Battle at the Lakes: Scotty B’s Sunday Notebook
Sunday closed out a tremendous weekend of hoops in Minnesota for PrepHoops Battle at the Lakes. It has quickly become one of the premier spring events and this year was no exception. Who shined on the final day? We dive…
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Continue ReadingSunday closed out a tremendous weekend of hoops in Minnesota for PrepHoops Battle at the Lakes. It has quickly become one of the premier spring events and this year was no exception. Who shined on the final day? We dive into that in Battle at the Lakes: Scotty B’s Sunday Notebook!
Pure Prep Duo Shines
First game of the day we caught Pure Prep out of Iowa against Northern Lakers from Minnesota. Pure Prep has five star 2020 Xavier Foster. Great mobility in the paint, high points rebounds, and can step out on occasion to hit a three. Major shot blocking presence. Finished with 13 points. Niles North 2020 combo guard Aquan Smart will get a nice bump in the PHI rankings update next month. Superior athlete with length. Proved he could play on the ball with excellent passing both in open floor and half court. Best as a scorer using his burst off the bounce to get to the rack where he scored or got to the foul line. Scored 23 points. I came away impressed with Northern Lakers 6’7” power forward John Sutherland. Plus shooter in the pick/pop or spotting up. Also can score with back to basket. He had 20 points.
Big 3 Basketball Gets Win Over QC Ballers
One of the storylines of the event has been the huge scoring games from Rock Island 2020 small forward Tauren Holtam. The 6’5” wing had another big game dropping 22 in a loss for QC Ballers. Aggressive scorer that boards well. For Big 3 Basketball Trace Williams was a smooth scoring two guard. Jones 2020 small forward Rron Thaci was outstanding shooting from three. Has also improved putting it on the deck. Tough kid!
John Poulakidas Goes Off in Quarters
We have seen Neuqua Valley 2021 wing John Poulakidas A LOT. He is always consistently good. He was the best I’ve ever seen him in the quarters. He carried his Young & Reckless 16U team who had players sick to a win over D1 Minnesota in the quarterfinals. Drilled five triples and on top of that was dynamic slashing to the rim. He had 32 points. Such a versatile offensive player! Hillcrest upside 2021 small forward Julius Rollins flashed as well. Rangy wing had 12 points. This was my first look at the hyped 2022 guard Camden Heide from D1 Minnesota. Quiet first half, but picked it up. Good athlete with broad shoulders and projectable frame. He excels in the mid-range with pull ups and floaters. Scored 17 points in loss.
RWA Wins OT Thriller over ET21 Buckeyes in Quarters
Cary Grove 2020 Beau Frericks is an elite shooter who drilled threes at a high clip. Scored 13 points in the win. Cooper Bridges also nailed several clutch jumpers on his way to 11 points. Marian Catholic point guard Jo Green proved to be an elite defender and made several important scores for 9 points. Aaron Tims hit the biggest shot of the night with a deep and contested three to send it to OT. For the Buckeyes Simeon 2020 post Sincere Callwood finished out a strong weekend with a 15 point performance. Physical junk yard dog with improving skill on the block. Kayman Hopkins is a bouncy four that crashes the glass. Can hit a15 footer and put it on the deck. Paul Zilinskas continues to tighten up his handles and it allows him to score in so many more ways! Jumper is still money! Went for 12 points.
Chucky Hepburn Leads Team Factory 16U in Semis
Y&R ran out of gas in the 16U semis with a limited roster falling to Team Factory Gold. It was all about Chucky Hepburn for the Nebraska squad! The 6’1” stocky point guard just goes and gets buckets! Good ball handler with shiftiness and power in the lane. Also drilled multiple contested threes. Finished with 18 points. They would ultimately win the 16U championship.
Fundamental U Knocks Off Wisconsin Playground Warriors in Weinstein Bowl
Mike Weinstein helps coach both Fundamental U and Wisconsin Playground. When they met in the semis he sat out and watched his two squads go at it for a trip to the title. Fundamental U got the win 81-74. Without their point guard Luke Scheffers everyone had to step up and they did! Top 10 2020 Jayden Johnson hit clutch threes all game finishing with 21 points on seven triples. Mid-major and low-majors need of a shooter…..HELLO! Dominant weekend for Johnson! St Viator small forward Connor Kochera played more on the ball that usual. He did a nice job at that while also scoring 24 points. Recently picking up a Western Illinois offer the elite shooter moves without the ball to get open. Uchenna Egekeze does all the dirty work and in this game the ultimate glue guy converted difficult layups for 12 key points. Connor Linke and Josh Preston dominated the interior with their toughness. Each flashed skill at times. Preston from the high-post on drives and Linke on low-post scores. Mason Madsen shot lights out for Wisconsin Playground. Best we have seen the floor general play. His brother Gabe Madsen is an athletic wing that can score at all three levels. Jonathan Davis is a freak show athlete that grabs 50/50 rebounds and finishes above the rim with authority!
D1 Minnesota Dominates 17U Title Game
It was a good ride for Fundamental U, but they went up essentially a high-major college basketball team in the championship as D1 Minnesota won the 17U title 69-39. As always it was a well balanced attack for the loaded D1 squad. Over the last few years I have been a huge fan of Dawson Garcia. The face up four man spaces the floor with his shooting and if you guard him too close he will be hammering it on you at the rim. Big time high-major prospect. He had 11 points. Kerwin Walton is a 2020 small forward that is an ELITE perimeter defender with his length and anticipation. He was feeling it from three drilling four of them for his 12 points. Ben Carlson is a well-built post with broad shoulders and strong finishes down low. Steven Crowl is an intriguing post that has a long and lanky frame. Finished well around the rim and stretched the floor with his shooting. Crowl scored 10 points. Austin Andrews is a great glue guy on this squad with his defense, rebounding, and passing. Class of 2021 Kendall Brown is a truly special athlete on the wing with size that threw down multiple explosive jams. The Fundamental U duo continued their strong showings in the defeat as Jayden Johnson went for 14 points while Connor Kochera had 12.