Vegas Classic: A Thursday Night Double Header of Heat Explosion!
Thursday night NHR spent the evening at a Minnesota Heat double-header that turned into a double slaughter. Heat Bui & Heat MacDonald, kicking Vegas tail and not caring about the names.
Heat MacDonald is a top ten team in Minnesota’s 16u level of play and the team has done a nice job of winning a good share of games while playing a fairly difficult schedule. The Thursday not game against the Regulators? Not one of the games the team will count as difficult but it was memorable as the players were able to enjoy a fun game while enjoying the tourist town of Las Vegas.
The guy that the Regulators feared the most was Chanhassen shooter Carson Hollowaty. If you are an NHR regular you’ve heard the name Carson Hollowaty several times before. He’s one of the better shooters in the 2019 class and that’s been proven over and over. Carson sprayed in treys from about five different spots on the floor while the regulators weren’t able to control their defensive rotations.
The Heat Mac squad was also enjoying themselves getting up and down the floor during this 50 point win (83-33). Mario Dukes (Roseville) had four open floor pushes in about five minutes time. On two of those break chances he assisted on 2 on 1 breaks and provided scores for teammates. The other two saw Mario get to the rim and complete the play himself. Mario is a talented young passer and athlete for team MacDonald. Add in the sharp shooting of Adam Williams and this was an explosive win for the MacDonald squad.
Heat Bui about to play the Ranch Ballaz! pic.twitter.com/XAfD9qBlf4
— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) July 28, 2017
Heat Bui was faced with the challenge of one-upping their 16u brothers. Pressure at all? The majority of the Minnesota Heat coaches in Vegas were at this game so all eyes were on the Justin Bui/Jared Nelson coaching combo to see if they could handle, The Ranch Ballerz. It wasn’t hard.
With a 40 point lead at the half the brilliant strategies that Nelson and Bui came up the night before chewing through Spearmint gum and scratching ideas on paper were no longer needed. The energy the team played with quickly turned to a fun time on the court, and a 50 point lead which kicked in the 50 plus point media walk-out rule.
But before the media left we observed a lot of Heat Bui players doing some impressive things. Here is a quick rundown.
- Andy Stafford. The Hopkins 6-foot-5 forward put the team on his shoulders late in the half with a dunk, a three, and an And1 attacking finish. This young man has a lot of potential and the coaching of Nelson & Bui has really helped him learn to work within their halfcourt system of activity.
- I’m very much looking forward to the very first “NHR Northern Tour” this winter when we go see some Northern Minnesota games. Hopefully we can make a stop at Mesabi East because Carson Becicka has quickly become one of our favorite players. This is an energetic, teammate encouraging, high motor player that will fight to the death before he is gets beat on defense plus he is a fast player with the ball who does a great job running an offer. Six-foot-5 big Tyler Baribeau is a double-double potential guy who should have two more excellent seasons with Becicka.
- We added Jared Rainey to the list of players from Maple Grove to watch going forward. The 6-foot-0 guard did a lot of steady things and we are going to watch close this winter to see if he’s in that brand new Crimson rotation.
- The younger brother of Nate Albers is Joshua Albers also of Mounds View. Josh has the similar blonde hair as his brother but Joshua is bigger. He can shoot but we really liked how he moved the ball within the offense as well as how he used fakes to shift the defense to allow him to playmake for himself or others.
- Every time we at Prep Hoops see this team play Matthew Wyffels is making some shots. The Centennial guard made more shots last night and we expect this trend to continue through the winter.
- Finally we have Elijah Barlue, another Osseo strong and agile young player that seems to compete hard and seems to know how to play. Elijah is a strong 6-foot-3 who finished several times on the move including a finish over the rim. The Ranch Ballerz don’t face many athletes like Barlue out on the range so Elijah just bounced off and finished.
Yes the Heat games were blowouts but these were pool wins needed so they could move on to the next level of competition. These were also relaxed and fun games, a break from the highly competitive games these teams have faced all year, and faced again on Friday and will also face on Saturday. Heat Bui is 4-0 in Vegas so far.