Grassroots Preview: Tryon Gym 17U
The Team
Joe Weber 5’9 G Boyer Valley (No.65 in 2018)
Parker Badding 6’1 Kuemper Catholic (No.136 in 2018)
Cooper Ross 5’9 Carroll (No.96 in 2018)
Wade Addcock 6’4 Greene County
Jake Hanson 6’4 Harlan
Tucker Flynn 6’8 Creston
R.J. Harris 6’2 AHSTW (No.76 in 2018)
Nate Mertz 6’2 Kuemper Catholic
Levi Olhausen 5’10 East Sac
Jake Berns 6’1 Paton Churdan (No.147 in 2018)
Joe Tower 6’2 Paton Churdan (No.130 in 2018)
Evan Wiebers 6’0 Denison-Schleswig
Blake Johnson 6’4 Norwalk
Evan Jacobsen 5’9 Creston (No.120 in 2018)
Carson Kruger 6’4 Alta-Aurelila
Sam Auen 6’3 Kuemper Catholilc (No.145 in 2018)
Coach Tyler Tryon Says
“Cooper Ross will absolutely come into his own this next year by being the main gun for Carroll. He’s deadly from anywhere and has the best handles in Western Iowa. Parker Badding and Sam Auen are deadly scorers who combined for over 100 3s this past year for Kuemper. You know about Joe Weber from Boyer Valley, RJ Harris from AHSTW and Evan Jacobsen from Creston. We also have big Tucker Flynn at 6’8 and 320 pounds may be a D1 football player, but has great feet and hands for a big guy. And then Carson Kruger led Alta to the substate final and is a stud.”
TJ’s Take
This group of to-be seniors will make a lot of noise not only around Iowa this season, but around the Midwest. Joe Weber is the smallest guy on the team, but could lead them in scoring, he gets buckets in bunches. We saw Cooper Ross as a sophomore with Carroll, and came away impressed, he could be in-line for a big summer.
Jake Berns and Joe Tower have been a dynamic duo at Paton-Churdan for two winters now, we’re looking forward to checking them out this spring. Evan Jacobsen is one of the quicker guards in the state, and is crafty while getting his buckets.
Sam Auen is a sharpshooter who we recently saw down at Wells Fargo Arena during Kuemper’s third-place finish at State; he can fill it up from deep. Another very strong guard is R.J. Harris, who averaged 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Harris also led his team in steals and assists.
To complement the stable of talented guards, Tryon Gym added 6-foot-8 post Tucker Flynn. As noted already by Coach Tryon, Flynn could be a D1 football player, but he’s no slouch on the hardwood either. He averaged 3.5 points and 3.9 rebounds this past winter, also more than a block per game. His size will be very useful to this team’s success.
Also manning the paint will be Alta-Aurelia’s Carson Kruger, he led his team in scoring, rebounding, steals, assists and blocks this past winter…so, ya: beast.
When at full strength, and when firing on all cylinders, this squad will not only be fun to watch but very tough to beat.