The Vegas Rundown
Las Vegas 2017. I have so many player/team thoughts on the last several days but only so much time and space. So here they are in the The Vegas Rundown.
Every year a second team in a program steps up and wins games. Lots of games. And they upset top teams and have memorable performances. The last two seasons that team has been the second Minnesota Fury squad, or maybe we should call them one of the two Fury squads.
The tweet of Sunday was Coach Pete Zurn laughing at all the questions Coach Antl had to answer about his championship trophy in the airport.
I'm having the best time ever watching @CoachAntl lug this trophy thru the airport while answering a million questions. #celeb #furyfamily
— Peter Zurn (@Coach_Zurn) July 31, 2017
Antl and his squad earned them after leaving Vegas with a trophy, a solidified top ten spot in the state, and yes they have those wins over Minnesota’s best in previous events. It was a team effort but Max Bjorklund was the main weapon scoring 24 in the title game and ending a brilliant eight months of basketball with a title.
Carson Hollowaty hit threes from every corner of Las Vegas and get a lot of help from Blake O’Connor and Sam Schwartz as the Heat Mac squad solidified themselves as a top ten 16u team or better. Heat Mac played in the Sunday title game and lost but won the six games before that.
Brevyn Spann-Ford’s semi-final game against YBA would have had PJ Fleck and every Gopher football fan smiling ear to ear. This was the best I’ve ever seen from Spann-Ford using his combination of skill, agility, and size to completely take over a game. His physical putback, power score, flex cut finish, and then crossover into a completion in the second half was simply incredible. Matt Todd and Camden Jackson then put the game away at the foul line. Trevor Kaiser also had his share of late game big shots.
Mitchell Plombon didn’t just make July jumpers in last weekend’s semi-final against D1 Minnesota. He made them in all the back gyms of Las Vegas, he made them in previous Adidas Prospect Series games, and he started making them in Milwaukee too. He is comfortable and confident in his face-up jumper out to 14 feet and that just made him a better prospect than he was before.
Is Joseph Hedstrom a high major player? We at Prep Hoops think he is a high major center and the crowd at his games looked like it. Greg Gard of Wisconsin watched Hedstrom three times and his assistants were a constant. Purdue was also at nearly every game while the Gophers attended his final three or four. Boise State seemed to have the biggest presence along with several mid majors and low majors.
The Comets finished in the final four of their Vegas Classic bracket with Hedstrom scoring in double figures five times (top games of 20, 16, and 16). Also with the near 70 percent finishing rate came a box-out hit and a rim run on nearly every possession which is not common for bigs playing two or three games every day.
D1 Minnesota played their last game Saturday night and once again Calvin Wishart stepped forward and said “Damn it I’m the second best PG in this state, I’m the next guy that should be receiving a handful of D1 offers after these games” and we at NHR were nodding along with him the entire time (he didn’t really say that but his play said it).
Wishart wasn’t playing in some gym that needed creative mapping to locate off in the distance next to a foothill with coyotes running across the road chasing some dusty animal, he was competing against major athletes in the Adidas Championships. And he was turning corners to get scores as well as beating defenders in transition. The three point stroke was on, committed high major kids couldn’t keep him in front, and Calvin Wishart is demanding your attention America.
If you want Matthew Hurt information just look at my Twitter. Search “Matthew Hurt” and “unguardable” and you will find like ten items. The kid is unreal inside, nobody can guard him. America’s best have tried, and failed. Adidas Nations is something I can’t wait to watch because maybe somebody there can stop him from utilizing one of his 57 different ways to score inside.
Anders Nelson hit big shots as one of our best combo guards, Shae Mitchell is a sure mid-major stretch four, and Dain Dainja took another step forward in maturation.
Jack Thompson scored 30 plus points in a win over the Oakland Soldiers. Yes those Soldiers from Oakland, the program that had a 17u team win the Peach Jam. The St. Thomas guard went at their 16s and blew off their combat gear for 50 plus and didn’t get a break! They had just five guys but Select’s crafty playmaker created a memorable moment. Jaeden King? The young man showed off his ability as a top 15 prospect in the 2019 class with range and touch on that jumper.
Next up? The D1 Minnesota 15s. Maybe the best defensive 15u team I’ve seen in recent years. I feel like I want to get in a defensive talk verbal battle with Connor Christensen who gets it on that end. Think defensive talk is dumb? Ask Connor’s teammates about how much he helps them, and then ask his opponents how anxious Connor makes them with his activity both physically and verbally. Kid gets it.
Dalton Banks, we are sorry you were born west of here but the way you knocked down clutch shots and ran a team with a steady hand, we will forgive you. He’s a guard that we will be talking about with a nice level of interest soon.
Speaking of interest, Wisconsin may as well of had their own seat marked off for the Ben Carlson games. The 6-foot-8 Carson is an agile player at his size and the touch facing-up is solid. We saw more of the perimeter ability from Austin Andrews this weekend and there is always the ice cold water that runs through the Drake Dobbs veins (The Ice King, I like that, Drake The Ice King Dobbs [sshh to all you Thrones viewers]) to talk about. Makes big shots.
Dawson Garcia may have my interest the most though, at least in that one game. The guy is 6-foot-8 but moves his feet laterally well enough to get around screens or cut off handlers when moving over on screens. His perimeter face-up ability and range allows him to play on the arc but he’s also a hustler that gets to the basket on a dead sprint for numbers. There is a lot to like about Dawson as a prospect.
Finally we have the D1 Minnesota 15s. We’ve touched on them recently but saw them against Saturday so we need to do a quick run through. A tiny First Five article if you will:
Tyrell Terry. I marvel at how well he moves defenses with an extra dribble, a ball fake, a shot fake, or a quick outlet or ball reversal. He’s like a doctor operating on the court and he always gets the results because he does something that others can’t. Dr Terry is what we will call him.
Tyler Wahl. The two hand dunk that he had off a baseline lob from Terry would so close to being the Tom Chambers remix finish. Wahl had four scores late that put D1 Minnesota into the next round and they were all active buckets. He’s agile enough to be a three, and when the jumper gets more comfortable Wahl will be there.
Jamison Battle. The young man has arms that go from the right wing all the way to the left wing and all he needs is one step to get them from side to side. The guy could do agility block drills without barely moving his feet. He’s also filled out and improved the variety of separation moves with the dribble so this 6-foot-7 young man can be called a stretch four.
Jack Middleton. Did he really nearly finish that dunk at the end of that game? I’ve seen him hit jumpers and defend like his next phone purchase depended on it (it is that era people) but the agility is starting to be show off as well.
D1 Minnesota 17u 2018. When you talk about adding this group to Matthew Hurt and Dain Dainja you are talking about the makings of one outstanding team. With Robert Jones added to these names they will be agile and huge.