Recruiting Report: Ariel Bland (2020)
Six-foot-6 power forward Ariel Bland moved back to Minnesota last fall and has since had a strong eight months of basketball. Bland helped Eden Prairie to state and is now starting for Howard Pulley. Bland has scored on a respectable…
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Continue ReadingSix-foot-6 power forward Ariel Bland moved back to Minnesota last fall and has since had a strong eight months of basketball. Bland helped Eden Prairie to state and is now starting for Howard Pulley.
Bland has scored on a respectable 57 percent of his attempts in EYBL play with averages of 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds a game as a starter.
“Everybody in the EYBL is athletic, long, tall, it’s just crazy that everybody in the league is so athletic,” Bland said. “Everybody can play a fast paced game and so many guys in the league can shoot it. It’s hard to play in it as so many guys are the same physically.
“It’s made me better a lot because all of the players I’m guarding are just as athletic as me and just as long so I’m just trying to do more with the ball. It’s really opened my eyes.”
Bland is on the floor because he brings the Pulley Panthers an agile 6-foot-6 player with length that can move his feet with opposing forwards. Ariel has also made the most of his five shots a game he averages completing nearly three of every five attempts.
“I have been guarding multiple positions, rebounding well, hitting open shots and that’s one of the biggest things I have been working on.”
Prep Hoops saw Bland compete this weekend with Eden Prairie in the Breakdown Summer Showcase in Lakeville. EP only had six guys so Bland rarely came off the floor and in the two games we watched Bland had strong double-doubles in both.
Bland will be a senior at Eden Prairie next year but he’s traveled around a fair amount before landing at EP.
“I went to Eden Prairie for about two weeks my freshman year and then I transferred to Holy Family,” Bland said. “Then I went to Oak Hill Academy as a sophomore, in Virginia. But then I moved back to Eden Prairie.”
The Eagles won 22 games in 2018-19 and their full starting line-up returns next season. On a balanced team Bland shot 61 percent from the floor scoring 9.5 points a game with six boards and a team leading total in blocks.
“The season well,” Bland said. “I feel like I could of done more, and play more confidently. It went well, we were successful, but that Lakeville North game was really tough.”
Eden Prairie will once again be one of the favorites in Class AAAA next season and when you consider all the talent that returns, they might just be the number one favorite. Yes expectations are high.
“To accomplish our goals we need to keep working to play more as a team and I think we just need to be more matured and more experienced will really help us as we do bring all our starters and more back,” Bland said.
Bland wants to work on expanding his game the rest of the summer to become a more versatile competitor.
“I want to expand my game so I can do more, not just using my height,” Bland said. “I want to work to have more guard like qualities like shooting outside, dribbling more, and taking the ball to the basket more. Just working on those things.”
At 6-foot-6, long, explosive and productive, Bland is of course a prospect that college programs are looking closely at. Who is Ariel hearing from so far? “I have been talking to Air Force, Appalachian State, UCF, and that’s pretty much it right now,” Bland said.
Next up for Bland is the MBCA Showcase in two weekends. The Showcase is an NCAA Certified event and the public is welcome to attend. It’s June 21-22 at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and Bland will be there.