17U Run Through: Minnesota Heat MacDonald
The Minnesota Heat has several talented teams and the Heat MacDonald squad ranks with best as they won 30 games a year ago and finished in the top six in the state.
The Roster: The Heat MacDonald squad has nine guys with seven being from Minnesota and a pair from Wisconsin. Of the seven from Minnesota a couple of the players are from outstate Minnesota although fairly close to the metro. The Heat has three new players and six guys back from last year’s squad.
Big Names Returning: White Bear Lake took a big step forward as a program this year and now it’s a huge off-season for their talent who has one more off-season to get ready for their senior year. Samuel Schwartz is one of those Bears and he is one of the key players for Heat MacDonald. Schwartz is coming off a 16.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. Schwartz is a 6-foot-4/6-foot-5 guard/wing that handle or being a scoring wing.
Another up and coming team with up and coming players is Princeton. They won 20 plus games this year and Adam Williams, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard from the Tigers, scored 16 a game proving he is one of the top shooters in the state. Williams and Schwartz will make for an excellent backcourt pair. Also, 5-foot-10 guard Carson Hollowaty of Chanhassen returns for this squad after giving the Storm a dozen points a game. Between Schwartz, Williams, and Holloway the Heat MacDonald squad has guys that can shoot all over the court, but do it efficiently.
Moving Up: Six-foot-3 small forward Leighton Glodek of Irondale scored 11 points a game for Irondale and after a tough high school season (4 wins) Glodek is ready to prove what he can do. Six-foot-4 shooting guard Reilly O’Neill is another long wing and he scored 13.5 points per contest for an NYA team that won seven games. Glodek and O’Neill are a pair of hungry guys with similar frames and the same could be said about 6-foot-4 small forward Logan Benson of Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Logan averaged a double-double for Ellsworth this year with 15.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game for a 20 win team. Benson was the biggest number producer of any of the Heat MacDonald players this winter.
New Additions: The Heat MacDonald team added three new players to the returning group that went 30-20 last year. Six-foot-5 Bailey Blanchard of Clear Lake put up 19.3 points per game, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game shooting 55 percent from the floor and 35 percent from the arc. Six-foot-5 forward Malik Spearman of Henry Sibley scored 16 points per game around the basket for the Warriors and now is a new element to the Heat. Finally, the last addition to the Heat roster is St. Thomas Academy 6-foot-6 forward Noah Chamberlain who helped the Cadets to the state tournament. Noah gave St. Thomas six points, three rebounds, and was third on his team in assists.