NHR State: Saturday Night
Some teams slipped on their way through bracket play, some teams are taking care of business. The Comets are taking care of business. And D1 coaches, the time to call Calvin Sisk… IS NOW. Sisk Is Your Business Calvin Sisk…
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Continue ReadingSome teams slipped on their way through bracket play, some teams are taking care of business. The Comets are taking care of business. And D1 coaches, the time to call Calvin Sisk… IS NOW.
Sisk Is Your Business
Calvin Sisk stands seven feet tall for the Comets Lewis 17u team that is now 20-4 after the 41 and 36 point dismantling of Rip City (a top 30 17u) and Fury Kallman (ranked 15th in 17u in Minnesota). Sisk emerged this winter at Rockford High School scoring 11 points a game for the 16-win Rockets. Sisk just started getting comfortable in his frame over the winter, and now with the Comets he is flourishing in that frame.
Prep Hoops was in the crowd twice this winter to watch Sisk compete and the first impressions were good. But after seeing Calvin play twice on Saturday plus listening to others about how far we have come we can safely say, yes D1 coaches you should be calling, today. Low Majors? Right now. Mid Majors? Tonight. High Majors? You should get to the MBCA Showcase on June 21 and 22 at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and have a look.
In what ways has Calvin taken steps? Let’s give you five:
One – This winter we saw Calvin play on the ball, receive the ball, and make a move when his teammates allowed him to have it. Now we are seeing Calvin covet the basketball asking for it in places while maintaining position, and then producing.
Two – This winter we watched Sisk force others to go over his length leading to blocks and contests. Now we are seeing Calvin actively chase blocks in transition plus his help over to contest and swat is aggressive (and he is still forcing people over the top with improved position).
Three – Moving off the ball Calvin seemed a bit tentative and unsure at times this winter, now he is always on the move searching that next dunk and his Comets are making him get those dunks with their vocal direction and force feeding of the basketball.
Four – Rebounding. Calvin rebounded his area fine when we saw him first getting his feet wet with the Rockets, but now Calvin is two hand collecting in the space of others.
Five – The emotion is all over Calvin right now. This winter he seemed stoic but on Saturday the expressions of aggressive and excitement were evident. This young man likes putting numbers on people in the post.
Again, make those calls coaches, Calvin Sisk is a minimum top ten prospect in the state of Minnesota right now.
Daniel McCarrellDanny Mac is on the Attack
6-foot-2 guard Dan McCarrell scored 27 points Saturday afternoon leading Fury Kallman to the round of eight over Minnesota Rise. McCarrell is a 2020 guard from St Croix Prep that is coming off of a strong season for a St. Croix Prep team that surprised throughout the winter competing as a top ten squad in Class AA. McCarrell was the leading scorer at 16 points per game for the 22-7 Lions.
Often times this winter McCarrell took on the scoring role and pushed his team to wins. We saw Danny do that exact same thing against the 14th ranked Minnesota Rise when McCarrell put 27 on the board including a game winning And1 at a crucial time in the final minute. Fury Kallman had a tough time with the Comets but McCarrell – and Washburn wing Josh Rodgers – showed the confidence and toughness to compete at that level. Stuck in my mind this morning was McCarrell twice clearing quality Comets defenders for soft touching makes.
The Comet Road Warriors
Hawk and Animal are the famous wrestlers from the Twin Cities that “snacked on danger and dined on death”. Road Warrior Animal’s son James Laurinaitis played in the NFL and for Ohio State but before doing that he was an All State Football player at Wayzata High School. Fitting that as we walked through the front doors of Wayzata seeing the son of the Road Warriors in the glass cases, the best team at the NHR State 17u Tournament so far (Comets Lewis) has four Road Warriors themselves.
Nick PetersonI challenge you to find four tougher guys on a team than The Director Nick Peterson (BSM), Tony Dahl aka Hanks Jr (Buffalo), and The Southern Assassins, Noah King (Caledonia) and Reid Gastner (Lake City). Peterson is challenging Connor Christensen as the best defensive communicator and vocal battler in the state of Minnesota, and his physical results back it up. Tony Dahl spent his Sunday muscling his way to numbers while Reid Gastner found his way to space to hurt people with his jumper.
Then you have Noah King, my biggest ranking mistake in the past half year. Yeah, he’s too low. I can admit mistakes. And I challenge college coaches not to make a mistake in overlooking this tough as nails guard with a smooth jumper and a tough guy approach. I look at King and think “bigger Vinnie Shahid” and guess what, King is a proven winner just like Shahid. SDSU’s new leadership offered King and many of you teams should as well. King is a leader, tough as they come, impossible to knock off balance, and he’s always looking opponents dead in the eye ready for a fight.
The beauty of the Comets Road Warriors is that their toughness rubs off so well on others. You see that swagger that Matt Willert takes to the floor? That’s always been there but it’s amplified with this crew as jumpers fall. We talked about Calvin Sisk already but add in Cooper Olson to the mix as well. Olson used his 6-foot-7 frame to score with back to the basket and physically on heads in the Fury Kallman victory. Then you have “The Future” Eli King making the type of plays that I believe will have him picking up high major offers as a 6-foot-3 scoring wing some day.