Hard Work Finals: The 17U Sweet 16 Headliners
It’s Sunday morning and the Hard Work Region comes down to today’s Elite Eight action. What were the Sweet 16 story lines? We give that to you now! Eight Eight When the action tips off Sunday morning in front…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIt’s Sunday morning and the Hard Work Region comes down to today’s Elite Eight action. What were the Sweet 16 story lines? We give that to you now!
Eight Eight
When the action tips off Sunday morning in front of what has been a very thick crowd of division two and division three coaches. Here are the 17U match-ups:
Minnesota Fury vs Northstar Titans. The Fury has rolled two of their three opponents so far this weekend and their college coach crowd has been consistently massive. They will take on the Titans in the Elite Eight: a Titan squad that has surprised this year with the vast improvements of Raoul Vaidya Raoul Vaidya 6'0" | PG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN , Wyatt Hawks Wyatt Hawks 6'8" | C White Bear Lake | 2023 State MN , Aiden Johnson Aiden Johnson 6'6" | PF Legacy Christian Academy | 2023 State MN , and of course Trey Smith Trey Smith 6'7" | SF Osseo | 2023 State MN .
Team 1848 vs Pentagon Schoolers. Team 1848 is a strong group of hard playing, scrappy talented guards. They face a Schoolers team that plays some of the best team basketball you will see anywhere.
Starks Elite vs Minnesota Select. Starks Elite is having one of their best events of the season and they will now hope to continue their run against the favorite Minnesota Select squad. Select has controlled all three of their games in this event thus far.
Minnesota Lightning vs WOTN. A match-up of lead guards ( Baiden Bean Baiden Bean 6'1" | PG Farmington | 2023 State MN and Anish Ramlall Anish Ramlall 6'2" | PG Rosemount | 2023 State MN of WOTN) against a team full of skilled size ( Aeron Stevens Aeron Stevens 6'7" | PF Plainview-Eligin-Millville | 2023 State MN , Ryan Heise Ryan Heise 6'8" | SF Lake City | 2023 State MN , Will Opsahl Will Opsahl 6'8" | SF Goodhue | 2023 State MN of the Lightning).
A Select Duo
Remember when Louisville won the national championship behind Russ Smith and Peyton Siva, two guards that were under six feet and under 170 pounds? Smith and Siva were the best two players on the team both in statistics and production. When I see Minnesota Select win games with Jordan Malmlov and Dylan Omweno Dylan Omweno 6'0" | PG Eastview | 2023 State MN play well, I can’t help but make that 17u type comparison of production.
Malmlov might be the favorite player of any 17u fan, coach, or player in 2022. He’s an elite shooter that won the Puma three point shooting contest in Atlanta last weekend and Jordan continues to shoot at a high level game after game. His teammates love him and Select continues to win games consistently with Jordan often leading the way.
Saturday night against the ABC Young Lions, it was Omweno who got the hot hand and his teammates made sure Dylan had the ball. Omweno exploded for SIX first half threes scoring 26 points in the first half. The outburst put the Young Lions in a whole they couldn’t climb out of and it led Dylan to a 30 point game.
Raoul Vaidya Raoul Vaidya 6'0" | PG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN for Most Improved
There has been one big common theme this 17u season and it’s… AAU Coaches and College Coaches love the improvements of Maple Grove point guard Raoul Vaidya Raoul Vaidya 6'0" | PG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN .
Raoul first popped on the scene during the Maple Grove 2020-21 state tournament run. The Crimson played their best basketball when Vaidya took over the point guard position and he helped lead the team to the state semis. Raoul continues to take control of this Titans team who has pushed their way into top weekend pools and has themselves in the Elite Eight of the region.
What do people love about Raoul? First it’s his control. He’s a steady handler that teammates listen to. The second thing is his decision making. Few lead guards dissect a defense off a spread out deeper possession ball screen like Raoul. Opposing guards are having a terrible time moving their feet with him. Finally, when Raoul does pull the trigger on his jumper, it’s going in consistently.
I thought Raoul’s end of the game pick and roll feed to Wyatt Hawks Wyatt Hawks 6'8" | C White Bear Lake | 2023 State MN was the perfect sample of the way he’s played. He led Hawks with a feed for a dunk and it was the game securing play. Hawks – 6’7 post from White Bear Lake – continues his great play totaling a double-double against the Minnesota Heat’s top team. Trey Smith Trey Smith 6'7" | SF Osseo | 2023 State MN had 16 and was also excellent, he received an offer from Minnesota-Duluth last evening.
Lighting Moves On
The Minnesota Chill has been on a roll lately. They had a great showing in Atlanta in a top pool, they won the NHR State Tournament just over a month ago, and overall they have played well. Unfortunately one of their top players Khalif Bettis Khalif Bettis 6'6" | SF Burnsville | 2023 State MN was injured Saturday morning so the Chill had to face the Lightning without him. That said, the Lightning was short Pal Wal Pal Wal 6'5" | PF Albert Lea | 2023 State MN so both teams went into the game short a key player.
We also got a fun Aeron Stevens Aeron Stevens 6'7" | PF Plainview-Eligin-Millville | 2023 State MN vs Chet Kloss Chet Kloss 6'6" | PF Eastview | 2023 State MN battle of forwards. Kloss had the upper hand early with two deep scores and a three. The Eastview big plays as hard and as tough as any big man you will find in this class. As the game moved on, the agility and skill edge of Stevens took over as he hit double figures before the half. The ace that Stevens had in the hole was high school teammate Kaiden Peters Kaiden Peters 6'2" | CG Plainview/Elgin-Millville | 2023 State MN dropping off perfectly timed passes behind the defense.
Stevens had 18 on 7 of 10 shooting and I continue to wonder if a D1 school might step in. That dunk he had on a Chicago team in Atlanta still sets in my head answering the question of “agile and explosive enough?” Peters had a dozen points and six assists while Will Opsahl Will Opsahl 6'8" | SF Goodhue | 2023 State MN did some of everything again. We don’t get to see Will’s pretty three stroke much but he did hit a three yesterday, grabbed eight boards, dished out six assists, and scored a dozen to get his team to the Elite Eight.