Brawl For The Ball: Northern Michigan Standouts

<p>After two years of pandemic induced Fort Wayne relocations. The Brawl for the Ball returned to its Grand Rapids home. Standouts permeated from all regions in the Midwest. I’ll start by sticking close to home. </p> <p>Following are six standouts from the Northern Michigan region. </p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="985667" first="Wyatt" last="Nausadis"] 6-4 2023 Traverse City St Francis </b>Continued his strong play Grand Rapids Storm in its home tournament. Strangely enough in a paradoxical way his athleticism stands our even more in such deep field. You simply don’t see many two guards with his combination of strength and athleticism. Also has the ability to play the point with his advanced court vision and passing ability. Has had do that at various points during the grassroots season for the Storm due to the absence of [player_tooltip player_id="987285" first="Grant" last="Gondrezick"]. Will also play the point for his regular season squad. However I think he really excels playing off the ball and in the open court. Had a nice dunk in transition against Motor City Grizzlies on Saturday morning. Already holds a GLIAC offer from Grand Valley St. Coaches were out en masse to see him this weekend. </p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="1300876" first="David" last="Shillinger"] 5-10 2024 Ludington (pictured) </b>After getting caught up in a game of AAU musical chairs to start the grassroots season. Shillinger has settled in nicely with <b>Milo Stovall’s </b>MBA Hoop Group squad. Not very big but makes up for it with toughness and elite change of direction. Is a good leader and a bulldog on the defensive end. Good intangibles and simply makes winning basketball plays. Reflected by his MBA squad only dropping one game on the weekend and winning the Platinum Division championship. Will step into a more featured role for the Orioles with graduation of <b>Peyton</b> <b>LaCombe</b> (Michigan Tech) </p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="1112371" first="Jaxon" last="Childers"] 6-3 2024 Benzie Central </b>Childers played well for UTS Elite. Competed well in a lopsided loss to a very good DTO Elite squad Saturday morning. Late in the contest had an eye opening highlight. Skied for a block. Snagged it with one hand in the air. Then went coast to coast unassisted on a acrobatic finish. Has always showed athleticism with the ability to finish above the rim. But has recently added strength and bulk to his frame. This will be needed as he will be the focal point of a Huskies attack that has graduated a lot of firepower. Could be in line for a big statistical junior season. </p> <p><b>Cade Trudeau 6-7 2023 Petoskey </b>Formed one half of potent twin tower duo for Parallel 45 with [player_tooltip player_id="985668" first="Luke" last="Hazelton"]. Played well in a close Saturday loss to Hardwork Cleveland. Has plenty of physical gifts. But I honestly wrote in my notes that I was worried about his ability to score. Hit delete on that. Trudeau went down the Beltline and proceeded to drop 38 points on Missouri based Zoski Elite. Also had a 40 piece in a team camp contest against two time Division 1 finalist Grand Blanc. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Trudeau can score. Will step into the role vacated by <b>Brady Ewing </b>(Calvin). Trending towards being the top post in the always deep Big North conference. </p> <p><b>Evan Haverkamp 6-7 2024 </b><b style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">McBain </b><span style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Turned a similar statistical post performance to Trudeau. However Haverkamp did this while playing up an age division with REAL Basketball. Stuffed the stat sheet in their last two games of the weekend. Posted 18 points with 11 rebounds, along with four blocks against CW Elite. Then wrapped things up with 24 points and 12 rebounds in a buzzer beating loss to eventual Silver Bracket champions the Grand Rapids Thunder. An old school post with a thick frame. Is a mismatch near the basket even playing up an age group. Plays at a storied high school program where defensive effort and consistency will not be concern. </span></p> <p><b>Landon Kulawiak 6-2 2025 Buckley </b>Speaking of playing up an age division. Kulawiak played up two age divisions for a Parallel 45 that was missing [player_tooltip player_id="986885" first="Dylan" last="Barnowski"] due to injury. Kulawiak showed no fear and the potential to be a next level scorer. Shooting will not be an issue. Has a confident but unorthodox release. A pretty seasoned scout told me he is one of the better shooters he has seen in a long time. Has the numbers to back it up. Coming off a huge scoring season as a freshman. Also has a lanky frame that allows him to shoot over defenders and gives him potential to score near the rim. Next step will be adding weight and becoming a more assertive driver. But off to an excellent start. </p>