Prospect Spotlight: Steven Crowl (2020)
Eastview big Steven Crowl has played his way into high major opportunity at the next level. Today we caught up with Crowl to talk about his D1 Minnesota and playing at Eastview. The Lightning won 19 games with Crowl averaging…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingEastview big Steven Crowl has played his way into high major opportunity at the next level. Today we caught up with Crowl to talk about his D1 Minnesota and playing at Eastview.
The Lightning won 19 games with Crowl averaging just under 20 points a game shooting over 57 percent from the floor on his 14 field goal attempts a contest. Crowl also made an excellent 83 percent of his foul shots and 31 percent of the three three-pointers he took per contest. Add in 8.2 boards and two blocks and Crowl had a great junior year.
This past weekend at the Breakdown State Summer Tournament, Steven led the Lightning to wins over Buffalo and Cretin Derham-Hall with a loss to next year’s likely preseason number one, Eden Prairie.
“We won two and lost to EP, so the day went pretty good, EP was a close game the entire time,” Steven explained. “We are playing really well, that loss to Eden Prairie was our first loss of the summer. We didn’t lose at Wisconsin Team Camp and we haven’t lost at all in our summer league. We were missing Ryan Thissen today too and he is a good player for us.”
In a wide open, talent stacked Class AAAA level of basketball Steven and the Lightning will be ranked in that 7th or 8th spot coming into next season.
“Our goal next year is to advance to state first, and then win state,” Crowl said.
“This season was a great success for us making the state tournament obviously,” Crowl explained. “I think next year we will be able to advance even further at state.”
“We rely on Steven so much,” Eastview Head Coach Paul Goetz said. “He does a good job of – you know he is a great passer as it’s probably his best skill.
“That’s tough to say because he is great at scoring inside. No team plays Steven one on one. Everybody throws a double at us. We are playing teams with guys that are whatever ranked in the country on their team, and they send a double at Steven with their big guy trying to stop him.
“(Steven) has a little bit of edge to him. When we take him out it’s tough as he’s sucking gas water out there at times so it’s such a fine line. Sometimes we have to let him roll and hope for some whistles. Steven is just a really good player. He is so far under the radar it’s unbelievable.”
One thing that separates Crowl is his fantastic footwork moving around ball screens on the perimeter.
“He’s got great footwork on ball screens. We run a bunch of different stuff ball screen wise and he is great. He’s smart, has a high IQ as a basketball player and around the rim he can block shots. When he’s fresh he is a lot better defensively (said with a laugh).
“Steven is just an imposing figure out there. I’m really proud of him. He battles and grinds through being tired as he never asks to come out. You have to pull him out to save him. His footwork offensively and defensively is just incredible.”
Crowl is playing with the D1 Minnesota 17 and Under team that is 22-0 and ranked number one in the nation by PrepHoops.com. D1 Minnesota is the only shoe sponsored team in the nation that is undefeated and this Thursday at the Adidas Summer Championships they have a game with the 5th ranked Compton Magic.
“We are focused going down there to win, but also play well as individuals because it is the last time the college coaches can come see us play,” Crowl said. “It’s exciting to go in and face the Compton Magic and Indiana Elite this week. You don’t really play against teams like that around here. It’s just fun to play against that high level of competition.”