Updated 2019 Rankings: Five Things
Grand View Christian is Stacked There’s one high school team in Iowa that has two guys ranked among the top-10 in the 2019 prospect rankings, and it’s a 1A school. Drake commit and Mali-born athletic phenom Issa Samake and his…
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Continue ReadingGrand View Christian is Stacked
There’s one high school team in Iowa that has two guys ranked among the top-10 in the 2019 prospect rankings, and it’s a 1A school. Drake commit and Mali-born athletic phenom Issa Samake and his fellow Mali-born athletic marvel Harouna Sissoko both check in among the state’s best (Samake 7th, Sissoko 8th). Three more guys, Arturo Montes, Kong Neyail and Bryce Crabb are included in the rankings. Two guys, Mach Nyaw and Sam Glenn would have made seven Thunder guys in the rankings, but those two have transferred (Nyaw to Storm Lake, Glenn to Southeast Polk). Needless to say, Grand View Christian is overwhelming favorites to win a third-straight Class 1A title this winter.
More To Come
At this stage of the prospect rankings process, as the guys are heading into their senior seasons, things are starting to firm up in terms of what the final rankings may look like. But, there’s still a whole season left to play, and two more sets of rankings will be released before the 2019 ones can be put in the books. Plenty of guys have yet to fully breakout, or for whatever reason just have not yet been discovered. There will be a slew of newcomers to these rankings when the final installment is published in April.
Record Number of D1 Talents
Each class has its share of talent, but 2019 takes the cake. Already it has more guys with Division I offers than any other class we’ve ranked in the five years we’ve been doing this (since 2014). As of right now, there’s 10 guys who are heading off to play D1 hoops next year. Six others have D1 offers but have not yet committed. That’s more guys with D1 offers than any other class in the last five years, by far. This Class of 2019 is a doozy.
Top 25 Grassroots Breakdown
In year’s past, the Iowa Barnstormers dominated the top of the rankings, and this year –although the ‘Stormers have far and away the most guys ranked among the top-25 — at the very top, things are much more dispersed than ever. The top-ranked seven guys all represent a different grassroots program. Here’s how the whole top-25 breaks down: Barnstormers 9, Martin Brothers 4, Kingdom Hoops 3, All Iowa Attack 3, D1 Minnesota 2, Beyond Ball 1, Quad City Elite 1, Showtime Hoopers 1, N/A 1.
Best Available
The bulk of the recruitment for Iowa’s Class of 2019 is done, but there’s still plenty of time for guys to try and rack up some late offers and to stew on the ones they have. A lot of the top prospects will sign this November during the initial NCAA signing period, but there’s still 12 guys that have not yet made a decision. They are as follows (reported offers in parenthesis):
Harouna Sissoko is the best available prospect
8. Harouna Sissoko (Middle Tennessee State, Coppin State, Tulsa)
9. Trey Hutcheson (North Dakota, Drake, Truman State, Air Force, St Cloud State, Furman, Albany)
12. Trayvon Williams (South Dakota State, UMKC)
13. Japannah Kellogg (Cal Poly, Green Bay, NJIT)
14. Evan Gauger (Queens, Truman State, Central Missouri, Wayne State, North Dakota)
15. Noah Hart (William Penn, Air Force, Truman State, Wayne State, Sioux Falls)
18. Dylan Jones (Truman State, Wayne State)
20. Kris Murray (Truman State, Upper Iowa, St.Cloud State)
21. Keegan Murray (Truman State, Upper Iowa, St.Cloud State)
22. Tyrese Nickelson (none reported)
24. Aidan Vanderloo (Wayne State, Morningside, Mount Marty, Briar Cliff, Truman State)
25. Hosea Treadwell (none reported)