Recruiting Report: Dajuan Carter (2019)
The North St. Paul Polars are off to a great (5-3) and their standout Dajuan Carter is among the metro leaders in scoring. In one of the eye opening wins of the year so far Carter went off on DeLaSalle for…
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Continue ReadingThe North St. Paul Polars are off to a great (5-3) and their standout Dajuan Carter is among the metro leaders in scoring.
In one of the eye opening wins of the year so far Carter went off on DeLaSalle for 39 points (11-22 FG, 15/17 FTs) to lead the Polars over the Islanders. It was the first win of the year for the Polars and they’ve won five straight since.
DaJuan is scoring 31.5 points per game this year for Head Coach Damian Johnson’s Polars. Johnson is excited about the steps that Johnson has taken.
“Dajuan reminds me of Allen Iverson,” Johnson said. “He has an endless motor and never gets tired. I love his game because he can pull it from 30 feet or can get to the rim and finish versus anyone.
“The one challenge I gave him before the season is to become a better defender and he has stepped it up big time in that department.”
Carter is appreciative of everything that Coach Johnson has done for him.
“He’s really a good coach to have because he always knows what he is talking about,” Carter said. “He always gives me a choice, when we talk about what we do on offense and defense Coach lets us give our input. Coach Johnson is very open to hearing other things and I like that. He doesn’t have to have everything done his way and I like that.”
Carter scored 11.7 points per game last year and that was when he was playing with Goodnews Kpegeol (now at Kansas State), Bryce Phillips (UW-River Falls), and other good players. With more scoring needed this year Carter worked hard to provide, and so far so good.
“I’ve been more focused now that I’m older, I look at things differently,” Carter said. “I slowed down and look at everything. I think about things now more than I did which helps me make better decisions every day on the court and in school.”
North St. Paul is in a stacked section. Conference wise the Polars have a real chance to win the Metro East but their section includes ranked top ten teams in East Ridge and White Bear Lake plus teams in Tartan, Cretin-Derham Hall, and St. Paul Central. That’s five of the top 20 teams in state and NSP is right there with them.
“We want to go on about a 15 game win streak,” Carter said. “We got our groove now. We are playing defense, we are accustomed to what we want to do. We are a fast team so we want to play faster than everybody else.”
Carter scored 23 in St. Cloud in a win over Delano and watching in the crowd were coaches from Lake Region State and Des Moines Area Community College. Both schools offered Carter a scholarship after the game.
“It feels nice to get those offers. It feels good to know that people are paying attention to me. I’m also hearing from other schools in the state of Iowa, in the state of North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, basically schools that are from around this area.”