16U players that caught our eye at the #PHSpringKickoff

<p>The #PHSpringKickoff gave us an opportunity to look at some of the top players in the region compete but also a look at some of the younger players that have not yet played a ton of varsity minutes. Seeing them in the grassroots light gave us a better opportunity to evaluate them as we prepare for the upcoming season. Here are a few players that stood out in 16U.</p> <h2><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="972414" first="David" last="Hageman"] --  ATR Elite </strong></h2> <p>Hageman is a player that understands the big picture and does all of the small things that stand out. He fills in the gaps and when his team needs him to do something, he delivers. Hageman handled the ball and got teammates involved and makes it a point to get his teammates involved. ATR Elite has a good inside and out attack and with a player that is balanced with his scoring, defending and facilitating, he allowed his team to win. ATR Elite went 4-0 on the weekend with only one close game in a high scoring affair. Hageman had the team playing downhill, made the extra pass and pushed the pace and it was a great showing for him and his team. </p> <h2><strong>Sawyr Hansen – Idaho Premier </strong></h2> <p>Hansen played exceptionally well in the games that we saw him as he got the weekend started with a 17 point breakout. He is a steady scorer that uses his big frame, scores with his back to the basket, and is extremely active on the boards. Hansen set hard screens and rolled for finishes, showed his soft hands and coordination on tough catches and finishes and was also knocking down mid-range jump shots as well. Hansen was one of the top standouts on Day 1, despite their team taking some tough losses and his teammates continued to feed him. </p> <h2><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1167509" first="Nick" last="Randall"] – ATR Elite</strong></h2> <p>Randall was one of the players that we walked away from the weekend wanting to know more about. He has excellent size at about 6’4 and his motor made it so that opposing teams had a difficult time slowing him down. ATR Elite went 4-0 on the weekend and he surely had his moments of looking like an unstoppable player. Randall finished over the top of players, battled inside and went right up with rebounds and also finished in transition. In one of their wins, Randall went on a mini-flurry of scoring where he came up with multiple finishes in a row, blocked a shot and also hustled back and made the right pass to keep his team in the lead. He was ripping guards in the open court, rebounding well and finishes above the rim. In their closest game, his team made sure to put the ball in his hands and let him create and he did that while doing all of the small things that goes beyond the scoreboard.</p> <h2><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1168026" first="Eli" last="Thayer"] -- Colorado Chaos </strong></h2> <p>Thayer showed himself as a knockdown shooter and hard worker in the games that I saw him in for Chaos this weekend. He plays hard on both sides of the court, switched over to bigger players and held his own and also made smart-reads as a facilitator. Thayer moved fluidly throughout the offense and finds the holes in the defense to get his shot going and every time that we have walked over to his court, he made a play. He is a playmaker with range and that opened up the rest of their offense.</p> <h2><strong>Mahlon Morris – Rocky Mountain Fever</strong></h2> <p>Morris is a downhill runner that moves with a purpose. Morris makes up his mind to attack and is a big body guard that is difficult to get anything going against. Fever is a team that plays as a cohesive unit and nobody plays out of their element, Morris is who adds the livewire element as he can hurt a team in so many different ways. Morris brings the intensity on defense as he pressures guards. He doesn’t allow guards to get into a zone and attacks players at the rim and blow bys which opens up the Fever offense. His physicality on both ends of the court takes opposing players out of the game and gives his team the intensity. </p>