. Look for both to have breakout junior seasons. And then there’s the young Des Moines North duo of Tyreke Locure (3rd) and Lino Malaul (18th). We all know what Locure can do by now, he’s one of the Midwest’s best point guards, and has Drake and North Dakota offers to show for it. Malual is a high-rising, and increasingly skilled wing, who has peaked the interest of Drake as well. All three of these duos reside in the CIML, and won’t it be fun to see them go head-to-head the next two seasons?
Balanced at the Top
Some years it seems that the Iowa Barnstormers — without question Iowa’s top grassroots program — has a stranglehold on the elite talent in the state. And though the Stormers’ 2019 squad is indeed elite, one of the nation’s best in fact, it still is without much of the state’s most elite. Just one of the current top four 2019s is a Barnstormer, and that’s top-ranked Patrick McCaffery. Second-ranked DJ Carton has elected to play with Quad City Elite, no doubt a proximity-based decision. Third-ranked Tyreke Locure was formerly with Kingodm Hoops, but was swooped up by Nike-sponsored MOKAN Elite. And fourth-ranked Owen Coburn is a loyal Martin Bros product.
Carton Blows Up
It’s been a hectic last four months for DJ Carton in terms of becoming noticed, both by media outlets like us and college coaches alike. He was unknown and unranked through the first two installments of 2019 rankings, and then, last February, we placed him at 25th, because he had a solid winter as a starting point guard with one of 4A’s best teams. His numbers weren’t as eye-opening as say, Tyreke Locure’s, but that’s because of Bettendorf’s emphasis on having a more low scoring and balanced scoring attack. We saw Carton play for the first time at the state tournament in March, and even though he didn’t play outstanding, it was clear that he was severely underrated at 25. We were prepared to move him into the top-5 after he received two Division I offers this spring, one from IUPUI and one from North Dakota. We were going to have him somewhere around No.5. And then, boom, Wisconsin offered, and we moved him up to the No.2 spot. In year’s past, a Wisconsin offer would have likely been good enough for the No.1 spot. But, for now, Patrick McCaffery has a stranglehold on that.
Strong All Along
The class of 2019 is starting to take some shape in terms of recruitment and prospect placing, and it looks as though it will be the strongest since we started covering the state in 2014. Already, eight guys in the class have Division I offers (seven have North Dakota offers), and four of them — and that does not include McCaffery — have multiple D1 offers. To put that into perspective, five guys from 2017 accepted D1 scholarships (though several more will after prep school/JuCo), and the guys from 2019 still have a year-and-half to go with their recruitment process. As of right now, it looks like this class could get 15 or more D1 scholarships before it’s said and done.
Aidan Vanderloo
Big Summer
As mentioned in the last blurb, there are already a slew of guys in this class with Division I opportunities, and we could see that number balloon this summer. We expect guys like Carton, Locure and Coburn to add to their already multiple offers. But could that next tier of guys be in-line for some offers too? Guys like Noah Hart, Dylan Jones, Aidan Vanderloo and Jake Hilmer seem to be due for at the very least some serious looks. Expect to see an avalanche of offers come in this July and August for this very talented crop of Iowa prospects.