Recruiting Report: Joseph Hedstrom (2018)
Six-foot-10 center Joseph Hedstrom has battled his way into the conversation of “high major player”. Prep Hoops talked with the Hopkins senior-to-be today about recent visits to Minnesota and Creighton, and recruiting overall.
This winter the improvements of Joe Hedstrom and the Hopkins frontline resulted in legendary coach Ken Novak Jr moving from an up-tempo offensive attack to a two-post high-low focus that turned things around.
Hedstrom scored in double figures in all but one game in February (had eight in a 72-71 win over Annandale) boosting his average to nine a game for one of the top programs in the state (Hedstrom played with Elon signed forward Simon Wright and Ball State signed guard Ishmael El-Amin as well as top 2019 frontcourt talent Zeke Nnaji).
From there Hedstrom joined the Minnesota Comets who are 24-11 so far competing in the NY2LA and Sanford Pentagon Basketball Leagues (as well as running two of their own competitive events). Hedstrom has been a consistent producer inside all of April, May, and June for the Comets.
“The experience with the Comets has been great, I love it,” Hedstrom said. “I’ve grown as a player and as a person. They have given me the opportunity to play and get the ball some which hadn’t always happened in past years. So I love playing with Coach Chris Lewis and all of the guys have been great, it’s been a breath of fresh air.
“I love the comradery between our teammates, we love hanging out together off the court too, which doesn’t always happen with all teams. Playing and having fun with this team has been great.
“The Comets stress that you need to worry about only the things that you can control. Shots will go in sometimes, and sometimes they won’t. You have to just do the little things which is what they teach and they are big on that. It’s been a great experience.”
The Comets played in the GPA final last weekend and fell to Powerhouse Minnesota in overtime. They now have three events left: an NY2LA event in Milwaukee next weekend, the Adidas Prospects Elite event in the Twin Cities, and of course competing out in Las Vegas the final weekend of the 17u year.
“I’m just hoping to work as hard as I can,” Hedstrom said. “The coaches I’ve had mention how hard I play. I want to keep doing that so I need to keep that up.
“It would be sweet to get a high major division one offer this summer. Creighton and Minnesota have been talking to me so if either of those programs were to offer me that would be big as it would open a door to a higher level of play.
“We will see. They will both be watching in July so I need to play as hard as I can. I’m just excited to get back out there with my teammates.”
In the early part of June Hedstrom visited the Creighton campus unofficially.
“I loved the visit to Creighton,” Hedstrom said. “It was a really cool atmosphere. I just loved the team spirit they have. All of the guys seem real cool with one another and nobody on the team seemed “too cool” for others. They were quite welcoming.
“Coach Greg McDermott’s son Doug McDermott was there working out so it was cool to meet him. He was cool and he came right up and introduced himself to me which spoke to how family oriented the program is. I really liked the campus. I also got to play in an open gym there competing against some of their players. I played as hard as I could and I felt like I fit in.”
At the end of June the Hedstrom family also took an unofficial visit to Minnesota. Joe and his Hopkins teammates competed in Gopher Team Camp the previous weekend and then Hedstrom visited the school the following Tuesday.
“It was kind of a unique visit because we didn’t get a chance to see the whole campus but the Minnesota staff wanted me to get on campus before July,” Hedstrom said.
“We went to Athlete’s Village which is under construction so we wore a construction hat and vest, and everything so it was fun. I should of got a photo with Coach Richard Pitino in the construction gear!
“Anyways, Athlete’s Village will be done in January so we got a chance to see what that will look like so that was half of the visit and the other half was going through all the information so we could learn everything we needed to learn. That was done in coach’s office.
“We met in the office for about 45 minutes. The visit was a little bit shorter but it was nice.”
After having played in front of the Gopher staff at team camp and then visiting with them, Hedstrom then talked to GI his thoughts on the program.
“I think it was really exciting to watch the Gopher team last winter. It’s been awhile since they were really good but last year watching them left a great impression. They are definitely on the rise and Coach Pitino won Coach of the Year which shows he knows what he is doing.
“It was interesting, Coach Pitino said that last year they weren’t as talented as they will be this year so that shows that when you get the talent and good coaching things will go really well. Watching a team like that makes you think “I would like to play for the hometown team”.
“Right now I’m just seeing how far their interest will go. Their interest is still very new. It was just two weeks ago that assistant Ben Johnson started texting me more regularly so the interest is pretty new. They said they will be watching my first game in July in Milwaukee so that is really cool.
“Minnesota has Daniel Oturu coming in inside but in the Big Ten you need more than just one big guy in the paint obviously so they said they are going to want three or four in the future.
“It’s great overall that this program is heading in the direction that it is.”
Hedstrom currently has seven scholarship offers from division one programs plus an ever growing list of teams that are making consistent contact.
“I’m hearing from Minnesota, Creighton, Boise State is also showing me a lot of interest, and I’m also hearing a lot from the schools that have offered me which is North Dakota, North Dakota State, University of South Dakota, University of Denver, Columbia, Cleveland State, and Loyola Maryland,” Hedstrom said.
“I know all of those schools that have offered me will be watching, Minnesota, Creighton, and Boise State will be watching me in July like I mentioned before and Western Michigan, IUPUI, and Nebraska are also showing interest and will be watching me.“