17U Run Through: D1 Minnesota Rise
The D1 Minnesota Rise squad is a group of players from southern Minnesota. This is a team that has a lot of big number producers from winning teams in the south. Get to know these names.
The Point Guards. The Rise roster has two lead guards who spend all of their time playing the one. Trey Hungerholt of Leroy-Ostrander is a 6-foot-2 big number producer that gave his team 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists a game (for a 19 win team) and is one of several players on the team that is hair off of being a 4.0 student. The other guy that plays a total PG role on his high school squad is Andrew Quade of Westbrook-Walnut Grove. The six foot lead guard is a 3.93 grade point average talent that also has 14.2 points and 6.2 assists a game for a 24-4 team.
The Combos. You have to love a combo, we order them commonly when we go out and eat! And combo guards that can both handle, and score in strong numbers are versatile players that colleges love to bring in. On this list we start with Jake Kettner, a 6-foot-3 talent that was on the D1 MN Rise 17s last year and a player that led his team to a 17-win season. Kettner is the player that will have college coaches coming to the Rise games in solid numbers especially after he gave his team 22.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists a game.
Maple River. This is a consistently good program that many thought would take a step back this winter, but their step back is still a 20 win season and a game within a state tournament. One of the team leaders was junior Mason Sohre, a six foot guard that gave his team 13.4 points, four rebounds, and four assists a game. The other Rise player that was a regular combo for his team was St. James guard Parker Jones, a 6-foot-3 southern Minnesota talent. Jones put up 14.2 points a game with over six assists a night, and he’s the team grade point average leader with a 3.98.
Wings. Kettner, Sohre, and Jones can all play wing, but there are three more true wings on this team: 6-foot-2 Steven Eckard of Owatonna, 6-foot-3 Eli Samuelson of Cedar Mountain-Comfrey, and 6-foot-5 Jacob Schuller of NRHEG . Eckard and Samuelson are traditional shooting guards while Schuller can play the two or three, but at 6-foot-5 he will be a forward on this group. Eckard was in the Owatonna eight man rotation and scored a couple times a game. Samuelson was one of four double figure options for CMC while Schuller scored eight a game for NRHEG.
Bigs. St. Peter 6-foot-6 sophomore Wyatt Olson is playing up a level and this a mature player in several ways that will be ready for this challenge. Olson, a 3.9 grade point average student, nearly averaged a double-double with 14 points and 9.8 rebounds a game for his team this winter. Olson will be joined in the frontcourt by 6-foot-5 Owatonna big Jared Fett. Fett came off the Owatonna bench this year backing up a talented frontcourt with five points and three boards.