19-20 First Look: Hopkins
The defending state champs have only one starter back, but a couple transfers and a lot of young talent should be able to keep the Royals in contention for a state title. Moving On: Zeke Nnaji is now at Arizona,…
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Continue ReadingThe defending state champs have only one starter back, but a couple transfers and a lot of young talent should be able to keep the Royals in contention for a state title.
Moving On: Zeke Nnaji is now at Arizona, Dane Zimmer is at Minnesota State-Moorhead, Andy Stafford is at Southwest Minnesota State, and Jalen Dearring is at a prep school in the south. That’s four starters gone from a state championship teams and a lot of players/production to replace (6th man Rayquan Valentin also graduated). There is no way that Hopkins can be as good up front with Zeke and Dane gone, but they may have more backcourt/wing pieces now.
Returning Starters: Kerwin Walton is maybe the most efficient shooter I’ve seen since March of 2004, the first date I started covering high school basketball. I’ve never seen a guy shoot between 48-50 percent all of his high school season at the Class AAAA level and then follow that up with 48-50 shooting on the shoe circuit the entire year as well. And Kerwin isn’t a 5-6 a game shot type guy, he’s a main weapon taking 15 shots a game. Kerwin scored 17 a game as a junior and has bigger expectations as a senior. Walton visited Arizona, Minnesota, Iowa State, and Creighton so far this fall with visits to Texas, Cal, North Carolina, and Miami upcoming.
Reserves Playing a Bigger Role: At least two and maybe three Hopkins Royals that came off the bench last year will be moving into a starting role. Those players are junior backcourt pair Andre Gray and Jalen Treml as well as sophomore big Elvis Nnaji. Gray scored twice a game last year but his skill, agility, and size at guard make him the top junior guard prospect in the state of Minnesota. Nnaji will step into the role of his cousin Zeke Nnaji at starting center. Elvis was recently ranked by Prep Hoops as a top 125 level talent in the 2022 class nationally and he picked up an offer from Minnesota just yesterday. Treml could fit right into the hard working role of Andy Stafford the way he defends, moves the ball, and plays actively.
Potentials from the JV: Regan Merritt is a really steady guard that had a great off-season with Minnesota Select. Regan is about 5-foot-10 and has the ability to help the team. Five-foot-10 Alijah Davis, 6-foot-3 forward Ramon Salecdo, and 6-foot-9 center John Hernandez were moved up as sophomores to the JV last season so you could see a couple of them help the varsity bench.
New to Town: Cornell Richardson was Osseo’s second leading scorer last year when the Orioles won 16 games. Richardson and his dozen points a game playing both guard positions has moved down 169 and is now at Osseo where he gives the Royals a PG option (second straight year Hopkins has welcomed a key senior point guard transfer filling a potential need with experience). Sawyer Shrake is a 6-foot-2 shooting guard that transferred from Warren Township in Illinois to Hopkins giving the Royals an experienced shooter with strength.