Breakdown Summer Showcase – Top 5 Standouts
The Breakdown Summer Showcase tour moved to STMA High School on Wednesday and gave us a good look at more of Minnesota’s most talented players. Here are some of Wednesday’s best! Breakdown Summer Showcase – Top Five Yahya Black…
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Continue ReadingThe Breakdown Summer Showcase tour moved to STMA High School on Wednesday and gave us a good look at more of Minnesota’s most talented players. Here are some of Wednesday’s best!
Breakdown Summer Showcase – Top Five
Yahya Black of Marshall. The 6-foot-5 Black (who I feel is at least 6-foot-6 but he said 6-foot-5) was one of the best parts of Wednesday. He missed part of the winter season with a hand injury and was never able to fully give his team what he was capable of. Yesterday we saw what Black is capable of: 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting, 15 rebounds and likely the play of the day taking a game winning charge against Osseo with his team up a score with 13 seconds left. Black is of course a high major offered football interior player so you know he’s strong but I love how relentless he was all day long.
PJ Hayes of Waconia. With some young point guards handling the ball we got to see PJ in a true scoring wing role and he didn’t disappoint. The Wildcats defeated Orono and Hastings when we were in the building to observe and each time it was Hayes who tipped the balance in the way of the purple and gold. He scored 20 against rival Orono making 9 of 14 attempts despite Orono’s focus on keeping a body in front of him. Hayes did a fantastic job moving off the basketball and his work in this regard was rewarded with 1 on 1 attacks against defenders trying to close out as well as open threes to sink . At 6-foot-5 Hayes has such a natural scoring feel, with confidence to go with it.
Tariq Henry of Osseo. Six-foot-1 Tariq Henry was a game changer on Wednesday. He did a fantastic job bottling up talented guards forcing them into turnovers, low percentage shooting, and an early relinquishing of the basketball nearly every possession. That was the defensive end. Henry – who scored 9.2 points per game for Osseo as a junior – put up 11 points and seven assists versus Marshall plus 15 points, five boards, and five assists in a win over Apollo. His basket attack was balanced and often beat help defenders to the rim plus Henry played like the sole of the Orioles roster.
Joshua Streit of Eden Valley-Watkins. Where to begin. Streit is about 6-foot-7 and physically advanced. His strength and frame are about 2-3 years ahead of his time plus Josh is an agile player that runs well, moves his feet with good lateral quickness, and he’s quick off the floor to rebound. Streit finished inside in good numbers but was a much better passer than I expected and he played a lot of lead guard for his team. Streit rarely made a bad decision with the ball and never forced a shot. A certain top 6 to 8 player in this class of Minnesota talent.
Treyton Thompson of Alexandria. I get asked routinely “how does Treyton compare to ….” and my answer always includes three things: 1) he’s a legit 6-foot-11 with good length, 2) Thompson covers a lot of ground with a dribble and finishes with a soft touch inside and out, and 3) he plays with an attitude of confidence that college programs are going to love. On Wednesday we saw Treyton score 24 points on 9 of 14 field goals with 11 boards and 8 blocks versus St. Francis. That was followed by 12 points and 11 rebounds against Delano (keep in mind these are running time games). Thompson blocks shots with great timing and of course has the type of size that resulted in players just giving up when it comes to attempting shots when Thompson was in the area.
Yahya Black
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Jacob Farrell of Orono. A tough mindset for a young player, I love the way Farrell went at Waconia for 17 points in a loss. Farrell has a strength and balance to him that Waconia couldn’t keep in of them nor could they contest shots well enough to block his concentration.
Don Ferguson of Osseo. Without a doubt one of the purest shooting strokes in a young player that have crossed these eyes in a long time. You simply expect the ball to go in when it comes off Don’s hand. A thing of beauty leading to his three games of double figure scoring Wednesday.
Chang Hoth of St. Cloud Apollo. Last weekend was saw Hoth score 15 and lead Apollo to that weekend title and then we watched Chang play Osseo and he put 18 on the board making four treys.
Luke Jansen of Eden Valley-Watkins. One of the best shooters in the state that people aren’t speaking about. In both games I saw Luke play on Wednesday he had stretches of personal scoring that changed the game: 10-0 vs Mora, 8-0 vs Osseo second squad.
Trey Longstreet of Delano. Longstreet will be able to lead Delano in whatever way his team needs that night, after seeing him play four times in four times with his high school team the opinion is very high on Trey.
Noah Puetz of Marshall. Puetz helped Marshall defeat Osseo with his late game foul shots and making his final four shot attempts. The biggest thing I noticed was Noah is a much, much better passer than I was aware of.
Spencer Swanson of Waconia. Swanson has good feet, soft hands, a nice touch, and he knows how to use his strong frame. Should be able to help the Cats next year as a 6-foot-4 big.