17U Post-Season Series: The Top Need
There is a real chance that next year Minnesota could have THREE teams ranked at 17u nationally at some point. But before that happens, we step into the “need” category, as in what our teams need to add to become the teams they want to be.
***Footnote, some teams may not want or need to add somebody to their program. A team returning in full rarely happens but it could. That said, we are writing this article with the thought of what the team could add to make them even better. We start with D1 Minnesota, a team that finished 7th in 16u last year.
D1 Minnesota. The squad has five players with D1 offers, three players that will be in the Prep Hoops 250 for 2020 when it’s name later this week, a couple ranked in the area of the top 50 in the nation, and one closing in on five star status. So what could they need? Ben Carlson and Dawson Garcia together up front isn’t going to change and Austin Andrews is one of the top undersized posts you will find. They may, and I mean maybe, could add a true center off the bench to combat the 17u size. And/or they could add another quick guard/wing to give them another playmaker.
Fury Zurn. We don’t talk about adding players from other programs, it’s just not right for us to do. But, adding another player from within the program? A grey area. Teams often have kids meshed together from younger teams as they grow older. With Jacob Hutson the Fury squad would have a D1 center to go with D1 small forwards/wings, and a top 20 level guy in Cameron Steele. Steele can handle the post but he’s also very good facing up and would play well as a four. From there, a scholarship guard to add to that backcourt is likely the biggest thing that would help this team.
Comets Lewis. Size. As good as the Comets Stumpf squad was, they are small. Very small. The guards and wings are there for this team (Eli King ,Noah King, Matt Williert, Tony Dahl) to be very good but they need to get bigger than 6-foot-4 up front. A couple players with size are needed. When you look through the Comets roster this year at 16u, it had Noah Puetz at 6-foot-4 and then all backcourt players (positions 1-3). Noah is a good start but they will need more.
Howard Pulley. Same as the Comets. Size is needed. Jalen Travis will be solid for the Panthers but they need more than the Islander post that has some of the state’s best bloodlines. Today over at Rivals.com, Rene Pulley said in a story written by David Sisk about David Roddy, “He was our main man in the EYBL, because we didn’t have players who could carry the load around him. He had to do so much his stamina wasn’t there at the end of the game.” I don’t see that being the case next year as Trejuan Holloman will be a year older and a top 2022, Kendall Brown will be older and a top 2021, plus Blaise Beauchamp and LuCye Patterson will be a year older with a good year of EYBL experience under their belt. The team needs to add a player with size though.
Wear Out the Net. I feel like WOTN is a true PG away from being so, so good. They have good players that can play the one and do it well, but with a speedy and steady playmaker in it’s truest form to go with Ryan Samuelson, Nathan Heise, Reid Gastner, Tate Machacek, and Steven Crowl among others, this squad could really take off. Crowl is close to becoming a guy with mid-major offers that I predict will be high major a year from now, while the other listed guys are on lists of local scholarship schools to evaluate this year.
Gain Elite. Teams make different choices about what they want to do. D1 Minnesota for example often has a top team at all levels, while others choose to put as many of their top guys at 17u as quickly as possible. Either way has proven to work. So does Gain Elite keep their 2020s together and add some talent, or move up some of those very, very good 2021s (Townley, Thompson, Gray)? When you look at the Gain Elite squad they have a nice luxury of productive and scholarship level wings/forwards (J’Vonne Hadley, Blake Remme, Tyler Andrews, etc) but at the 17u level will likely need to get bigger and maybe add another guard. Those talented 2021s could be those guys, or they could stay together and be one of the best 16u teams in the state, just as they were one of the elite 15u teams in the state.
Team Get Shook. Love what Get Shook has back handling the ball (Juwan Grant, DJ Miller), Joseph Kearney could be an excellent attack scorer, and there is talented and tough size up front (Treyton Thompson played much of his year with this team and if he is back with them this team is going to be very, very good up front having an array of different type of frontcourt players). So what would be a good add? I would say a stretch forward who can play the wing and/or the forward spots. A guy with a touch to take advantage of all the strong attack guards creating space.
Minnesota Matrix. They are very good up front. Mason Miller of Ada-Borup should be ready to put the state on alert and everyone knows that Dylan Dechampeau can get numbers from either forward spot. Add in Jacob Jenniseen and his true center size and they are good there. Will Cordes and Jacob Stolzenberg are quality guards but the team needs more that can handle and play the wing to be a top 17u next year.
Minnesota Select. They are good at the guard spot with Parker Nielsen, Joich Gong, and 2-3 shooters. There is some potential up front with Danny McGraw, Brody Kriesel, and Taylor Flaata, and if they take winter steps forward the Select will be all right up front. But another big would really help and a skilled wing at like 6-foot-5 who can play some three would really help.
Minnesota Heat Moberg. Looking at their line-up you can expect many of them to return next winter as that is what the Heat does, brings gelled groups with chemistry back. But there will be changes. The team played much of the year at 6-foot-6 and smaller and at the 17u level they will need to be bigger. Love the toughness, and high IQ basketball players on this team, but they could use a confident guy willing to take 10-12 shots a game and make a good percentage of those.