GPA: Thursday’s Five Best

<p>Top five Minnesota 17U performers from Thursday night in St. Cloud?  Prep Hoops breaks it down now.  </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958786" first="Nick" last="Bartlett"] of Northstar Titans Terhaar (Forest Lake).  Nick has moved into that main playmaking, main scoring threat role for his team and almost led the Titans to an upset over WOTN. Bartlett’s three point stroke led him to five threes and 17 points total plus he created a number of shots for others and grabbed seven boards.  A player that competes with an edge and I have to think there are a number of D3 schools in both Minnesota leagues as well as the Wisconsin league that have an eye on him.</p> <p>Connor Beauchamp of WOTN (Lakeville South).  Connor continues to be one of the stories of the summer as he continues to make plays in so many ways.  The jumper and the activity led to a team high 16 points as Connor continues to be one of the best players moving away from the ball that you will see.  That said, his screen to open [player_tooltip player_id="958721" first="Dayne" last="Wojcik"] for the game winner was highlighted by his coach and is a play that basketball die hards love in the same way that they loved the Devin Booker screen the other night. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="850721" first="Benard" last="Omooria"] of Minnesota Select (Osseo).  Few players are having the spring/summer that Benard is.  He’s mixed playing point guard with scorching the nets all summer.  The beautiful thing is that despite playing lead guard, Benard isn’t over-shooting the ball, he’s just getting numbers efficiently.  Last night Benard scored his 20 on 7 of 11 shooting including four more shots made at the arc.  Scholarship player?  Yes.  Natural playmaker. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958715" first="Pharrel" last="Payne"] of Minnesota Select (Park of Cottage Grove).  It’s your daily dose of [player_tooltip player_id="958715" first="Pharrel" last="Payne"]!  Pharrell mixed in three threes with a dominating 16 rebounds facing a scholarship big.  Payne just engulfed the basketball in mobs of people time and time again including five offensive boards extending the possessions.  He scored 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting which was three low post moves, three threes, a dribble attack finish, and a putback.  Dominating again, he’s a top 100 player nationally. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1143877" first="Jamari" last="Walker"] of Minnesota Heat (Park of Cottage Grove). The Heat had a lot of trouble with the Pentagon Schoolers but one player that I as well as some college coaches walked away impressed with was [player_tooltip player_id="1143877" first="Jamari" last="Walker"].  He looks every bit of 6’6 and he was the one guy the South Dakota kids couldn’t move to for box-outs, help over, or one dribble attacks.  Walker was the most agile player on the floor and he used that for his six buckets and six boards in the paint.  Potential to improve is solid. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1143873" first="Zach" last="Zrust"] of Minnesota Comets Belka (Buffalo).  The one match-up that Sacred Hoops couldn’t deal with was the size, skill, and agility of [player_tooltip player_id="1143873" first="Zach" last="Zrust"].  Even when the South Dakota bigs were in position Zrust was able to release a quality attempt to complete.  What made it even tougher was Zrust’s comfort on the move finishing regardless if the defense was in position or not.  He scored 19 in a key first game win for the Comets Belka squad. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>