The Up and Comers – 5 Filling Big Shoes

<p>There have been some injuries and departures prior to graduation in Minnesota high school basketball leaving big shoes to fill.  Who is filling those shoes?  Prep Hoops investigates today! </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="962210" first="Quyavant" last="Douglas"]</strong> of Brooklyn Center.  Brooklyn Center had a wealth of young talent playing last year but almost all of it transferred to Minneapolis South or DeLaSalle.  Not everybody left though! Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962210" first="Quyavant" last="Douglas"] is one of the better sophomores in the state.  He averaged 17 a game as an 8th grader and then a dozen a game last year in the ten contests he played in.  With two years of varsity experience under his belt the explosive wing should be ready for a big season. </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="962229" first="Michael" last="Kastelic"]</strong> of Duluth East.  Michael is one of the possibilities that the Greyhounds have to step in for injured junior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="958677" first="Will" last="Van Scoy"].  We don’t if he will take the job but we do know that Kastelic, a sophomore, has very good vision plus he’s talented in creating off the bounce for others,  He had a solid freshman season in 2019-20 and his role will increase in a big way with Van Scoy out for the season.  </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774771" first="Avery" last="Mast"]</strong> of Lakeville South. You may have noticed that we have moved Lakeville South out of the number one spot in Class AAAA in the preseason rankings.  No the Cougars didn’t do anything wrong, they just lost their 6-foot-8 270 pound talented center [player_tooltip player_id="774732" first="Riley" last="Mahlman"] to college football (he is leaving to enroll early at Wisconsin).  One of the advantages the Cougars had (in addition to talent and experience back from at top ten team) was a big talented center.  Now talented combo forward [player_tooltip player_id="774771" first="Avery" last="Mast"] will have to help out with a bit more scoring, a lot more rebounding, and more post defense.  Mast is capable but he will need help too and 6-foot-6 junior Chase Androff will have to help as well </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="962216" first="Will" last="Underwood"]</strong> of Mahtomedi.  The Zephyrs are always a competitive team that plays tough.  Graduation already stung them but they were stung even harder when [player_tooltip player_id="957131" first="Cal" last="Greene"] moved to Tennessee this summer.  That brings sophomore guard [player_tooltip player_id="962216" first="Will" last="Underwood"] into the spotlight.  Underwood is ready to lead the club as he’s an excellent leader and a tenacious worker. </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="567103" first="Kooper" last="Vaughn"]</strong> of St. Charles.  Before we found out that [player_tooltip player_id="774767" first="Drew" last="Maloney"] was lost for the season we had St. Charles as the 9th ranked team in Class AA basketball.  Vaughn already is a gun slinger.  This six foot guard scored over 28 a game last year setting a school record for threes attempted and made in a season (took 11.5 threes a game last year).  If you thought Kooper got shots up last year, wait and see what he does without Maloney around! Don’t be surprised if he is one of the top 2-3 scorers in terms of points per game in the state. </p> <p><strong>Max Wilson</strong> of Hopkins. Hopkins always seems to have top prospects in each class and Wilson has become the Hopkins top underclassmen prospect.  The Royals lost four starters from last season and one of them was [player_tooltip player_id="532569" first="Andre" last="Gray"] transferring to Minneapolis North.  Wilson steps into that spot providing the Royals with talent and a deeper rotation. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>