Heat/Fury Shutdown – Five Best
The Heat/Fury Shutdown ended with the Minnesota Heat (Tauer) defeating the Minnesota Fury (Zurn) in the final. Who were the Five Best (Six) from the weekend? Prep Hoops was there to let you know. Eddie Beeninga Eddie Beeninga 6'1" |…
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Continue ReadingThe Heat/Fury Shutdown ended with the Minnesota Heat (Tauer) defeating the Minnesota Fury (Zurn) in the final. Who were the Five Best (Six) from the weekend? Prep Hoops was there to let you know.
Eddie Beeninga Eddie Beeninga 6'1" | PG Wayzata | 2021 State MN of Minnesota Fury Zurn (6’1, PG, 2021 of Minnesota Fury Zurn). Eddie led the event in big plays made and was a big reason the Fury went from a rough start to a second place finish. It wasn’t just the several momentum building plays, it was the variety of them that really caught my attention. There was a late game jumpball that Eddie won diving on the floor that led to a game winner. There was an overtime steal Beeninga made that helped his team win. There were clutch threes sunk, attacks completed, and a game winning foul shot. It was Eddie Beeninga Eddie Beeninga 6'1" | PG Wayzata | 2021 State MN hitting big shots and making big money plays all weekend long.
Ryan Dufault Ryan Dufault 5'11" | PG Waseca | 2021 State MN of Minnesota Heat Tauer (6’0, PG, 2021 of Waseca). I’ve spoken a lot about Ryan lately so I’m not going to go into full repeat mode about how clutch he is, how consistent Ryan is no matter who the opponent may be, how crazy it is that he could get to the left side of the rim and finish between Dikembe Mutumbo and Bill Russell if need be. Today the point that I want to make is, college coaches can go looking but they will not find a guy that can be depended on every day as much as Ryan is. This young man deserves your interest and whomever gets Ryan is going to be very happy for four years.
Ahjany Lee Ahjany Lee 6'9" | C Byron | 2022 State #145 Nation MN of D1 Minnesota Prospects (6’9, PF, 2022 of Byron). It’s quite rare that I go out on a limb and make massive projections that a player is going to be a nationally recruited player at a top 100 level when they don’t even have a high major offer. But I am all in on Ahjany Lee Ahjany Lee 6'9" | C Byron | 2022 State #145 Nation MN . Why? The progress he has made from the first time I saw Ahjany play in early January is as much as I have ever seen from a big. Ahjany made multiple threes in every game this weekend that I saw or checked in on box score wise. He was making one dribble pull-up jumpers like Nate Reuvers jumped into his body. And then you have the length and agility at his size. My goodness the chase back block, or shall I say splatter of a lay-up attempt is something I will never forget. Ahjany exploded to the ball so quickly and with so much force he bounced back to the floor and landed on his back. His ability to physically finish at the rim with a quick bounce and a finish that peaks about a foot over the rim before it comes down, that is Ahjany Lee Ahjany Lee 6'9" | C Byron | 2022 State #145 Nation MN . The D1 Minnesota Prospects have some talent but in a lot of ways Lee carried this squad to the final four. And I haven’t even mentioned that he rebounds everything. High majors, call now. You will be glad you did because you will eventually offer.
Francis Nwaokorie Francis Nwaokorie 6'7" | C Champlin Park | 2021 State MN of Minnesota Fury Zurn (6’7, C, 2021 of Champlin Park). There is a lot to say about Francis but for me, those 39 rebounds in the quarters, semis, and finals (combined) is what I will take away the most from the weekend. Francis has great footwork, excellent hands, and a touch to finish moves of various types. But his effort in grabbing 39 rebounds against some of the best teams at the event was more than any other player. And it was done out of competitive fight. Francis is strong and at his size he’s pretty quick as well. If he continues to rebound at a high level like this there is no doubt in my mind that those D1 schools that are calling him with interest, should be soon calling Francis with scholarship opportunity. He scored on 18 of 33 shots on Sunday and that included a couple threes as well.
Noah Paulson Noah Paulson 6'8" | C Duluth East | 2021 State MN of Playmakers North (6’8, PF/C, 2021 of Duluth East). Noah Paulson Noah Paulson 6'8" | C Duluth East | 2021 State MN went toe to toe with Andrew Morgan Andrew Morgan 6'9" | C Waseca | 2021 State #178 Nation MN twice this weekend, and overall I would say he walked away from those games feeling he got the better of his opponent. Going against Morgan mostly, but Will Tschetter Will Tschetter 6'8" | PF Stewartville | 2021 State #96 Nation MN as well, Noah had a 17 point, 13 rebound game the first time, and another double-double in the second game. Paulson is a defensive wall on one end consistently putting that 6-foot-8 Wall into space and while at times guys were able to get over that wall, Paulson made sure they had to work hard to do it. And on the offensive end Noah does an outstanding job of using his hips to get leverage and be on balance. When Noah was on balance he is hard to stop from completing a possession as any big in this state. And Paulson does such an incredible job of getting to his balance to complete with a nice touch. His progress from watching Noah at the MBCA Camp last June to now is one of the more impressive things we’ve seen.
Will Tschetter Will Tschetter 6'8" | PF Stewartville | 2021 State #96 Nation MN of Minnesota Heat Tauer (6’8, PF, 2021 of Stewartville). As far as established, dominant players, Will was simply on another level, and this weekend he showed why he is headed to Michigan as a top 100 level guy. If this weekend was the time you saw Will play you walked away with four big impressions: 1) his will to win every possession is clear as Will wants to battle at all times, he is so competitive, 2) the spin move is so fast and so tough to stop you will be seeing in scored in the Big Ten a lot, 3) Will has a shooting touch that changes games and the touch did that a number of times this weekend, 4) the board numbers are always strong.