Rumble Up North - Minnesota's Five Best

The Rumble Up North included several prominent Minnesota players and programs. What five players had the best showing? Here is our group of Five Best from what we observed. [caption id="attachment_1032501" align="alignright" width="150"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/d1classic-123-1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1032501 size-thumbnail" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/d1classic-123-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a> Jake Braaten[/caption] Jake Braaten of Minnesota Rise (6’1 PG of Byrton; 2021). We are back for our weekly informative to all of you college coaches and high school basketball fans that Jake Braaten is tough, he is a coach’s dream in terms of decision making and execution, and Jake is as consistent as they come. This weekend Jake went at the Illinois T’Wolves and put 22 points on them in a 61-56 loss. His team needed him to score and Jake put points on the board regularly. Later in the event Braaten faced another solid Illinois team (H.I.T.) and scored 18 with four assists leading his squad to a 57-41 win. Braaten is physical leader who is outstanding reading and executing off ball screens plus he made 43 percent of his threes as a junior, and has shot well this 17u season. Bernard Omooria of D1 Minnesota Prospects (6’1 Guard of Osseo; 2022). I have been pleasantly surprised by how well Bernard has played with the Prospects. After playing with two other 16u teams this summer, Bernard has settled in very well with the veteran guard group of [player_tooltip player_id="774873" first="Cole" last="Tiran"], [player_tooltip player_id="774926" first="Marcus" last="Crawford"], and Mo Hammadehlie. With Cole handling, Bernard has comfortably played off the ball hitting shots in space including five threes (19 points in the first game we watched) and another three in the second game we took in (scored 12 points). With Tiran taking on the main ball handler (defensively) much of the game Bernard has defended wings soundly, and then handling part of the game he’s been able to get the Prospects motion offense moving. A nice bounce back from Bernard this summer once he found a nice fit playing with good veteran guards. [caption id="attachment_1032503" align="alignright" width="150"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/phcircuit_sunday-63.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1032503 size-thumbnail" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/phcircuit_sunday-63-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="850715" first="BJ" last="Omot"][/caption] [player_tooltip player_id="850715" first="BJ" last="Omot"] of D1 Minnesota 16s (6’6 Wing of Mankato East; 2022). Omot is on the verge of nationally ranked breakout and if college coaches are reviewing these summer games they will see it. This weekend we got a peak at what he could be defensively as BJ blocked five shots in one game including a swat out of a shooter’s hand, a block of an unsuspecting wing who wasn’t prepared for his length, and two massive help-over swats near the rim. Think Amir Coffey blocking shots in the past and that is what Omot can do on defense (along with passing lane thieving). Offensively, you have to defend him with a bigger player and few of those bigger players can move with Omot’s attacking glide to a soft touch at the rim. He’s also a good perimeter shooter so if those big players back off BJ he can score over the top. [player_tooltip player_id="532605" first="Treyton" last="Thompson"] of D1 Minnesota (6’11 C of La Lumiere Prep; 2021). Thompson is a player that gives a team something highly valuable with each possession. He had multiple blocks in three games and throughout the weekend made sure that opposing bigs provided little low post scoring. Thompson showed off his perimeter shooting touch each game with the most valuable triples coming in a pair in the title game. He also grabbed a combined total of 29 boards in the four games which is 29 boards in estimated 100-110 running time minutes of action. By the end of the 17u season on a highly talented team. Thompson was scoring about 3-4 times a game on 5-6 scoring chances, was grabbing about six boards a contests, he’s a great passer as a big so it was 2-3 assists a game, and of course at least a couple blocks a contest. [player_tooltip player_id="962218" first="Nasir" last="Whitlock"] of Gain Elite (6’1 PG of DeLaSalle; 2023). Gain Elite was in the top division and while they had some rough games losing three of four, it was a great experience for Nasir who had some shining moments. We saw him score 20 with a late surge from the arc and on the attack. Within that game (and the parts of two others we took in) Nasir showed the ability to yo-yo his man attacking, hesitating or stopping, and once the defender reacted to the pause, Whitlock several times then hit the gas into a pull-up. He also got the opposing defender on his hip several times and was able to release at the rim ahead of the help defense. Young player that was scoring against some very good older guards from other states. [player_tooltip player_id="796956" first="Justin" last="Wohlers"] of Minnesota Lightning 16s (6’5 SF of Lake City; 2022). After seeing Justin play this weekend we at NHR feel he’s in for a massive pair of upperclassmen seasons. There are three things that caught my attention in seeing Justin score against the Milwaukee Sharks: 1) Justin has a knack for scoring the ball and can do it in several ways, 2) he is a much better ball handler than I was aware of pushing the ball some and attacking guys with more comfort than expected, and 3) moved his feet very well with the athletes from Milwaukee keeping them in front and forcing bad shots or desperate kick-outs. Averaged 15 a game this weekend. He and [player_tooltip player_id="958646" first="Jasper" last="Hedin"] made a great pair (more on Justin in the days to come).