Coach’s Take: Pure Prep (Part II)
It’s August, that means live action on the hardwood slows down, but our coverage of Iowa high schools hoops remains active. The grassroots season recently wrapped up, and we’re going to spend the month re-capping what went down by talking to some of the most successful team’s coaches, and getting their take on players that suited up for them all spring and summer.
We continue our “Coach’s Take” series with Pure Prep program director BG Regins, who shed some light on his 17U squad, plus some additional talent that’s coming up through his system.
Pure Prep program director BG Regins talks…
Zach Carr, 5’10 G (Glenwood) — 2020
“He has the highest motor on the (17U) team by far, and he understands his role. Anything we ask out of him he’ll do; he’ll guard the toughest guard on the floor, dive for loose balls, sacrifice his body. He has a consistent outside shot and he plays with a high motor. Like, every possession he’s playing as hard as he can. He picked up some interest from Air Force this summer. It’s interesting because this year for his high school team he has to play the point. We’ve always had a point guard with our group, and he’s been with us forever, but he’d bring the ball up the floor some. But it’ll be interesting to see what he does at the point guard spot at Glenwood.”
Michael Vicente, 6’3 G (Waukee) — 2019
“Michael is by far our highest IQ player. If Michael didn’t play, we wouldn’t function well, because when things got chaotic, he always slowed us down. When things were going bad, he always said something positive to say to reinforce that we were a really good team. He shoots the ball well, he’s in the right position all the time. He takes charges. He moves so well without the ball and he plays with the ball. Anything we needed from him he’d do. And he was so valuable because he was the reason we were successful this summer. He got some D2 interest from Rockhurst and William Jewell this summer.”
Trey Lewis, 5’6 PG (Johnson) — 2022
“If Trey gets to be about 5’11 or 6′, I think he has a lot of qualities similar to Trae Young; not on that scale, but he has a lot of his qualities. He works so hard, he works out four or five days a week in the gym. He gets up at 5 am to train with his strength and conditioning coach and work on his body. He’ll see varsity time this year, and he has a special thing that a lot of kids don’t have, and it’s kind of his it factor. And that’s why he’s being recruited by Iowa as an incoming freshman, because he’s shown that he can play at a high level.”
Karter Kriegl, 6′ G (Johnston)
“He’s solid, he’s a point guard, super-crafty, amazing handles, super competitive. He kind of runs that 15U team, he’s the leader of that team. Everything runs through him because he makes great decisions. This summer he received interest from Columbia which was awesome, and he took a visit to Kearney, Nebraska, they called and wanted him to come to their elite camp and that was great.”
Wyatt Wegener, 6’2 G (Algona)
“Wyatt is a four-sport guy and he does a lot of things for Algona. His motor is unbelievable, he scores it, he’s physical. He plays a lot of different positions, he plays the point, he plays the forward. I love his tenacity, his competitiveness and his drive. Being only 6’2, the way he uses his body to finish and get by defenders with his shoulders is kind of impressive. He’s a combo-guard, his handles are just as good as Jake’s in the open court.”