Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo Scrimmage Standouts: Forwards
The Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo hit Sioux Falls last Saturday as some of the best players in the Dakotas converged for an afternoon in the gym to work on developing skills, get some great competition and frankly, knock off some rust and bridge the gap between the end of summer basketball and the winter season.
After an hour or so of various skill drills, players were divided into teams to scrimmage for the rest of the day.
Here were some of the forwards that stood out throughout the day:
There weren’t many true post players in attendance, so some of these guys that get the ‘forward’ label were borderline wings or combo-forwards.
The top true big man in the event was undoubtedly Emmanuel Akot. The 6-foot-8 senior was outstanding defensively throughout the day particularly as a weakside defender. His length allows him to protect the rim in a way few others could but he also has great timing. He also did a great job rebounding in and out of his area. He didn’t venture outside of his area on the offensive end very often but he did show off nice touch on several post up opportunities.
Jordan Polynice is definitely not a true post player and he’s more of a wing player than anything but he was the biggest guy on his team during scrimmages and did a good job mixing it up inside when called to. He’s got very good length and bounce and puts his athleticism to use as a slasher. He’s active on the glass and has a ballhawking defensive style which created numerous easy scores.
Camden Bialas was one of the top true big men in the event and while he looked raw with his post moves, he did a great job defending in the paint and hanging around the rim to finish on dump-offs.
Jharett Bloomenrader was another one of the more impressive bigs in the event. What he lacked in pure height he made up for with physicality and his rough-and-tumble style resulted in a lot of stickbacks and scoring opportunities for teammates. I really liked how he ran the lanes and navigated traffic to allow for dump offs on drives by his teammates.
Darius Dawson is another combo-forward type guy who made an impact thanks to his ability to explode and finish in traffic. His athleticism made life difficult for opposing big men and his activity level on both ends of the floor was easy to notice.
Jake Friedrich played on the same team as Akot and didn’t get many opportunities to post up on the interior but he did a great job hitting the offensive glass. He played with great intensity and his motor was valuable throughout the day.
Kale Landguth was one of the top shooting big men in the specific drills and was strong as a slasher and finisher throughout the games. His mobility and inside-outside skillset allows him to excel in the flow of an offense.