Hardwork SZN Classic – Saturday Morning Five Best
PHD was up with basketball fans this morning taking in the Hardwork SZN Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Who stood out in early morning victories? PHD has it for you now. Isaac Bruns Isaac Bruns 6'4" | SG Dakota Valley…
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Continue ReadingPHD was up with basketball fans this morning taking in the Hardwork SZN Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Who stood out in early morning victories? PHD has it for you now.
Isaac Bruns Isaac Bruns 6'4" | SG Dakota Valley | 2023 State SD of South Dakota Attack 15u (6’2 2023 guard of Dakota Valley). The Attack beat the Colorado Titans by 20 and the jumpshot of Issac Bruns is what opened the game up into a clear victory. Bruns had two late scores – one at the arc, one at the elbow – where he took advantage of outstanding ball movement getting his feet set in areas with his ready to simply make the shot. The work was done by the team ball movement, but Bruns put the final touch on things. There were also Attack sets ran that Bruns sprinted into his cuts forcing his man to chase past screens and Isaac’s sprint to the catch while his man was in chase allowed Bruns to move into scoring position. The design was by the coach, the execution came from Isaac’s skill and understanding. This year Isaac scored 16.5 points a game shooting a healthy 52 percent from the field, 46 percent from the arc, and 86 percent at the foul line.
Mikele Kambalo Mikele Kambalo 5'8" | PG Washington | 2022 State SD of SD Venom (5’8 2022 PG from SF Washington). You need to look away from the box score here and focus more on how the Venom offense ran. Everything starts with the lead guard and although the final pass or the made basket may not have his name attached to it, it was often Mikele pushing the ball and making sure that first pass to the wing or the entry pass to the high post was in the right spot. It was Kambalo that made sure the timing was right when a set was called. He did not shoot well today but still put together ten points with five assists, and did the job getting back on defense and making sure the opposing PG was uncomfortable.
Tash Lunday Tash Lunday 6'5" | PF Flandreau | 2022 State SD of SD Venom (6’5 2022 power forward of Flandreau). Did we just see the South Dakota Venom version of Draymond Green help the Venom beat Team RWA 73-57? First of all Tash was a monster on the glass using his two strong hands to collect balls off the rim. RWA had no player that could move Lunday with a box-out hit so the carom belonged to Tash. And one version of a nightmare is looking to collect a board and seeing Lunday run from the other side of the rim to run into you and take it out of your hands. Even more impressive is that Tash can be trusted to collect the ball and then push the other way. Sometimes he sent the baseball pass outlet and others Lunday went with the change of direction dribble keeping the ball safe against whomever thought they could slow him down. Lunday is one of the better high-low passers you will see so his assist total was high between the outlets and the elbow to block passes to David Alpers David Alpers 6'5" | PF O Gorman | 2022 State SD and Caleb Hiatt Caleb Hiatt 6'5" | PF SF Lincoln | 2022 State SD . Tash also showed off his touch making all five foul shots. Final total: 13 rebounds, seven points, six assists, five of five at the free throw line, three shots taken, and one game MVP.
Reed Rus Reed Rus 6'3" | SG Mt. Vernon/Plankinton | 2023 State SD of South Dakota Attack 15u (6’2 2023 guard of Mt. Vernon-Plankinton). In watching the Attack play as a two way unit our thoughts kept coming back to things done each possession by Reed Rus Reed Rus 6'3" | SG Mt. Vernon/Plankinton | 2023 State SD . Facing an opponent at the top of the key, the Colorado guard caught and attacked middle but Reed busted his tail under a screen and then used quick lateral steps combined with a physical arm/shoulder to beat the player to the angle, that led to a reset pass. We then saw Rus force an attacking player into the short corner on the baseline leading to a turnover. There were four second half possessions when Rus showed off the quickest leap and the physical rebounding grab with others in the area but Reed’s collection ended the possession. Reed also has the ball handling skills to quickly push the other way leading to quicker high percentage shots. And Reed certainly has the passing ability to make sure the Attack took a quality shot. There were a few “next pass” situations where Reed moved the ball to the wing leading to a hockey assist, there were two Rus attacks that fed cutting teammates, and overall Reed can be trusted to make the right, read. Add in the late attacking basket off a jumpstop and you had a great all around performance.
Jeffrey Worth of SD Venom 16u (6’1/6’2 2022 guard of Tea Area). Jeffrey Worth is one of the best shooters in the class of juniors-to-be in South Dakota. You can rely on Worth for multiple threes each game and another jumper or two inside the arc to go with it, but when he really catches fire it’s a long day for the other team. Today it was a long day for Team RWA out of Chicago. RWA seemed aware that Worth is a shooter, they just couldn’t do much about it. In a mad scramble Worth was ran into sending him to the foul line the first time he tried to shoot resulting in three foul line makes. At the foul line Worth seemed to get that feel and ten minutes later he had made three shots at the arc. The short halftime helped Worth stay hot because he immediately sprinted up the floor in transition for another pair of triples, and then he hit another relocating in the corner. Add in an attacking elbow jumper and a short kiss late and you had a 25 point performance on 8 of 13 shooting (six threes made).