Recruiting Report: Daniel McCarrell (2020)

<p>St. Croix Prep is a 12-0 basketball team with a well earned ranking of 5th in Class AA.  A team leader for the Lions is senior guard Daniel McCarrell.  NHR spoke with St. Croix Prep Head Coach Keven Seim about his senior standout.</p> <p>"From a tangible perspective Daniel does a lot of things well," Seim explained.  Overall he's a very skilled player.  Handles the ball really well, sees the floor as good as anybody on our team, good passer, shoots it extremely well from all three levels.  He has really bought into the defensive end of the floor this year which has made him a more complete player. </p> <p>"Most nights he is guarding the other team's best guard.  Maybe something that goes unnoticed is his improvement in leadership this season.  We've seen him communicate more with guys out on the court which has helped our team tremendously.  He's always had a great understanding of the game, but if he's not sharing that with his teammates we feel he's not fulfilling his leadership responsibilities to the fullest.  We've always challenged him to share his knowledge of the game and this year he's taken a positive step forward in that area."</p> <p>The Lions went a strong 22-7 last year and returned a nice group of players.  This led to St. Croix Prep being ranked 9th in the Class AA season rankings by Northstar Hoops/The Breakdown. Impressive wins over ranked Class AA teams Minneapolis North and Stewartville have launched the Lions into the top five. </p> <p>"It's certainly been a fun season to this point," explained coach Seim.  "There are a lot of things that make this team a quality group and you often hear about teams being unselfish, sharing the basketball, the off-season workouts, the time that they put in as a team as well as individuals to get better.  They have certainly done all of those things and without question this teams off-season commitment and dedication was the best it had been in my time here. </p> <p>"However, with all that being said, I truly believe it boils down to a couple things.</p> <p>"1. This group has learned from our past teams in both the "how to" and "how not to".  They've taken mental notes and were intentional about how they wanted to represent themselves in team culture and how they wanted to play as a team.  They truly have exhibited a team first mentality.</p> <p>"2. Simply put, this team is a group of friends that get to play basketball together.  Many of them have been classmates in this school since kindergarten and the guys that came at a different time have been welcomed with open arms.  They're good kids who care about each other."</p> <p>The leading scorer is junior Addison Metcalf while senior Zach Doely and junior Andrew Howard are double figure number guys as well.  Junior Teige Lethert and of course Daniel McCarrell are important pieces as well.  McCarrell has improved to the point that college basketball coaches are now in contact. </p> <p>"I think right now he's looking at Carthage, St. Johns, and I think that St. Thomas is another option for him," Coach Seim explained.  "He wouldn't play basketball at St. Thomas.  At this point he's looking at going into business."</p> <p>A thing that the college level likes about McCarrell is his activity off the floor as well.  </p> <p>"Something that's unique about St. Croix Prep is that it is a K-12 building.  At any point during the school day a kindergarten student could be walking side by side in the hall with a senior student.  Mentorship opportunities are abundant and happen on a daily basis. </p> <p>"In our program we're very intentional about making sure our players understand the impact they have on our younger kids and what it means to create relationships with them.</p> <p>"Daniel, much like a lot of our players, is very approachable when it comes to the younger kids in our school as well as our 5th, 6th, and 7th grade traveling players.  Most of our guys know our traveling players by name because of the time they commit to helping out at all our youth summer camps.  Daniel is no different. </p> <p>"You can actually see the joy Daniel gets out of hanging out with the kids at camp, and its easy to see that Daniel genuinely cares for the younger kids by the way they look up to him and feel comfortable around him."</p> <p>And those players are greatly enjoying watching McCarrell and the undefeated Lions continue their push to be an elite team in Class AA basketball. </p>