Comets Shootout Saturday Standouts: 16U Guards
Grassroots season kicked off Saturday in St. Cloud with the Comets Shootout. While the basketball itself wouldn’t be described as ‘high quality’, there was certainly a lot of high quality talent filling up the courts. Here are some guards who…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingGrassroots season kicked off Saturday in St. Cloud with the Comets Shootout.
While the basketball itself wouldn’t be described as ‘high quality’, there was certainly a lot of high quality talent filling up the courts.
Here are some guards who stood out at the 16U level on Saturday
Ryan Dufault, Heat Tauer
Dufault isn’t hard to pick out on Heat Tauer as he’s the only guy shorter than like 6-foot-5 but his impact is not to be understated. Early season AAU is often marred by bad shot selection, a lot of dribbling and unforced turnovers. Dufault was a calm in that storm this past weekend, consistently generating good offense in transition and in half court settings. He’s a terrific shooter – this was already known – but he also looks pretty polished at the point guard stuff like running a team and getting his guys the ball in good spots.
Drew Maloney, WOTN Bertsch
WOTN has a chance to have a really solid club this summer and Maloney could be a guy that earns a lot of notice because of his combination of size and varying skills. He’s an excellent perimeter shooter and seems like a darn-near automatic when he can catch and shoot. WOTN has a number of guards who excel at pushing the pace and getting to the paint and that adds up to a lot of kick-out opportunities for Maloney on the wing.
Jackson Purcell, Magic Elite
Continuing the theme of top-notch shooters, Jackson Purcell looked good Saturday with Minnesota Magic Elite. He’s 6-foot-3 out of Eastview and showed off a picturesque shooting stroke throughout play. He moved well without the ball, routinely getting to spots where he could be available for kick outs and with a quick release on his jumper, he’s tough to bother for closeouts.
Kegan Heiderscheidt, MN Rise
Heiderscheidt is a big guard with a good combination of athleticism and skill. His decision-making was shaky at times – like a majority of hoopers this weekend – but when he slowed down and played under control, he was impactful. He showed off a nice shooting stroke, solid playmaking skills, finishing ability in traffic and feistiness on the defensive end.
Breyton Buysman, Select Robinson
Select Robinson was one of the more impressive teams I saw Saturday at the 16U level and Buysman was awesome in the action I caught. He was great in transition setting up his teammates for countless easy scores. He was very good at getting to the paint and making decisions to either get his own shot or collapse the defense to feed a teammate and his defense against Comet ball handlers was superb. He’s a guy to keep an eye on going forward out of Simley High School.
John Palmer, MN Rise
Palmer showed off a really nice floor game for Rise, consistently making good decisions with the ball and balancing pushing the ball via the dribble and the pass. He was unselfish throughout action Saturday, routinely finding gaps and getting his teammates easy shots at the rim or from the 3-point line. He’s not the biggest or quickest kid, but he’s clearly advanced with the mental part of the game.