Recruiting Report: Anders Nelson (2018)
Edina junior guard Anders Nelson helped guide the Hornets to 18 wins this season with 16.1 points per game.
The six foot junior broke the 20 point barrier nine times with a season high of 28 against Minneapolis South. The Hornets won about three or four more games than preseason expectations thought they would against a tough schedule.
“I thought the season went pretty well for us, although we didn’t reach our ultimate goal of competing in a section final to go to state,” Nelson told NHR. “We won some pretty big games and performed better than most people thought we would.
“The highlight of the season was probably beating Hopkins for the first time in a few years, or competing in a section semi-final atmosphere versus Chaska.”
In our NHR viewings of Edina, Nelson and senior standout Walt McGrory combined to do much of the ball handling and backcourt scoring duties. It was a year of growth Nelson in many ways.
“This year I improved my game in multiple ways,” Anders said. “I feel like I learned to score a little bit more from the role of a wing, rather than more of a point guard, allowing me to work on my catch and shoot game as well as my triple threat.
“Although Walt and I would switch off bringing the ball up, I definitely improved on scoring and playmaking from the wing. I also improved on being a more vocal leader being a second year starter and a junior captain.”
Anders is now prepping for his year with D1 Minnesota at the 17U level of play on the Adidas circuit.
“This off season I’ll be working on becoming more explosive, putting on some weight, and continuing to work on ball handling and scoring off the dribble,” Nelson explained.
“I’ll also continue to work on being a leader with D1 Minnesota this spring/summer, so I’ll be ready to go for one last go around at Edina next winter.”
Nelson is starting to hear from a couple college programs.
“I’ve been hearing from Northern State a little bit and my AAU coach tells me he’s hearing from Cal Poly as well,” Nelson said. “Hopefully the recruiting picks up more this spring and summer.”