CDH Jamboree Notes (Auxiliary Gym)
I hope you folks are feeling recharged after AAU, because we are heading full steam into the varsity basketball season. I kicked things off personally by attending the Cretin-Derham Hall Jamboree on Saturday; thanks to CDH and coach Jerry Kline for hosting, as usual. It’s always a good set of scrimmages. I didn’t catch all of every game (I was bouncing between gyms taking photos), but this is what I noticed in the aux. gym.
The main man for Woodbury is Michael Jones, of course. He did a lot of orchestration for Woodbury, showing younger guys where to go. Energy guy David Alston (committed to Nebraska for football) and DJ Fleming return for what is a good senior trio.
Handling the rock on the St. Thomas Academy side was Jack Thompson, a top-25 recruit in the 2019 class who is surely headed towards scholarship offers. He’s crafty, intelligent and proactive. Sam Vascellaro has to be mentioned as well, somebody who I think would be a good pickup for D3s or NAIAs.
After that, Benilde-St. Margaret’s played Minneapolis North. Both teams are dealing with losses to their lineup (Jamison Battle transfers to De, Isaac Johnson goes D1 to Western Illinois) but some key returners. Dylan Drees, Carter Uphus and Joe Dunn provide some good senior size and height for BSM. Gabe Alada pushed the tempo on fast breaks. Minneapolis North shows a few very quick guards (Eli Campbell played; neither Nasir El-Amin nor Zion Sanford were suited up), a dynamic athlete in Tayler Johnson, and some serious length with Da’Kei Hines. I confidently expect them to take the MPLS city conference again.
I missed Maranatha and South, unfortunately. I resumed watching in the auxiliary gym with Robbinsdale Cooper and Totino-Grace at 7 p.m. Although Cooper lost a big piece in Beijan Newbern (transferred to Maranatha), I really like the backcourt combination of Jalen Justice and Jalen Miller. Justice might have grown, as he is now 6-foot-3. Miller is a quality prospect as a point guard with bounce and quickness. Don’t forget that Cameron Vaughn (Bucks player Rashad Vaughn’s brother) transferred in. He’s ranked in the top 60 of 2019 via our rankings.
Totino-Grace started a new era under coach Nick Carroll. The Eagles were missing Charlie Jacob, their trusty point guard, as he was stuck in India with food poisoning (my worst nightmare). He’ll be back on the court soon as a coveted recruit by high-academic D3s. Will Schmidt and Tyler Kittelson (Concordia-Moorhead commit) are senior forwards with versatile skill sets. Nick Flottmeier is a valuable senior piece as well.