Iowa’s ABCs of 2018
AJ Green The end of legendary era came in the form of a Class 4A championship for this preternatural 6-foot-3 point guard. He averaged 25.8 points per game on 49.6 percent shooting, made 119 3s at a 48.8 percent clip…
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Continue ReadingAJ Green
The end of legendary era came in the form of a Class 4A championship for this preternatural 6-foot-3 point guard. He averaged 25.8 points per game on 49.6 percent shooting, made 119 3s at a 48.8 percent clip and sank 93.7 percent of his 142 free-throw attempts his senior year, amazing.
Back-to-Back (Grand View Christian)
For the second straight season the Thunder held up the Class 1A state title trophy. They were led by Grant DeMeulanaere’s 22.0 points per game, and got by St. Albert, St. Mary’s and North Linn en route to the 2018 state title.
Cedar Falls
The AJ Green-led Cedar Falls Tigers breezed their was to a first-ever state title when they defeated Sioux City East, Valley and Iowa City West by an average margin of 19 points per game.
DJ
The biggest superstar to come out of Iowa in the Prep Hoops Iowa era (2014-present), Carton saw his stock rise exponentially over the last two years, to five star status, and in July committed to Ohio State.
Erase
Oskaloosa forward Xavier Foster is 6-foot-10 and has a much larger wing-span, so shot-blocking is kind of his thing. On Dec. 18th against Norwalk he blocked nine shots, crazy right? The next game, he blocked 14 shots against Pella, smh.
Fifty-points
It’s a rare feat scoring 50 points in a game. The fact that four players did it in 2018 is kind of awesome. One player did it twice! Joe Wieskamp (54), Garrett Sturtz did it twice (56 and 54), Parker Rochford (51) and Nick Reid (57) all joined the 50-point club this year.
Glenwood
What a wild ride it was for Glenwood en route to its first-ever basketball championship in March. The Rams erased an 18-point halftime deficit in the quarterfinals against Norwalk, and rode that second half momentum into a semifinal defeat of 3A power Xavier. After that it was a 66-62 win over Oskaloosa in the 3A final.
Harouna
Harouna Sissoko is a physically imposing 6-foot-7 small forward who can wreck rims with the best of him. That’s what he was doing all day at our Top 250 Expo in September. He’s a transfer from Georgia’s Lincoln Academy and is averaging 17 points per game for 1A title hopefuls Grand View Christian.
Issa
Part two of the Grand View Christian athletic marvels is Issa Samake. Like Harouna Sissoko, Samake is a Mali-born transfer who landed with the Thunder. Samake became eligible midway through the 2017-18 season, and spent the state tourney last March electrifying the crowds with him high-flying jams. He committed to Drake in June.
Joe Wieskamp
Perhaps the best player we’ve covered at Prep Hoops Iowa over the past five years has been Joe Wieskamp. He’s a sharpshooter with a 6’6 frame with length and athleticism. The big and skilled current Iowa Hawkeyes wing will be playing in the NBA one day, we think.
Kris and Keegan
The twin brothers are ballin’ for Cedar Rapids Prairie right now. So far this season, the 6-foot-7 marksmen are combining to average 35.7 points on 56 percent shooting, 45 percent from deep, 11.6 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. They’re two of the very best unsigned players in the state.
Lipsey
Before this Little Cyclones freshman even enrolled at Ames High School, he sported a hometown offer from Iowa State. At 6-foot-2 and with some serious skills around the rim, Lipsey has met sky-high expectations so far this season. He’s averaging a team-best 16.3 points per game.
Magic
Oskaloosa senior and future Northern Iowa Panthers forward Cole Henry had one of the better grassroots games we’ve ever seen at NY2LA’s Summer Jam in Milwaukee. He was bringing the ball-up, handling it well, shooting it, and dropping dimes all over the place; a lot like Lakers legend Magic Johnson once did.
Nickelson
After a nice summer with Iowa Barnstormers 17U, Nickelson is continuing to prove that he’s quite possibly the most underrated player in Iowa. Through six games with Waterloo East, the 6-foot-1 guard is averaging 26.9 points per game, third-best inn Class 4A.
