Section by Section: Gameplan Busters
What players are the biggest threat to bust apart the game plan you’ve been working on all week? Prep Hoops features the Class AAAA Gameplan Busters today.
Section 1AAAA. Matthew Hurt of JM. Of course it’s Matthew. The five star talent has seen all the doubles and triples you want to send at him but Hurt is so long and wiry that even when the extra attention comes his way he’s able to see over the defense. Part 2 is Matthew’s understanding of what Coach Daly is doing offensively. When extra attention comes Matthew makes others a threat with his ball movement, and sometimes that starts with Matthew’s initial pass moving the ball and then cutting to a spot to catch and score. Then of course is part 3 where Matthew makes contested shots with range. If Hurt can score over the nation’s best 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 forwards, he can score over everybody from distance in Minnesota.
Section 2AAAA. Dawson Garcia of Prior Lake. Dawson is Dawson and Matthew is Matthew but when I speak on size and skill, some of the same things apply. Garcia is able to face the basket from anyplace on the floor and that right there is a complete mismatch as he is 6-foot-10. You can send extra guys at Dawson but he’s often playing from mid-range so you leave Sam Nissen and Robert Jones to feast. So if you don’t send extra attention Dawson feasts. It’s why PL was 22-6 last year and will be better this year.
Section 3AAAA. Charlie Gorres of Park Cottage Grove and Steven Crowl of Eastview. I picked two because Gorres has been hurt and Crowl is still learning. Both are very good but I’m waiting for these guys to really be that gameplan buster every game this winter, and it should happen right away this year. Charlie’s ability to be an explosive double-double game changer at either forward spot makes him the toughest player to guard facing the basket where as Crowl is 6-foot-10, aggressive, and has a nice touch. Crowl has taken strides to the point high majors are asking about him, and now the stage set for him to be that gameplan buster. Who can guard a 6-foot-10 active and skilled player? The answer is “not many”.
Section 4AAAA. Ben Carlson of East Ridge. Lots of choices in this section but I think Ben Carlson’s off-season of weight room work takes him a step ahead. With that added strength and the agility somehow looking even better, I think Carlson is looking straight at a monster junior season. We’ve seen this guy play some PG, Center, and a spot or two in between. He’s skilled, the effort is high, Ben has comfort at the arc and now even more strength to take what you throw at him and go right through it. Plus, the Raptors have threats with size all over, a gameplan for that hasn’t really been written.
Section 5AAAA. Dain Dainja of Park Center. When Dain Dainja puts his back to the basket and allows his teammates to move the ball to him on the block, it’s over. Over. Between his back to the basket game, ability to turn over either shoulder, spin off each foot, face-up up and shoot or attack, and the numerous post moves, he along with Matthew Hurt are the most skilled low block players I’ve seen in this state since Royce White. Dain is so much fun to watch when he seals, puts a target up to catch, and then goes to work in so many different ways. Teams can send a double but Dain is so good using the baseline and moving away to make touch shots that it’s tough to stop. And Dain setting a ball screen and moving off of it? Unstoppable.
Section 6AAAA. Zeke Nnaji of Hopkins. One of my favorite parts of watching talent is seeing guys recognize more ways to affect the game and working hard at those things to help their teammamtes and themselves. Zeke Nnaji is a skilled player that has grown a couple inches in the past year plus he found the motivation to make himself better in many ways. Nnaji’s work without the basketball at D1 Minnesota this past spring and summer is something I wish I had video documentation of to show other players. Nnaji went from a player ranked about 150th in the nation to a McDonald’s All American candidate not just because of increased size and skill, but because his work rate. His CONSTANT putbacks, cuts, movement off screens, and transition run have every bit to do with his movement to a top 25-27 player in the nation status picking between Arizona, UCLA, Kansas, and others. Gameplan for that Minnesota.
Section 7AAAA. Henry Abraham of Cambridge. The “what do I do look”. We’ve all seen it from kids looking at their coach. Henry Abraham’s shooting range and ability to fill the net with numerous jumpers has led to that look in the north metro many times over the years. Abraham had a couple 30 spots last year as a sophomore in big school basketball but I expect we are about to see many more in the two years that follow.
Section 8AAAA. Jared Rainey of Maple Grove. When Jared gets that look in his eye that seems to say “really? you think you are going to slow me” and then follows with results and a nasty confident look, coaches know they are in for a long night. Anybody that played Heat Nelson this 17u season knows exactly what I am talking about. There is a different desire to the way Rainey plays, a chip on his shoulder may be the best way to say it and he uses that chip to get results against bigger, taller, faster, stronger, slower, smaller, weaker, whatever type of players.