UA Hoop Fest: Best of the Best
The UA Hoops Fest took place at the Midtown YMCA this weekend and local fans lined the gym four deep to watch the Grassroots Sizzle play. Here are our notes from the event.
Explosive. Aaron Gill of St. Paul Prep and the Grassroots Sizzle was one of the top scorers in Minnesota last year and will be the most talented player in Class A basketball coming into the 2017-18 season. Saturday he exploded to the rim for an array of highlight finishes showcasing his quick bouncing abilities.
Mr. Suggs. The Grassroots crew beat a team from Wisconsin 66-38 and in that game Suggs scored fourteen times and dished out six assists. Most baskets were going at the rim but the takeaway from the game was the quick hands of Suggs. Jalen, who continues to grow height and length wise with every viewing, used his quick hands to poke the ball away from opposing guards accumulating eight steals. He only played part of the game but it was enough to give all the kids some amazing finishes.
Tayler J. Speaking of Tayler Johnson, he is looking more and more like his brother Tyler Johnson every day. Most siblings want to carve their own path which Tayler is, but it’s hard not to look at his filled out and taller from and think of how similar he is becoming to his older brother. Then he goes at the rim in explosive ways and the similarities become even more evident. Tayler also has excellent handles which separate him from others but now that he’s growing physically the state needs to et ready for a big senior year. Johnson is already playing at a very high level in the UAA.
Bickham Battles. It’s easy to relax in a game like we took in Saturday but this was some of the best rebounding I’ve seen out of JaVonni Bickham who grabbed eight boards and many of them were out of his area. Bickham took the initiative to chase down long caroms and was likely the most active guy on the court from start to finish. He also grabbed eight boards.
Young Prince. Those of you that ventured over to a Minnehaha Academy game or two this winter likely saw seventh grade talent Prince Aligbe play some minutes. Aligbe gave the Redhawks depth off the bench and during the regular season averaged 4.6 points per game. Prince has grown to about 6-foot-4 and we watched the young talent compete in a 14U game this weekend which he completely dominated with the Minnesota Spartans. Biggest player on the floor was also the most skilled producer.
Satar & Smith. Redhawks junior Lorenzo Smith averaged 14 points a game this winter for the state champs. Rieshaun Satar scored 19 a contest for the Henry Sibley Spartans. The junior guard pair has been playing together their entire lives although they don’t play high school basketball together. They do play AAU together with the second Grassroots Sizzle team and we saw them beat one of the other Grassroots groups by 14. Both are marksman with their feet set either catching a reversal or kickout and both showed off a three-point make off the dribble. Smith also gives you the touched in runner from every angle so if teams want to limit it they have to stop the initial dribble.
Pinero Buckets. A guy from Wisconsin that stood out over the weekend was Xander Pinero, the WI Super Hoops wing with the high pony tail that defended hard and earned himself a couple floor burns. Pinero also knocked out a couple threes plus attacked the rim to score. Xander was one of the two best players for Siren High School this year hitting two or three threes a game.