Best Available Bigs – Minnesota 2020s

Ryan James May 4, 2020 @ 12:49 PM

Still searching for size to add to you roster next fall/winter? Minnesota has available size that is worth your eye. Here is the five best available soon to be graduating bigs. Top Five Available Frontcourt Prospects One. [player_tooltip player_id="846132" first="Puoch" last="Dobuol"] of St. Cloud Apollo (6’7). We’ve heard a year of prep school, we’ve heard D1 junior colleges, and we’ve heard that Puoch is still deciding exactly what he wants to do next. Whatever the case the physical gifts of [player_tooltip player_id="846132" first="Puoch" last="Dobuol"] could be turned into a division one player if they are molded the right way in the right program. That’s how long, quick off the floor, explosive, and agile this 6-foot-7 power forward is. He is raw and needs seasoning but if Puoch gets it, the tools could be developed into something special. The St. Cloud Apollo staff did a really nice job with Puoch last year getting 13.9 points (51 percent field shooting, and Puoch made a third of his 39 attempted threes), 9.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists a game from him in his first full year of varsity hoops (40 blocks and 41 steals too). Two. [player_tooltip player_id="721842" first="Tate" last="Machacek"] of Eastview (6’6). We’ve heard that Tate is going to Minnesota to focus on his academic career ending his time as a team basketball player. If Tate does decide on choosing college basketball at the last minute - and not dominating the intra-mural leagues on campus that are so much better than people know - then there are a lot of teams that should be interested. Matt has extended his range which includes a very good 15 foot jumper. He’s a great help defender, very smart on the ball, active rebounder, and would make a really nice last minute D2 guy or early in his career playing MIAC talent. Three. [player_tooltip player_id="721919" first="Hezekiah" last="Iyawe"] of Robbinsdale Armstrong (6’6). At this point we’ve heard that Hezekiah is planning to turn down all of those MIAC programs that spent their winter watching him play, and go to Northwestern (the Wildcats in the Big Ten). Somebody should let Coach Chris Collins know that he has maybe the perfect walk-on coming to Evanston (great defensive communicator, one of the better fronting the post defenders I saw last spring and summer, outstanding student, double-double guy). If Iyawe does not go to Northwestern for school then there will be a load of locals hoping to land him. Four. [player_tooltip player_id="955646" first="Terron" last="O’Neill"] of Delano (6’6). At his size Terron can simply stroke the ball from the arc. O’Neill led one of the best teams in Class AAA basketball with nearly 22 points a game and he did it in space shooting over the top of teams. Terron was actually listed on the Tigers roster as a guard because of how he shoots but he in most programs - Delano started five guys at 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-7 - O’Neill would be guarding players up front because of his size and strength. Five. [player_tooltip player_id="846147" first="Chay" last="Guen"] of Albert Lea (6’6).The Tigers stunned people this year ending a long losing streak to Austin, making the section championship game, and earning a .500 record. A big part of that was the agility and regular consistent play of near double-double averaging [player_tooltip player_id="846147" first="Chay" last="Guen"] (19.2 points and 9.7 rebounds a game, shot 51 percent from the field). Chay was explosive and energetic earning a spot on the All Big Nine team and that activity extended to the defensive end where he averaged a couple steals and blocks a game. Extras: Because we have a couple guys on here that may go to the Big Ten for school we need to throw on [player_tooltip player_id="721980" first="Mahad" last="Faisal"] of Chaska and [player_tooltip player_id="721862" first="Jordan" last="Merseth"] of Mankato East as other power forwards that will make strong college basketball players one day.