Offense
The best offensive teams in the state by the end of the 2017-18 season: North Linn (90 ppg), Des Moines North (79.2 ppg), Norwalk (77.4 ppg), Ankeny Christian Academy (74.6 ppg). This season, so far, Ankeny Christian Academy is tops (92.5 pp), with North Linn right behind (91.1 ppg). Class 4A schools Sioux City East (81.7) and Des Moines North (80.8) round out the top four.
Prep Girls Hoops
In 2018 the Prep Network continued to see growth, and a much-requested Prep Girls Hoops was launched. One of the first state’s in the country to adopt the girls’ website was Iowa. In the fall of 2018 Prep Girls Hoops Iowa was launched, check it out here
Quick Impacts
The Class of 2018 prospect rankings were top heavy, with nationally ranked guys Joe Wieskamp and AJ Green coming in at No. 1 and No. 2 and Newton stud Garrett Sturtz, who averaged a state-best 34.7 points per game, coming in a No. 3. All three have made immediate impacts with their college teams. Wieskamp is averaging 11.3 points per game for Iowa. Green is leading UNI with 15.1 points per game. Sturtz, a walk-on at Drake, is averaging 7.5 points per game for the Bulldogs.
Record-breaker
It’s been a record-breaking year for North Linn point guard Jake Hilmer. The 5-foot-10 floor general took down the state’s all-time all time single-season assists record last February. The same game, then-junior Jake Hilmer broke St. Edmonds’ Jack Brownlee’s all-time state assists record. He did that as a junior. Now, as a senior, he’s padding what will seemingly be an unbreakable record.
Sturtz
He’s already been mentioned several times for exceptional things he’s done this season. His 34.7 points per game average to finish last season was certainly one of the top story-lines of 2018. As far as we can discern, that’s the highest per game average since Wapsie Valley’s Brooks McKowen averaged 35.8 in 2002-03.
Tyreke Locure
We’d be remiss if we didn’t have a Locure section here. The Des Moines North point guard is at the end of weaving together a masterful career with the Polar Bears. In 2018 he committed and signed with South Alabama. Later, he broke the Des Moines all-time scoring mark. Now, he’s got his eye set on a Class 4A state title.
UNI
After nabbing an all-time Iowa high school great AJ Green in their 2018 recruiting class, Northern Iowa went all-in with Iowa’s 2019 class: 3rd-ranked Noah Carter, 5th-ranked Cole Henry, 6th-ranked James Betz, 11th-ranked Derek Krogmann, 14th-ranked Evan Gauger and 19th-ranked Logan Wolf (football and basketball) were all signed by the Panthers.
Valley’s Aguek Deng
The MVP of our 2018 Top 250 Expo was West Des Moines Valley’s 6-foot-7 forward Aguek Deng, who was absolutely demolishing rims at Kingdom Courts throughout the entire event. The senior is averaging 9.5 points and seven rebounds per game for the 7-2 Tigers this season.
Western Dubuque (Cascade)
Your Class 2A state champs, Cascade, Western Dubuque used tough D and blistering 3-point shooting to seal their title run in March of 2018. Them-senior Haris Hoffman took home Class 2A All Tourney Captain honors
Xavier Foster
It was a busy year for Oskaloosa 6-foot-10 forward Xavier Foster, who continued to solidify himself as a nationally sought-after prospect: In 2018 offers came in from the likes of Kansas, UCLA, Baylor and Missouri, those were just additions to an already lengthy list.
Youngbloods
A whole slew of freshman from the Class of 2022 have been making their presence felt this season. Tamin Lipsey is torching opponents at Ames. Aaron Graves is averaging 19.6 points per game for Southeast Valley. Jacob Runyan is the starting point guard for 6-2 Johnston. Hogan Hansen is averaging 17.8 points, 3.1 assists and seven rebounds per game for Waverly-Shell Rock.
Zeroed-in
This is what Indianola guard Evan Gauger was when he saw him play at Carlisle in December of 2018. Six times he got up and threw down slams, and each one was different. An alley-oop, a blow-by with the right, a blow-by with the left, a back-door cut, a breakaway, he was unstoppable. It was as mesmerizing of an in-person performance as we’ve ever seen.