ABCs of Iowa’s Grassroots Season
All Iowa Attack 15U
This group was routinely advancing farther than any other Iowa team at their events, and have a good argument that they were the best 15U squad in Iowa this offseason.
Battle
Again, the Prep Hoops Battle at the Lakes was off the hook. It gets bigger and better each year, next time will be no different.
Cole Henry
One of the players that absolutely blew up this summer, several D1 offers came of for the Oskaloosa big-man.
Dynasty 17s
This squad finished their season with two straight titles, including a dominating run at the Prep Hoops Summer Challenge in Chicago for their finale.
Evan Gauger
The Indianola guard has seen vast improvemt in the past six months, and has several D2 offers and some D1 interest to show for it.
Fort Dodge
The North Central Iowa city was well-represented out on the grassroots trail, with guys like Andrew Gibb, Jordan Jackson and Jackson Kochendorfer proving they are three formidable 2019 prospects.
Game-winner
As in Kingdom Hoops Elite 15U point guard Nathaniel Mueller’s sick buzzer-beater in Milwaukee. He shaked-and-baked and hit a step-back 24-footer with his team down two, and drained it.
Hull
In Kansas at the Hardwood Classic, we saw Grinnell’s Jake Hull score 41 points in a game and follow it up the next morning with a 37 points game. He then had another 40 point game later in the weekend.
Issa Samake: His grassroots decision was a big deal, and All Iowa Attack landed him. Then he played well enough to pick up a Drake offer. The Mali-born forward committed to the Bulldogs shortly after.
Jaguars: As in South Alabama Jaguars. That’s where Des Moines North point guard and not-to-far-from-‘Bama New Orleans-native Tyreke Locure committed to play for back in July.
Kris and Keegan: The Murray twins headlined an ultra-successful Iowa Barnstormers 17U Silver squad, and not a weekend went by when they weren’t creating some buzz.
Lipsey: The incoming Ames High freshman, Tamin Lipsey, had a huge offseason, and nabbed an offer from hometown school Iowa State before he even enrolled in a high school class.
Mitchell: Keaton Mitchell has had a big six months. He showed out at the state tourney for Wapello, proving to be one of the more athletic and sheer big-men in Iowa. That resulted in the Iowa Barnstormers’ top squad picking him up, and he picked up some D2 offers, eventually committing to Truman State.
Noah Carter: Not many guys in Iowa had a bigger offseason than Carter, maybe no one. He picked up a slew of D1 offers and wound up committing to Northern Iowa in July.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes swooped in and nabbed Iowa’s top overall prospect, Bettendorf’s DJ Carton. He committed to Ohio State in mid-July.
Panthers offer three: In-state guys Noah Carter, Cole Henry and Bowen Born all picked up offers from Northern Iowa this offseason. Carter has already committed.
Quad City Elite: The far eastern edge of the state features a premier program that consists mostly of Illinois players; but Iowa standouts like DJ Carton, LJ Henderson, Jaren Nelson and Jayden Houston also are part of the program.
Reverse-slam: In April, All Iowa Attack 17U was in a thrilling overtime game against OSA Elite adidas. It got to overtime because Issa Samake threw down a reverse alley-oop jam with just seconds left on the clock.
Sharar: The first guy from Iowa’s class of 2021 to receive a D1 offer. Drake offered All Iowa Attack and Iowa Falls-Alden rising sophomore, Karson Sharar.
Twenty-nineteen: We’ve been saying the class of 2019 is Iowa’s strongest in the five years we’ve been doing this, and that came to fruition this summer, when a whopping 15 guys ended up with D1 offers.
USA Basketball: DJ Carton and Patrick McCaffery were selected as two of just 36 players in the Unites States to compete for the 12-man USA U-18 squad. Carton made it past the first cut, to the final 18.
Void: When July ends, there’s a bit of a slow period in high school hoops. We’re helping to fill that void from now until November when high school practice starts, with our annual Top 250 Expo on September 29th at Kingdom Courts.
Waterloo: Loo Town was well-represented this spring and summer. Tyrese Nickelson was very good for the Iowa Barnstormers 17U Gold, and guys like Daquavion Walker and Jaden Keller were standouts too.
Xavier Foster: Not just Iowa’s best 2020, but one of the nation’s best 2020s, the 6’10 forward stayed busy this summer and had additional offers from Missouri, Baylor, USC, UCLA, St Louis, Rutgers and a huge one from Kansas by the end of July.
Youngins: We got a good look at the youngsters coming up through the system, and guys like Payton Sandfort, Angelo Winkel, Chase Courbat, Michael Duax, Tamin Lipsey, Marcus Morgan and Karson Sharar showed out.
Zigzag: That’s what we did this spring and summer while traveling around the Midwest. Whether we were in Madison, Lawrence, Minneapolis, Ames, Chicago or wherever, we enjoyed covering the grassroots scene. Until next year.