Coach’s Take: Kingdom Hoops Elite 17U (Part II)
For several years now, Kingdom Hoops has been establishing itself as one of Iowa’s strongest grassroots programs. And this past season, it could be argued that — in terms of sheer numbers — they had more talent within their 17U program than any other in Iowa. The Des Moines-based organization had so much to work with, that they were able to put two elite teams on the floor. Both were successful, and both were chock-full of Iowa talent. Here, we allow first-year boy’s basketball director and 17U coach Vance Mosley to give his take on each of his elite squad players.
Boy’s basketball director and 17U Elite coach, Vance Mosley
Malcolm Clayton, 5’10 PG (Fort Dodge)
“He’s got a great body, he’s strong. He’s very strong and he knows how to use his body. He’s got an old-school game that I like about him. It’s not flashy, but he’s going to get to his spots. He’s a pass-first point guard. Sometimes I want him to be a little more aggressive scoring. But he’s very good at getting guys the ball. It will be interesting to see him breakout at his school now that his brother (Solomon Clayton) is gone and he has a little more responsibility. Fort Dodge could surprise some people this year.”
Devonte Thedford, 6’1 G (Hoover)
“The exciting thing about Devonte is he came to Kingdom this year with a way different offensive game compared to last year. He really spent some time polishing up his game. He can shoot it from 3 now, he can pull-up and score. He can do a lot of things on the offensive end that’s going to give some guys fits this season. We already know what he does on defense being from Hoover, he’s tough on that end as well. He just needed to polish up his game, and he’s done that, and he’s the full package now.”
Blake Brinkmeyer, 6’8 PF (Valley)
“What makes Blake the most intriguing is he has not played organized basketball for very long. He’s a guy that’s only got two years of AAU experience, and he doesn’t have a lot of varsity experience either. So he picked up the game very late. The strides he makes every year, I’ve never seen anything like it before. So we may see him in two years and say ‘whoa.’ He’s got a chance to make money playing basketball one day of you ask me, I tell everybody that. He has a very high ceiling. He’s stepping out and hitting the 3 now, which is awesome for him. He’s an unbelievable athlete. And the best thing about him is he’s willing to learn. It’ll just be awesome to watch a guy like him progress. And whatever school he decided to go to is going to get a steal.”
VJ Wilmington, 6’2 G (Davenport North)
“VJ brings a swagger. He doesn’t care who you are or who he’s playing against, he always has a supreme swagger about himself. And it was contagious this year. I really believe because of how confident he was, a few of his teammates really bought into that this year. There were times when we were playing against an EYBL team or adidas team, and we always knew there was at least one guy out there who knew we belonged. He’ll have a very good season as well. But my favorite thing about VJ was his confidence; he believes in himself and his craft, and that’s going to take him a long way.”