Recruiting Report: Ishmael El-Amin (2017)
Against Robbinsdale Cooper a couple weeks ago Hopkins was without Amir Coffey and junior Ismael El-Amin scored 31 points to lead the Royals to a 42 point win. Coffey is out with a foot injury now and there is no…
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Continue ReadingAgainst Robbinsdale Cooper a couple weeks ago Hopkins was without Amir Coffey and junior Ismael El-Amin scored 31 points to lead the Royals to a 42 point win.
Coffey is out with a foot injury now and there is no telling when he will return so it’s the perfect opportunity for El-Amin, who is averaging 15.6 points per contest, to step up in the scoring role once again.
Hopkins is currently 23-1 and ranked second in the state with their lone loss being to Wayzata. The lone remaining games are next week against Minnetonka and Eden Prairie and if the Royals win them both they will once again be Lake Conference champs.
“I feel like our season is progressing well,” Ishmael told NHR. “We had some ups and we had some downs, but the season is going by so fast I’m just trying to enjoy every minute with my teammates and reach our goal that we all set at the beginning of the year. I think we just need to lock in on the defense end and everything will go like we want it.”
The Royals have had some scary games that they pulled out. They barely got by Wayzata the first time before losing the second, allowed North to score 96 in a one score win, and CDH took them to overtime. So El-Amin’s point of defensive improvement is something one could see.
That said Hopkins is the only team to beat Apple Valley this year and are of course one of the main contenders to bring home the gold again.
El-Amin’s emergence after missing the first five or six games has been important to the Royals adding another powerful weapon to their line-up. Ishmael has taken a lot of steps since his upperclassmen year.
“I think my game has progressed a ton during this season,” El-Amin said. “I feel like I’m becoming a better all around scorer. My shot has become a lot more consistent,
“I’m getting to the rim with ease. I am also playing above the rim more every game. I feel like I need to become more of a lock down defender and continue to be a reliable threat on the offensive end of the ball.”
El-Amin played up on the Net Gain 17U squad last year and earned scholarship offers from DePaul, Texas Tech, and Nevada. Those teams and others are in contact.
“Right now I’m hearing from DePaul, Texas Tech, Nevada, Elon, Air Force, Northern Iowa the most right now,” said El-Amin. “I just received interest from Baylor. I just started talking to them a couple days ago, I’m also hearing from Minnesota.”