All In Hoopfest: Northwest Ohio Prospects
Over the entire week, we’ll be highlighting the impressive performances from Ohio prospects at the All In Hoopfest in Louisville. We started on Monday with the Breakout Performances. Now, we’re taking a trip all the way around Ohio by checking in on players in accordance to their state region and position.
Today, we’re wrapping up the All In coverage with articles covering northwest and southeast Ohio.
Cameron McCreary (2020), 6’1” PG, Mid Ohio Pumas Elite 2020
Once again, McCreary looked beyond his years as an incoming sophomore from the point guard spot. His passing ability and pace of play stick out the most. As he’s coming up the court with a fast, yet controlled pace, McCreary is always apt to lobbing a pass towards the rim for a wide open layup. He also finds shooters, like Jake Younkin or Grant Whisman, when they’re open for a good look. McCreary’s threat as a passer is facilitated by his ability to shoot it off the dribble.
Jakiel Wells (2019), 6’1” PG, NEO Shooting Stars 16U
Wells looks more like a point guard every time we watch him. Against the Dayton Nets on Saturday morning, he was running the offense with the second unit and properly facilitating to open wings. He’s unselfish with the ball and shows poise when attacking the basket.
The incoming junior at Toledo St. Francis remains an elite on-ball defender. Wells frustrates opposing point guards, occasionally all the way up the floor, with his lateral movement, anticipation, and aggressiveness to go for steals. If his scoring ability and body continues developing, we believe Wells will attract D-II offers.
Dimitrios Mitsopoulos (2020), 5’10” PG, All Ohio Gold
Mitsopoulos may not see the varsity level for Toledo St. John’s next season because of their loaded backcourt, but he’s been putting in work for Gold all summer. He’s a twitchy defensive player who can help over and recover excellently. Offensively, he’s also a bit of spaz. Yet, he shows a good feel by finding drop-down passes into the post when he’s driving. Mitsopoulos needs to become more consistent as a shooter, or adjust his range, as he often front-rims on three-pointers. The times when Mitsopoulos is hitting from range are when he becomes very hard to guard, which he did a couple times in a dominate win versus Pro Bound on Saturday morning.
Mason Loeffler (2020), 6’3” G, All Ohio Gold
The scorer from Evergreen High School is officially one of our favorite small-town prospects in a deep 2020 class. Loeffler is a walking bucket for this team on the wing. Gold’s 15U has a couple very capable ball-handlers, so Loeffler doesn’t spend too much time with the ball. He doesn’t need to however, as he makes moves immediately. From the arch, Loeffler is aggressive as a spot-up shooter — he even stays aggressive when there’s little separation. From the mid-range, Loeffler can ball fake and rip through for little floaters and mid-range jumpers. Then at the rim, we’ve seen him put down dunks and high-rising layups.
While Loeffler impressed us mightily again on Saturday morning, his coach, Eddie Norrils, told us that he also put up 20+ points in a 57-41 Gold championship win over CKY Magic.
Da’Sean Nelson (2020), 6’4” W, All Ohio Gold
Nelson is still figuring out his body, after a big-time growth spurt over the past year. He stumbles around sometimes. Yet, he’s always finishing tough shots around the basket. Nelson does an excellent job of keeping the ball extended (with either hand) on attempts in the paint. The prospect from Toledo Rogers doesn’t mess around with the ball, he understands that his impact is as a slasher, so he tends goes directly at the defense.
As Nelson adds more nuance to his game, expect him to at least make it to the D-II/NAIA level as a prospect.
Jonzell Norrils (2020), 5’11” PG, All Ohio Gold
In an undefeated weekend for Gold (whose 16U also went undefeated in Columbus), Norrils deserves a lot of credit for the way he runs the show. He never gets tired, as he wears out the defense with his up-tempo style. But he doesn’t only lack fatigue, Norrils actually gets better as the game goes on. For example, on Saturday, Pro Bound was making a bit of a run in the second half. However, Norrils put an end to it quickly by splashing home a pull-up from deep and then ramming drives down their throat on the break. To my memory, he hadn’t even attempted a three prior. Kid is a killer.
Jaiden Woodley (2018), 6’6” F, ISG-Hidden Gems
We’ve been keeping tabs on Woodley pretty closely since last summer. His rise hit a benchmark this weekend, as he received an offer from Central State.
No surprises here, as we watched Woodley shoot a very high percentage in and around the paint all weekend long. As he continues to become more solid off the ball against bumps and box outs, Woodley could become big-time at that level. The college weight room definitely feels like a natural progression in his development. But we definitely expect Woodley to score a ton of buckets for Maumee Valley next season, as he looked rather efficient this weekend.
Brandon Haraway (2019), 6’1” G, NEO Shooting Stars
Last time we saw Haraway, he was playing sporadic minutes for one of the NOVA teams. While he excelled in that role, he seems to have found an AAU home with this team. He’s been afforded the opportunity to create shots with free reign and the defense appeared helpless. Haraway, a prospect from Norwalk, has an effective step-back move in the mid-range. Also, his general explosiveness leads to open looks around the basket.
At 6’1”, his score-first ability makes him more of a 2-guard. It’ll be interesting to see how if height determines his recruitment ceiling. However, we believe it shouldn’t be too big of worry — he could either be molded into a true point or you could accept him for being a high-volume scorer, as Haraway possesses the tools for both roles.